Skater Gift Ideas: What to Get Every Kind of Skateboarder

The best skater gift ideas start with the person, not the product. A twelve-year-old on a first board needs a helmet and a decent setup. A boyfriend who skates every evening will wear a bracelet made from a broken deck every day. A friend who rode in the nineties and now has a desk job will love something that reminds him of it. This guide sorts gift ideas for skaters by who you are buying for, so you can skip what doesn’t fit.

We are Skate4create, a small workshop in Vilnius, Lithuania. Since 2014 we have been turning snapped skateboard decks into jewelry and accessories, and a large part of our job is answering messages from people buying a gift for a skater they love. What follows comes from those conversations. If you would rather see a straight list of the ten most useful presents, read gifts for skaters they’ll actually use first.

Three questions to ask before you buy

You don’t need to know skateboarding to choose a good gift for a skateboarder. You need three answers, and most of them you can get without spoiling the surprise.

How do they ride?

Street and skatepark skaters do tricks, wear through shoes and break boards. Cruisers use the board to get around town. Some people ride bowls, some downhill. Each group wants different gear, so if you plan to buy anything that goes on the board, look at what they already ride or ask a friend of theirs.

How often?

Someone who skates four times a week uses up wax, grip tape and bearings and will be happy with any of them. Someone who rides twice a month is better served by a gift that stays with them off the board.

What do they already wear?

If they wear a watch, rings or a necklace, jewelry is a safe bet. If they never wear anything on their wrists, pick a keychain or a practical gift instead. This one question saves a lot of returns.

Match the gift to their riding style

Once you know how they ride, the choice gets much easier. Here is a quick guide to the main styles and what riders in each group tend to use most.

Street skaters

They ride ledges, stairs and handrails in the city. They wear out shoes, grip tape and wax faster than anyone, and they snap decks often. Practical gifts: wax, a fresh sheet of grip tape, a spare skate tool, or a gift card for decks. Jewelry should be tough and simple, like a knotted bracelet that won’t catch on anything.

Park and bowl skaters

They spend their time at the skatepark, often with a regular crew. Session passes for an indoor park are a great idea in winter. Pads and a good helmet make sense too, since bowl riders fall from higher up.

Cruisers and commuters

They use the board to get to school, work or the beach. Soft wheels, a small backpack that holds the board, or a keychain they will see every time they lock the door all fit well.

Longboard and downhill riders

Speed means safety gear first: a certified helmet and slide gloves. These riders know their gear well, so if you are not sure, a gift card is the safer option.

Gifts for young skateboarders and beginners

New skaters need fewer things than you might expect, but the things they need matter.

For kids and teenagers

Start with protection. A helmet that fits snugly is the most important gift a young rider can get. In Europe check for EN 1078 on the label, in the US for CPSC certification, ideally together with ASTM F1492 for skateboarding. Knee and elbow pads and wrist guards come next. Kids fall a lot while they learn, and pads mean they keep going instead of giving up after the first bruise.

If they don’t have a proper board yet, buy a complete from a skate shop rather than a toy shop. Toy-shop boards have cheap bearings and hard plastic wheels that stop on every pebble, which makes learning slower and more frustrating. The staff in a skate shop will help match deck width to shoe size.

A small piece of skate jewelry also goes down well with teenagers. Our stretch bracelet with 6 mm beads slips on over the hand, has no knots to come undone, and is light enough to forget about.

For adults who are just starting

Lessons are the best gift here. Adults learn faster with a coach, and an indoor park lesson in winter keeps them riding all year. Add a good helmet and they are set. If they want to learn to cruise rather than do tricks, soft wheels (78a to 87a) make the ride much smoother on city streets.

Gifts for a skater boyfriend

Many people in this situation are buying for a partner who skates more than they do. They want something he will wear and not hide in a drawer.

Jewelry he will actually wear

A bracelet made from recycled skateboards is an easy choice here. The beads are cut from real decks, and the colours come from the layers of the board itself, we don’t paint or dye them. The blue wooden bead bracelet on a waxed cord with adjustable knots is a classic choice, and the bold rainbow bracelet suits someone who likes more colour. Most men wear size L, but measure his wrist with a strip of paper while he is asleep and check the bracelet size guide to be sure.

If he doesn’t wear bracelets, the bearing pendant necklace is a stainless steel skateboard bearing with recycled board wood inside. Skaters recognise it straight away.

Something for his setup

Pair the jewelry with something practical: a spare skate tool, a block of wax or a sheet of grip tape. Small, cheap and always used, it shows you paid attention to how he spends his evenings.

