Because it’s almost like no matter what you buy them for a gift, your teen isn’t going to like it. We’ll help improve those odds this year!
Teenage girls. Am I right?! Let’s be completely honest, whatever you end up having to gift your teen will most likely be returned and with a chronic eye-roll because, well, you are the absolute worst and you know it!
On a real note, these days most already have everything they want and pretty much spend the majority of their time on their iPhone anyway so best of luck getting them something they’ll actually use. If they’re a tween, they’re in that awkward stage because they officially stopped playing with toys and are ready for something more mature. It can be tough!
If it’s one thing we learned from the experts at Teen Vogue, it’s that this year so many of the teen girl trends focus on things like:
• Vintage Everything: From Crocs and Champion hoodies to tie-dye tees.
• DIY Home Activities: From chunky knitting to homemade tiny terrariums.
• Home/Room Decor: From hanging ivy to neon lights to hang on the wall.
Either way, we researched, tested, read reviews and scoured the InterWebs to find some of the coolest and most unique teenage girl gifts that make almost any of them happy. If you’re looking specifically for gifts for teenage boys we’ve got that too. And if they’re not quite teenagers yet, it means they’re in their tween years (9 – 12 years old) we have gift ideas for them too!
From the early teen years of 13 years old all the way up to the late teens (hello 19!) we’ve got something for every age and stage (eye-rolls need not apply).
And while we don’t love having to label gifts “for girls” or “for boys” these are some of the best ideas for teenage girls (as approved by the teenager in our life) but are 100% appropriate for anyone who’s into them. Leave your labels at the door.
We covered a lot of additional gift guides, too, like ones for your kids (ages 4 – 11), your total tried-and-true besties, and even your loving (yet overbearing) parents. Feel free to take a look at those if you’re stuck on what to get them!
Check out some of the best gifts for teen girls in 2023. Happy shopping…and save your receipt!
EDITOR’S PICK
1. The 3-in-1 Apple Charging Station
Elago
• Keeps all of your devices organized in one place.
• It charges everything pretty quickly, which is great when they’re in a rush.
• It has a pretty sleek and stylish design, which will look great on their night stand or at their desk.
• Your original wires/cables are required as this charging station doesn’t come with them.
• If they have all three Apple products, it’s definitely worth it. If they only have one or two you may want to find a charging station that’s only for one or two items. You really can’t beat the price though!
The Elago 3-in-1 Apple Charging Station is the charging dock that can charge their iPhone, iPad, and Apple Watch all at the same time! It is made of aluminum and has a sleek, minimalist design. The charging station has three USB ports, one for each device, and comes with an AC adapter.
One of the great things about this charging station is that it keeps all of your devices organized in one place. You don’t have to worry about losing cords or having them tangled up. The charging station also looks very sleek and stylish and comes in a variety of different colors to choose from.
We love that it charges all three devices very quickly. If you’re in a hurry, you can just plug everything in and know that it will be fully charged in no time (and your teen will have a harder time losing them if they’re all in one place!).
THE TECH CHOICE
2. The Apple AirPods Pro
Apple
• Noise canceling helps tune out background noise.
• The sound quality is better than the original.
• Different ear tips come with this to help fit your ears the best.
• The price is definitely higher than previous versions.
• Battery life can be shorter than the original especially when using noise cancellation or transparency mode.
• Overall, we love ours and think it’s worth it. However, if your teen still likes their original pair you may want to skip this one as — in our opinion – in may not really be worth the price increase.
The latest Apple AirPods Pro have been met with a lot of excitement, especially since they bring a few key upgrades that many of us have been waiting for. Active noise cancellation, better sound quality, and an improved design are all part of the reasons why we recommend picking up pair.
Ok fine, they totallydo deserve to be spoiled every now and then! Grab a pair for yourself so you can tune out your teens!
THE POSITIVE CHOICE
3. The “Feminist Agenda” Journal + Planner
Minted
• Comes with 80 interior pages, which you can choose from lined options or plain.
• Choose from 4 different eye-catching color options.
• Personalize it with their name, address, or anything you really want.
• The more you add to your order (customization-wise) will continue to increase the price.
• Overall, it’s a great way to keep your teenager organized and we personally love that positive message on the cover. Plus, add their name to it for a little personalization and we think it’s totally worth it.
The totally on-trend gift with a message that’s so important right on the cover. This top-selling notebook from Minted can double as a journal or planner depending on which you choose. You can even personalize it by adding their name (or team number) right on the cover. Choose from amazing color options like yellow, rose, peony, candy, and more. Help them get totally organized this year (better late than never!)
