Are you struggling to find the best gifts for girls?
Choosing gifts is hard! You spend hours walking up and down the aisles, putting items into your cart and then switching them out again, second-guessing your choices over and over. It’s like banging your head against a brick wall!
And then inevitably once you’ve chosen gifts for everyone on your list, you find something you think a certain person would like better and then you have to return gifts and wait in the abominable ‘Guest Services’ line.
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Just shoot me now!
We’ve all been there.
I can help you find the perfect gift!
You must have a special girl in mind. Is she artistic or athletic? Does she love science and computers or books? Or is she a girly girl — interested in fashion and style? Knowing those things will help you narrow down your choices.
The categories below will help you find the very best gifts for girls — whether your daughter, niece or friend.
The Best Gifts for Girls Who Are Creative and Artistic
My daughters love creative projects of all kinds. They never tire of creating things, so I’m always on the lookout for fun new crafts to try. I buy lots of art kits and try to always keep our school closet well-stocked with art supplies. I believe that fostering a child’s creativity helps her to build inner confidence and a strong sense of self. Here is a fun list of a few of the best gifts for girls who are creative and artistic.
One of our favorite gifts EVER is a subscription to the Doodle Crate from Kiwi Co. Each month they receive a new kit full of arts and crafts projects. Not only do my girls love getting a surprise in the mail, but they also love spending time creating all of the beautiful projects that the Doodle Crate provides.
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Doodle Crate delivers handmade fun and creativity every month. Brought to you by Kiwi Crate, Doodle Crate is designed to inspire kids ages 9 to 16+ to learn new crafting skills and express themselves creatively.
Craftsy offers fun online classes in cake decorating, quilting, knitting, sewing, scrapbooking, photography and other crafts that creative girls would have a blast with! Since we homeschool, I regularly purchase classes like this and we count them as electives. My girls love their Craftsy classes! Classes are definitely one of the best gifts for girls. Take a Free Craftsy Class and learn something new!
Perfect for your young writer, this journal is adorable, but you can even just use a cheap notebook from walmart. Your writer will just appreciate a place of her own where she can write down her deepest thoughts and feelings. They don’t have to be fancy or have locks.
Fun writing (or doodling) utensils are a must for creative girls! My girls’ favorites are gel pens, because they write on virtually any paper, even black! And their fine tips are perfect for Mandala coloring books. The only thing better than gel pens are gel pens with glitter — glitter pens! Sharpies are a lot of fun, too, because they’ll write on anything, but only if your kids are old enough to be responsible because those things won’t come out!
And if you buy your girls some cool writing utensils, you’ll need to buy them an awesome coloring book to go with them! Coloring books are one of the best gifts for girls who are artistic.
These fun beads are entertaining for kids who love to create. Little do they know that perler beads are also educational. Perler beads help to develop fine motor coordination. They help kids recognize patterns and learn counting, numerical skills, and colors. And they also keep little hands happily busy for hours on end, which is a priceless gift to moms everywhere!
My girls have all gone through a friendship bracelet making stage where they just can’t get enough of this fun craft. I’m not complaining, though. It comes in handy on road trips, when we can keep everyone busy and happy with a length of embroidery floss pinned to their pants! Craft supplies are definitely one of the best gifts for girls.
Every young artist should have a nice art set. My girls love to have their own materials in a box of their own, so they can keep it how they like it. One of my daughters keeps hers pristine and refuses to share or trade. Another daughter needs a new set every three months because she uses it all up. And my third daughter’s art set is just a scary mess! An art set is one of the best gifts for girls!
The Best Gifts for Girls Who Love to Read
We have a family tradition of opening one gift on Christmas eve — always a new book and a pair of jammies. My kids love this tradition so much that Christmas Eve has become almost as beloved as Christmas itself. My kids eagerly work hard to get the house clean and Christmas-ready December 23rd so they can open their books and jammies early on Christmas Eve and disappear to the nether regions of the house (which I find just lovely!) with their new books to spend the entire day reading.
One of my favorite parts of Christmas shopping every year is to think of books I loved as a kid and pass on my love of characters like Anne of Green Gables and Hattie Big Sky and Laura Ingalls to my own daughters.
Here are a few of our favorite books. These are definitely some of the best gifts for girls who love to read:
- Charlotte’s Web (Garth Williams): A tender story of love and service.
