“Mothering Boys”
If someone were to ask me for a top-five gift list for boys—the top five things that are most likely to be well received and well loved by boys in general, and that most parents would likely approve of—these are the things that would make the list, based on the six boys in my house (ages 3 to 13) and their varied personalities and interests, and all the things they’ve asked for and/or been given over the years:
#1 BALLS
Boys love balls. The younger the boy is, the more excited he is about balls. It doesn’t matter if he has a hundred balls at home already and is currently holding one in each hand, if he sees another child with a ball, or a display of balls at the store, he will go bananas. Even as they get older and aren’t quite as enthusiastic, and even for boys who aren’t so inclined towards sports, balls still seem to have a decent success rate. My nine-year-old received a football as a party favor at a friend’s birthday party recently and he carried it around for days. My thirteen-year-old loves to throw tennis balls and small rubber balls against the wall and catch them and do it again (and again and again). They’re forever losing basketballs and baseballs over our backyard fence, and every year we’re always looking for the perfect ball to play with while swimming, so really, balls are never a bad idea. (Honorable mention, especially for younger boys: anything with wheels.)
#2 BOOKS AND DRAWING SUPPLIES
I’m putting these two things together in the same category because they’re similar—lovely, quiet activities that nevertheless have always been a big hit with my boys. “Books?” you might be thinking skeptically to yourself, as my brother did when, for my oldest’s second Christmas, he asked what my son might like, and I said, “Books!” and he said, disgustedly, “Come on, let him have a little fun!” Now that he has his own children, I’d be interested in whether he’d still say the same thing, because in my experience, age-appropriate new books about topics that boys tend to like are always a big hit. Topics I would put in this category include: dinosaurs, vehicles, bugs/snakes/sharks, science experiments. And like with the balls, it doesn’t matter to my boys if they already have a bunch of books on that subject. My one particular dinosaur lover frequently receives new books about dinosaurs on birthdays and at Christmas, and he pores over each one, every time—for him, the topic never gets old. Drawing supplies are similar, and I’m not talking fancy ones either—a new box of crayons and a package of copy paper will keep my boys drawing for hours. Even as I write this, my three-year-old is scrounging through our “crayon box”—an old shoebox with stubs of crayons and broken pencils and the occasional pen—and drawing happily; when Santa replenishes the crayon box with new drawing implements, he and all his brothers will miraculously find themselves even more inspired.
#3 LEGOS
I have some boys who are crazy about Legos, and I have others who are just kind of okay with them, and yet the majority of them ask for new Lego sets for every holiday, and insist on buying Lego sets to give their friends at the birthday parties they’re invited to. We have an enormous bin of Legos, thanks to the various sets they’ve received over the years and a very generous friend who gave us all her boys’ old Legos, and most days at least one of my boys (usually two or three) goes running right for the bin as soon as we get home from school and spends the rest of the afternoon pawing through the bin and building what they call “Lego creations.” They don’t seem to care that the pieces of sets get swallowed up into the communal bin fairly quickly (except one boy, who keeps his in his room), and you can find sets for just about every interest.
#4 ELECTRONICS
This category is, to me, sad but true. My boys love video games, phones, tablets, laptops—you name it. We were generously given a video game system several years ago (which, honestly, is the only reason I allowed it in the house), and when it pooped out on us last year we were generously given a different one. We have a limited number of video games and we strictly regulate when the boys can play and for how long (only on the weekends or days off; one hour each per day), and, no joke, they think about and plan for their turns all week. My older boys are required to have Chromebooks for school, and even though most of what they do on them is schoolwork, the younger ones are green with envy and are counting down the days until they’re in middle school. Phones and tablets regularly show up on their birthday and Christmas wish lists (they don’t seem to realize how futile this effort is!). One of them got a calculator for Christmas one year—just a regular old calculator with no bells or whistles—and it was one of the most coveted items by all the boys for weeks.
#5 STAR WARS AND SUPERHEROES
Finally, rather than being “things,” this category is about “themes.” Star Wars, Spiderman, Superman, Batman, the Avengers—those are all things that my boys find endlessly exciting. Apply these themes to the gift ideas mentioned above and you’re gold!
I hope this is a helpful list for any of you who have boys to buy gifts for this winter! Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!
Kate and her husband have six sons ages 13, 11, 9, 7, 5, and 3. Follow her at www.facebook.com/kmtowne23, or email her at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..