THE CLEAN CHOICE
4. The PhoneSoap Phone Sanitizer
Phone Soap
• UV rays help to sanitize 99% of all germs on your phone.
• You can sanitize other items too like keys, your license, etc.
• It’ll charge your phone at the same time it cleans it!
• It’s a bit bulky.
• You have to make sure you purchase the right size based on your own phone size (make sure it’ll fit!)
• Overall, yes this one is totally worth it especially if you want peace of mind knowing all those gross germs all over your phone are now gone. We own one and actually have gifted this to just about everyone in our family over the past 2 years.
This is the thing to get, especially with all the nasty germs and bacteria floating around out there! Yes, now they can actually clean their gross phones thanks to this phone sanitizer case that uses UV rays to beam away all the nasty germs. It’ll actually get rid of 99.9% of germs. It’s basically the miracle tech gift that’ll give you a little piece of mind.
THE GIRL/FRIEND CHOICE
5. The Famous ‘Puravida’ Friendship Bracelet
Puravida
These are the bracelets that everyone has been talking about, mainly because of how much they do to help employ those less fortunate in other countries, but also because they’ve been all over television lately. Plus, it’s been one of our most popular gifts last Christmas (and so far this year too!) This friendship set of 10 can be worn all at once, divided up, or even split between them and their friend(s). See more bracelet options here!
THE FASHION CHOICE
6. The Nike Air Force 1 Sneakers
Nike
• These Nike sneakers are pretty lightweight and provide all-day comfort.
• The padded collar is super soft and comfy.
• You can never go wrong with white on white on white sneaker this season.
• At $110 they’re a bit on the pricier side.
• Whether your teen goes to a public school or a private high school you can’t go wrong with these sneakers. Most private schools will allowplain sneakers with their uniforms so if you can get a little added milage out of them it just may be worth the price!
If there is onlyone thing you gift them this year it’s got to be the latest Air Force 1 sneakers from Nike. They are obsessed. For real.
THE COOL CHOICE
7. The 16-Color Moon Lamp
Logrotate
• Use this 3D-printed/created moon lamp as a fun night-light or a way to help them sleep.
• It’ll change up to 16 different colors and varying level of brightness..
• It has a timer option where you can program to keep it on for anywhere from as little as 15 minutes all the way up to one full hour.
• Some buyers felt like the moon was a bit smaller than they thought (it has a 7-inch diameter).
• While you can charge it, on a full charge it’ll only last up to 10 hours so if you use it nightly you may need to just keep it plugged in.
• As you know with teens, lights in their bedroom is where it’s at this year. This little moon is super cute, can be totally calming when you choose certainly light colors and can be programmed to shut off after a little while. Add in the pretty low price and we think this is a must-have for their bedroom.
Now this is the one thing they definitely don’t have (yet). This amazing moon lamp ball can change 16 different colors via remote control or touch and is a total mood stabilizer. It currently has over 18,000 reviews and ratings on Amazon right now!
THE VSCO CHOICE
8. The Fjallraven Backpack
Fjallraven Kanken
VSCO Girl-approved, this isthe most popular backpack of the year – and at a great price at Nordstrom. It’s totally water-resistant, is big enough to hold a standard laptop or Chromebook, can be held as a bag or has the straps to use as a standard backpack, and comes in a ton of really cool colors!
THE LOVING CHOICE
9. The “You Are Loved” or “You Are Enough” Tee
Amazon
• These T-Shirts have positive and important messages for your teens to remember and live by.
• They come in more than 10 different colors to choose from.
• You can’t beat the price of a $20 tee!
• These are more body-fitting than super loose, so you may want to go a size up.
• In a world that seems to be a mess lately, we could all use some positive messaging to remind us and others what’s really important.
Simply stated, but a totally needed reminder that, no matter what, they reallyare loved and enough. This super comfy tee comes in a variety of colors and styles for guys and gals like navy blue, light yellow, light blue, black, light pink, heather grey, and more!
THE TRENDY CHOICE
10. The Felt Letter Board in Pink
Felt Like Sharing
Everything old is new again (again)! We’re seeing these felt letter boardseverywhere these days and love how it comes in this calming pink color (don’t worry, it also comes in other colors like blue, grey, black, green, orange, purple, and more!). It comes with 300 letter pieces so they can change up their messaging depending on their mood for the day. Get inspired!
THE DECOR CHOICE
11. The Ivy Vine String Lights
Urban Outfitters
We don’t fully get the trend, but they’re obsessed with ivy vine string lights (from the trendy Urban Outfitters) thanks to Tik Tok (another thing we barely get). But, trust us, get these. They’ll be all over their room in no time. Ok, fine, they’re kinda cool.