- Hattie Big Sky (Kirby Larson): Hattie, an orphan, has been shuttled around to various relatives. When she receives a letter from a previously unknown uncle, leaving her his homestead in Colorado, she can’t wait to finally belong somewhere.
- Little House on the Prairie (Laura Ingalls): The entire series has wonderful lessons for the entire family. My kids’ favorites are The Long Winter and Farmer Boy.
- The Witch of Blackbird Pond (Elizabeth George Speare): An orphan comes to live with her relatives in a Puritan town, befriends an outcast Quaker, and becomes an outcast herself because she can swim, which casts her as a witch.
- Caddie Woodlawn (Carol Ryrie Brink): Features the Woodlawn family, pioneers in Wisconsin. Caddie and her brothers have continuous adventures from possible massacres to prairie fires.
- Beezus and Ramona (Beverly Cleary): Ramona, Beezus, Henry, and the rest of the gang have such fun adventures.
- The Boxcar Children (Gertrude Chandler Warner): Orphans Henry, Jessie, Violet and Benny solve mysteries and have many adventures. I loved this series as a kid and my children love them now.
- Strawberry Girl (Lois Lenski): A family has to pull together to save their farm, and also to help a neighbor family.
- The Hundred Dresses (Eleanor Estes): Wanda Petronski, a Polish girl, is ridiculed by her classmates for wearing the same faded blue dress every day. Wanda claims she has one hundred dresses at home, but everyone knows she doesn’t and bullies her mercilessly. The class feels terrible when Wanda is pulled out of the school, but by that time it’s too late for apologies. Readers will learn a great lesson.
- Anne of Green Gables (LM Montgomery): This tender series is one of my all-time favorites. Anne, and young orphan prone to mishaps, is sent to live with the Cuthberts, who wanted a boy to help with farm chores. Anne wins their hearts as she makes her first bosom friend and also wins the hearts of the entire town.
- All-of-a-Kind Family (Sydney Taylor): This Jewish family of five girls lives in New York City at the turn of the century. Despite not having much in the way of money, they have a lot of love. This book makes you wish for simpler, times when family was more important than anything and they stuck together. The sequels are very worthwhile, too.
- The Betsy-Tacy Treasury (Maud Hart Lovelace): Tacy moves in across the street from Betsy, and from the moment they meet at Betsy’s fifth birthday party, they become such good friends that everyone starts to think of them as one person—Betsy-Tacy. Betsy and Tacy have lots of fun together. They make a playhouse from a piano box, have a sand store, and dress up and go calling. And one day, they come home to a wonderful surprise—a new friend named Tib. All four Betsy-Tacy books are so charming you’ll definitely want the treasury.
Here is a list of our family’s favorite books, if your daughters have already read these suggestions and you need more ideas.
The Best Gifts for Girly Girls
One of my daughters is just as girly as they come. Her favorite color has been sparkly pink (and don’t forget the sparkly!) since she could talk. She clomps around in my high heels and ‘borrows’ my makeup daily. She will only wear outfits with ruffles and bows. And she loves chick flicks, especially the kissing scenes, which seems a little odd (and worrisome!) for a five-year-old. I already know this daughter is going to give me a run for my money!
My 5-yr-old is not my only girly girl. All five of my daughters are pretty girly. Needless to say, we have plenty of experience with the best gifts for girls who are girly!
Trust me, your daughter needs an entire set of nail polish, in every color to match every outfit. Bonus points if it’s glittery or metallic! This kleancolor set has great reviews and is very inexpensive! Nail polish is a great gift for girls of all ages. Except toddlers. Please don’t give nail polish to girls under age 5 — her mother will hate you!
How cute is this? What girl wouldn’t want one of her own? Battery-operated and very loud, this adorable alarm clock will surely wake the heaviest of sleepers.
Three of my daughters are just dying to get their own instant camera. They all had fun with a friends polaroid and have been begging ever since. This particular camera set comes with the nifty (and adorable!) case, color filter lenses, a photo book, and a bunch of cute accessories. I love that it comes in pink, ice blue and white. These will definitely be under our tree this year!
