Personally I see no problem in giving cash - not book tokens - as a present for a boy at the difficult age. In these days of plastic it actually has novelty value. Nice crisp note(s) or, even better, shiny £2 coins. Pride of ownership, a delicious time spent deciding how you are going to spend it
My mother was brilliant at presents, on a very small budget. Looking back, the ones which gave me most pleasure, after the age of about 5, were those which made me feel ever so slightly grown up & important. For example a cardboard box, such as might have contained a dress or a shirt in those days, containing Things I would need for my desk - which came later. Pencils, a sharpener, a rubber, blotting paper, ruler, rubber bands, paper clips, drawing pins, Treasury tags, and - best of all - a hole punch. Which could be used for making confetti
The most successful present of this type which I myself have given in recent years was to a 9-year old boy. Not a relative or a godchild, & positively nothing grand or embarrassingly extravagant. I hit on the idea of a miscellaneous collection of small notebooks from the £store or Stationery Box. Stuck a freezer label on each (easily removed if not wanted): Detectives Notebook; Secret Diary; Ships Log - Property of the Captain; Codebook
I just thought it was something which might keep him quiet for a bit, but his mother credits the gift with finally making him see the point of spelling & writing legibly