THE PERSONAL CHOICE
12. The Five-Minute Journal
Intelligent Change
• A great way to set your intention each day and remind yourself what you’re grateful for.
• Each day there’s an inspirational quote to read to help set the tone of your day.
• After a while some of the older pages can get loose and fall out.
• We are big believers in taking time to practice gratitude, center, and set your intention to help manifest your future. With all their activities and time your teenagers spend on TikTok (for real), setting aside just 5 minutes a day can really be a life changer.
The best way for them to take justfive minutes per day to answer a few quick questions, set their intention, jot down what they’re grateful for, and more. We actually have this one and it really is pretty life changing.
THE COLORFUL CHOICE
13. The Hydro Flask Water Bottle
Hydro Flask
• Besides being on-trend, it’s a great way to increase their daily water intake.
• There areso many colors to choose from.
• They can keep their water (or other drinks) cold for up to 24-hours.
• HydroFlask can get a bit pricey, but typically it’s still more affordable than most YETI water bottles.
• If you add ice cubes some reviewers didn’t love hearing the ice cubes clanking on the metal when they carried it around.
• It’s totally worth it, especially if you want to get them to drink more water throughout the day – which can come in handy when they’re playing sports too.
It’s a great way for them to get more water into their system all throughout the day! Plus, this double-insulated leak proof bottle from Hydro Flask will keep their drinks cold up to 24-hours (!!) and their hot drinks hot for up to 6-hours. Score! We love the flamingo pink color, but it also comes in a variety of others like blue, green, black, grey, stainless steel, and more!
THE GAME CHOICE
14. The ‘Unstable Unicorns’ Game
TeeTurtle
This is one of the best-selling games so far this year. In fact, it’s one of Kickstarter’s 50 most backed projects of all time. Pretty impressive. The goal is to build your own unicorn army (mainly by betraying your friends). Be the first to to build the army of 7 unicorns and win this strategic card game! This one is perfect for teens 14 and older! Ok, and maybe a little younger too!
THE KIND CHOICE
15. The ‘Choose Kindness’ Tee
Amazon
• A super positive message for your teen (and anyone, really) to remind themselves and others who see it.
• Plenty of color combos to choose from.
• A little pricy coming in at just under $30
• Positive message especially around that can be pointed to anti-bullying is always a good idea.
Because in a world that seems like bullies are everywhere, they can be a rainbow in the clouds. What a great positive message! Check it out in a bunch of different colors too.
THE COMFY CHOICE
16. The Comfy Blanket Sweatshirt
Comfy
Yes, this is for real. Move over Snuggie because this year it’s all about thewearable sweatshirt blanket! First made famous on Shark Tank (of course) now all their friends are sporting these. They reallyare so comfy! They also come in all different colors and patterns to choose from too. It’s actually a great option for any of the women on your list too.
THE CREATIVE CHOICE
17. The Cinema LED Light Box
Cinema Lightbox
Now they can basically have their name in lights! Just like the Kardashian’s. Ugh. This LED light-up box comes with 90 different letter, numbers, and symbols and operates via AA batteries. From funny quotes to inspiring messages, sky is the limit.
BEST FOR THE MESSY
18. The Bedside Essential Pocket
Uncommon Goods
• Finally a way for your teen to keep all their electronics, books, etc organized and out of their bed.
• Decreases the chances of them losing their prized possessions.
• At just $15 you can’t beat the price.
• While it’ll help keep them organized it still allows their devices to beso close to their bed.
• It won’t work if you don’t have a bed frame/side rail on the bed.
• Overall, we think anything that’ll help them keep things out of their bed and all in one place is always a genius idea. Not having to hear “Have you seen my earbuds” is pretty priceless.
Because how many more times are they going to lose their phone, tablet, earbuds, books and the like in their bed overnight?! This is a great way for them to keep things organized and, hopefully, out of their bed!
BEST FOR INTROVERTS
19. The Comfort Zone Candle
Anecdote Candles
• We actually own this candle and it totally smells amazing (a mix of orange blossom, jasmine, and coffee).
• Their standard jar can burn for up to 50 hours.
• The candles are hand-poured and contain all natural ingredients.
• Some of their candle names actually made us laugh out loud – it’s like they totally get us.
• The price isn’t too bad, but for $24 we were hoping for a larger candle.
• Overall, we love the name of their candles (there’s really something for just abouteveryone) and they smell pretty great too. $24 isn’t too bad for jar candles as you may know, we just wish it was a bit bigger.
