Best gift for teenagers

[hatredisnotavalue]

Just got our two the portable listening devises. 90 bucks each.
No more CD players, and no more cds to burn and no more batteries. Yahoo!

edited for spelling

[cornfedyank]

1. something alternative...just to invoke thought.

provoke their minds.

[hatredisnotavalue]

2. ??n/t

[cornfedyank]

4. maybe even an intangible..oh, but that don't raise GNP.

Buy Nothing Day

[hatredisnotavalue]

7. Wow you are way cool!!

I wish I could be like you. But just to let you know, we generate our own power, burn wood, grow our own food and have a battery-operated car. Our internet provider is from the tower we put up in our back yard. Can you say the same?

[cornfedyank]

8. not yet

sounds like you already have everthing. all the more reason to buy nothing.

on edit: i guess you just have to know the teenager's wants and needs.

[OldLeftieLawyer]

3. Books?

Who knows? Stranger things have happened.

[hatredisnotavalue]

5. I don't understand

What is this thing you call "books"? Do you mean the things that my children have read since they were babies. That both have read Kafka and Camus. Along with Hesse and Tolstoy and countless other great authors.

[hatredisnotavalue]

6. delete

[Gryffindor_Bookworm]

9. Good choice.

Sorry you're getting grief over it.

The teenagers and pre-teens in my life get that electronic gadgetry stuff from their parents. I get the smart ones bookstore gift certificates and the social butterflies mall gift certificates. (I believe a gift should suit the recipient, not the giver, in most cases.)

[sbj405]

10. I agree. I'm sure the teens will be quite happy with their gift. nt

[MrModerate]

11. "Portable listening devices?"

Could be anything from a bone-phone to an ear trumpet.

What precisely are we talking about here?

[asthmaticeog]

12. You chose VERY wisely.

Have you, by chance, read this: http://www.whatacrappypresent.com

It's a thorough explanation of why parents will always fail when buying CDs for their kids, with some sly anti-RIAA agit-prop. An amusing read.

[Hotler]

13. The American Heritage College Dictionary

and "A Writer's Reference" by Diana Hacker

[gollygee]

14. Good choice

When you buy gifts for people, you buy what *they'd* like, not what you'd like them to like.

[johnfunk]

15. I'm giving my nephew and niece "America: The Book"

Their Dad's a Bushbo Conservaborg -- and they resent it. They also have warped senses of humor and love The Daily Show.

Oh, yes... I got the first edition with the nekkid Supremos! Rehnquist has a small willie!

[gollygee]

16. OK I'm really curious

for the people who responded to this suggesting that this dad either not buy anything, or buy something his kids are unlikely to want. . .

Would that seem OK to you if he were buying presents for elderly parents? Or is it only OK to buy bad gifts (or nothing) for *teenagers* on Christmas?

Since when is gift-buying about what you think someone *should* want instead of what they'd actually like?

This is bugging me. It's Christmas!