In all my years of Christmas shopping, the tween girl years have been the most fun AND challenging. We have a mixture of clothes, toys, things she wants, things I think she would like that she might not KNOW she wants … it’s a whirlwind! Add to all that – my tween girl has a December birthday (turning 12, WHAT?!?!) so we have double gift duty for her during the holiday season. This year, she spent some time looking for things she might want (AND she already had a few things she’d wanted to buy throughout the year, but held back and saved her money instead), so this list reflects a lot of things she proactively requested PLUS some things I found that I might surprise her with. Hopefully, something resonates for the tween girl in your life that you’re stuck on gifts for! I’ll be adding ideas as I find/shop them on my tween girl Christmas ShopMy Page, if you want to check back there at any point during the season!
Her #1 gift request, hands down, is a new go kart attachment for her hoverboard. She and Linus received one of these to “share” as a bit of a test to see if it would actually get any use, and SURPRISE – it did. So now they each want their own set. This is the one we have and we love it – plus, it encourages LOTS of outside time, which you know we love around here.
Her second most requested item, believe it or not, is a boom box. We bought our kids CD players so we could have screen free music in our house (they do still have access to Spotify under supervision, but they love the radio and collecting CD’s!). Ella loved her boom box so much, took it outside, in the shower, etc … well things don’t last like they used to. She has had hers for over five years and has requested a new one. She picked out this one! We also do not allow the kids to have the family iPad in their room, so this is a good solution for headphones/in room use, etc.
Although she goes to a school where she has to wear a uniform, she does change for gym class and athletic shorts are needed every day of the week. I’d always bought her Cat & Jack or Old Navy athletic shorts, but as she gets a bit older, we’re upgrading a tad. We love both Lululemon (she can wear a size 2 in the women’s) and Athleta options (she can do the larger sizes of Athleta Girl OR the smaller sizes of Athleta Women).
BUY at Lululemon, $29 OR BUY at Athleta, $35
Same story with leggings. She’s always worn Cat & Jack leggings, and those are perfectly adequate. But as she grows too tall for the kids’ sizes, we’re upgrading a few staples here and there, including these.
BUY at Athleta, $49 OR BUY at Lululemon, $59
Ella is still very into arts and crafts, so she looked around for a few things in that vein and found this cool water painting board that resets itself and doesn’t make a huge mess, because there are no paints! Very cool.
Now that she has a whole bunch of keychain holders for her Touchland hand sanitizers (can you believe the price for HAND SANITIZER?), she is always looking for refills. This makes a great stocking stuffer and at least its consumable, so not just accumulating more “stuff.”
BUY on Amazon, $30 OR Go for the gift set on Sephora, $45
A couple of Christmases ago, we got Ella a lava lamp. Unfortunately, as above, things don’t last quite like they used to. It doesn’t work anymore, but she really enjoyed the cozy glow it brought to her room, so she asked for a jellyfish lamp this year.
She put a few more cozy light options on her list – she’s been working on updating her room this year, so she’s eager to add in a few more things along these lines. She found this bluetooth speaker/white noise/projector combo and asked for this as well. I also found one on Target that isn’t a speaker, but costs a lot less and accomplishes a similar lighting effect.
BUY on Amazon, $46.99 OR BUY on Target, $17
Ever since my kids were little, they’ve loved cameras. We’ve gotten them those cheapo digital cameras with character theming and Ella even got a more “adult” digital camera one year for Christmas as well. They use them a LOT, but this year, Ella wanted to go a bit more analog and asked for this throwback Polaroid camera.
Ella loves a good cup of sleepytime tea in the evening. I thought it was high time she got her own mug for this nightly ritual (which carries the bonus of knowing she won’t be stealing mine!). I’m trying to find a mug that she’ll love to reach for, maybe with one of her prior obsessions, Wicked highlighted front and center. Or maybe chickens? I could go with a throwback to our summer vacation with a Harry Potter mug. I might also go for one of her favorite sports teams, Chicago Cubs, Carolina Panthers or Charlotte FC. I’ll have to hunt around! But this one definitely caught my eye.
BUY on Etsy, $26 (Wicked Mug)
BUY on Etsy, $15 (Rooster Mug)
BUY on Etsy, $20 (Harry Potter Mug)
It wouldn’t be 2026 without a squishy on the list, and I thought this one was SO CUTE.
Ella absolutely loves a good hoodie (who doesn’t!?) and Comfrt offers every single color you could ever think of and they are SO COMFY. I might just snag one for myself while I’m shopping for hers!
Back to the toy section, we still haven’t outgrown the “slime phase” and so, she asked for this slime making kit. I didn’t get it for her, because what am I, stupid? But if you have a designated place in your house where kids can make slime, this COULD be a good gift for you!
During the fall and winter months, Ella loves to fire up her diffuser and/or humidifier with the essential oil option. She has a pretty decent collection going, but she’s always looking for new scents, so these are the perfect stocking stuffer for her. The quality is SO good and I love all their smells.
Honestly, in our house, it wouldn’t be Christmas without LEGO – my kids almost never think to ask for these sets, but I usually pick one out for each of them and they DO spend a decent amount of time putting them together. As above, I thought it would be fun to do kickback to Harry Potter, so I’m thinking about this mini castle for Ella.
It’s becoming an ongoing tradition that both kids look forward to – I get them one gift that I don’t wrap and that they can have immediately on Christmas morning. It’s usually a stuffed animal (of which we have way too many at this point), like a Squishmallow, but our family has been unusually preoccupied with fuzzy cows this year, so I may nab this cutie for Ella.
OR considering we just lost about 3/4 of our flock of hens (so tragic!), maybe I’ll get her this stuffed pal to snuggle with.
I’d love to know if you have any fun tween girl gift ideas in the comments! PS – I know there are pretty much zero beauty items in here … what can I say? Ella is just not into that as of yet. She did request some nicer shampoo and body wash to enhance her shower experience, but she has definitely not entered her Sephora era, which I have to say, I’m pretty OK with for the time being. That stuff is EXPENSIVE!
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