Gift Ideas for Creative Girls

Looking for girls gift ideas? These fun toys, creative activities, and beauty products are sweet surprises for girls who love to dress up and accessorize. My own girls enjoy gifts that inspire their creativity. Our gift list for girls ages 9 to 12 includes stylish fashion dolls, DIY spa products, and crafty ideas at a range of prices.

I often start planning my family Christmas gift list in early fall. Sometimes I make gifts for my kids, and I always shop the pre-holiday sales! With a little planning, I can find good deals on things my kids need. I usually give my girls clothing, a few hair accessories, several toys, books, craft supplies, and bath and body products. We also have a family tradition of opening new pajamas on Christmas Eve.

Fairy Light Bed Canopy

To go with their new pajamas, my girls asked me one year to get them bed canopies. There’s something so glamorous about sleeping beneath a glittering curtain of sheer fabric. At least my daughters think so. We set up these beautiful bed canopies in their room and added a string of LED fairy lights. Now my girls’ twin sized beds are fit for princesses!

This bed canopy for girls costs as little as $20 from Amazon, which is a great deal.  I purchased this canopy in both white and lavender colors. Although I love making things, the fabric and materials alone for these canopies would cost more than $20! The princess bedroom canopies we ordered have little embordered roses around the top. The canopy ring is made out of a bendy material that easily holds its shape. We secured the canopies to the ceiling with a simple hanging plant hook. This canopy took no time at all to set up. Kiera and Sylvie love that the sheer mosquito net material is long enough to enclose the entirety of a twin bed. So fabulous!

Glo-Up Girls Fashion Dolls

Glo-Up Girls fashion dolls are a lot of fun to dress up and accessorize. The Glo-Up Girls collection includes several different characters, each which come with darling outfits and accessories. These dolls are fun to personalize because girls can customize each doll with hair rhinestones and body art stickers. My daughters received Sadie and Tiffany, which they really enjoyed unboxing and styling.

Made by Far Out Toys, Glo-Up Girls doll Tiffany has blond hair streaked with pink, blue eyes and color-changing nails and lips. Her stylish yellow and blue dress ties in the front and coordinates with her blue gladiator sandals. Last but not least, Tiffany’s accessories include a pearl handbag, gold bracelets, bow earrings and a matching bow necklace.

Glo-Up Girls doll Sadie has purple hair tucked into two buns. She’s accessorized with red heart earrings, butterfly sunglasses, an ice cream bag and bright pink boots. Sadie loves color and sparkle, which is evident by her colorful heart top, sparkly pink sweater and holographic silver skirt. Like Tiffany, Sadie’s lips and nails are color-changing with temperature. Best of all, girls can pretend like they are applying her lipstick or painting on nail polish.

American Girl Collection

My girls also love their 18″ American Girl dolls and their 14″ WellieWishers dolls. American Girl is one of our favorite toy brands. I played with American Girl when I was a kid, and it’s fun to see my girls enjoy dressing up their dolls. Kiera and Sylvie are also always excited to receive an American Girl magazine in the mail. It’s especially fun to see the new holiday doll outfits and accessories.

The American Girl collection includes modern Truly Me dolls and timeless BeForever dolls with stories from different historical time periods. American Girl also releases an annual Girl of the Year, such as Luciana Vega (2018), Blaire Wilson (2019) and Kira Bailey (2021).

The American Girl collection includes a variety of dolls, outfit sets, accessories and furniture.

This darling teal American Girl teatime table and chairs set has everything girls need to host a very special tea party with their dolls. It comes with a teal metal table and coordinating chairs, which even have floral tie-on cushions! On the pedestal table, girls and their dolls can share the pretend snacks, including berry tarts, tea sandwiches and tiny pastel macarons. Sip pretend tea from miniature tea cups and dab your mouth with a tiny play napkin. My girls were in LOVE with this cheerful little tea set.

American Girl WellieWishers

Kiera and Sylvie also really enjoy playing with and dressing up their WellieWishers dolls. The American Girl WellieWishers are a group of five friends; Ashlyn, Camille, Emerson, Kendall, and Willa. Each doll comes wearing a darling outfit and coordinating Wellie boots. American Girl regularly releases seasonal outfits, accessories and backyard playsets for the WellieWishers. These adorable sets include WellieWishers snow gear, camping tent and s’mores supplies, and a backyard greenhouse.

The WellieWishers storybooks are great early readers for kids. My oldest daughter Kiera has read many of the WellieWishers books by herself. The five WellieWishers friends love putting on shows, gardening, pretending, having parties and camping under the stars.

You are sure to find something every girl will love from the American Girl collection!

Girls Hair Accessories

Next, hair accessories are always on my list of gift ideas for girls. My girls love wearing hair accessories, and I enjoy finding them unique clips and bows, often at great prices. These pretty rhinestone clips and flower hair accessories make great stocking stuffers and birthday party favors. Glittery hair accents are also perfect for wearing during the holidays!

I especially like the little rhinestone claw clips which are easy to secure in hair styles and take out later. Flower clips and decorated bobby pins are ideal for adding a little sparkle to a bun or a braid.

