If you have a friend or relative who’s an engineer, it might be a fun and personal gift to get them something related to their career. Whether they’re a mechanical engineer, civil engineer, aerospace engineer, or any other type of engineer, they’ll appreciate a gift that will help make their job easier or crack up their fellow engineering buddies.
We’ve handpicked the best gifts for engineers – ranging from funny to practical to brain teasers they’ll be fascinated by. We can guarantee that the engineer in your life will appreciate such as thoughtful gift, no matter the occasion.
Clothing, Shoes, Jewelry & Watches
People wear the clothing they do to express their personality and individuality, right? So what better way to celebrate the engineer in your life than by treating them to clothing that tells the world they’re an engineer?
Whether it’s something they’ll only wear for lounging around the house or something they’ll want to debut at the pub, an engineer will really appreciate quirky clothing that shows off their career choice. Check out our top recommendations for clothing and accessories for engineers.
Aerospace Engineer How Planes Fly T-Shirt
An aerospace engineer will get a kick out of this cheeky T-shirt. The classic-fit men’s shirt depicts a plane and gives a simplified diagram of how it flies. It looks like air, magic, some more magic, and very important magic is all a plane needs! This black shirt is breathable and uses 100% cotton material. An engineer can get a good laugh with this humorous gift.
Educational
With a job where you need to excel in math, science, and tech, it’s likely that educational gifts are something that an engineer will have lots of fun with. Brain teasers and puzzles could make great gifts for satisfying their logical mindsets, or learning more about how the world works might intrigue their logical side.
We’ve picked out the best educational gifts that the engineer in your life is going to be fascinated by.
The Way Things Work Now By David Macaulay
The New York Times Bestseller, The Way Things Work Now, by David Macaulay, explains how modern-day machines work. A wooly mammoth is a hilarious guide that walks the reader through the inner workings of bike brakes, windmills, jumbo jets, egg beaters, Wi-Fi, and more. An engineer can enjoy seeing the inside of everyday machines in this fun and informative guide.
Rokr 3D Assembly Wooden Puzzle
Give a gift that challenges an engineer’s skills with this Rokr 3D Assembly Wooden Puzzle. This puzzle has many laser-cut pieces that fit tightly together without glue. You can set a three-number password to reenter the box later. This gift requires some attention and mechanical skills. An engineer can enjoy turning these tiny wooden cut-outs into a fascinating conversation piece.
Lesong Brain Teaser Puzzles
This set of nine novelty brain teasers can be fun for an engineer to solve. They may look simple, but these wooden and metal puzzles can temporarily stump even brilliant minds. Brute force doesn’t work, so you’ll have to apply logical reasoning to build cubes, spheres, and disentangle metal coils. Make it a competition and see who can solve one of these brain teasers the fastest.
Engineers Black Book By Pat Rapp
New apprentices and well-seasoned engineers alike will appreciate this Engineer’s Black Book By Pat Rapp. This informative guide includes data sheets, reference tables, equivalent charts, and formulae that an engineer needs on the job. The slim design can fit easily into a bag or back pocket. The cover is rubberized for an easy grip, and the pages are matte-laminated to wipe away fingerprints.
Electronics
An engineer’s work relies heavily on electronics, so treating them to the latest tech could make a wonderful gift. We’ve selected the top gadgets that could make their lives and jobs a lot easier, but we’ve also picked out some fun, quirky electronics that will really charm them too.
Regardless of which direction you head with electronic gifts, an engineer will appreciate such a thoughtful gift and will have the most fun playing with their latest gadget.
LEGO Star Wars Luke Skywalker Helmet
Engineers can combine their love of designing with Star Wars fandom with this LEGO Star Wars Luke Skywalker Helmet. The set includes 675 LEGO bricks to build this Red Five Skywalker helmet. After it is built, the final height reaches over 7.5 inches (19 cm). A Star Wars fan will be proud to display this unique build among other memorabilia.
Nixie Tube Clock
This Nixie Tube Clock will be an engineer’s new prized position. It uses vintage tubes made over 35 years ago in the Soviet Union. The four Nixie tubes use light to display the time, date, and year. A motion sensor turns off the clock when no one is home to save its charge. This piece of history will add a classy touch to any room.
Onxe LED USB Clock Fan
The Onxe LED USB Clock Fan can help an engineer stay cool while he works and be punctual for his appointments. This fascinating clock doesn’t have a regular analog face. Instead, it only has two ordinary-looking fan blades. As it rotates, an LED light shines, creating a clock image with accurate time. You can plug this fun gadget fan into a USB portal on a laptop.
