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Great Gift ideas for Teens
The Obvious Gift for Any Teen: A Cell Phone
When one attempts to focus on the most wonderful, useful gift one could possibly give a teenage son or daughter, an educated mind will quickly come up with one ringing word: Cell phone! This is the gadget of the century, and it is perfect for both the giver and the receiver, simply because it provides a link of constant contact from the giver to the receiver.
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The first step in selecting a cell phone is deciding on the service; generally, your area includes one of the following service providers: Verizon™, Sprint™, Cellular One™, T-Mobile™, or Cingular™. Big name brands are usually the best decision, since their prices are always kept competitive by each other. For the simplest plan, you will pay about $40 a month to keep the service working.
Cell phones come in many makes and prices; the most common are Motorola phones, especially the famous “RAZR™” (which will cost you about $50 with a two-year service agreement). A cell phone has become somewhat of a status symbol for the late junior high and high school scene.
To find out which model is the best choice for your teen, go to the website of your soon-to-be service provider (www.sprint.com, www.verizon.com, www.cingular.com, etc). They’ll ask for your area code, and then tell you what they think is your best option! It’s relatively painless...just remember, the cost of the entire gift will equal about $40 a month for the most inexpensive service, and an extra $50 or so, if you want to get them a really snazzy phone.
The Secondary Gift for Any Teen: An MP3 Player
Chances are, music of some sort is one of the most important parts of your teenager’s life; and one of the biggest new gift ideas is the wonderful technology of the MP3 player...imagine a little piece of technology smaller than your hand that can hold five hundred CDs worth of music...and play for hours on end.
Before even considering this option, it’s important to know that without a functioning computer at home, the gift is absolutely without value; your teen will need a place to upload music to their new player. Once that’s determined, you just have to decide on which MP3 player to purchase! The price range will be somewhere between $100 and $400 for a really nice player, depending upon the hard drive space (how many songs it can hold), its design, and effectiveness.
The most famous, and arguably the best, choice is the iPod™ by Apple; it comes in three main models, the shuffle (which is very small, holds a limited number of songs, and does not allow you to select what song to listen to), the nano (which is small, effective, and made of lightweight aluminum (the pick of most iPod™ customers), and the current iPod™, which changes every few years. This year’s model comes in black or white, and holds huge numbers of songs...30 or 80 gigabytes worth. The shuffle will run you $80, which makes it the price-effective choice; the nano will cost between $150 and $200 for a common model, which comes in one of five colors and includes everything to upload and show pictures. The iPod itself will cost $250 (it’s important to note that the current iPod also plays videos, which is great for teens these days). To buy an iPod, go to www.apple.com and select the link that says “iPod + iTunes.”
There are tons of other brands out there that make perfectly viable MP3 players, but the main competition for iPod would have to be the company Creative, which boasts attractive designs for their “Zen™” players. The player you’d want is called the “Zen Vision:M™,” and it comes in one of five colors...this is the best buy for the price, and has received numerous awards for its ease of use and myriad of features. It will run you about $250, and let you watch movies, view pictures, and play tons of music, all just as well as iPod’s best. It even has a built in FM radio! The Zen™ player is known to be a bit more reliable than an iPod™, but slightly less supported by the MP3 community...iTunes, the program shipped with iPod™, is generally considered the best music player out there. Go to www.creative.com to purchase a Zen Vision:M™.
For something less expensive, check out the selection of MP3 players from www.tigerdirect.com, which will give you a huge number of other choices. So that you don’t get overloaded, keep the following specs in mind for an effective player:
2gb means 2 gigabytes of music, which is usually enough if it’s just a music player...don’t go lower than this, though, or you won’t get your money’s worth.
Big name = big guarantee. If you’ve never heard of the company, it might just mean that you can’t trust them. Most computer companies make an MP3 player of some sort, but basically the only ones you know you can trust are Microsoft, Apple, Dell, Sandisk, and Ultra.
If your kid already has an effective MP3 player or CD player, consider getting a nice pair of earphones for them...go to www.tigerdirect.com and click on “accessories,” and then on “headphones.”
The Pricey Gift for Any Teen: A Laptop
If it seems like electronics are the only option, that’s because in today’s world, they pretty much are. The pinnacle of an electronic gift would be a laptop, which can serve your teenager well through their college years and is often incredibly handy through their high school career.
It’s incredibly pricey to buy a nice lap-top, though; if you don’t have a thousand bucks to dish out for this gift, you might as well skip on to the next suggestion - it’s simply impossible to buy an inexpensive laptop. With that said, you can bet on a price range between $800 and $1200. The best place to find a laptop that won’t cost too much is, once again, on www.tigerdirect.com, because this site carries refurbished, or used and tested, laptops. Your best bet will be in the section titled “Featured laptops,” which will be at the top of your screen, as soon as you click on “laptops” on the main page of the website. If you aren’t computer-savvy, it’s easy to find the laptop you need by clicking the link that says “Need Help Deciding?” in the bottom left-hand corner of the page.
If you want to purchase a laptop more securely, head to www.dell.com or www.gateway.com and click on their “notebook” or “laptop” links...these professional sites are very good at leading you through the process of picking a laptop.
An Unlikely Gift for Guys: Clothes
Let’s face it: very few teenage guys are willing to shell out their hard-earned cash to buy themselves something as unexciting as pants or a boring old shirt. But the problem remains: these things are necessities. You may just be surprised at how grateful a young man will be for interesting, fashionable clothing that he didn’t pay a cent for.
Shirts and pants are the most obvious gifts in this category, but other options would include interesting gloves (especially fingerless models), or hats if you live in a cold area. The important thing is that you have as good a fashion sense as your young counterpart...do not, under any circumstances, buy clothing that you’re not sure he will wear.
The best place to buy clothing is your local department store, whatever it may be...if you are within an hour’s drive of a Ross Dress for Less™ store, it would be a great idea to pack your credit cards with you and head out, circling aisles, and amassing a large pile of possible articles of clothing. The more variety you can find, the better...just be sure that it’s not something he won’t be seen wearing! Casually find out what brands he favors, and check a shirt or pair of pants to see what size he is, if you don’t want to ask him straight-out.
An Unlikely Gift for Girls: Books
Even if your kid isn’t much of a reader, you can be sure that there’s something in the wide world of literature that will interest her. Note: self-help books are not suggested.
What is she interested in? If she’s an athlete, consider a book on sports and inspirational figures. If she’s more of a thinker, there are plenty of great philosophy books that won’t fly over her head - they might even change her view of the world! There are books documenting every hobby, every hero...and don’t forget the massive world of fiction! For example, the collection of all the Harry Potter books - which are favored amongst all age groups - would be a wonderful gift to increase their knowledge and reading skills, while taking up a good amount of their time.
Don’t be afraid to be creative, and you’re sure to find the perfect gift for your teen!
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