A 2026 gift guide for teen and tween girls

If you're shopping for a girl somewhere between 11 and 16, you've probably noticed that the toy aisle stopped working a while ago. New types of things that catch her attention are a real camera, skincare, and stuff for her room.

I already covered the bracelet kits, slime and stickers in the craft and squishy kid guide, so this one skips those. Here's a wishlist of items I've assembled. You can use it as a starting point for your own by clicking the link under the list, or select each item individually to add to an existing wishlist:

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The camera

The first thing on the list is a camera that prints the picture, which is the one thing a phone can't do. Fujifilm has been selling that since 1998. Instax has now sold more than 100 million cameras, and for the year through March 2024 it brought in about $1 billion.

The Mini 12 sets the shutter speed and flash on its own based on the light in the room, you twist the lens to turn it on and twist it again for close-ups, and there's a little mirror on the front for selfies. The photo comes out the top about the size of a credit card and develops in about 90 seconds. It comes in five pastel colors, so use the 'note' feature in the wishlist to specify which one.

The film is the part you'll keep buying. Each cartridge is 10 photos, and that's why it's on the list on its own. The string lights with clips are where those photos end up, hanging across her wall.

The skincare

If you've heard the phrase "Sephora kids," you know why this section is here. Ten- and eleven-year-olds have been buying the same anti-aging serums their moms use, and dermatologists have been warning against it. Teresa Wright, a dermatologist writing for the American Academy of Pediatrics, says tweens and teens should skip retinol, glycolic acid and other anti-aging ingredients and stick to three things: a gentle cleanser, a light moisturizer and mineral sunscreen. Her words: "the best skin care for tweens and teens is simple, gentle and consistent."

Bubble is a skincare brand made for that age. Shai Eisenman started it after noticing that teenagers were still using the same drugstore products their mothers had bought decades ago, and the products were developed with a board of eight dermatologists and priced under $20. The Slam Dunk moisturizer is the one dermatologist Whitney Bowe picked on ABC: "This one is fragrance-free, essential oil-free and affordable."

The Summer Fridays Lip Butter Balm is lip balm in a squeeze tube with a slanted tip, made with shea and other seed butters. There's nothing active in it, just moisturizer for lips. It comes in a bunch of flavors, so the note names one.

The room

A sunset lamp is a small projector on a stand. You plug it in and aim the rotating head at a wall, and it throws a big circle of orange, pink or purple light that looks like the sun going down. It's mostly a nighttime thing, since it doesn't show up well in daylight. Lots of brands make one and they're all pretty similar, so the link is just one of the well-reviewed ones.

Govee's RGBIC strip lights are LED strips that stick along the top of a wall. The "IC" part means different sections of the strip can show different colors at the same time, so the colors can flow around the room instead of the whole strip changing at once. They're controlled from a phone app and have music modes that pulse along with whatever she's playing.

The water bottle

The Owala FreeSip has become to Gen Z what the Stanley cup was to millennials. Owala comes from Trove Brands, the company that makes BlenderBottle, the protein shake bottle. The FreeSip first came out under the BlenderBottle name and didn't sell, so they pulled it and relaunched it as Owala in 2020. The lid is the reason people like it: you can drink through the built-in straw or tilt it back and drink from the wide opening, from the same spout. It made Time's list of the best inventions of 2023. It comes in a long list of color combinations.

LEGO

LEGO has a line of Olivia Rodrigo sets this year, and Secret Storage is the second-largest at 1,085 pieces. It's a touring flight case with a guitar, a microphone, a notebook, a megaphone and a vinyl record on top, plus an old TV with an Olivia Rodrigo minifigure inside. The case has three secret compartments: pull the front one out and the other two swing open with it.

The experiences

The concert tickets don't have a link because it depends on who she's into and who's coming through town. The note asks for two, one for a friend, and it also tells you who's driving.

The day in the city with her camera is the other half of the Instax gift. Take her somewhere worth photographing, let her shoot a pack of film, and let her pick lunch.

Someday

The Dyson Airwrap is the big one. It's a hair styler that curls hair with air instead of a hot barrel. It uses the Coanda effect, where a fast stream of air follows a curved surface, so the air pulls the hair around the barrel and wraps it on its own. Dyson spent six years developing it before it came out in 2018, and it's priced like it. That's why the note just says "Someday."

In conclusion

Teenagers know exactly what they want, down to the color, the flavor and the size, and they'd mostly rather not get the wrong version of it. A wishlist lets her tell you which one. Or steer her to this post if that makes it easy for her to specify. The list above copies straight into a new WishPoster list with the Ocean Sunset theme, the one where the sun goes down over the water behind the list (but it can be customized to whatever theme). Or start from scratch and hand her the link.