Gift ideas for a budding cosplayer

My sister-in-law just turned 16 and is starting to really get into cosplay/ anime/ conventions (actually, she’s been into anime for a couple of years, it’s the other two that are newer). I’d love to support her and get her something cool and useful for Christmas. I know very little about cosplay, but I’ve seen threads about it on the Dope so I thought I might be able to get some suggestions here. I don’t know what specific shows/ series she is into, although I could probably find out from my mother-in-law. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated!

Without knowing what characters she wants to dress as, buying her a wig would be a disaster. I suggest theatrical makeup as a generic gift for a cosplayer.

A sewing machine (or gift card to a place that sells them).

If she has a sewing machine, then a gift card for fabric.

I have two cosplayers and the sewing machine and gift card ideas are just right.

For people that are heavily into costuming, help getting into a heavy duty sewing machine, maybe even some of those nifty computer controlled ones for doing custom emproidery would be great.

Another thought that would be helpful for various accessories the price of decent 3D printing equipment is falling fast.

I’d go with the fabric store gift card.

A good sewing machine would be a very generous gift. Be careful, though, as a lot of the cheaper machines ($100 range) tend to be crap.

In my experience, cosplayers usually make that hard stuff out of floormat or fun foam. Which, BTW, is an idea if she makes that sort of stuff.

Are there any cons in your area whose entrance fees are for sale yet? Summer cons often let people buy tickets well before christmas.

Belts. Get a nice, thick, leather belt from a fantasy armor / costuming store, with a big metal buckle. It doesn’t matter what genre or character you are attempting to portray, everyone can use a high quality leather belt.

Gift card to fabric store.

Gift card to hardware store.

Heavy-duty sewing machine. (Tell the salesperson that it needs to be able to sew at least three layers of padded vinyl together.)