Bedhead A-Wave-We-Go Adjustable Waver
Tousled, crimped, loose, defined, or all the above – this waver features a unique adjustable dial that turns to adjust the barrel to the exact level of wave you want. High heat up to 400°F locks in the style for fast results, while Tourmaline Ceramic Technology helps to reduce frizz and add massive shine. This is assuredly one of the best gifts for girls!
If you have teenage girls, you know that a makeup kit like this will be much-loved and well-used. This one comes with all the essentials, from the application brushes to mascara and everything in between. This one has great reviews!
My daughters keep requesting these cute headphones with the LED lit ears. The headband is adjustable and cushioned for comfort. The ears are foldable so you can enjoy your high-quality audio experience anywhere. Girls who live for music will be thrilled with these adorable headphones!
The Best Gifts for Girls Who Love STEM
Do you have a science-loving girl? Does your daughter love to explore, experiment and figure out how things work? She probably needs opportunities to make messes and learn in a hands-on way. Here is a list of wonderful science kits and projects to keep your precocious girl busily engaged and learning all about her favorite subjects.
Boolean BoxBoolean Box is a self-contained computer engineering kit made especially for girls. The computer kit comes preloaded with software including Minecraft for learning coding.
If your daughter loves computers, this build-your-own computer would be a fabulous gift for her. She will learn the different hardware components as she builds her computer, and then she’ll learn about operating systems, software and programming as she gets it up and running.
This is designed for children 8 and up to build without help. Girls can learn coding, build electronics, and more. They can create their own projects or use the free project ideas on the Boolean Girl website, www.booleangirl.org. The kit contains a Raspberry Pi, a basic computer built for learning how to code, and comes with the curriculum we have used to teach hundreds of girls in Boolean’s camps and classes. The Boolean Box contains everything a girl needs to code in Scratch or Python.
If your daughter loves legos and robots, she’ll love building these 5 different projects right out of the box.
LEGO boost includes a huge assortment of great parts so that you can build a working, mobile, programmable robot named Vernie, a musical guitar, a ‘factory’ that will actually build simple lego contraptions, a cat, and a horizontal rover bot. The free, downloadable app guides you through building and programming each robot in a series of challenges that are unlocked as you go.
She can also incorporate other sets and pieces and exercise her creativity as she learns. The bluetooth setup is incredibly easy — much easier than any of our other robots have been. And the software is even easier, with it’s intuitive, icon-based, drag-and-drop coding interface. Your daughter will be able to build several cool things all by herself!
K’NEX building sets develop a fundamental understanding of STEM subjects. These are some of the best gifts for girls. As your daughter clicks the different parts together and discovers how the building system works, she is strengthening hand-eye coordination, fine motor skills, problem-solving skills, spatial awareness, and exercising her imagination!
Each K’nex building set comes with instructions and all of the unique connectors to build that specific creation. We have several amusement park sets and a large engineering set, but my kids have dumped all the K’nex pieces into one bin, and they primarily use them to build creatively.
ZOOB is an award-winning building set with a difference—the pieces move after you put them together, so you can play with your creations, instead of just looking at them. There are 5 different styles of pieces that snap together in 20 ways to make connections that rotate, limbs that extend, axels that spin and much more.
The best part about playing with ZOOB is exploring, discovering and using imagination to create any design that comes to mind. This gives ZOOB built-in educational value because children must use the most important tool of all for creation: their imaginations. The included instruction guides also teach children how to build different creations. Although instructions are provided, the best part of playing with ZOOB is exploring, inventing, and discovering how you can build and deciding what you want to create.
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Tinker Crate inspires kids to explore and learn about science, engineering, and technology—and have fun doing it. Every month, a new crate to help kids develop a tinkering mindset and creative problem-solving skills. Suitable for girls ages 9 and up.
Educational subscription boxes for kids are such an easy way to increase your daughter’s interest in a particular subject and expose her to new subjects. These subscriptions make the best gifts for girls because they keep on giving all year! Seriously, subscription boxes are like the gateway drug to becoming a passionate lifelong learner!
Explore the wonders of the solar system right in your room as the planets orbit around the light-up sun! Just look up at your ceiling and watch as all nine (highly detailed) planets orbit around the light-up sun. Use the included light-pointer to locate each planet and make comets and meteors streak through the sky.
Includes remote control. Easily mounts to ceiling. Download an exciting audio tour of the solar system at UncleMilton.com!
