50 Structurally-Sound Gift Ideas for Engineers: 2024 Picks %%page%%

This Leatherman tool has everything from wire cutters to knives, a ruler, and a saw. It can even be operated with just one hand. It’s perfect for anyone who likes to tinker and likes to have a variety of tools at hand.

This traffic jam brain game is great for civil engineers or anyone who likes a good brain puzzle. In this single-player game, players draw a card, set up their cars the way the card indicates, and then have to complete the challenge and get their red car off the grid. There are easy cards for young players and harder challenges for adults.

Weatherproof notebooks are great gifts for engineers who are out and about all day, on build sites, or in labs with liquids. Not only is the cover weatherproof, but the sheets of paper are also as well – moisture simply beads up and wipes off. The paper doesn’t require special writing instruments either – #2 pencils work just fine.

This scarf is a classy way for female engineers to show their math love without being in-your-face about it. The lightweight scarf has math equations all over it, and the scarf can be looped and worn in several different ways.

Gifts like this wooden marble run make great gift ideas for engineers because they get twice the fun! First, they have to figure out how to assemble the marble run. Then, they get to watch the marble as it continuously rolls through the gears, tubes, and other gadgets on its way to the end…where everything starts up again.

This movie about three Black female scientists who were essential to John Glenn’s launch into orbit is an inspiration to any aerospace engineer. The women faced plenty of obstacles, but they helped turn the Space Race around. This is also a fun movie for any engineer with older kids – they can all sit and watch together!

This calendar can be used perpetually year after year. Give it as a gift to an engineer and let them move the magnetic balls around to mark each day and month. The calendar can be mounted to the wall or displayed on a desktop making it a great gift for an office.

These reproduction prints of Tesla patents look vintage but will last a good long time displayed on the wall. The pictures are all reprints of Nikola Tesla’s patents for things like an “Electrical Transformer” and an “Apparatus For Transmission of Electrical Energy.”

If you know and love someone who is super-smart but can’t spell to save their life, this is the mug for them! It’s supposed to say “I’m An Engineer” but features various misspellings that are crossed out until the final sentence reads “I’m Good With Math.”

Items in your pantry and medicine cabinet can be used as much more than food and headache relievers! This book shares how aspirin can revive a dead car battery, shaving cream can keep a bathroom mirror from fogging, and beer can polish gold jewelry. If you know someone who’s curious and likes trying to figure out all the uses for an object, this is the book for them!

Solo brain-teaser games make great gifts for engineers who like solving problems for fun! Kanoodle includes 12 puzzle pieces and 200 challenges for people to try. The colorful pieces add to the fun while players practice their critical thinking skills.

This math clock features equations for each hour marker, so you’ll have to do some quick math if you want to know the time! It’s a unique present for a retiring friend, engineering student, or anyone else who enjoys math.

Circuit board cufflinks make great gifts for engineers – grab some for a boyfriend, husband, or another guy you know who would appreciate these unique cufflinks! Although they feature circuit boards, they’re polished and glossy so they’re comfortable to wear. They let men add a little flair without being too obvious about it.

This pen isn’t just a pen. It also functions as a ruler, level, flathead and Phillips screwdriver, and a stylus for computer or tablet touchscreens. It comes packaged in a tin box, which is useful for protecting the pen. It’s a great present for a mechanical engineer who does a lot of writing, or for anyone who just likes having a lot of gadgets where most people would only have one.

Help your engineer friend proudly display their calling on this mousepad. It features chalk art that says “Engineer” in the center, surrounded by drawings of gears, circuit boards, robotics, and more.

This T-shirt is sure to sound familiar to many people who have loved an engineer. It reads, “Engineer. I’m not arguing. I’m just explaining why I’m right.” The shirt comes in a variety of colors and is sure to get some laughs.

Chemical engineers will appreciate these shot glasses that look like something you’d find in a lab! The glass is thick and less likely to break, and the set contains two Erlenmeyers and two beakers. The glasses are dishwasher safe, so they’re easy to care for as well.

