25 Christmas gift ideas for tween boys they’ll really love (2023 edition)

At last, it’s gift ideas for tween boys time! We’ve found gifts to sort the teen girls, teen boys and tween girls and here we are buying for adolescent boys. They are a tough crowd to buy for, let me tell you.

If they’re sporty, they’ve already got all the sporting equipment they’ll ever need.

If they’re readers, they’ve already ploughed through the Andy Griffiths / David Wailliams / Anh Do standbys.

If they’re not readers or sporty types, then you’re in real trouble. Tween boys are hard work… I mean, to buy for. But also hard work in general.

This list contains all gift ideas for tween boys I could conjure up with a little help from my kids. I also kept in mind my favourite fantasy-child, who is into STEM and enjoys being with others.

All the lists are here:

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25 Christmas gift ideas for tween boys

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1. Clever game – $35

Codenames is a favourite at our house that we all actually love playing, so if you haven’t got a set yet, get onto it.

Get it at Gifts Australia.

 2. Backyard war – $49

I know, I know, it’s not good to get kids replica guns and encourage them to fire at each other. Wah! But they just love this kind of stuff and I’d rather they ran around the backyard with a Laser X laser tag set, than sat in their bedroom with their PS4 controller, you know?

Get it at Kmart.

 3. His own colony – $29.99

This Ant City kit requires a small level of care (so that’s good!). It’s sort of like the ultimate pet. The ants build a colony and your son gets to play his part in their survival. Ants are fascinating, and much less time consuming than a dog…

Get it at Dick Smith.

4. Stuck in traffic – $64.99

A small word of warning: I got Rush Hour for my son a couple of years back and I became obsessed with it. Could. Not. Stop. Playing. It was way more fun than an actual traffic jam, let me tell you. I’ve since been banned outright from going anywhere near the game – the wheels were starting to fall off the housework and I was so behind on my Netflix bingeing. I’ll bet your son will love it.

Get it at Dick Smith.

5. Fantastic beasts – $39.95

I helped out at our school’s book fair recently and THIS was the book all the year 6 boys were queuing up for. JK Rowling is still a sure thing.

Get it at Booktopia.

6. Yet more screen time – $519

Look, it’s all they really want. Sigh. Just make sure you get an OLED model…

Get it at Dick Smith.

7. Marble run fun – $89.95

How good does this look!!!!! (I’m starting to believe I may be a tween boy trapped in a middle-aged mother’s body.) Forget all the logical puzzle solving, fine-motor, brainiac benefits of Gravitrax and just get it because it’s awesome. Mind you, I don’t think this middle-aged mother needs this game to ‘experience the power of gravity’, thank you very much.

Get it at Dick Smith.

8. 12-months of fab – $72

The CSIRO put out DoubleHelix to encourage the 8-14 year old set to love science as much as the CSIRO clever clogs do. Eight issues over 12 months packed with puzzles, comics, games, prizes and science, technology, maths, engineering – all the good stuff that a literary/humanities type like me yawns through, but your son might ADORE.

Get it at CSIRO Shop. 

9. Dude food – $34.99

Give a boy his dinner and he’ll eat for 7 seconds. Teach him how to cook and he can make his own damn dinner. This Ministry of Food cookbook is the Jamie Oliver starter. He says ‘anyone can learn to cook in 24 hours’ – challenge accepted, Jamie.

Get it at Booktopia.

10. Adventure and intrigue – $15.80

I have a familial obligation to include my sister’s books in every book collection I write (this is not strictly true, but family is family). Luckily, Al’s books are brilliant. I’ve read them all and can highly recommend them for boys or girls aged from 8+. They are the kind of books that kids get lost in for days. Love that!

Get them at Booktopia.

11. Street cred – $129.99

Most tween boys don’t care about much, but they care about Vans. These kicks are classics.

Get them at Platypus Shoes.

13. Flying pictures – $164

A camera drone for under $200 bucks? Who knew!? It’s just a matter of time before they are delivering our take away… Look, I know absolutely nothing about drones, but this one has a great entry-level price and will give your kid a feel for the ‘sport’. Considering some camera drones are upwards of $5K, I reckon this is worth the money!

Get it at Kogan.

14. Soccer goals – $71.61

This soccer goal is foldable and portable, so your son can practise his aim wherever you happen to be. I’m sorry I can’t help you fix ALL of his aim, as much as I would like to get that sorted for you. Just the soccer.

Get it at Dick Smith.

15. Refurbished air – $190

It’s just a bit disconcerting seeing the word ‘air’ next to a $190 price tag next to something that’s basically second-hand. And you just know he’ll lose one or both of these within 45 seconds of opening his gift. But oh, you will be the most wonderful, best-ever, amazing person for that 45 seconds. You may even get a hug, and it’s totally worth $190  for that.

Get them at Dick Smith.

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17. New obsession – $119

AKA as ‘round ball’ Spikeball is volley ball’s latest incarnation. Frankly, I don’t think volleyball gets enough air time. This version is a super-fast, super-fun game for one, two, four or more players. You can set it up and play pretty much anywhere.

Get it at Spikeball.

 18. Time killer – $35

Darts is the kind of thing that most homes had in the eighties because there wasn’t a lot to do before the internet. Now, if your boy had a dart board, you could just say “get off that screen and go and play darts”. He’ll roll his eyes and complain loudly of boredom and how darts are stupid and unnecessary (just as we all did in the eighties), but will soon find himself up to dart throw number 326 with a smile on his face, because playing darts is like that.

Get it at Target.

19. Pool happy – $45.57

Personally, I find all pool toys to be a joy-sucking, forever-disappointing, waste of money that are destined to end up discarded in a sad puddle of sun-baked chlorine, but pool pong may yet change my mind!

Get it at Dick Smith.

20. Fitness tracker – $249

Of course, he’ll want an Apple watch and you’ll palm him off with this Garmin, but the $300 price difference will make his ungrateful, sad face completely bearable.

 Get it at Dick Smith.

21. Permission to nerd – $199.99

Do we get the attraction of metal detecting? No. Are we a 10-year-old boy? No we are not.

Get it at BCF.

22. Money for nothin’ – $your call

Personally my own kids would need to prize my hard-earned, real money out of my cold, dead hands before I gave it to them to buy virtual money, but every family is different. Bottom line is, reality game money is real bucks to tween boys. Your call.

Here’s a good guide to buying Minecoins (Minecraft) or V-Bucks (Fortnite) or Roblox.

23. SUP, people? – from $199

OMG, it would appear that supping is one of the most expensive things your kid could ever get into. I found the lowest price SUP that didn’t look like it would sink under the weight of a 5 year old. Fear not, this kit will last him years beyond his brief supping phase. It’s $479.99 or a bargain $199 club price (it’s free to join).

Get it at BCF.

24. Hand to hand wombat – $54.41

From the makers of Exploding Kittens comes another face-paced, irreverent, super-fun game that’s bound to become a thing for your boy this summer. It’s a game for a gang, which is nice.

Get it from Dick Smith.

25. The stars – $39

I will never not recommend giving our boys the universe.

Get it from Gifts Australia.

Any other gift ideas for tween boys to share?