My daughter has just turned 12 years old, and she can be tricky to buy for. I pretty much exhausted my ideas for her birthday and I now need to think of more gift ideas with Christmas on the horizon. I thought today it might be useful to some of you if I shared a few gift ideas for preteens with you.
I will preface this with the fact that of course not every girl will have the same tastes and that these are appropriate gifts for any gender or non-binary kids, I am sharing these suggestions as gifts that I know my daughter and her friends would appreciate.
I know how difficult it can be to think of things for this age sometimes, so I am hoping something here will help you if you are on the hunt for presents!
My girl very rarely comes up with any suggestions or requests herself, so I spend a fair bit of time rooting around for ideas.
She likes to ask for ‘surprises’ which is lovely and non-demanding, but also not that helpful! If your child is the same, read on!
This post contains affiliate links
Here are a few things that a 12 year old might appreciate:
Just Dance
This is a fun game to get them moving!
There are then so many other brilliant video games out there, have a search around for something you think they’ll enjoy.
The Body Shop bundle
Some kids will love this, some will be less interested. You know your child!
You could pop over and choose a few items and put a nice little gift bundle together, or buy a gift basket.
A Board Game
There are so many great games out there!
Some are traditional board game, some are card games, some pen and paper, you get the idea. There’s bound to be a fun game that your child would have fun with and it’s good to all play together.
Instax Mini Camera
These are fun, cute cameras, with instant photo prints.
They are great for scrapbooking or snapping photos with friends and popping them on desks or noticeboard.
Hairdressing Head
This was actually a requested gift!
My daughter has long hair and enjoys watching styling videos and trying new things.
These heads are a handy way to work on new styles.
Keyboard
We bought Boo a keyboard a couple of years ago, and she absolutely loves it.
She will often disappear into her room and play it, learning new songs or composing her own.
We now tend to get her new music books to play as gifts, as she loves to learn different songs.
How to Draw books
These are great as you can get them around lots of different themes.
In a world of screens and digital fun, it can be good to switch off from it all and draw and sketch.
There are so many different types of these books, you could get animals, Harry Potter characters, anime, Kawaii, Marvel, flowers, ‘cool stuff’, you get the idea!
LEGO
You’d be hard pressed to go wrong with this one.
There are loads of different sets available to cover many interests.
We got Boo the Friends Central Perk LEGO for her birthday, and she loves it.
Books
My two always have books every birthday and Christmas. It’s standard!
You could go for a non-fiction book on something they’ve shown an interest in, or pick up a fiction boxset that you think will appeal.
In all honesty, I could write a whole other post on books for 12 year olds (let me know if you want me to!) as there are so many I could recommend. But I think you can’t go far wrong with something like these Geek Girl books.
Favourite show/film/YouTuber merchandise
Most kids have their eyes on some sort of merchandise! My son loves to wear his favourite YouTuber’s clothing range and my daughter wants everything Friends!
It does make it easy to pick up one or two things from these ranges that you know will make them smile.
Bath bombs
At what age isn’t this a fun gift?!
From popping them into the bath and watching them fizz or turn the water different colours, to wallowing in a warm bath with beautiful scents for a while, it’s a great gift idea.
Clothes/Footwear
Some children love to receive clothes and footwear, some don’t. Try to go for something that you think they might get excited about.
For example, my son loves trainers (something he seems to have picked up from his dad!) so he’d always be thrilled to get a new pair as a gift. My daughter isn’t interested at all, but she loved a denim jacket we bought her, and she always likes to get t-shirts with some of her favourites on.
What do you think, have you got a few ideas now? I do hope so!
Disclosure: This post contains affiliate links