27 Gifts for 13-Year-Old Girls

On days when soccer practice starts right after the last bell, her schoolbooks and gym clothes have to share one bag, and this Varsity Elite backpack from Nike has room for both.

Nothing about its sporty look reads as childish, which means it can follow her into high school.

What goes in a keepsake shoebox after ticket stubs and notes from friends?

With the INSTAX Mini 12, it can be pictures she took herself, printed on the spot. At a friend's birthday party, one print goes to the guest of honor and a second one goes into the shoebox.

The back pages of her notebook are full of song lyrics and quotes, written out with care.

These six Pitt Artist pens from Faber-Castell have chisel tips made for calligraphy strokes, in several ink colors. The next chorus she copies out will look lettered on purpose.

This LANEIGE Glaze Craze serum slips into the makeup bag of a teen who is starting to build her own beauty routine.

Mixing and matching looks is new to her, and a starter piece like this keeps the choice easy. Her finished look for a friend's birthday party gets its final touch from a quick swipe.

Late-night reading and drawing her favorite characters both happen on the Kindle Scribe Colorsoft, which holds her novels and comes with a pen for sketching on its color screen.

Jotting theories beside a chapter lets her argue with the plot as she goes.

A Little Wordy from Exploding Kittens is a word game for exactly two players, so all a lunchtime round takes is one friend and an empty spot at the cafeteria table.

Quick with puns and wordplay? Then she has the right instincts for every game.

On the walk to a friend's house, a teen who misses summer waves can ride the Razor RipStik Ripsurf.

Her love of the ocean carries onto the sidewalk, where the board moves as she sways her hips. Afterward, the Ripsurf leans by the front door until the next ride.

A teen girl who sketches castles and imaginary kingdoms in her notebook can roam a whole realm on her Nintendo Switch 2.

She dreams up those lands on paper, and these classic Dragon Quest tales let her walk through a realm like hers.

This mic sits on a teen girl's hoodie and catches her narration for the book review clips she films.

At her age she shares opinions on camera, and noise canceling keeps her words clear over a sibling's music. Her finished review goes up with each word of her verdict on the plot easy to follow.

Podcasts can ride along on her evening dog walks with the SHOKZ OpenMove.

These open-ear headphones use bone conduction, so she hears each episode and still hears the street around her. They are sweatproof too, which helps on nights the walk turns into a jog.

PlayStation DualSense game controller for PS5

Microsoft Xbox Wireless Controller for couch gaming

For a 13 year old who already games, a controller made for her own console goes straight into the games she plays now.

Just pick the console she has.

Shower songs ring out from this Soundcore speaker on the bathroom shelf, picked by a teen from her own phone each morning.

Her taste in music is something she shows off now, and it belongs out loud rather than tucked inside earbuds. The get-ready mix she curates gains a new track every week.

During a weekend tournament with her squad, a teen PC player wants every click to come from a mouse that is hers.

The Logitech G G305 Lightspeed is built for play, which matches how seriously she treats her squad's strategy. Her winning screenshot from the final round ends up pinned in the team chat.

Sleepover snapshots stop living only on her phone once a middle schooler can print them for her scrapbook the next morning.

She tapes the best ones beside her desk and hands extras to the friends in them.

Herd Mentality turns knowing the other players into a way to win: someone reads a prompt aloud, and the aim is to answer the way most of the group does.

A good read on how her friends think gives her a head start, and this travel edition is made for taking on a road trip.

Paris tops her someday list, and this Ravensburger 3D puzzle lets her build the Eiffel Tower long before she stands under the real one.

Its 216 pieces click together into a standing tower, a souvenir from a city she has not visited yet and a reason to keep planning.

When the girl on your list thinks several moves ahead, Faraway gives that habit a table to play on.

She likes contests where each decision counts, and here every choice she makes adds to her total at the finish. Her winning score goes on a sticky note on the fridge, the number her friends try to top.

If the teen on your list keeps score at every family gathering, this strategy game lets her beat parents and siblings fairly.

Thinking ahead is a habit of hers, and here it counts for more than who has played longest. The board gets packed away only after the rematch.

Codenames splits a group of friends into two teams, and each team's spymaster gives one-word clues that point teammates to their own words on the table.

After a school play, her living room has plenty of players for a round, and switching spymasters lets every friend take a turn at the clues.

This national parks board game is a strategy pick for a teen girl who saves photos of canyons.

The places she hopes to hike someday become the board she competes on with friends. On a rainy weekend, a round with her cousins fills the afternoon.

Bepuzzled's Infinity puzzle is meant for a teen who flips straight to the riddles in any magazine and never peeks at the answers.

That stubborn streak moves from paper into her hands, which turn it over and over until the trick gives way. Once solved, the brainteaser sits on her desk as proof she cracked it alone.

The Touchland Blossom Trio puts hand sanitizer mists in a teenage girl's backpack or purse.

She chooses the small things she carries these days, and these sprays sit beside her lip balm. Before lunch in the cafeteria, a quick mist cleans her hands without a trip to the sink.

For the teen on your list who styles her hair before school, the ghd All-Rounder is a brush that belongs to her.

Her morning routine is hers to run now, and a paddle brush pairs with the dryer or straightener she uses.

At a school dance, a girl who never leaves the floor can carry her phone and house key in this purse.

Now that she goes out with friends on her own, her things ride on her instead of in mom's tote. Between songs, she can pull out lip gloss for a quick touch-up, then head back to the floor.