Owi Robotic Arm Edge
An engineer will enjoy playing with this Owi Robotic Arm Edge. First, follow the instructions to build the robotic arm. Then command it to open and close its hand, rotate the wrist 120 degrees, move its elbow, or rotate from the base. The robotic hand can pick up objects that weigh up to 100 grams. This sci-fi novelty gift might even be handy in an engineer’s next project!
Bosch Ergonomic Laser Measure
A new engineer needs a reliable digital tape measure when he goes out on a job. This Bosch Ergonomic Laser Measure has a green laser light that is even more powerful than the usual red beam. Its color display is easy to read and accurate. It has several different modes, includes Haptic feedback, and works up to 165 feet distances. It’s an engineer’s dream!
Sunnytech Hot Air Electricity Power Generator
Create colored light using a Stirling engine with this Sunnytech Hot Air Electricity Power Generator. This light uses an alcohol burner that heats up a round-end cylinder. After about 20 seconds, the heat energy helps a wheel turn to create a multi-colored LED light that can run for up to eight hours. Place this light on a coffee table as a conversation starter.
ThruNite Catapult V6 SST70 LED Rechargeable Flashlight
An engineer can work in low-light conditions with this ThruNite Catapult V6 LED Rechargeable Flashlight. This flashlight has a strong output and can shine a light for up to 756 yards (692 meters). Depending on the need, you can change the beam output to low, medium, high, turbo, firefly, or strobe. Its aerospace-grade aluminum casing is impact resistant up to 1.5 meters.
Kernowo Soldering Iron Kit
The K Kernowo 9-in-1 Soldering Iron Kit is a compact professional soldering gun at a great price. It has an LCD screen to set exact temperatures and includes five tips, a solder flux, solder wire, and a stand. You can use this pencil-style iron to repair circuit boards, watches, jewelry, and more. An engineer can work on projects at home or work with this Kernowo soldering iron set.
Home, Garden, & Tools
Gifts and tools for the home are perfect for an engineer that takes pride in their job. We’ve picked out tools that will make tackling tasks at home a breeze, or decorative engineering-related homeware that will be great conversation starters.
Their logical minds might appreciate a precise cutting board for cooking, or they might just want to switch their brains off from a day at work with some quality whiskey glasses. We’ve found the best homeware and tools that an engineer is going to be super grateful for.
Genius Lab Gear The Pocket Engineer
Brand-new engineers and seasoned veterans alike will appreciate this Pocket Engineer cheat sheet. It is the size of a credit card – easily fitting into a pocket or wallet. This card keeps engineering equations and unit conversions at the tip of the fingers. You can also use the inches and centimeter bar lines to measure the diameter of pipes. This enamel-coated stainless steel card is built to last an engineer’s entire career.
Rak Multi-Tool Pen Set
The Rak Multi-Tool Pen Set is much more than just a pen. It combines eight features that an engineer will love. Besides a regular ball-point pen, it contains a LED light, standard and metric rulers, a stylus, a leveler, a flathead and a Phillips screwdriver, and a bottle opener. Its heavy-duty aluminum body makes this gift durable to stand up to everyday use.
Greenline Goods Whiskey Glasses
These Greenline Goods Whiskey Glasses can explain your whiskey to you while you drink it. Each science-themed glass gives a close-up view of the molecules and aromas present in whiskey. Pour up to ten ounces of scotch, bourbon, whiskey, or your favorite beverage to relax after a long day. This set of two glasses comes in a gift box, ready to make an engineer’s day.
TerraCycle Circuit Board Coasters
Engineers and coders will love resting their drinks on these upcycled circuit boards. The set of six colorful TerraCycle Circuit Board Coasters protects furniture while protecting the earth from unnecessary waste piling up in a landfill. A rubber rim keeps these coasters from slipping out of place. This coaster set is a fun conversation starter.
Genuine Fred The Obsessive Chef Bamboo Cutting Board
This funky Obsessive Chef Bamboo Cutting Board takes slicing and dicing down to a science. The solid bamboo board is laser-etched into even squares and angle degrees across its 9 by 12-inch surface. It includes precise measurements for small, medium, and brunoise dices, julienne, allumette, and batonnet slices. An engineer can enjoy cooking with accuracy by following this cutting board guide.
Decodyne Math Wall Clock
The Decodyne Math Wall Clock is a brain teaser that engineers will appreciate. This analog clock marks the time with math equations instead of simple numbers. Solve equations using subtraction, square roots, variables, fractions, and more to tell the time. The black and white clock looks like a teacher’s blackboard and can be the perfect addition to an engineer’s home.
Magnetic Poetry Math Poet Kit
Have fun sending geeky messages to your significant other with this Magnetic Poetry Math Poet Kit. The box includes over two hundred words with math terms such as parabola, numerator, inverse, and proportion. Many prepositions and pronouns let you string these words together to create original phrases. These fridge magnets allow you to write humorous love notes or snarky insults in your own math-coded language.