Perfect for those teenagers that, like many of us adults, have zero FOMO and actually enjoy missing out – and staying home! This candle from the Anecdote Candle company is “Comfort Zone” which smells like “the joy of missing out” and, well, coffee and cedarwood too. It has some calming notes of orange blossom and jasmine too. If you go with the standard candle (as opposed to their travel tin) it you’ll get an almost 8 ounce candle that can burn for up to 50 hours, which is pretty decent.
BEST FOR THE CLUMSY
20. The Cute Air Pods Case Cover
eLago
• The case itself is soft and durable silicone, which will help to protect your device when it drops.
• You can still wirelessly charge your Air Pods even with the case on.
• It has an anti-slip coating so you don’t want to worry about it sliding off your table, desk – you name it.
• The $20 price is actually pretty decent, especially for how cute this is!
• There are cheaper cases for your Air Pods out there if you’re looking to save a bit more (none are as cute though).
• The key ring is a bit tight so adding it to your set of keys (and remove it) take a little bit of work.
• You know they drop their Air Pods regularly, so anything that’ll help stop them from cracking and breaking them is a total win. Plus, duringthat time of year these are a genius and affordable little stocking stuffer.
Is she a duck? Is she a chicken? We may never know, but what we do know is that this Air Pods case/cover is totally cute and sure to bring a smile even totheir face. It’s made from durable silicone so you don’t have to worry about your case cracking they inevitability drop it. And don’t worry about keeping this cute little case on because you can still wirelessly charge your Air Pods (appropriate models) while it’s on and even will still show the LED light so you know if you’re fully charge (green) or running low (orange/red).
BEST FOR EVERYDAY COMFORT
21. The Comfy Cloud Slippers/Slides
Rosyclo
• These slippers/slides really are one of the most comfortable we’ve ever worn – truly like walking on a pillow or cloud (we assume).
• They’re really light-weight and pretty form fitting from the top of our toe to the back of our heel.
• You can wear them around the house, in the shower, to the beach – you name it.
• With more than 20 million video views on TikTok – these viral slippers really are a hit.
• There are a lot of little grooves in them, so if you go with a lighter color theymay be a bit more difficult to clean and “get in there”.
• They don’t really “break in” so be sure to get the size that feels best for you. If you wear them right away and they hurt a bit, you should go up a size because they won’t “get better.”
• 100% worth it! We barely mentioned the price, but you can’t beat it (some sizes are only $10!) and they’re so comfortable and hit that minimalist trend you could get them in a variety of colors for different outfits.
Walking on a cloud is now officially possible! These arethe pillow slippers that have gone viral on TikTok, bringing in more than 20 million video views. They’re so comfortable, mainly due to their thick ultra-rebound soles and really lightweight materials they’re made from. People are wearing them everywhere – from just hanging around the house, to the beach, their official “shower shoes” and more. We love the buttery yellow color but you can choose from more than 12 other eye-catching colors like avocado green, watermelon red, pink, baby blue, pure white, and more.
BEST FOR POSITIVITY
22. The Positive Messaging Art Print
Rihanna Marie Chan
As you can tell by now, we love just about anything with a positive message – especially when it comes to important messages that girls need to keep in mind (top of mind) each and every day. This pretty art print reminds everyone that “This is a Good Day to Have a Good Day” and we couldn’t agree more.
You can choose this print in a variety of sizes like:
- Extra Small: 8″ x 9″
- Small: 13″ x 16″
- Medium: 17″ x 20″
- Large: 20″ x 26″
- Extra Large: 28″ x 34″
Of course, the larger you go the more expensive the print gets. The only thing we don’t love is that there isn’t a frame option so if you want to frame it, you’ll have to pick that up yourself. Typically, if we order prints without a frame,Michaels craft store has a wide variety of affordable frames and many even have a frame department where someone there can help you frame it.
BEST FOR THE STRANGER THINGS FAN
23. The “Running Up That Hill” T-Shirt
Red Bubble
It’s the song (Running Up That Hill) by Kate Bush that’s been in their head for months upon months thanks to the popularity of it being featured during season 4 of Stranger Things. What better way to show their fandom for all thingsStranger Things than with the Kate Bush-inspired “Running Up That Hill” t-shirt. You can choose a wide variety of sizes starting at a regular small all the way up to a 5 XL and it comes in more than 18 different colors. The fit is pretty generous (meaning: it’s not a slim fit) and the material is actually pretty heavy-duty to it will stand the test of timeand all the time in the washing machine and dryer.
BEST FOR FASHIONISTA
24. The Herschel Fanny Pack
Herschel Supply Co.
