Hi, all. Have a niece that is turning 12 and am looking for ideas. What’s popular with the 6th grade set this year? I don’t have kids of my own, so am not aware of the trends. I can do something based on her general interests, but am hoping to get her something cool. If she was nine, it’d be Hannah Montana all the way!
I’m not really looking for specific ideas based on what she likes, more “all the girls at my daughter’s school are into this band, or that shirt maker, or this electronic gadget”, that kind of stuff. What’s the word on the street?
There was just a story the other day on one of the big three networks (I think it might’ve been a segment on Nightline) on a very popular series of novels for the tweener & teen set – it’s all about high school cliques, and I think the novels are all titled for different characters in the stories. They’re supposedly very au currant in their lingo, realistic in their characterization (especially of mean, popular girls), and name-check designer merchandise to a degree where the whole thing becomes an exercise in reductio ab adsurdam, so that the readers are supposed to come to understand just how unfulfilling and silly the cliquish girls’ materialism and status chasing is. Ask a clerk for help I.D.ing them.
Humm - if she’s girly and you won’t get beat on by her parents, you could get her some lip gloss/nail polish type products - they typically come in nice sets.
When I was that age I would have loved a gift like that - my niece is 10 and goes bat-shit for that sort of thing, as does the 11 year old daughter of one of my work friends.
Clothing is another great one if she’s kind of girly, but you’ll have to check with mom about her sizes and style preferences.
If she’s more of a tomboy you could investigate if she has a particular sport she likes - soccer is huge among girls that age around here - something related to that could be great.
Another vote for some type of gift card. My local mall sells gift certificates that can be used anywhere in the mall, and will refund (to the giftee) the difference in cash if the certificate is used to purchase something that costs less than the value of the certificate.
Is she into crafty things? I always like to give stuff that they can exercise their creative side on. Beading stuff, candle-making stuff, knitting stuff, if she’s into it.
Fourth-ed. Get her an iTunes gift card. My 15 year old just said that she could not wait for Christmas because she needed some more tunes for her iPod.
A good idea if she’s expressed interest in it; otherwise it’s a terrible idea. I started training when I was ten and hated most of the other girls, who never took it seriously, because they didn’t want to be there.
A gift card, based on her interest. You can’t go wrong with iTunes. Target or WalMart are also decent options, or whatever clothing stores she likes.
