Holiday Gift Guide for Tweens: Electronic Edition

The Christmas holiday is coming quickly and that means it’s time to start shopping for gifts for your tween. I’d take a guess that the No. 1 gift category for tweens (and teens…) is electronics, so this series will start there.

MP3 Players:

MP3 players are a huge win for gift giving. The ubiquitous iPod probably takes the cake for mini music-players, but don’t forget about Microsoft’s Zune and offerings from San Disk and Sony. And if your child already has an iPod or Zune, you can always upgrade their headphones or purchase an iTunes or Zune store card.

e-Book Readers:

It’s an exciting time in the world of e-book readers. The Amazon Kindleexploded onto the scene a while back and added some real excitement to electronic books. Barne and Noble followed in with the Nook and Sony has had an electronic book for years. Though I’m partial to paper books, I can definitely see the advantage to carrying your library in an easy-to-access device.

Game Systems:

If you’re keen on letting your tween get some gamer time, there’s an array of video game systems available.

The XBox, Playstation and Wii have all seen recent price drops for the home systems and portable systems lik the DS/DSi and PSP/PSP Go are hugely popular for kids on the move.

Like the MP3 players, if your house already has a system, you can always upgrade components or purchase new games.

Desktop, notebook and Netbook PCs:

You can always combine the music playing available in iPods, the books from Kindle and video gaming with a computer. Notebooks are the fastest growing segment of PC, and Netbooks are inexpensive machines that allow for quick access to the Internet, but the desktop PC is where you get the best bang for your holiday dollar.

Check your local electronics seller for the best deals.

For what it’s worth, Mini is getting a new music player and gift card for the appropriate online store and maybe a set of more comfortable headphones.

Have you started shopping for your tween’s Christmas? Do you need some advice on what to get? Ask questions, make suggestions or share your ideas in the comments.