To ask for present ideas for 10 and 11 yr old girls

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I'm visiting my friend and her two daughters in a few weeks, both have spring birthdays. I'd like to get belated Xmas and bday presents, approx budget 2 x £10-15 presents each (so four presents in total).

What can I get them? Whenever I ask friend for ideas she says anything crafty, or books, but I get lost trying to work out what is good for their ages.
Almost 11 yr old is quite brainy and a bit of a nerd. Her sister is almost 10 and more average, and into more physical and also 'girly' things. However ideally I don't want to perpetuate the you're clever vs you're physical divide too much with both presents.

Many thanks for all replies!

They love those things called squishies - you can buy them off Amazon - bit like stress balls but in the shape of cupcakes, sweets etc

Nail varnish, anything from Claire's Accessories, lip balms, stationary eg notepads, rubbers, pencils etc especially if they have pictures of unicorns, mermaids or pineapples on them.

Anything from Smiggle.

Thanks, lots of ideas! They sound a bit young to me so really interested to see they're not. Actually I remember getting a stress ball squeezy thing at 11 and loving it! And stationery. So I definitely like your ideas.

Any more very welcome

How about the little beads that you put on a board and then someone irons them and make little patterns?

Forgot what you call them!😳

My dd is 10.5 and I would say her and most of her friends seem to have gone off smiggle this year. Although they are still keen on stationary in general. Books she is getting into geek girl vlogger type books.

Quite a few of them are into textiles and sewing, also pompon making.

And slime........

Mine is beyond Smiggle now but she would like a squishy stress ball. She’s into nice bath stuff - Lush and Victoria Secrets Pink body spray are top hits at the moment. Also into rose gold accessories for her bedroom - Primark is good for this.

Good Night Stories for Rebel Girls is a great book and beautiful looking present. I agree that Smiggle is hit and miss depending on what the cohort has decided! You can get some modelling clay like grown up plasticine on Amazon that you can’t really go wrong with. A fancy pants water bottle might go down well. (Or not.)

Nice fountain pen and notepad?

Bath bombs from lush are always a hit with my DD (11) and her friends.
DD also has several pens with large pom pom on from Paperchase.

Slime seems to be really big with kids at the moment. My 10yo niece liked having it as a Christmas pressie.

I agree slime my DD got a kit from smyths and spent hours making different slimes.

Journals? Aldi have two nice sets at the moment. They're sold out online but still had plenty in my local store tonight. Fancy pens and stickers are always popular with all the girls I know too.

www.aldi.co.uk/kirkton-house-colourful-planner-set/p/081876195038401

www.aldi.co.uk/kirkton-house-floral-planner-set/p/081876192586600

DD11 here - her dream list:

Lush products

Zoella / Tanya Burr bath stuff

Stationary - paperchase, TK Maxx notebooks etc

Slime - weirdly still loves it. Genius putty especially.

Victoria Secret Pink stuff. Water bottles, bags etc but can be pricey.

Would second Lush.
And Paperchase.
Smiggle too, but probably only for the youngest.
Raptors of Paradise books, if they like dinosaurs. Newly published (and reviewed on MN!) so they probably won't have read them.

Anything from Smiggle!

Adding a vote for Lush, Paperchase and genius putty! (I can't bear the Lush shops myself but took one for the team in order to get a voucher for DD's Christmas stocking. Only realised afterwards that it means I will need to go back in there with her to spend it.)

Here are a few things of DD's (just turned 11) favourite Christmas/b'day presents:

megaphone (weird, I know - she asked for it)
fountain pen and nice letter writing sets (she has some new pen friends)
Gryffindor hoodie
Stikbots (little figures you can use to make stop-frame animations)
bath bombs
Star Wars pyjamas
Pokemon cards

A few other ideas:
cosy hot water bottle
toiletries bag
nice cereal bowl (there's a gift shop near us that sells nice ones with flamingoes on; I want one myself!)

Instead of two presents each would it be an option to get them one present and one voucher? (e.g. Lush/Paperchase/Claire's/book token) That way they could have the 'same' but choose differently.

My 11yo niece loves Typo - so I get her a gift card, plus something small from the shop. She also likes Zoella type stuff but I ask my sister for guidance. I think at that age you need to ask them/their parents as tastes are so specific.

Btw Typo is the new Smiggle - but higher age range. I love their notebooks.

Absolutely anything with a unicorn on it.

Thanks so much for all these ideas! Plenty to look at. I like the idea of the stop frame animation stuff, I'd seen that before but forgotten about it, and both girls have tablets so that could work.

I might think of some ideas from these lists and check with my friend that I'm not duplicating or getting it very wrong

Rebel stories is a great call daisy, but I know they already have it. Mum is an ardent feminist.

My younger Guides are obsessed with squishies especially scented ones