Learn about volcanos, weather, crystals growing, dinosaurs, microscopic science and outer space with this multi-lab science set. Detailed instructions are included.
My girls especially loved digging the dinosaur bones and assembling the model.
This fun magnet set supports STEM by developing critical thinking and problem-solving skills. Learn new concepts and broaden content vocabulary through numerous, hands-on experiments. Oversized pieces increase successful experimentation, while small magnetic components improve fine motor skills.
The Best Gifts for Girls who Love Music
If you’re looking for the best gifts for girls who love music, instruments are a great place to start. Ukelele’s, harmonicas and guitars are a great place to start, as online lessons are plentiful and pretty simple.
Soprano Ukelele Starter Kit – Includes bag, online lessons, tuner and app
The Kala Ukulele Starter Kit comes with everything your daughter needs to start playing. It includes a high-quality mahogany soprano ukulele with Aquila strings, quality open gear tuners, and GraphTech Nubone nut and saddle. The kit also includes a Kala logo tote-bag, a 16-page Quick Start Guide with information about your new ukulele, and all the tips you need to get started! Learn to play songs in minutes with Kala’s FREE, easy to follow online lessons through the Kala Brand Music website.
The DAG-1C offers warm, vibrant, sound in your hands with a choice of convenient and practical features that will have the beginning guitarist in your house strumming away in no time.
The slim neck provides a comfortable feel and excellent playability, and the smooth satin finish maximizes resonance for optimal sound quality. This outfit includes the bag, a pick, a capo, and a tuner, in addition to the guitar. Your daughter will have everything she needs to get started right away.
I hope this fun list of the best gifts for girls helped you to find the perfect gift!
Pin these great gift ideas for later!
I forgot about perler beads! I think my daughter is old enough for them now. Thanks for the ideas!
Oh my goodness, my sister would absolutely die to have all of those pens – she’s a bit obsessed! Great gift ideas 🙂
Ha, ha! She sounds like my daughters! They die over all the art supplies!
Love this list, especially the list of books for girls who read! Thank you!
Books are probably the very most appreciated gifts of all around this house!
This is a great list of different ideas for girls of all ages. I have some that are only 3 years old and some that are in their mid-twenties. Things to remember and write down for gifts.
You’re so blessed to have so many girls to buy Christmas gifts for!
ths is a great gift guide. my nieces love all these kinds of things
They really are some of the best gifts for girls!
Great list! I still love gel pens!
Oh, me, too! I always have to get myself a set while I’m buying them for my girls!
What a great list and I love the variety of gifts suggestions! I really love the fact that you can find something for all the girls on your list (in one list)!
Thanks, Linda! I love it when I can find all the very best gifts for girls in one place — it makes shopping easy!
You have quite a list here. This is great to have on hand as you have many ideas ready for the picking!
D, xo || from https://livedreamcreate-d.com
What a great list! Something for everyone here, and the fact that you included The Boxcar Children under the reading list – it made my heart feel good as that will always be my favorite kids book!
I always loved the boxcar children, too! I probably read every book in the series. I don’t know why, because I had great parents, but the thought of being an orphan and taking care of my siblings really appealed to me! Funny! Thanks for your comment, Denise!
I love the books you recommended. Caddie Woodlawn was one of my favorites.
Caddie Woodlawn is one of our all-time favorites, too! Books make the best gifts for girls who love to read!
This is so helpful, especially with 2 girls. It’s hard to come up with ideas of things we don’t have.
Happy to share the best gifts for girls!
This is great and will be so helpful around the holidays!
Glad I could help, Heather!
Thank you for including items for a variety of personalities. Often, gift ideas are limited to “girly girls”. The ideas for subscriptions and classes is a wonderful addition.
My five daughters all have different personalities and interests, so that’s how we roll!
Oh, I love all of these! I remember some of these goodies from my own childhood. I especially love the friendship bracelets! I can’t wait to buy some of these and play with them with my daughter, Violet.
It’s so much fun to buy my girls things I used to play with! We love friendship bracelets, too!
Thanks for this post! As a mom of boys I always have a hard time gifting to girls (now that I have a daughter I am sure I will get better!). I’ve been thinking about Tinker Crate /Kiwi for a while now- I may have to just do it!
I’m betting you will love shopping for your daughter! Girls are so much fun to buy gifts for!