tweens Archives - NY Foodie Family

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By now you probably have an idea of what you’re getting your kids for the holidays. If you’re like me though, you end up at the last minute scrambling to buy the little things to fill your kids’ stockings. Here’s a collection of stocking stuffer ideas for tween boys. These are products that my 9-year-old son has enjoyed and make for fun, small gifts.

EDIBLE:
In my opinion, food is never a bad gift choice for anyone. But you can never go wrong getting candy for a tween! If you want to go the safe route, buy some of his favorite candy. Gum is always a good bet as well. Especially fun gum, like Bubble Tape. But f you want to give them something more adventurous, try these ideas:

Bean Boozled – This is a fun game that can be played with friends or family. You spin the spinner and have to eat the jelly bean it lands on. Will it be juicy pear or booger flavored? You don’t know until you try the jelly bean! Be warned, some of these jelly beans taste disgusting!

Ultimate Warheads Candy Lovers Variety Bundle - 8 Great Varieties Including Extreme Sour, Smashups, Chewy Cubes, Hotheads 7 More! (8 Total Bags)

Warheads Candy – According to my son, the new game at lunch is sour and spice wars. Kids bring in Warheads and other sour candy and face off with each other to see who can last the longest! This 8-pack has Warheads most popular varieties!

USEFUL:
It’s always nice to give a stocking stuffer that kids actually need and can use.

Socks – Boys always need socks. Especially long ones since many tween boys wear shorts to school all year-round, even in winter! My son’s favorites are long basketball-style socks with either an athletic brand logo or a fun design.

Watchitude – (c/o Watchitude) Who remembers the fun of slap bracelets?! Watchitude has combined the fun of those bracelets with the usefulness of a watch. There are many different bracelet including different sports balls, cupcakes, doughnuts, lightning and other fun, colorful designs.

JUST FOR FUN:
Sometimes, you just want to give your son something fun. Here are a few things they don’t need or maybe they don’t even know they want, but are just fun!

Funko POP! – Funko makes a POP! for almost every interest out there. Perfect for stockings are POP! minis or Pocket POP! keychains. Funko has a POP! for fans of Disney, Marvel, Star Wars, Harry Potter and more.

LEGO mini bags – If your son loves LEGOs, a perfect stocking stuffer is a LEGO mini set. These are smaller, more reasonably priced sets that kids can put together in minutes. My son has this parrot set from LEGO Creator. It makes a fun room decoration, or he can take the pieces apart and use them to build something else. LEGO has several different mini sets including a yellow airplane, transporter plane, mini sports car, clown fish and more.

Manifold origami mind bender puzzles – My son’s friend gave him this after he found it too hard to do. Each paper needs to be folded into a 4×4 square so the black areas are on one side and the white areas on the other. There are 100 pages that get harder as you progress. This is recommended for ages 10+ and is perfect if your son is a puzzle lover. My husband enjoys doing these too!

What are you putting in your tween’s stocking this year?

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This is the first in a series of gift guides to help you complete your holiday shopping. These are gift ideas for creative tweens. These gifts are great for both girls and boys in the 8+ age range and allows them to use their imagination and creativity. Many of these toys are brand new to the market this holiday season!

1. ORB Molecules – ORB Molecules is the newest product from ORB (formerly ORB Factory). It is the world’s first creation compound. The molecules are brightly colored and come in different sizes. They stick to themselves, but not anything else! The ORB Molecules are sold in kits so that kids can make their own creations. These will be hitting shelves in approximately two weeks and will be sold exclusively at Michaels stores. These kits retail for $14.99. (Recommended for ages 5+)

(photo courtesy of ORB)

2. ORB Morph – Orb Morph is not a new product to the market. Morph is a lightweight, “shape-shifting fluff.” It’s a building compound that kids can mold, that can also bounce and float. As kids play with the morph, it gets softer and fluffier. The material doesn’t dry out and can be reused over and over again. The Morph comes in six different colors and retails for $14.99. It can be found at Walmart, Michaels, Target and Amazon. (Recommended for ages 3+)

3. STiKidotz – STiKidotz are the world’s first 3D pixel art sticker. Projects start with a square base. Kids create a design on the base using the dotzPIXELS to create a design. Once the design is complete you can cut it out with scissors, take off the paper backing and stick it to the surface of your choice. There are creative kits where kids can come up with their own designs. STiKidotz also sells pre-designed kits that kids can follow to create characters and pictures. These kits are available on the dotz company website and beginning November 7, Amazon. A starter pack is $12.99 and includes 2 bases and 36 dotzBLOKs. (Recommended for ages 6+)

Check out the above video to see STiKidotz in action! To learn more about them check out the STiKidotz website!

4. E-Blox Circuit Builder – E-Blox manufactures three different circuit builder kits. The Circuit Builder 115, pictured above, contains 37 pieces which kids can use to create 115 different projects. They will learn about electricity, alarms, motors and more as they create. An instruction booklet is included. These kits require 3 “AA” batteries. The kits retail between $19.99 and $44.99. (Recommended for ages 8+)

5. Oonies – Made by Moose Toys, Oonies are small balloons that you can play with and customize. Use the inflator to inflate the pellets to the balloons. Then customize with the accessory stickers. The starter pack comes with the inflator, 36 pellets and accessories. The balloons stay inflated for approximately five days before deflating. Kids can make their own designs and creations or use the available theme packs. The Oonies site has all kinds of games, challenges and more. The starter pack, which you need for the inflator, retails for $19.99. You can find Oonies at Target, Walmart, Amazon and Toys R Us. (recommended for ages 5+)