What my 13 year old GS has requested for Christmas

I would buy him what he wants if not I would put money or vouchers towards it.

£45 seems a very reasonable amount to me. 13 year olds (I have two grandchildren this age) have their own tastes and know exactly what they like . Presumably you would like a present that you like rather than you don’t so buy him what he wants

My grandson is 15 now, and he wants the most expensive tracksuit in the world for christmas.

He's been given lots of chances to change his mind, but after another couple of checks, I'll take out a mortgage probably give him the money and nothing else.

No stocking fillers, not a thing!

DGD is delighted with £15. Different families, different budgets, mum and dad different ideas?

But if you're actually asked and can do,

why, yes,

as lovely to have something really nice.

I seem to have an automatic response to a request for something they really want.
"NOPE!!!!"

Maybe a generational thing.

My children are grown up now, but I still like to get them 'stocking fillers' to open on Christmas day. I realise that it is actually for me and not them though. They don't really want perfume that someone else has chosen or a jumper that's not really their style, so I restrain myself. The days of being Santa and seeing their delight in all the things I'd got them are gone.

It's daft, I do the stocking filler stuff, too.

They feign interest until they can escape online.

Meanwhile, I've got a smashing pair of fighting robots and nobody to take me on!

does he know what the scent smells like
in states we buy sample sizes

teens tend use too way much even
adults use way to much scent

I’m going to sound like a right misery guts, but no way would I spend that much on an fragrance for a 13 year old lad.
In my experience of 13 year old lads, it might be a ‘keeping up with the Jones’’ type thing.
I’d be inclined to ask him if there was anything else that he’d like

What's wrong with keeping up with your peers, though?

Plenty of that goes on, throughout life, but it's never more important than when you're a teen.

Gin

Thanks for all your advice. Yes I must be out of touch but forgive me I am pretty ancient!

If it it’s relevant, I’m 50, and I wouldn’t buy it for him.
Nothing to do with the cost.

MissAdventure

What's wrong with keeping up with your peers, though?

Plenty of that goes on, throughout life, but it's never more important than when you're a teen.

I prefer a bit of rebellion!
It’s all a bit too consumer-y for me

And I honestly doubt if he really wants it

You have to be confident enough to rebel, and it's hard to be confident when you're not in step.

You gotta be in it, to consciously step out of it. Maaaaan...

MissAdventure

What's wrong with keeping up with your peers, though?

Plenty of that goes on, throughout life, but it's never more important than when you're a teen.

Agreed. I remember my mum getting me things that she thought were 'just the same' as the real thing, but not quite, and that 'not quite' made all the difference.

Nobody wants Chanel No 6, or a book about Henry Potter.

I can't remember which comedian, but he spoke about his mum saying he couldn't go to macdonalds when she could cook a better version at home.

So certain posters think that it is not an appropriate gift, after asking the parents who clearly approved of the present.

What's the point of asking if the posters' approval is what counts? (No, not really)

Yes, the child is 13 but he is closer to adulthood (in 5 years) than childhood (left behind 7 or 6 years ago)

Way to infantalize the gc

If anybody is not willing to think outside their box, please dont ask and just give money according to the giver standards

Gin

Well that is me convinced! Tomorrow I shall see if I can find it in the local town. I am not venturing into the crowds in Milton Keynes even for my lovely GS

Fingers crossed🤞 you can find a coffret for the same price! Maybe request some samples of others for him to try?

When my daughter was nine or ten, she didn't have the trainers that were hugely fashionable at the time.
Big tongues, lots of laces, thick soles.

I saw a pair on sale in a shop that was closing, and bought her a pair for her birthday... L.A Gear, if that's important- it was at the time.

She cried with happiness when she saw them, really sobbed.

It seems that I’m the only one who is against a lad barely in his teens wanting a spendy bottle of pong!

(And can I please add; it’s so nice to have a chat and vaguely disagree about stuff without insulting each other.
Not for the first time, I’ve been wondering is it worth it being on here)

I think that I’m probably being extremely sexist here. I’d have a totally different response to a girl’s unreasonable request

What would you consider an unreasonable request for a girl, though?

I remember my mum getting me things that she thought were 'just the same' as the real thing, but not quite, and that 'not quite' made all the difference

We lived in the USA when I was seven and I really wanted a tin lunchbox with a hinge and a handle like all the American kids had.

My Mum pooh poohed this and said a plastic Tupperware box was perfectly adequate. It was the subject of much interest but not in a good way, I was mortified.

My children were always allowed their choice of lunchbox 😇

Fanny,

What would that response be if it was a gd?

If you think it is sexist, it may totally be

P.S shall we have a fight about it?
Or a heated discussion, at the least?