Gift Guide For Teenagers and Young Adults Christmas 2017

It can be ridiculously hard to buy for teenagers and young people, especially once they're earning their own money. It's made even harder if you don't live with them and aren't up to date with what bands or TV Shows they are into this month. My lot have helped me come up with a few ideas that hopefully won't spend the next year in the back of a drawer...

LEGO.

While LEGO is a great gift for young people or teenagers, most people go through the 'wilderness years' where suddenly going out and drinking beer becomes more exciting than sitting in your room building models. Once University or Apprenticeship poverty hits home, staying in becomes more attractive again. There is a LEGO set for everyone.

Lights.

Teenagers and young people still have time to bother with things like setting a mood, so interesting lighting is always a winner. This Moonlight Table Lamp is under a tenner and the Sound Reactive Infinity Cube Light is reduced to £16.99.

Games.

For the more advanced gamer something new and exciting can be tricky to find. We love loads of games, but Colt Express and Ticket To Ride are universally popular, Carcassonne is a beautiful classic and a new game only released in March 2017 is Ndemic Creations Plague Inc. which is an excellent board game!

USB Sonic Toothbrush

Young people can just decide to stay over at the drop of a hat, so being ready to roll is an essential. The Sonic Chic Deluxe is ideal for keeping up good oral health whilst on the go. This USB rechargeable brush has an impressive 32,000 brush strokes per minute, a smidgen faster than by hand, and a sonic toothbrush can disturb more plaque beyond the reach of the bristles by producing pressure waves. £29.99 rrp, currently £19.99 on Amazon or in Boots.

Party Games.

For young people who don't often pretend they are a wizard for 5 hours at a time, Party Games may be the thing. Midnight Taboo (around £22) is really popular and this year there have been a couple of great new games which pretty much guarantee the laughs. They can also end up with some risque results. In The Game Of Things (rrp £32.99) players guess 'which of their opponents gave each answer'? and Who's The Dude? (rrp £24.99) requires you to act out whatever is written on your card with a 4'10" blow up dude...

Heated Coaster.

One of my kids game me this utter genius item for my birthday. Ian is a plug in heated coaster (currently around £14.99) with an on/off switch on the cable. I drink still-warm beverages regularly now! I also found another more festive use, but I probably should only show it with a warning about not setting fire to yourself or your home...

Books.

Books are always great gifts and for goodness sake ask the people in the bookshop to help - they know everything. Students spend so long reading the serious stuff that light relief is a favourite here.
Humans Vs Computers by Gojko Adzic (£9.99 paperback) is a lighthearted 'dip in' read that is going in the stocking of my 20 year old Uni student.

Curiscope.

I added this t-shirt to my STEM toys gift guide, but it works equally for older people. A brilliant Virtuali-Tee which shows your lifesized internal organs to anyone watching through the free app. Fun for all the family! Find out more on the Curiscope website. (Around £25).

Photoprinter.

We've just reviewed the HP Sprocket Photo Printer Gift Bundle and it's excellent. My 18 year old had already asked for this for her birthday. The quality of the ink-free printing is superb and it prints wirelessly straight from your phone camera or social media via the free app. Currently reduced to only £119.99 on Amazon.

Music.

A relatively safe option used to be record tokens. The modern equivalent is a music subscription streaming service. Spotify has over 30 million songs for £9.99 per month (students half price) and is totally portable. Electric Jukebox also has 30 million tunes and costs £52 a year, but you need the hub, a screen and Wi-Fi connection to work it. It does however have free karaoke and you can show a variety of things as screensaver while your music plays. Electric Jukebox's ROXI pack with microphone and hub has a year's streaming thrown in for £199. Currently reduced to £89.99 at Argos (black only).

Meccano.

Not little kid Meccano, but big kid stuff. They have some great programmable models now that do so much more than bolt together. Meccano Micronoids are less than £40 and M.A.X. their big brother is currently reduced to £134 on Amazon. It's Meccano, so you don't even have to make a robot...

Lumie Light Therapy.

Lumie use different coloured lights in all kinds of different ways. Body Clocks to wake you gently and soothe you to sleep, SAD Lights to bring some Summer into your Winter and even an Acne-reducing Lumie Clear Skin Lamp. Body Clock Lamps start at £59.95, Lumie Clear £149 (currently reduced to £119 on Amazon)..

Licensed Gifts and Stockingfillers.

Keyrings, coasters, drinking glasses, mugs, pens, mirrors, desk lamps, backpack buddies. You can buy just about anything with your hero's face, torso or logo on it. I work with Paladone a lot because their products are good and the licences are ones which are popular with my young people. Star Wars, Harry Potter, Batman, Super Mario - there's plenty to choose from stockingfillers to bigger gifts.

Drones.

Drones are a real big kid toy and the technology has come on massively in the last couple of years. You can get some pretty impressive gadgetry for well under £100. We've tried some great drones this year, but ultimate favourite has to be the amazing Parrot Swing Minidrone (£119.99). Anyone can learn to fly with this and it has some awesome technology. It's really only suitable outdoors though, so for inside try the tiny AirHogs DR1 Micro Race Drone - currently a mere £24.99 on Amazon.

Anki.

The Anki Overdrive is most likely the quickest set up, put away and track redesign of any car track and the vehicles are gorgeous. The starter kit is currently reduced to £112.49 and with a Fast % Furious Edition as well as Supertrucks, there's plenty to excite anyone. Anki are also responsible for Cozmo, an amazingly cute and intelligent robot who is also reduced to £159.99 on Amazon at the moment.

Phone Accessories.

Few young people are without their phones nowadays and there are all kinds of lenses, cases, selfie equipment, light boxes and other bits and pieces you can buy for them. You can even turn your smartphone into a telescope thanks to the Discovery Channel.

Stationery. 

We all love stationery, students still use more of it than most. There is a wealth of attractive stationery out there which is still sensible, One of the most exciting things I've reviewed recently is the Bic Colour 36 Permanent Marker Pens - currently reduced on Amazon at £9.75.

Vouchers.

After all of that list, money is often the first answer on my young people's lips. It's a safe gift, but it's boring. You can jazz it up by giving vouchers instead, then you have a better idea of what it'll actually be spent on. Book tokens, STEAM Gaming, Boots, Amazon, department stores and even supermarket vouchers can be handy gifts for cash-strapped students.

Last but not least - A Cuddly Toy.

There's a plushy out there for everyone. Even big hairy grown up children need a hug every now and again... This 12" Star Wars BB-8 can even double up as a small bolster cushion, so no-one really needs to know... rrp £12.99, currently reduced to £10 on Amazon.

I was sent some of these items for review, if so then I've linked to it. I'm an Amazon affiliate, so if you buy through my link I earn a few pennies, but you don't pay any more!