I have a 9 (nearly 10) yo son and it's becoming harder and harder to find the smaller (cheaper) sort of presents for. His younger sister is a doddle. Early-ish on (October/November) I got DS a chocolate tool kit to go in his stocking, just as well I picked up when I did. Asda haven't had them back in. I've seen a whole supermarket aisle devoted to sweets and chocolates that come in tins with fairies on or pink and sparkly bags etc. Toiletries are another one loads of stuff for girls of all ages but for an older boy you have to hope they like or won't outgrow Dr Who or Top Gear. Ever tried buying a child's size umbrella for a boy? You might after lots of searching come across a Scooby Doo or Power Ranger one amongst all the Barbie, Bratz, Fifi, Dora stuff- you don't even seem to be able to buy plain coloured ones. I bought my 8yo nephew a child's wallet (power rangers) that I saw in an Independant ex catalogue type shop. I've seen one other for a boy since. Meanwhile his twin sister I must have had the choice of about 40 different ones in Claire's and Accessorize. Last year my mum couldn't find nephew a lock up journal he'd asked for, loads of pink glittery ones but nothing for a boy - she eventually found one plain one in a Stationers. Why is this. I know men are difficult to buy for and put it down to women preferring shopping but women are looking to buy their young male relatives items as well as their females ones, so why is it so hard??

I agree about this. My DS is 3 and I've had no problem buying main presents for him, but am really struggling to find little gifts. Where as my DD has loads of stocking presents but I've had more difficulty finding main gifts for her. Even Christmassy pyjamas are few and far between for boys. I haven't been any to find any affordable ones in his size, in the end I've bought the least pink of the girls pyjamas in M&S. Things like little notebooks, bubble bath, should be available in something other than pink and pretty! My DS has only just learnt from nursery that he's not meant to go for pink sadly as in the past he loved it, as his big sister and Mummy both like pink so he wanted to be like us.

have you tried primark for pyjamas, they have some nice ones and sometimes do character ones

I find this annoying too from the POV that I have a girl but I don't want everything in pink. She has some lovely pink things don't get me wrong- I'm not completely anti pink, but I see little need for every item she owns to be in pink. I also buy good quality toy's as I know I want more children (I'm currently expecting no. 2 and we are not finding out the sex) so I want unisex/ neutral toys as I want to pass them on. I don't have an issue with a boy playing with 'girls' toys but I would prefer toy's to just be bright colours or the colour of the actual item in the case of 'home corner' type toy's. It has always been the way that boy's stuff comes in much smaller ranges, even clothes are harder to buy for boy's they just don't seem to make as much stuff, and the things they do make are soooo samey, whereas girls stuff comes in every colour/ style under the sun. I do find however that places such as home bargains usually have a quite good mix of boys/ girls stocking filler gifts.

i struggle for my son every year, he has just turned 10 and isnt into things like ben 10 and star wars, trying to find neutral boys stuff is getting harder every year

For 9 and 10 year olds have you seen the Science Museum ranges ( sainsburys does them too) http://www.sciencemuseumshop.co.uk/b...a&showAll=true Im sure you can get many of these things cheaper elsewhere I do agree though, from what Ive seen theres a lot of pink sparkle out there for little ones and not a lot else!

your struggling because your female, and dont appreciate what a young lad wants. get a bloke to do it, and he'll walk it. its exactly the same the other way around...

i've noticed it with clothes. in my asda the whole of 1 side of an aisle is girls clothes and the boys is bout half it. all blue....no real variety in colours at all. i was hoping it might get better as he hets older but from all your postsi dont think it will.

honestly, dont get these.... unless your child is an aspiring nerd. try nerf guns and remote controlled stuff...

I agree too, and after 4 sons have had this problem for 25 years. Usually resort to Thorntons football boot, beanie hats, football related stuff, aftershave, or joke books for the small stockings we hang on the fireplace.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Hasbro-Nstri...0641958&sr=1-5 if i was 10... hell i might just get myself one now!

I would guess 99% of the male population would love one of those. My OH who is almost 50, still bleats on about his Johnny seven!!!!

But OP was asking about stocking fillers and at ￡68.99 I would hope you don't class it as a stocking filler!

I didn't find it too hard buying for ds, almost 10 years old. I have a ￡5 limit per stocking pressie and refuse to buy "plastic junk" but tend to stick around ￡3. Ds has a lot of books, mainly broken up sets from the book people and some put aside for his birthday 6 weeks after christmas, I think he had 7 books when I was wrapping but he does love them and some were comedy books as well as novels. He has a couple of food items - a box of matchmakers and a chocolate santa. A waterbomb catapult that was 99p from a Tesco sale, which will be a hit. A car model that you make yourself as well as a book that I think you can make sports cars from, a few Lego Bionicle items that I got with a tesco glitch on here and a ￡4 Top Gear DVD and annual.Then he has some real cheapies like a magic trick, a freaky bouncy ball, some shrinkles. There must be a few more things but they are wrapped up now. I do like Hawkins Bazaar for boys - about September time they have an online sale with 50% off and I picked up a lot of presents there both for him and the pressie box for kids parties. The Works is good too, ours had some airfix style models that were cheap, as well as books. Marks and Spencer online are doing a 50% off some items at the moment, there were some good mugs with sweets in for boys, as well as Meccano - ￡5 down to ￡2.50. All in all though, yes, girls are easier to buy for. Merry Christmas everyone

yep... its a bit of fun

Pfft .... the Science museum stuff is great. Dig a Dino, chemistry sets, robotics, electronics - the books on there are good too. "No plastic junk" is my mantra, I swear the kids even chant it when we walk past Toys R Us. No idea what a nerf gun is but we don't "do" guns. Remote control stuff is fine but this is MSE and the 10 AAA batteries that you forgot to buy to go in it can cost just as much as the item itself and if you do remember will have run out by Boxing Day.

thank god your not my mum.. sounds like a blast in your house.

Do you have kids ?

From another thread i would say he does and is being asked to pay for them and he doesnt like it If anyone has any ideas on what i can buy a 1 year old boy (friends child) ideas would be appreciated its the only present im stuck with now

I got my lil 1 year old nephew a pull along telephone from Fisher Price, they had a pull along doggie as well that looked cute.