For many people the holiday season is their favorite time of the year, and understandably so. It’s when families are able to spend time together and enjoy each other’s company in a way that doesn’t happen during other times of the year. However, for many people the holiday season also brings a certain level of stress along with it. Shopping for gifts can be incredibly difficult and expensive, especially when buying for a big family or group of friends. Trying to make everyone happy with a useful gift they’ll appreciate isn’t easy, that’s we have put together a helpful gift guide to try and ease the load!
At SiamMandalay, we often hear how great our puzzles and games work as gifts for birthdays, Christmas, and other special occasions. 3D wooden puzzles and brainteasers are great gifts for people who have everything, providing some of the hottest holiday gifts of the year. So if you are looking for Christmas gift ideas for any of your family or friends, this year you won’t need a holiday shopping catalog to guide you through it. We have poured over the reviews, talked with customers, and have finally concluded exactly which puzzles and games are ideal gifts for each member of your family. In this blog we will go through our top recommended gifts for Mom, Dad, children, teenagers, and Grandparents that they are sure to love.
Gifts for Moms
For Moms, we recommend our puzzle Vegas Baby. Vegas Baby is a cube puzzle that draws inspiration from the Soma Cube. But this puzzle has a twist, rather than the challenge simply coming from trying to assemble the pieces into a cube according to their shapes, Vegas Baby’s pieces are all the same shape, but with varying numbers and colors of dots on each piece. The objective of this puzzle is to align all its pieces to create a perfect cube, while also showing a different number of same-colored dots on each face of the cube. Each side of the completed cube will have a number of dots from 1-6, situated in the same pattern you would find on playing dice. This is the perfect gift for all the puzzle loving Mothers out there on account of its difficulty, and replay ability. Rated as one of our more difficult puzzles at Level 3, it is sure to take the effort, persistence, and patience that’s so characteristic of Moms everywhere in order to complete it. What’s more, it has more than one potential solution; on this puzzle a die can be made with the green dots, red dots, and it is even possible to assemble the square with no dots showing at all. This challenging cube puzzle will ensure Mom has a quality way to relax and destress.
Alternative: Another potential option for Mom could be our Ascher puzzle. Shaped like a beautiful diamond, we think this puzzle is great for its simplicity, intermediate difficulty, and beauty when assembled. Making it the perfect gift for her as a wife or mother.
Gifts for Dads
For Fathers, we think that Bermuda Triangle makes the perfect gift. If you are searching for top Christmas gift ideas for him look no further! Bermuda Triangle is a sequential move puzzle that has the user attempt to arrange each of the triangle pieces so that all adjacent dots match with the same color. This puzzle is ideal for Dads and adult men on account of its accessibility, and quick learning curve. It’s easily understood objective makes it perfect for sitting down at the end of a long day and giving it a try. Its familiar shape, colors, and wooden construction are reminiscent of older games that your dad or husband may have played as a child at his own father’s or Grandfather’s house. It is excellent for playing on the couch, at the dining room table, or even in bed. It maintains an intermediate difficulty according to our scale, which makes it ideal for relaxation and a great way to give the mind a break, while still keeping the brain active.
Alternative: One alternative to the Bermuda Triangle that we think Dad’s will love is On the Greens. This golf themed sliding puzzle is perfect for Dads who love to hit the links. It is a Level 3, difficult puzzle, that will be sure to keep him busy no matter where he is.
Gifts for Kids
For Kids, the puzzle we most recommend giving as a gift is Lindbergh’s Spirit. Shaped like an airplane, this Kumiki puzzle is great not only for assembly, but for play and display afterwards. With an easy difficulty rating, this puzzle is achievable for kids of most ages. Once complete, the puzzle doubles as a monoplane toy which they can play with to their hearts content. Or, until it’s time to take it back apart and reassemble once more. Children are always thrilled to receive a great new toy, and the opportunity for them to improve their spatial reasoning and logical problem-solving skills is just an added bonus! This 3D wooden puzzle is durable and can withstand any turbulence a child may throw at it, and if it doesn’t, our lifetime guarantee ensures you can send it back for a brand new one in return if it ever breaks.
Alternative: Another great gift idea for a smaller child is a Tangram puzzle. Tangrams are famous across the world for their simplicity, educational benefits, and creative potential. Tangrams can be completed by reforming all the shapes into a square, but there are endless possibilities to be had, as your child can assemble a limitless number of shapes and images from its seven pieces.
Gifts for Teens
For teenagers the Serpent Cube is the perfect fit as a gift for the holidays or a birthday. The Serpent Cube is a cube puzzle that consists of 27 individual wooden cubes connected by an elastic string that runs through them. Your teenager’s job will be to twist, flip, and turn the cubes to form them back into a 3x3x3 cube. This is a difficult puzzle that is designed to challenge the user’s spatial awareness and abstract problem solving. Since all the pieces of this puzzle are connected, there are no bits and pieces to lose, making it ideal for an adolescent who might still be sharpening their organization skills. Thanks to its elegant look, it also works great on a desk at home, where it can provide an outlet for fidgeting, or sometimes a necessary break from long and difficult homework. What’s more, the Serpent Cube is just plain fun to handle and play with. It’s an ideal gift for any teen boy or girl, whether it’s for a birthday or just a great stocking stuffer, the snake cube puzzle is sure to put a smile on your teen’s face.
Alternative: We think that another puzzle that would work great for teenagers is the Powder Keg. Powder Keg is a seven-piece puzzle, which can serve similarly as an outlet for excess energy and stress that teenagers can face. Its intermediate difficulty makes it a bit more accessible than the difficult Serpent Cube too.
Gifts for Grandparents
For Grandparents and the elderly, we think that a combination of two puzzles is the best fit for them as a gift. Together, the Lumberjack’s Challenge, along with the Mini Lumberjack are two puzzles that complement each other perfectly, making a package of both ideal as a gift for any grandparent. Mini Lumberjack is rated as an easy puzzle, containing just six pieces which are all identical. Compared to the Lumberjack’s Challenge which is rated as a difficult puzzle with 16-pieces, each puzzle offers a unique set of benefits while maintaining the same overarching structure and idea. The challenge for both puzzles is assembling them into their original crisscrossed shape. Gifting both puzzles together allows grandparents to become acquainted with the idea of the puzzle on the mini version, before moving up to the more difficult Lumberjack’s Challenge. These puzzles are great for keeping grandparents’ minds active, while also putting their dexterity and coordination to the test. Keeping track of all the proper pieces and balancing everything together before they lock in on completion is a difficult task that is beneficial for older puzzlers. Further, they are sure to appreciate the wood quality and craftsmanship in a way that children and teenagers are less likely to. These two puzzles together can help to keep your grandparent’s mind active so they can stay sharper for longer.
This year there is no need to scramble around looking for the best gifts. They are all right here. Whether you need gifts for someone older or younger, or you need holiday gift ideas for employees, we have everything you may need and more. Shop wide collection of wooden puzzles and games and see which gifts work the best for you and your loved ones. If you are looking top Christmas gift ideas for adults or adolescents, look no further!