Qnkaa Dial Indicator
This Qnkaa Dial Indicator Gauge ensures that the deviation of a linear surface remains within the tolerance value. It measures in 0.001″ increments and includes 22 different test tips. Use the adjustment knob to achieve the exact position you need. Its magnetic stand has two surfaces and an on/off control. This clock-face dial gauge is a gift that an engineer can use regularly.
Geekey Multi-Tool
An engineer can easily fix items on the go with this Geekey multi-tool. The compact multi-tool has up to 16 functions for when life throws you the unexpected. It includes a bike spoke key, a screwdriver tip, an imperial and metric closed wrench, a can opener, a wire stripper, a bottle opener, a protractor, and more. It is shaped like a key and handily fits on a keychain.
Yuancheng Precision Micro-Line Pens
These nine Yuancheng Precision Micro-Line Pens can be a great gift idea for an engineer. Each pen has a different nib size ranging from 0.05mm to 0.8mm. Also, a brush pen allows you to use thick sweeping strokes. After you complete your notes and technical drawings, you don’t have to worry about smears or streaking with these waterproof archival pens.
Rocketbook Wave Smart Notebook
Enjoy taking notes and drawing diagrams the traditional way with this Rocketbook Wave notebook. The pages are dotted for drawing sketches proportionately. Use the Pilot FriXion pen to upload your work to a cloud service such as Google Drive, Dropbox, Slack, iCloud, and more. Once the notebook is full, blast it in the microwave to clear the pages. This environmentally-friendly notebook can be used again and again.
Keyestudio Smart Home Starter Kit
The DIY Keyestudio Smart Home Starter Kit is a gift that engineers will geek out over. It includes the parts you need to build a smart-home model. The instructions show you step-by-step how to code using the Arduino programming C language. Learn how to automatically open and close the home’s windows and doors, set up motion detector lights, and more. Functions can then be controlled with an android or iOS phone.
Horusdy Magnetic Wristband
Keep sockets, washers, nails, screws, fasteners, and other metal tools close with this Horusdy Magnetic Wristband. The adjustable waterproof wristband has ten embedded magnets. It can hold up to 1.5 pounds of material with its magnetic pull. It also includes two mesh pockets to hold non-magnetic items. This magnetic wristband can help an engineer by keeping small parts at the ready.
Stainless Steel Ice Cream Scoop by Midnight Scoop
Engineers put in a lot of hours at work, so why not spoil the hard worker in your life? This Stainless Steel Ice Cream Scoop by Midnight Scoop has an ergonomic design to make eating a bowl of ice cream after work more enjoyable. This spear-shaped scoop easily digs out ice cream with less effort. A bowl of ice cream after a long workday? Yes, please!
Juvale Extra Large 11×17 Clipboard
This Juvale Extra Large 11×17 Clipboard can hold blueprints and other large documents. Or, you can keep a book or guide open under the clip. The high-quality, medium-density fiberboard material creates a smooth background for taking notes or sketching. The clipboard is lightweight in landscape format. Whether an engineer is at work or enjoying leisure time, this tool can come in handy.
Outdoors
Whether they’re a software engineer who looks at a screen all day, a mechanical engineer who solves problems for hours on end, or an engineer who spends most of their time looking under the hood of a car, switching their brain off will be a huge relief.
What better way for the engineer in your life to switch off than getting out in the fresh air? We’ve got gifts that will help an engineer totally relax by enjoying some time in the great outdoors.
Kaka Wear-Resistant Durable Backpack
Take time away from the grind with this Kaka Wear-Resistant Durable Backpack. The stylish duffle bag has straps to carry it as a backpack, over the shoulder, or as a handbag. It has enough space for a change of clothes, a 15.6-inch laptop, and other necessities. This practical gift allows an engineer to pack the essentials and enjoy a weekend away!
Solo Stove Mesa
The Solo Stove Mesa is a small-scale fire pit that can add some flare to a table. An engineer will appreciate the design of this fire pit as it burns brightly without creating smoke. The Solo Stove Mesa is easy to light and uses pellets or wood as fuel. You can roast marshmallows while enjoying the night air and the ambiance of a tabletop fire.
Wrapping Up
Despite having a serious and respectable job, engineers can be a hoot to buy for! Their typical need for perfection, logistical solutions, and precise measurements mean there are some great gifts out there that will satisfy their logical mindset and make their lives easier.
We’ve also picked out some fun, quirky gifts for those looking for something light-hearted that will be sure to make an engineer (and even their buddies) laugh. No matter what the occasion or what your budget is, we’ve got a range of gifts across a number of departments that will show the engineer in your life how thoughtful you are by getting a gift tailored to their profession.
