8yr old birthday gift ideas

boyohboyohboy wrote: caleb is about to turn 8!
I am trying to think of some more age appropriate toys for him
we have a three and one yr old and frankly most all of the toys in the house are for them.
Caleb likes the lego's and has the tiny ones as well as the larger ones. We have a wii, and he enjoys the computer games, but I was considering getting him a game boy. He wants a Nintendo DS but I honestly have issues with spending $100 on one game, and then have him break it, he is not careful with his stuff, he leaves it out and most of it gets broken.
Now we tried some of the smaller lego star wars toys and he doesnt seem to be able to put them together.
I thought about going to game stop and getting a refurbished game boy and seeing how he treats that first, and also these games are cheap so he can work on getting his allowance and getting his own games.
What else is more age appropriate for 8 yr old boys?
He is into star wars and has pokemon cards..
he isnt into any sports.

kimberley replied: do you guys have EB games? they sell refurbished and cheap. even walmart dropped the price of the DS since the new one (DSi) came out. you can play gameboy games on the DS or i wouldn't have bought it. EB sells cheap used ones.

i love our DS's and PSP cuz it keeps them quiet in the car and crazy rain days!

boyohboyohboy replied: I bought my dh a psp a few years ago and it was $200 I just cant see spending that kind of money on a system he is going to break.
Is EB the actual name of the store? I will check that out.

mom21kid2dogs replied: Does he like regular games? Olivia has some boy friends that like to come over and play Spongebob Life and Battleship. Monopoly & Are you smarter than a 5th grader? are also popular with them, too.

I definately wouldn't go the electronic game route if you think he'll break it.

ETA: Her friends also love cornhole and ladder golf. They are always dragging that out of the garage. Kites are also big around here.

kimberley replied: the store is EB Games. (EB short for Electronic Boutique). i can send you our old game boy but it's missing the battery cover.

momofone replied: i bought a nintendo ds used at game stop for 69 and a 1 year warranty for 20 and the used games are about 14-20 my dd loves it.

MommyToAshley replied:
Ashley loves Battleship and Monopoly too! She also likes Yahtzee and Sorry. She wants Sorry Sliders so we will probably get that for her for Christmas. It's funny she also likes cornhole and played croquet for the first time the other day and loved it. Maybe he'd like one of those games.

What about music? Is he into music yet? We got Ahsley an i-dog for her ipod Shuffle for her 7th birthday. She's very careful with them though. I don't remember the exact cost of the ipod shuffle, but I don't think it was over $50.

If you go the route of the handheld games, I bet he would like the Lego Star Wars game. Ashley beat that game, and it was her favorite for a long time.

What about some sort of Star Wars Action figure set... do they make those that come with a ship (sort of like they do Barbies)?

What about a remote control car or helicopter? Rod is a big kid and still plays with those and Ashley loves them too.

boyohboyohboy replied: we have a lot of the board games you guys mentioned but its hard to get them out with the two little ones around and they lose all the pieces..
we do have a ton of star wars figures and the planes..
I wont pay for those either, thats a gramma gift, I just have issue with toys that are $100 for kids to tear apart..It might be more of a boy thing, but they like to smash the cars together and have battles..
we have the GI Joe stuff for his birthday and we were thinking of a hand held game for him for his christmas present.

I am going to check out game stop and see what they have.

I think the game boy is the best option right now..
I wonder if they make one for kids younger?
is there something like a hand held game for 4yr olds?

kimberley replied: they have the leapster leapfrog site

boyohboyohboy replied:
LOL! I just found that system and was looking at two of those..
and posted about them.

kimberley replied: lol too funny. i don't know much about leapster2.

MommyToAshley replied:
Personally, I think Caleb may be too old for either of those. Some of the games say they go up to 8 or 9, but Ashley hasn't played with her vsmile (which is similar) in a few years.

bluebear replied: What about a Wii game that's only his to play? Lego Star Wars is for the Wii


GameBoys are outdated now, and the screen is too small. you can only play gameboy advance games on the DS. (not DSi)
if you do get him a DS, you can get a case around it so when he drops it, nothing won't happen. I've seen VERY thick rubber cases that protect it from every bump. if I get my nephew one I'm definitely getting him the case.
case

boyohboyohboy replied:
thanks for the ideas, but caleb wont know that the game boy is outdated, there are tons of games like the pokemon at game stop for $5 that he will enjoy.
we have an old old one that the back lite is broken you cant even see the screen but he likes it.
so I think thats the route I am going.
I just feel he will break a DS or leave it somewhere, he is really immature.

I dont like the star wars lego stuff for wii because I dont like him playing the fighting games. Most of the games, just change his behavior, so we stick to mario and those type.

Its hard for me to believe he is 8, and so letting him grow up is hard too.

bluebear replied: In that case, I'd go with a GameBody Advance SP. It has a backlight button and it folds in half like a DS.