Gift ideas for a skater girlfriend or skater girl

Skater girls are often the hardest to buy for, because skate merch is still mostly designed for men. Jewelry made from boards solves that nicely.

The minimal bracelet has small 6 mm beads on a knotted cord and sits well next to a watch or other bracelets. The classic rainbow stretch bracelet shows off all the colour layers of the deck in one piece. The bearing pendant comes in soft colour styles such as Coral and Unicorn as well as darker ones like Indigo and Earth. Most women wear size M.

Practical ideas work just as well: a session pass for an indoor park, a pair of skate shoes in her size, or a gift card for her favourite independent skate shop.

Skateboard gifts for guys who have everything

Every family has one. He already owns three boards, a drawer of tools and every hoodie his favourite brand ever made. For him, the best gift for a skateboarder is something he could not have bought in a skate shop.

A one-of-a-kind piece made from someone else’s broken board fits that brief. No two of our pieces are the same, because each one carries the graphic and colour layers of the deck it came from. The surfboard keychain keeps the top-side graphic of the original board, and you can choose its main colour when ordering.

An experience is the other good option: a trip to a famous skatepark, tickets to a contest, or a day of filming with a friend who owns a decent camera. Skaters remember sessions far longer than they remember objects.

Gifts for a skater who stopped riding

Many people in their thirties and forties skated as teenagers and still feel part of it. They may not want gear, but they will wear something that tells that story. A knotted bracelet or a pendant on a steel chain works in an office and still means something to anyone who ever stood on a board.

If they are thinking about getting back on, a lesson and a cruiser setup with soft wheels is a gentle way back. Old tricks come back slowly, cruising comes back on day one.

A nice touch for this person is a handwritten card that mentions where they used to skate: the car park, the school yard, the spot under the bridge. Pair it with a piece made from someone else’s old board and the gift tells a small story about both of you.

Matching gifts for skate families and couples

More and more parents skate with their kids, and plenty of couples ride together. Matching pieces work well here. Because each bracelet is cut from a different board, two bracelets of the same model will never look exactly alike, so they match without being identical. A popular pairing is a 10 mm bead bracelet for the adult and the slimmer small blue bracelet with 8 mm beads for a younger rider or a smaller wrist.

Christmas gifts for skateboarders and birthday timing

December is a busy time for any handmade workshop. Every piece is made by hand in Vilnius, so if you want a gift in time for Christmas, order early. Shipping is tracked and free standard shipping is available worldwide. Check the estimated time for your country on the delivery information page before you order.

A few ideas that work especially well as Christmas presents:

Stocking fillers

A skate tool, wax, a sticker pack from their favourite brand or a surfboard keychain all fit in a stocking.

The main present

A bracelet or pendant made from recycled decks, a certified helmet for a younger rider, or a gift card for a local skate shop.

Bigger groups

If you are buying for a whole skate team, a crew of friends or company staff, we also make custom pieces. See our sustainable corporate gifts or get in touch through the wholesale and custom projects page.

Gift ideas for skateboarders to avoid

Some presents look right but rarely get used. From what skaters tell us, these are the most common mistakes.

A board from a toy shop or supermarket

Skaters can tell straight away, and these boards are hard to ride. If you want to give a board, go to a skate shop.

A deck in a random width

Deck width is personal. Without knowing what they ride, a deck is a guess, and a gift card is the better choice.

Novelty skateboard decor

Mugs and posters with generic skateboard graphics feel like they were made by someone who has never skated. Skaters are proud of their culture and notice when a gift doesn’t come from it.

Why recycled skateboard jewelry makes a good skateboard gift

Every deck we use was ridden by someone. Skate shops, parks and skaters send us broken boards, and we strip the grip tape, cut the boards into pieces and press them together into new blocks of 7-ply Canadian hard rock maple. Then each piece is shaped, drilled and sanded by hand and sealed with a protective varnish that makes it water resistant. Every finished piece is checked before it leaves the workshop.

Roughly 2 million decks are thrown away every year. So far we have saved more than 10,000 from landfill. That story is part of the gift, and skaters appreciate it. You can read more about the process on our Vilnius workshop page and in the guide to how recycled skateboards are reused.

Find the right skateboard gift ideas in one place

Pick the person first, then the gift. Beginners need protection and a proper board. Partners and friends will wear jewelry made from real decks. The skater who has everything wants something one of a kind, or an experience.

When you are ready, browse all our recycled skateboard bracelets or the full Skate4create shop, and look at the sustainable gift guide for skateboarders for more planet-friendly ideas. Questions about sizing or delivery? Our frequently asked questions page has the answers, and you can always write to us through the contact form.

Frequently Asked Questions

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