Gift Guide: Tween Girls

Over 50K positive reviews! These double-edged markers are perfect for any creative girl who has a thing for fun pens and artistic tools. My daughter uses them to decorate her journal and school notebooks or to create cards for friends and family.

Pair these markers with:

• an adult coloring book
• a set of blank notecards
• a blank journal (love these!)

I put my tween girl neighbors up to the task of selecting ideas for this gift guide, and this jewelry box topped their list. You can select one with your gal’s first name initial on it (just search for her letter). This gift is both useful and cute for her room.

The old game of “telephone” meets “pictionary”. It’s a super fun game for all ages, but tweens especially like it.

As a smaller gift or stocking stuffer, tween girls will like these mini butterfly and floral clips to create cute hairstyles.

Claw clips and hair bows are also very popular and would make great stocking stuffers.

My daughter thinks these are super cool and turns them on every night while reading before bed. This set comes with an ON/OFF switch, getting rid of unplugging to turn the lights off. 200 mini LED bulbs and 66Ft in length, great for decorating, and creating a warm, gentle, ambient glow in the room. She can also change the colors of the lights.

These retro style plush slippers are trending in the tween world right now. They would go perfectly with The Comfy wearable blanket.

• Taco Cat Goat Cheese Pizza – Fun and interactive card game that tweens play just about anywhere. The whole family will enjoy this one (although your kids will likely beat you every time).
• Happy Salmon – A 90 second fast paced game that will make everyone laugh. It’s especially fun to watch tweens and teens play this. Get your camera out to record. It’s chaotic and hilarious.
• Code Names – We like to play this clever game as a family with our teens. Work in pairs to give clues in code to each other.
• One Night Werewolf – Think of the game “Mafia” with a different setting. Our teens play this one often with groups.
• Throw Throw Burrito – My daughter insisted this game makes it on the list. She and her friends love it. What tween won’t love launching a squishy burrito at a competitor during a board game?

This is the “it” lunch bag for tween and teen girls right now. My daughter and her tween friends specifically said tween girls love this kind of lunchbox (and picked this flower version as their favorite).

This year, many of the tween and young teen girls I know spent hours working on making clay bead necklaces and bracelets. They enjoyed personalizing their creations with letters and charms that come in a set like this one.

When in doubt, buy your gal a super-fuzzy blanket! This one comes in several colors and sizes and is large enough to completely wrap up in.

My daughter has gotten a lot of craft kits over the years, and string art is her absolute favorite kind. This set comes with two foam canvases and patterns, but she can also create her own. This set includes their newest patterns, but here is another kit my daughter liked.

After several years, this is hands-down still my daughter’s favorite cookbook. She has several in the American Girl series and they are all top-notch, from the photography to the recipes to the layout. As someone who has published two cookbooks, I have high standards and this cookbook definitely meets them!

This is a beautiful and interactive Bible to start a little lady off with. Gift this with a nice set of colored pencils like Prismacolor, too.

You can find more age-appropriate Bibles here:

• Best Children’s Bibles
• Best Tween and Teen Bibles.

I’m told by credible sources (ahem, my middle school neighbor girls) that these are the “it” leggings. Aerie claims it’s “our best-selling, #1 viral fabric that broke the internet.”

With a strong girl main character and plenty of action and adventure, tween girls will tear through this page-turning series. Well-written, engaging, and clever, my 13-year-old daughter and 11-year-old son are obsessed with these three books (and their author).

The newest fourth book just came out, so grab that one too.

Mom Tip: Make sure to check it out on Common Sense Media to make sure it’s right for your child first.

A high quality, popular 14k gold plated pendant necklace. Several colors to choose from.

Polly has this and so does her daughter! It’s a powder highlighter that gives skin an instant glass-like sheen for an easy, natural-looking glow that lasts. She reported that many of her friends have this and use it around their eyes for a little shine.

My tween is obsessed with this game, but it’s really great for all ages. Instead of using numbers to solve Sudoku puzzles, Colorku uses brightly colored wooden balls. The solid wood game board includes 81 balls in 9 different colors, 104 puzzle cards, a solutions booklet, a color conversion card, and a storage tray. There are 5 levels of difficulty.