Elon Musk is definitely a controversial character, and this book looks at his life so far. From PayPal to Tesla to SpaceX, Elon Musk has changed American industry and his inventive spirit has achieved things no one thought of before. Engineers will find his ideas and his approach to innovation interesting whether or not they decide they like him in the end.

Engineers in many fields need a good graphing calculator, and the Texas Instruments calculators have an excellent track record. This one has a color screen, rechargeable battery, and student software. It also features six different graph styles and 15 colors to choose from when graphing.

LEGO are not just for kids – especially LEGO sets that are 1,969 pieces! Actually, building with LEGO can help engineers destress at the end of a long day. This Saturn V LEGO model reaches one meter high when it’s constructed, and it can be displayed horizontally with three stands.

3D printers make great gift ideas for engineers – if they can dream it, they can probably make it! This 3D printer is an affordable price, and it can resume printing where it left off if there’s a power outage or the printer is turned off. It heats up in just five minutes, and it operates quietly.

These wooden puzzles make great challenges and great gifts for engineers! Each of the wooden puzzles is made up of smaller pieces that they can take apart and put back together. It’s not as easy as it seems! Because they’re wood puzzles, they also look great simply sitting out on a coffee table as a decoration.

This robot kit is much more advanced than simple kits for kids. The robot has ultrasonic obstacle avoidance and real-time video transmission. It also has AI functions like face detection. It’s a fun kit to assemble and a great robot to program when it’s finished.

These pencils have #2 graphite lead, so they write like regular #2 pencils. The lead retracts quickly, so it stops lead breakage. These pencils are great for a mechanical engineer or an environmental engineer who’s out in the field all day. In fact, anyone who needs to write throughout the day and on the go will appreciate these pencils!

The “Geek Dad” book is full of engineering projects for dads to do with their children. Figure out how to light up a kite to fly at night, build the ultimate slip n’ slide, or make a working lamp out of LEGO bricks and CDs. The geeky engineer in your life will love making these projects with his kids!

This briefcase is great for any engineer who gets out in the field. It has a number of pockets so they can organize any pencils, notebooks, or other tools of the trade. It’s large enough for a laptop and can be carried by the handles or the longer shoulder strap.

This project comes as many pieces that fit together to make a treasure box. The kit comes as sheets of plywood, with the pieces cut into them. Punch out the pieces and fit them together to make the treasure box. Once it’s assembled, they’ll have a beautiful box to display and use.

Long ago, there were these ancient computer storage devices called “floppy disks.” Although they’ve been phased out in this advanced technological age, lots of people – especially computer engineers – get a kick out of floppy disk nostalgia. These coasters are perfect. They’re silicone, so they won’t damage tabletops, and they can be written on, so people can keep track of their drinks.

If you have an engineer friend who loves Avengers, this LEGO model of the Infinity Gauntlet is a great Christmas or birthday present! It’s made of gold-colored LEGO bricks, with multi-colored Infinity Stone bricks to fit into the glove. Once the 590-piece model is finished, it can be displayed on the stand that also comes with the building kit.

There are a lot of books that make great gifts for engineers, and this is definitely one of them! Colonel Chris Hadfield has logged almost 4,000 hours in space. He once broke into a space station with a Swiss army knife and has had plenty of other adventures during his time off this planet. Read his sometimes hilarious, always inspiring stories and see what he’s learned about life, the universe, and everything.

This delicate necklace makes a great present for a best friend, girlfriend, wife, or another special math-loving engineer in your life. The necklace features a stainless steel pi charm and a rhinestone infinity charm. It’s hypoallergenic and is 18 inches. This would also make a great gift for any graduate who just earned an engineering degree!

This set of postcards features women from the Women in Science book, including Marie Curie, Rachel Carson, and so many more. These postcards make great gifts for engineers – they can use them for correspondence or frame them to hang around the house.

Many people who live a life of the mind, like clever engineers, can get so wrapped up in intellectual problems they forget to take care of their physical bodies. A smartwatch can help them track their steps, sleep, and more – all by using a cool gadget. And if there’s one thing engineers love, it’s a cool gadget.

Galileo thermometers are fascinating to watch and make great gift ideas for engineers! The thermometer reads the temperatures as different liquids in each bulb react to the air and rise or fall accordingly. This set also comes with a glass globe barometer for extra weather tracking.

