# What Do 17-Year-Old Boys Like? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [June 13, 2006, 2:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-17-year-old-boys-like/360528 "2006-06-13T02:46:06Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Eva\_Luna](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/e495f1/32.png) [@Eva\_Luna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eva_Luna)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2006, 2:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-17-year-old-boys-like/360528/1 "2006-06-13T02:46:06Z")
My little half-brother will be turning 17 in a couple of weeks, and I am stumped for birthday gift ideas. Teenagers are opinionated creatures anyway, plus my little brother (actually, he’s over 6’2" these days, so he’s not so little) has lived 800 miles away from me for his entire life, so I basically only see him a few days a year. So what the heck should I get him for his birthday? He is majorly into hip-hop and soul, and currently wants to be a DJ when he grows up. Other than that, he’s a good kid, a bit on the shy side (though I suspect he has a hidden, majorly mischievous streak), is at the point where he’s not really into Harry Potter anymore, and is a huge Yankees fan. In most ways he’s entirely different than I was at that age (I was much geekier and more bookish, into sci-fi and fantasy and choral singing, and my friends that weren’t in the choir were on the math team and/or the chess team), so I’m somewhat at a loss. Any ideas? (And no, I’m _not_ buying him porn. I am fully aware that he would probably enjoy it, but it’s a little too Freudian, don’t you think? Plus my stepmom would rip my lungs out through my sternum.) ---
**Author:** ![Don\_t\_Panic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/don_t_panic/32/398_2.png) [@Don\_t\_Panic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Don_t_Panic)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2006, 2:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-17-year-old-boys-like/360528/2 "2006-06-13T02:48:51Z")
> [@Eva Luna](#): > > **What Do 17-Year-Old Boys Like?** Girls. Oh, you mean for his birthday? Computer games? Always worked for me. Actually, it still works for me, and I’m now a 27-year-old boy. Actually, come to think of it, I still like girls, too. Or, well, women, at any rate. ---
**Author:** ![Alice\_The\_Goon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ed8c4c/32.png) [@Alice\_The\_Goon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alice_The_Goon)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2006, 2:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-17-year-old-boys-like/360528/3 "2006-06-13T02:49:26Z")
I have two teenage boys, and their favorite thing to get is gift cards from CompUsa or BestBuy and such. They’re both way into their computers. Impersonal though giftcards seem, they do come in handy with things like teenage boys. ---
**Author:** ![Cluricaun](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/bb73d2/32.png) [@Cluricaun](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cluricaun)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2006, 2:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-17-year-old-boys-like/360528/4 "2006-06-13T02:50:37Z")
What kind of a price range are we working with here? Two turntables and a mixer would be real nice to a budding DJ, but aren’t coming too cheap. ---
**Author:** ![Eva\_Luna](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/e495f1/32.png) [@Eva\_Luna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eva_Luna)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2006, 2:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-17-year-old-boys-like/360528/5 "2006-06-13T02:58:39Z")
> [@Cluricaun](#): > > What kind of a price range are we working with here? Two turntables and a mixer would be real nice to a budding DJ, but aren’t coming too cheap. Well, that’s a lot more than we tend to spend on B-day gifts in our family. Plus he’s already got the turntables (don’t know about the mixer, though I could do some intel work with Dad). I did spring for a nice carved stone chess set for him once, back when he still thought chess was cool - I’m likely to spend more if I think the gift is something worthwhile rather than purely frivolous, though. ---
**Author:** ![Loopydude](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e56c9b/32.png) [@Loopydude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loopydude)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2006, 3:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-17-year-old-boys-like/360528/6 "2006-06-13T03:00:23Z")
You won’t consider changing your mind about the porn thing? ---
**Author:** ![Queen\_Tonya](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/4491bb/32.png) [@Queen\_Tonya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Queen_Tonya)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2006, 3:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-17-year-old-boys-like/360528/7 "2006-06-13T03:06:18Z")
I got my nephew a Leatherman multi-tool when he turned 17 to rave reviews. ---
**Author:** ![dalej42](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/67e7ee/32.png) [@dalej42](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dalej42)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2006, 3:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-17-year-old-boys-like/360528/8 "2006-06-13T03:12:51Z")
Gift cards. That is an age which is hard to please. Give him a gift card and let him pick his own present. ---
**Author:** ![boytyperanma](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/4491bb/32.png) [@boytyperanma](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/boytyperanma)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2006, 4:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-17-year-old-boys-like/360528/9 "2006-06-13T04:08:18Z")
As uneconomical as gift cards are I’d still recemend them for kids that age. If you give them cash you have no idea what habit you might be supporting. ---
**Author:** ![Mrs\_Johnson](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7cd45c/32.png) [@Mrs\_Johnson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mrs_Johnson)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2006, 4:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-17-year-old-boys-like/360528/10 "2006-06-13T04:45:56Z")
If he’s into cars, a mechanics tool set would be awesome. That’s something he’d keep for years and years. I’m sure Sears is having big sales this time of the year for fathers’s day. Or what the others have said… ya can’t lose with a gift card to Best Buy. Whatever you get for him, don’t get him clothes. ---
