Surprising stuffers
Author: Daya Chaney Webb

Surprising stuffers
Unique gifts for your teen’s Christmas stocking

By Daya Chaney Webb

As neighborhood streets begin to blink and glow from houses bejeweled with multicolored lights and other festive trimmings, parents hope to find holiday gifts their children might not expect.
Stocking stuffers usually are fairly predictable. Lip balm, gift cards and toiletries are old standbys that continue to be useful, particularly to teens. However, maverick parents might want to take the risk this year and include a few less-anticipated items.
This Christmas, astound your teenagers with unique stocking stuffers. They just might think you’re cool … not!

High-tech treats
Techno teens are all about electronic accessories this year.
Stacie Rohn, unit director at the Boys and Girls Club in Charles Town, W.Va., asked a few teens sitting nearby what kinds of things they would like to see in their stockings.
“They will be asking for things like ‘Spi-dog’ (Spider-Man) and Hannah Montana iPod music stations/alarm clocks, colorful ear buds, new skins (decorative covers for iPods), iTunes gift certificates to download music and Radio Shack gift certificates for other technological goodies,” Rohn says.
Among the myriad iPod accessories is a new generation of adornments. GeleSkins are removable vinyl art prints for personalizing and protecting the portable music devices. With hundreds of styles ranging from fine-art prints to urban modern art, your teen just might share his or her collection with you after you master your own iPod.
IKaraoke for iPod is another fun way for children to enjoy their favorite music. It sends the music from an iPod to a nearby stereo without the lead vocals. With features to enhance performance and easy navigation, iKaraoke can be used for parties or everyday singalongs.
The WiFi Rabbit is all the rage this year, taking tween and teen Internet usage to a new level. An Internet pet that looks like a white rabbit with green or pink ears, the WiFi Rabbit connects to a wireless Internet service. The device keeps track of frequently visited Web sites, reads aloud daily news headlines, sounds off every hour of connection, notifies owners of new instant messages and e-mails, plays favorite MP3’s as a morning alarm and leads a bedtime meditation before your teen submits to sleep. This item costs nearly $200 and therefore is pricey for a stocking, but younger teens likely will love it.
“The best thing about electronic music and computer accessories is that both boys and girls alike can appreciate them,” Rohn says.

Girly and green
Lydia McBride, unit director of the Boys and Girls Club in Martinsburg, asked the teen girls at her center what items they hoped for in their stockings. Their responses were more traditional.
“Girls here like cosmetics, body glitter, fake tattoos, artificial fingernails with jewels, DVDs, CDs and gift cards for stocking stuffers,” McBride says.
For a unique spin on the tried-and-true, The Body Shop offers an alternative to the traditional perfume gift. A set of six aromas in one kit allows the wearer to invent her own scent.
While individuality and technology are important to teens, a green and global-thinking theme also is emerging in their culture.
In Hagerstown, Ten Thousand Villages carries hundreds of items fairly traded with African countries and sometimes made from recycled materials.
“We have polished rocks with inspirational words like ‘love, peace and hope,’ bracelets made from flip-flops which washed up on the beaches of Kenya, jewelry made from recycled soda cans and other recycled items,” says employee Naomi Biler.
Shopping at Ten Thousand Villages for teenagers sends an eco-friendly and socially aware message to which more and more young people are paying attention.

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