£20 gift for 12 year old girl?

[Smedsmoos]

A charity has allocated me a 12 year old girl to buy a Christmas gift for. The budget is around £20.

It is likely that this will be her only Christmas present.

What can I get her?

I don’t want to buy a load of cheap tat just to make it look like more but equally I don’t want her to only have one thing to open. Help please!

Lots of places do the “giving tree”
dunelm do it every year
you choose a tag from the tree boy/girl and then age and get a gift and drop it back to the store

Could you just do a £20 one4all gift card so she can get what she wants?

Thank you :) X

My DD is 11 and based on her and her friends some of whom are now 12 I would go with a Primark haul, the stuff they seem to go crazy for includes fleecy blanket/cushions, Stanley cup style thermos, the whipped fancy looking shower foam, lip balms and the dupe skin care body butter stuff. They often have things discounted so you could make up a lovely bag/basket of stuff for £20.

If anyone is near Leicester then look up Toys on the Table, they ask for donations every year for children supported by Social Services.

Lots of fabulous suggestions, thank you! I like the idea of getting a few items that she can open and will definitely take some inspiration from your suggestions.

The charity is called be someone’s Santa, it’s local to Glasgow. @ThatNattyPlayer‘s suggestion of dunelms giving tree is great if you can’t find a local alternative!

I don’t know anything about her living situation however I do know that children and teens are referred by social work and other agencies as they’ve been identified as being unlikely to receive any presents.

Whilst I would love to go wild and spend way more than the £20, it may well be that this girl has siblings who will also receive a gift from the charity and it wouldn’t be fair for her to receive far more than her sibling for example.

Also, you give the gift in a gift bag unwrapped so that the charity can check that the items are age appropriate and that there are no prohibited items (ie personal notes or cards to the children). I’d imagine that if a bag had far more than £20 spent on it and was going to a house with multiple children who were getting a gift that was worth around £20, they’d possibly remove some items and put them in another bag that doesn’t have as much.

So rather than spending way more than the £20 I think I will pledge for another child (you can indicate any age or gender preference but I think I will leave it to the charity to decide!)

I did the dunelm one. The request was for perfume for a 15 year old.

neutral stuff that 12 yr olds I know, like body sprays, lip gloss and neutral nail polish.
craft sets
necklaces
bracelets

How come she's only getting one gift? Is she in foster care?

If anyone is interested in making a gift for children, Womens Aid Shelters always appreciate any gift donations for the children or even the Mums as they are often fleeing Domestic Abuse situations at short notice and leaving all belongings or previously planned gifts behind. In these circumstances they would not be included in any of the schemes described above.

I'd go for an oodie, shower gel, body spray a cross stitch set and Lidl chocolate Santa.

I work with 12 year olds in a large school and they most definitely do not wear bright hats, they don't even wear hats in general.

They're all into hair and make up mostly.
Also nike socks they all seem to wear.

Thousands of children in the UK will not get a gift at all. There are many reasons. Poverty, where a family can barely feed the children never mind buy gifts. Neglect by parents who have addiction issues. Homeless families who literally have nothing. The ones in foster care are likely to get gifts as an allowance is given to the foster carer for this.

She may not be able to get to a shop.

For a child that won't get a single gift apart from this one? She may not have had any gifts for several years. Imagine everyone else getting a gift to unwrap and she just gets handed an envelope. A gift card isn't really appropriate. The point is to put some thought into it. Otherwise the charity would just ask for donations and buy a load of cards for all the children. For these kids the fact that somebody thought about them enough to chose gifts means the world.

I agree a few little bits, lip gloss etc would go down much better than a gift card.
I think a gift card would be quite sad.

Go onto Boots app on a Tuesday. Lots of items discounted to £10 each and some codes/offers stack on top of. I'd get some White Fox treats and repackage into a bigger basket/box with a few cheaper treats.

I would avoid cleanser or make up type gifts as she may not be a stereotypical girly girl. But definitely like the primark fleece, fake Stanley, stationery and some shower gels idea. (Or fake lush type)

How about a heatless curler set- they are around £10, and then bits out of primark like fluffy socks, lipgloss, body spray etc.

Given her likely difficult home situation, I’d steer clear of craft / baking kits that may need equipment or ingredients that they possibly don’t have at home.
Some 12 year old love make-up, others are not into it at all yet.
I’d think about things that are practical but nice to have. Fancy shower gel (Lidl does good dupes of Lush ones), some lip balms (B&M often have sets flavoured like sweets or Coca Cola etc), body sprays, a Primark ‘Oodie’ (one size fits all so doesn’t matter if she’s big or small for her age and it would be very useful if she’s in a household that can’t afford to heat the home), a bag or two of sweets or a little chocolate selection box, fluffy slipper socks.

I would go for some nice pens and a teenage/ adult colouring book and then skin care/ hair care.

I would expect it to be very likely the child is from a migrant family. There are many in Glasgow and seems the most likely demographic to have no plans to give gifts at Christmas.
Anyway. Probably needs to be a single thing rather than a carrier bag of bits. Agree with a warm item of clothing from Primark etc. Oodie or hoodie or robe.

I think John Adam’s sparkle science is probably one of the ‘safe’ options

Primark fluffy pyjamas. Primark jewellery and Primark fluffy cushion or something like that.

For a girl that could be living in a one room temporary accommodation that's probably not a good choice.