Gift Ideas for 6 Year Old Boy When Money Is Tight....

Depends on the boy, I think. I have a 7 yo and last year he was into silly bandz, Lego cars, Lincoln Logs and books about sports, baseball cards, football cards......

I am not sure what you consider inexpensive. But my son got an ant farm last year...a Fracination Artworks one, the kind with the gel. He absolutely loved that thing. The whole family enjoyed watching it. He was four at the time, but every kid that came through our house thought it was really cool. Our friend with a six year old says he has added it to his Santa list. :)

And board games are often a fun choice. At six, maybe Operation, Connect Four or Battleship.

My son is almost 6 and the "presents" that he likes the best are not toys etc...it is spending time with us/family....and getting our full attention to do something that he is interested in.

So this was the best gift my son ever got and cost was basically free. He was 5 1/2 at the time.

He loves to "work with tools". I made him up a homemade card shaped like a hammer and invited him to a day of his choice to be a "workman" with mommy.

On that day I set up a few "projects". Took scrap wood, ods and ends off left over house projects and made it into a "project". So we pounded in nails, drilled holes in the boards, put in screws. Screwed on hinges, etc, etc. Ended up with something that was not recognizable - but man did he have fun....still hear about it 6 months later.

Another idea....give a small fire truck and follow up on another day with a trip to the fire department and then McDonalds. The fire depts in our area will always give us a tour of the fire house, let the kids sit in the engines, go in the ambulance, put on the coats and boots, etc. We have just showed up to the fire dept and nicely asked if they were not busy if they could show us around. The firemen have always be overly generous with their time and give us the full tour and usually they have badges and plastic fire hats that they give to the kids. Have just dropped by the firehouse 3-4 times in the past year and been graciously greated by several different fire departments. Follow that up with icecream or McDonalds and you have just given my son a great day.

Or take some other idea that your son would be interested in and make an afternoon of it....he will love it. Think about something like this.

I did a coupon book for my daughter one year. Not sure if it would matter if it's a girl or boy.... but it had 'coupons' in it for things like:
1. Stay up past midnight (had to be a non-school night)
2. Tonight's dinner is an ice-cream sundae
3. Mom does your chores for one Saturday

etc etc etc.

She LOVED them and they didn't really cost me anything - and the ones that did cost money had a delayed cost because she was redeeming them in the months after Christmas.

Good Luck and Merry Christmas!

I have bought games at the thrift store. and puzzles at the Dollar store.
If he already has and is into Legos you could get one of those tiny speciality sets. My five 1/2 year old would be happy with match box cars. Depends on his likes and hobbies
WE have video of my daughter (dont know how old she was) opening Christmas presents and she got a box of 64 crayons and she is going on and on about how many different shades of pink and peach and so on and so on, meanwhile there all these unwrapped presents sitting under the tree-priceless video!
Add something he needs anyway-like a shirt or sweatshirt with a cool character he likes on it can be wrapped up. I gave my son light up Buzz Lightyear sneakers for his birthday and he was very happy- he got lots of toys from friends and relatives.

Cars , action figures, a good old fashioned bucket of army men and cardboard boxes that you can build forts , car garages and battle terrain.

Not sure of your budget. So, here are some things my 6 year old boy loves that aren't crazy expensive:

Lego sets. Some are ~ $15.
Games with no winners or losers like "Kid's Talk" (about $9 on Amazon)

lightsabers - we found some official ones for $9, but look at Rhode Island Novelty (online) too:
https://secure.rinovelty.com/index.cfm/fuseaction/product...

movies (Star Wars, but really anything appropriate)

books - both ones he can read and ones to be read to him (your local library might have a book sale about now). He's enjoying Jane Cutler's "Jason & Edward" books a lot right now.

6 year old bots aren't too hard to please. Just stick with what he's into & you're golden.

My six year old nephew still loves his matchbox car collection. I get him the newest cars out in his favorite colors. They are usually 6 cars for less than $10.00. Or even get him a track for the cars, or a storage case. You don't say if this boy is yours or someone else's but my 6 year old loves anything with wheels he has since he was born it seems.

Google how to make a marshmallow gun - they are easy to make, inexpensive, and the kids love them - ammo is cheap too.

http://www.ehow.com/how_###-###-####_make-marshmallow-gun...

I would rather give 2 or 3 very nice gifts.....rather than a whole slew of inexpensive things. Quality over quantity. The quantiity can be placed in the child's Christmas stocking.

Lots of good options out there. If he has one special area of interest (Toy Story, etc), then focus the bulk of your purchasing there. Is he into sports? What about a football, a soccer ball, basketball, etc? Is he artistic- a big box of art supplies would be great! As for cars & stuff, thru the years, I have found that buying at some of our local discount stores is not always a better way to go. The quality is lacking & often the vehicles are broken by the end of the 1st day. A better option is to buy Hot Wheels, just fewer....& those value packs available at Christmas are always fun! My son collected cars until he was ?10 & still has most of them!

After years & years of searching for the best bang for my buck, what I have realized is: the time & energy spent in this search really adds to my angst. Now when I need an inexpensive gift, I purchase the best of what's readily available (within my budget) & call it a day. The pressure is gone, & if the gift costs a few dollars more than my goal.....then I figure I'm ahead because my time/gas $ has been saved! Taking it a step further, my best friend continually complains about the cost of shipping when ordering online. Each time, I ask her how much she would have spent to drive to the city & find something....it all averages out in the long run!

at that age my son was crazy for big empty boxes that he could play in. how about going behind some stores and getting their empty boxes? or better yet, go in and talk to someone and see what they can set aside for you! refrigerator boxes are awesome! you could set him up a little "city" in your garage (if you have one) with some of the boxes done by you to look like buildings and some left blank for him to do whatever he pleases with.

Have you looked at the scholastic book orders that come from school or online? They have some cute, inexpensive computer games that are educational. Got one about animals for my animal mad then-6 year old for christmas last year, and she loved it! Under $10, doesn't take up a lot of room, educational and got lots of use!

My 6 year old loves legos. They are pretty inexpensive too. They have all different types, large or small boxes! I have also done movie boxes... I find a movie that they like, some popcorn, couple things of candy, etc and put it in a basket for him. He loves movie night.

Good Luck.

guns cars and colors and color books or workbooks. chutes and ladders or games like that. flash cards to help with school. puzzles yoyos. footballs the paddles with the balls attached or the cups with the balls attached. books. you can get all of this stuff at a dollar store like family dollar. or the .99 store. dollar general you can get cheap stuff at also. I get my nephews body paint a toothbrush and toothpaste a santa clause hat dumb but they lovedit. anything like that is a great start.