My 12 year old daughter requested a trip to Sephora specifically to buy THIS. It’s a light, fruity scent that she LOVES. (I can only take it in small doses. Lol.)

This is not just any water bottle. No, no, this is THE most popular water bottle right now in our middle school. Your tween is sure to love it. And, hey, I’m all for getting my kid to drink more water. 🙂 Check out the various designs, colors and sizes.

Can an undercover nerd become a superstar agent? Ben Ripley sure hopes so—and his life may depend on it! My tween girl and tween boy both love these thriller novels, starring kids their own age doing important work. We are clearly Stuart Gibbs fans around here.

Mom Tip: Make sure to check it out on Common Sense Media to make sure it’s right for your child.

Yes, this is a thing. A huge thing for this age. There are so many variations of the plushie overstuffed animal pillow, but our Minecraft-loving tweens chose this Axolotyl as their favorite (if you have a Minecraft player, trust us on this!). I linked to a wide variety of options below, though.

P.S. My daughter says that the Jellycats stuffed animals are a growing tween trend right now too.

My daughter and her friends take their little speaker all around the house and outside while they hang out. If your gal has access to music on a device, this will be a huge hit. The tweens on my street specifically told me they liked this color. 🙂

Here are a few more great book series ideas for Tween girls. I’ve listed them from younger to older age-appropriateness.

• Little House series – My daughter pored over these in 5th grade.
• Series of Unfortunate Events series – All 3 of my kids (boys and girl) are obsessed with this quirky story.
• Harry Potter series – The best!
• Wingfeather Saga – All 3 of my kids enjoyed these fantasy novels that have a redemptive theme. They are definitely quirky but have a redemptive theme.
• Chronicles of Narnia – The BEST best! Consider a family read aloud with these. You’ll enjoy them as much as the kids.
• Anne of Green Gables series – Read this with your daughter or granddaughter. So fun.
• Wonder series – So well-written, funny, creates empathy for those who look different than us, family-focused, friend-focused.
• Percy Jackson series – My boy and girl tweens tore through these Greek mythology adventures!

Mom Tip: Make sure to check it out on Common Sense Media to make sure a book right for your tween.

My not-so-musical daughter got this exact beginner ukele set when she was a tween, and she and her friends still pick it up to play years later. I’ll hear them making up songs or trying to play along with whatever they are listening to on Spotify. There are lots of beginner tutorials to follow on YouTube.

With so many different levels to choose from, the Lego Friends sets are still super popular with many girls in this age range.

My (Polly’s) kids LOVE their echo dots. They use it for music and audiobooks primarily. The Echo Dots also have games on them that the kids have fun with. What I learned after I bought them is that they can also be used as kind of a walkie talky. From my phone, I can drop into their room, make announcements, block certain songs, set time limits, and turn on the explicit filter. Now truth be told, they still find songs that you may not approve of but all you have to say is, “Alexa, never play that song again.” I love these!

Every tween wants Airpods with a fun protective case. Tip: get the older generation Airpods like these to save money. They work well and are cheaper.

My 13-year-old daughter owns one of these Kavu rope sling bags and uses it all the time! She takes it to sports practices, friends’ houses, church, and on road trips. It’s big enough to pack books, snacks, an iPad, clothes, and such, but still small, manageable, and CUTE. There are SO many fun colors and patterns to choose from in the Kavu line. My daughter and her friends liked this pattern a lot and this light pink color of the bag too.

She will have hours of fun taking instant pics with her friends! This updated version comes in loads of bright colors and also includes a selfie mirror. Buy extra film so you can print right away.

A friend of ours had this in his backyard and kids of all ages used and loved it. Set it up and take it down fairly easily. Great for exercise, getting outside, and full family fun.

This smartwatch is almost identical to the Apple Watch, with a more moderate price tag. Great for fitness, alarms, music, and controlling smart devices, it’s also waterproof. Your tween will love the cool factor!