Hi all
Any ideas what a 16 year old might like? I'm trying to avoid the usual boring stuff like CDs or DVDs or money and nothing too wild as he’s fairly subdued. In previous years he's had xbox games or similar but he's out-grown that rubbish now. He's also got all the sport equipment he needs and all the electronic stuff such as laptop, tablet, smartphone. His main interest at the moment is his quadbike but there's not really anything I can get for that and in any case it's caused dispute in the family (parental dispute…) so I would rather keep out of it. It is quite good fun though…
He is already talking about cars and interested in learning to drive so I thought one of those day courses where you get to drive off the public roads with a supervisor might be quite fun for him. Does anyone have experience of these courses?
Thanks
Matt
Last edited by: MJW1994 on Tue 27 Aug 13 at 19:38
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I think you are on the money with the driving course, I went on one when I was 14 and loved it.
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A stonking great label saying PETROL for his quad bike?
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Know any 18 year old girls who are good sports?
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...or even better an experienced 35 year old ;-)
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Ha ha, good one! I don't think he will live that one down quickly.
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Like the idea of the 35 yr old, as long as I get to go first...
;-)
I like the idea of the car training day, I think he will enjoy that and I can take him along for the day. Let's hope the supervisor re-fuels the cars...
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Girl. Woman. Air Rifle. Catapult. Beer. Car (ish) Ask him in a private moment what would REALLY matter. Is he shy? Is he outgoing? Not taking the 'P' here, but it must be a nightmare to get it right. I would NEVER buy anything that was computer, i.e. (stay at home in the bedroom and fester stuff) if my life depended on it. Not saying it's easy.
Good luck.... MD
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Just shown this thread to my similar-age daughter; she recommends giving him money to buy his own stuff.
As much as you'd like to offer something both tangible and memorable, at that age very little is both of those. Money's what they want.
HTH :)
Last edited by: Dave_TiD on Tue 27 Aug 13 at 22:12
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My plus one above. Despite my views they are a Child of their times. We can't (UNFORTUNATELY) change it. Can't be easy....................
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As the father of a 17 year old I can report that CASH is the thing. Nothing else will do. Not interested in driving - just keen to impress girls with money. Jealous? Moi?
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Cash. so he can buy a new pair of trainers for his paper/milk/caddying rounds, so he can earn even more money to impress the grrls.
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Depends how much dosh you want to spend.....
Why not give him a helicopter experience ......with a go at the controls.....
www.experiencemad.co.uk/Helicopter-Flying-Lessons/helicopter-lessons-30-minutes-ah235g/
I have no connection with this company......
other helicopter trips are available ......
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I asked him today and the only things he said he wanted was some new tennis shorts and a top, as he’s still growing bigger quite quickly. I can’t buy those for him because he will need to try them on and choose the style he likes. So giving money would be the simple solution. The thing is I’m trying to avoid money since he gets plenty from other people. Like me (obviously!) he has seven sets of Uncles and Aunts who give him money, two sets of grandparents, our own parents and quite a few adult friends who have known us for years. All give money so I was hoping to do something else.
He is not really into fashion, like me most of his spare time is in sports clothes since sport is mostly what we do in the evenings and weekends.
He isn’t shy, perhaps a bit subdued at times, but he’s very popular in his age group with both sexes.
A rifle sounds fun but no way would that be allowed!
Also if you give him money he doesn’t spend it anyway, he saves it, he is really quite tight, although he is very kind with his time. Him and mates have done their GCSEs, one of his best mates is not the sharpest knife in the drawer and Dan spent hours and hours and hours helping him and a few others in his class with their coursework, homework etc. He is a bright spark. But ask him to get his wallet out and it’s a fate worse than death. In fact I’m not sure he even has a wallet…no need. It’s odd though since no-one else in the family is the same, in fact I would say our parents are extravagant, maybe it’s a reaction to them although one set of grandparents are a bit tight, maybe it has skipped a generation. Families are odd entities. I must remember to wind him up by preparing my invoice for fixing his quadbike – the look on his face will be worth a million dollars! Perhaps I shouldn’t yank his tail too much, it wasn’t nice seeing him so distraught thinking he might have completely ruined his recently bought pride and joy and extremely grateful I sorted it out. Anyway the lesson has been learned the hard way, black container = diesel, green = unleaded.
The helicopter experience looks fun but I think I will go for the driving experience. It’s the most relevant for him since he’s already interested in driving, asking lots of sensible questions etc.
Thanks to all
Matt
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I think that you live in the Bristol area. Have a look at the Castle Combe racing circuit website. There may be something there for a driving experience.
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Obviously he must be your older brother? What are you looking forward to when you reach 16?
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No, younger. At his age I was into things he's less keen on, so what I wanted at his age doesn't help much!
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Went with the car experience, there’s a company that does Subaru rally days for 14 to 17 yr olds and it’s not far from us. It’s £189 for four hours. That’s a bit too much for a birthday present from his brother so parents will make it part of their gift as well. Basically we have told him to go ahead and arrange it when it’s convenient for him, probably half-term. The next few weekends he can’t do anyway and it will give him a chance to perfect his clutch control before the day (a requirement of the course), fortunately we have the space to do that with him.
They also do white knuckle rides using a Focus ST, that’s something I would really like to do. We might try and arrange it so we do the two on the same visit.
It’s nice to have something tangible on a birthday so I got him some new tennis balls, sports socks and top, things he has mentioned in recent weeks.
Saturday evening was his party, about thirty of his school mates and girls turned up about 5pm, the family had done an elaborate buffet spread. Mum and Dad were a bit concerned as they were going to be out part of the evening but Uncle was drafted in to keep and eye on things and Dan was given a stern lecture on what behaviour would be expected. To his credit he took it all on board without complaint, he is fairly sensible. Uncle is ex-Army and a bit rough, people tend not to argue with him. I was tasked with supervising the swimming pool as I’ve done lifeguard training and the Quadbike keys were locked away and ground anchor put on. In the end only about ten wanted to swim so it was ok but we don’t take any risks with the pool, just not worth it especially with other people’s kids. Considering there were thirty 16 yr olds and some monitored booze it all passed without significant incident, most of the lads I have met before individually when they’ve visited but of course in a group things can be different. I hadn’t met any of the girls before but they seemed fine and some very attractive... Some of the plastic patio furniture ended up being thrown in the pool at one point but I think it helped having girls there, perhaps if it had been all lads things might have been harder. One of our cousins lent a karaoke machine which was well received although I don’t think One Direction have anything to fear. Dan also ended up being thrown fully clothed into the swimming pool but we sort of expected that would happen at some point! He saw the funny side to it all and had a great evening. Anyway, all over for another year and he’s back to school Wednesday, so summer fun over, bah humbug. Next birthday will be easier, at 17 he can have car-related gifts and he can drive himself to wherever he needs to go. Can’t wait until he can drive, I’m always taking him somewhere or picking him up, the bus service around here is useless, if he stays on after school for activities then it takes ages to get back so if I stay on a bit at work I can pick him up on the way home.
Best wishes to all
Matt
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Birthday present for 16 yr old brother - Stuu