**Author:** ![Ranchoth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ranchoth/32/1066_2.png) [@Ranchoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ranchoth)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2006, 5:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-17-year-old-boys-like/360528/11 "2006-06-13T05:07:18Z")
> [@Eva Luna](#): > > Any ideas? (And no, I’m _not_ buying him porn. I am fully aware that he would probably enjoy it, but it’s a little too Freudian, don’t you think? Plus my stepmom would rip my lungs out through my sternum.) How about an award winning, R-rated movie that happens to have fantastic sex scenes in it? (Stealth porn…how I love it, so. 😃 ) ---
**Author:** ![TLDRIDKJKLOLFTW](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/51bf81/32.png) [@TLDRIDKJKLOLFTW](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TLDRIDKJKLOLFTW)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2006, 5:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-17-year-old-boys-like/360528/12 "2006-06-13T05:11:40Z")
A giftcard to [Dusty Groove.com](http://www.dustygroove.com) , pretty much the finest DJ store for records, esp. soul and hip hop, which you mentioned. They also have shirts, DJ accessories, and other stuff that he’ll probably be ga-ga about. Also: it’s in Chicago! ---
**Author:** ![Tamerlane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tamerlane/32/7602_2.png) [@Tamerlane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tamerlane)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2006, 5:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-17-year-old-boys-like/360528/13 "2006-06-13T05:24:12Z")
**Peak Banana** took my answer. I find computer games ( of the right genre and platform ) work well for most of my male friends. I’d at least scout that possibility. - Tamerlane ---
**Author:** ![madhatter56](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/67e7ee/32.png) [@madhatter56](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/madhatter56)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2006, 5:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-17-year-old-boys-like/360528/14 "2006-06-13T05:24:16Z")
> [@](#): > > I got my nephew a Leatherman multi-tool when he turned 17 to rave reviews. I have to say, I’m jealous of your nephew. Most 17 y.o.'s don’t realize how great these things are, but when I turned 18, I worked in a garage for a summer before college and I used the garages every day, hundreds of times. I moved to college and didn’t buy one yet but I regret it. Just last week, I had to tear my mower apart, and man, I coulda used one of those… ---
**Author:** ![Mayo\_Speaks](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c57346/32.png) [@Mayo\_Speaks](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mayo_Speaks)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2006, 6:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-17-year-old-boys-like/360528/15 "2006-06-13T06:23:29Z")
I second the nomination for gift cards, especially for **BestBuy**. I’d also nominate **[Amazon.com](http://Amazon.com)** and **iTunes**. You can’t go wrong with them. I’d also recommend asking him what he wants. Everybody has a list of things that they want but don’t want to spend the money on, and most people I know are more than happy to share that list with you. And don’t get him Yankees stuff. Even Jesus hates the Yankees. (That’s in Romans, IIRC 😃 ) ---
**Author:** ![Quartz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quartz/32/267_2.png) [@Quartz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quartz)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2006, 6:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-17-year-old-boys-like/360528/16 "2006-06-13T06:39:06Z")
Is he yet a boy? Consider giving him a night out with a lady who can teach him about women; his future girlfriends will thank you. Otherwise, how about an Ipod? ---
**Author:** ![Eva\_Luna](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/e495f1/32.png) [@Eva\_Luna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eva_Luna)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2006, 11:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-17-year-old-boys-like/360528/17 "2006-06-13T11:49:54Z")
> [@VCO3](#): > > A giftcard to [Dusty Groove.com](http://www.dustygroove.com) , pretty much the finest DJ store for records, esp. soul and hip hop, which you mentioned. They also have shirts, DJ accessories, and other stuff that he’ll probably be ga-ga about. Also: it’s in Chicago! Yeah, but note the 800 miles away bit - I’m in Chicago, but he’s in New York. ---
**Author:** ![Kalhoun](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/3bc359/32.png) [@Kalhoun](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kalhoun)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2006, 12:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-17-year-old-boys-like/360528/18 "2006-06-13T12:41:34Z")
Movie theater passes. You can get them in various denominations. This gift is twofold. First, he can go to the show. Second, he can afford to bring a girl. You can buy them on line. I’ve given this gift to a number of people and they all loved it. ---
**Author:** ![ululate](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/59ef9b/32.png) [@ululate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ululate)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2006, 12:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-17-year-old-boys-like/360528/19 "2006-06-13T12:46:47Z")
Subscription to Sports Illustrated? He’s probably into baseball or football or basketball, plus it comes with a free “junior porn” issue. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![glee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/b5a626/32.png) [@glee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/glee)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2006, 12:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-17-year-old-boys-like/360528/20 "2006-06-13T12:59:09Z")
> [@Ranchoth](#): > > How about an award winning, R-rated movie that happens to have fantastic sex scenes in it? (Stealth porn…how I love it, so. 😃 ) I’ve heard of a movie called ‘Showgirls’ which might suit… > [@Kalhoun](#): > > Movie theater passes. You can get them in various denominations. This gift is twofold. First, he can go to the show. Second, he can afford to bring a girl. You can buy them on line. I’ve given this gift to a number of people and they all loved it. No, seriously **this** is the business. Note the bit about bringing a girl. 🆒 [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-17-year-old-boys-like/360528.md?page=2)