Holiday Gift Ideas: Five great gadget gifts for kids
Kids really love presents, and usually, the more with them the better. But even kids can be hard to shop for sometimes. If you're scratching your head over what to get a youngster in your life, here's five gadget-related suggestions.
1. Star Wars Mimobot USB Flash Drives: Mimobot makes a ton of different pop culture-styled USB drives, but the Star Wars editions are my favorite. Available in many of your favorite characters (Luke Skywalker, Han Solo, Princess Leia, C-3P0 and a few others), you're bound to find a suitable one for any kid...or kid at heart. They're a bit pricey, starting at $24.95 for 2 GB of space, but they're definitely more fun than the typical USB key. Unfortunately, our favorite feisty Princess is already sold out.
2. iPod Shuffle: The shuffle is a great starter MP3 player, and perfect for older kids. Available in black, silver, hot pink, neon green and shocking blue, the Shuffle is comes with either 2 or 4 GB, for $59 and $79, respectively. Now you just have to throw in more money for them to buy 1,000 songs to fill it with on iTunes.
3. Skullcandy Headphones: White earbuds can get boring (and they don't last beyond a few months usually), and a kid can show more flair and personality with some more original-looking headphones. Skullcandy has a large catalog of earpieces varying in colors and designs, ranging from $19.95 in-earphones to $70 mindblowing-sound headsets.
4. Hello Kitty Digital Camera: OK, I know I went off on Hello Kitty before, but there's nothing wrong with Hello Kitty gadgets for kids (just not $500+ LCD screens shaped like her head). These kiddy pocket cams aren't too expensive ($35 on Amazon), and you have a choice between three different designs. I had a similar 35mm film edition when I was young, and at the time, it was one of my most prized possessions. But such cameras are very simple as they're intended for kids: they will drop it and it's not meant to last forever, if even until next December.
5. Nintendo DSi: You can't really go wrong with this one. Definitely a high-end gift ($170), it will please any kid, and he or she will keep it for years to come. (I still have my Super Nintendo system from when I was 9 years old, and if I was given an original Gameboy, I'm sure I'd still have that too.) One of the really good aspects of the gaming industry today is that they're really trying to cater more to a young female demographic, so you should be able to find plenty of title choices for either boys or girls.