Help with a small present for 13 year old girl

Mojisola

lika_86 wrote: »

Amazon giftcard, not all girls are sparkly preening princesses. She might want to buy a book or music or something.

zaxdog wrote: »

All sparkly face/nail gloop I ever received were nicely thanked for then discretely funneled off to the charity shop.

I agree a book or music voucher might be a better idea

I'm a bit shocked at all the stereotyping so thanks for a few alternative views.

No wonder girls feel under such pressure to conform!

alanalea

Double check that shes not a nail biter before you go down the nail varnish route. I've got to the grand old age of 30 before I've got enough nail to see, let alone paint. Both of my girls also severely bite their nails, as do most of the girls in my family

If you do buy nail varnishes, £1land now do loads of top brand ones & some special effects (crackle, magnetic etc). You could make her up a nail varnish hamper.

I'd go the gift voucher route personally, she can then then buy whatever she wants or save for something larger.

Lunar_Eclipse

I have 2 girls (12&13) and wouldn't go down the nail varnish or make up route if you don't know the individual. It's a typical girly gift, that not all girls would use/appreciate. I think your son would have a good idea whether she is this type though, if you asked him directly.

My generic gift idea would be an iTunes gift card. Accessorise is another option since it offers a wide choice of items, from gadget type items to jewellery, nail polish, socks or stationery. It has a bit of a girly image though.

I would also consider some of the festive gloves from Primark (they cover girly through to tomboy well), possibly with some funky lipbalm, like the massive Coke/Fanta ones (but not lipgloss.) Claires has some cool lipbalms, but are far too expensive in my opinion.

Threebabes

Ive a 13 year old daughter. I would say a River Island gift voucher, bath bombs from Lush, or amazon voucher, what with cd, dvds, books etc to choose from.

GoldenShadow

I'd probably go for a voucher too. Nice safe bet and she can do as she pleases with it

Lunar_Eclipse

daisiegg wrote: »

I was going to say nail varnish, too. In my experience (as a teacher at a girls' school) at that age even the girls who are not in the least bit 'girly' and don't wear make-up still seem to like painting their nails...not sure why.

I think they are probably influenced by the 'all girls' aspect. My tomboy certainly wouldn't wear nail polish, but opted against an all girls school too.

I'm also intrigued as to how you know this; do you have lots of 13 year olds wearing nail polish to school? Or maybe you see them regularly outside school. DD1's all girls school is very strict with things like nail polish (even clear, due to lab work in Science), and lots of her (Y9) peers are still quite immature in regards to these teenage interests in my experience.

balletshoes

having read all of the replies, it does strike me that a lot of them are very specific, and a lot of them would be things my DD wouldn't appreciate to be honest (and she is a girly girl, into hair, make-up, nail polish, labels when she gets the chance etc).

Even i-tunes vouchers - not all households have an Apple product, my DD has a blackberry for example, and she doesn't use i-tunes to load music on it.

If its a child you don't know well OP, I'd go with an Amazon voucher, or cash - those would be gratefully received in anticipation of a wee shopping trip .

neverdespairgirl

At 13, I would have been polite but not particularly internally grateful for make-up / nail polish / etc. Never used it at that age.

theoretica

I think it is nicer to have a thing to unwrap than a small voucher. I remember many people at that age liking candles and small boxes/pots.

Mojisola

theoretica wrote: »

I think it is nicer to have a thing to unwrap than a small voucher.

As it's only a present from a school mate that she doesn't know very well, I wouldn't worry about having something nice to unwrap.

She'll have had other gifts from family and close friends.