Laser distance measures and other measuring tools make great gifts for engineers – especially civil engineers. This one prides itself on accuracy and can measure distances of up to 65 feet. It’s also easy to operate – simply press a button to measure something.

Jean Claude Constantin makes puzzles that are not only challenging to solve they’re gorgeous to look at. The goal is to move the ball through gears, corridors, tiers, and other obstacles until you complete the puzzle. The intricate designs make these great to display on a coffee table as well.

Noise-canceling headphones make great gifts for a lot of people, but they make especially great gifts for engineers! They can tune out any distractions while working, allowing them to focus on solving the problems at hand. These Sony wireless headphones do a great job of blocking out distracting sounds.

This rocket launch set makes a great gift for an engineer to either use themselves, or to set up and use with their kids. This is a great beginner pack for someone just starting to learn about rockets and rocket launching and includes fins, an engine cap, body lube, a nose cone, a parachute, and more.

Give this set that includes a Ballista (or crossbow), a Bombard (a cannon), and a catapult. Your engineering friend can assemble all three machines, and each of the models is fully functional. The kit even comes with projectiles and paper targets so they can test out the finished model.

These salt and pepper shakers look like chemical flasks and make great gag gifts for engineers, especially chemical engineers. They come in sets of two – one flask for salt and one for pepper. They have labels made to look like the periodic table on the sides, with salt reading “Sa” and pepper saying “Pe.”

If you’re not math or science lovers, it can be hard to know if the equations on this necktie mean something important or are just gibberish. Hopefully, you can gift one to an engineering friend who can decode them for you! These silk neckties are made in the USA and hand-finished in New York City. They’re a great way for an engineer, science, or math teacher to show their passion for problems without being over the top.

Office chairs may not sound exciting, but they make great gifts for engineers! If they’re going to be sitting at desks, working on problems either at home or at the office, an ergonomic chair that properly supports their back and spine is very important. This one has a breathable mesh back, lumbar support, and a nicely padded cushioned seat.

Tablets can be great gift ideas for engineers! Structural and mechanical engineers can use them to take notes, work equations, and draw mock-ups. The various ways to use a tablet mean that just about any engineer will be able to use it, and those who are on the go visiting job sites or sitting with clients will appreciate the lightweight portability of a tablet.

This best-seller went flying off shelves and is the fictional account of an astronaut who was stranded on Mars and had to engineer a way to live until he could be rescued. It was beloved by engineers who appreciated Mark Watney’s ingenuity and by plenty of laypeople who appreciated that the book made those engineering hacks understandable to the rest of us.

This wallet multitool will be loved by anyone who loves gadgets, especially engineers. It includes a bottle opener, ruler, eyeglass screwdriver, nail puller, and more. In fact, it has a total of 18 functions, all contained on a flat card that fits in a wallet.

Many engineers spend their days at a desk or in an office, working on computers and solving problems. A plant can cheer up the office space and can also help purify the air in the room. It also gives those working in the office something to focus on to destress for a minute. Caring for a plant – watering it, feeding it, and generally looking after it, can be a great way to decompress.

This gold foil art print shows the sign for pi at the top, then writes out the digits for pi until the numbers fade away at the bottom of the print. It’s a beautiful print that showcases someone’s love for math in a tasteful way. Give this as a gift for someone to hang in their living room, office, or bedroom.

Perpetual motion machines are fascinating to watch and teach the rules of physics, too! This desk toy features an airplane, continuously in flight as it spins around and around. These make great gifts for engineers and can be placed on an office desk, a coffee table, or a bookshelf at home.

Engineers need something to do to unwind after a long day at work! For a lot of them, unwinding means…solving more puzzles, but this time for fun. Sudoku is a great way to exercise the brain, and this ColorKu game is based on the principles of Sudoku. Players draw a card, set up the marbles the way the card indicates, then see if they can get each square, and each line, to have just one marble of every color.

This gorgeous ring features a large moonstone in the middle, surrounded by a halo of sapphires meant to invoke the night sky. It would be a great gift for someone who loves space or works in aerospace, and it’s sure to be treasured forever.