Also, every girl needs her own Wet hair brush, which makes hair brushing easy and painless. I’ve seen Wet hair brushes decorated with all sorts of designs. You can choose from Disney princess hair brushes, glittery swirls, and even unicorn cats! It’s fun to find a Wet hair brush to match your little girl’s style.

Large Hair Bows

If your daughter loves fancy hair styles, she will love these large hair bows, which you can find for as little as $2. My girls usually wear these bows with a ponytail or a bun. These bows are rather large, so putting my girls’ hair up helps keep the bows in place. You can quickly make any outfit just a little bit fancier with a large bow clip!

Artistic Gift Ideas for Girls

Our family loves learning through play! I often buy my kids educational activities and art supplies for Christmas and birthdays. It’s fun to get my girls gifts that will help them learn new skills like drawing or painting. Other crafty gift ideas for girls could include cookbooks, new piano music, or craft supplies.

Art Supplies

Prismacolor colored pencils are a great gift idea for kids who love to draw and color. These colored pencils are made for artists, with bright pigments that go onto the paper boldly and smoothly. I love the quality of these colored pencils. I usually give my kids an assortment of art supplies for Christmas, such as a few kids coloring books and a new set of colored pencils.

Wax Stamp Set

Craft supplies are another great gift idea for girls. In past years, I’ve given my girls an assortment of washi tape, ribbon, scrapbook paper, rubber stamps, stickers and rhinestone jewels. My girls love using scrapbook paper to make cards, and decorate them with rubber stamps and stickers. This year I purchased my oldest daughter Kiera a sealing wax stamp set. The craft kit I found included several sticks of sealing wax and 3 whimsical metal stamp designs. She will enjoy using her wax seal stamp set for writing notes and letters to her friends.

Easy Kids Cookbooks

My girls who love cooking would love to unwrap some new cookbooks on Christmas. Many kids enjoy baking cookies, cupcakes and helping to make dinner. Kids can easily learn some simple cooking skills and practice what they know in the kitchen. An easy kids cookbook with pictures is a great way to inspire kids to want to learn how to cook!

DIY Beauty Products for Girls

Next on our gift list, if your daughter likes beauty and spa products, a DIY home spa kit is a great gift idea for girls! In the spa set, you can include a few new colors of nail polish, face masks, body spray and more.

My girls love painting their nails and having a home spa day. You can find a lot of brands of nail polish that are 3-free or 5-free. This means the nail polish is free of some of the harsh chemicals often used in making nail polish. L.A. Colors nail polishes are toluene & formaldehyde free. This nail polish also dries quickly. Girls will enjoy painting their nails with these glittery mermaid colors of nail polish. You can choose from a huge range of other nail polish colors too!

Homemade Lip Gloss

Homemade glitter lip gloss is another great gift idea for girls. We’ve made DIY lip balm several times and it’s turned out great! You can make all sorts of colors using powdered pigments and even add fragrances, flavors and glitter. Once you have all the supplies, you can make your own moisturizing lip gloss in small batches for gifts and special occasions. You can find our full DIY lip gloss instructions here.

You can either purchase a lip gloss craft kit or do what I did and gather all the supplies needed to make lip gloss. Homemade lip balm is fun to make with shea butter, coconut oil and beeswax. I found these cute gem-inspired lip gloss jars on Amazon.

Homemade Sugar Scrub

Naturally exfoliating, homemade sugar scrub is another clever addition to our list of girls gift ideas. You can make sugar scrub by mixing coconut oil and sugar, plus any fragrance oil you’d like. Store homemade sugar scrub in a small jar and tie it with a bow. I’ve made mint sugar scrub and lavender sugar scrub. My daughters enjoy using sugar scrub on their feet and toes, after soaking their feet and before applying toenail polish. See my full sugar scrub tutorial here.

DIY Spa Kit

As mentioned before, a DIY spa kit is easy to put together and even more fun to use! To create a home spa kit for your daughter, you could include a nail file and clipper, nail polish, scented lotion, face masks, sugar scrub, lip balm, soaps, bath bombs, and body spray.

Coffee Infused Beauty Products

My 10-year-old daughter especially loves spa and beauty products. Some of the best spa products include natural lip balm, homemade sugar scrub, body butter, and bath bombs. Additionally, many girls (and moms) will like the Java Skincare collection of body products which are made with coffee.

Java Skincare lip balm is especially lovely. It’s tinted pink and scented with rose geranium essential oil. Because it’s made with green coffee, this lip balm smooths and moisturizes with a delightful fragrance of fresh coffee grounds. Java Skincare natural lip balm is sophisticated yet naturally girly.

Body Spray & Perfume

Simple and sweet, body spray is a personal and inexpensive gift idea for girls. Body spray also makes a great stocking stuffer! If you want to spend a bit extra, gifting your daughter a bottle of nicer perfume is a fun way to remind her she’s special. My favorite fragrances are light and floral, or fresh and inspired by spring and sunshine.

Pierce-Free Earzings

New earrings are next on our list of gift ideas for girls! My girls love going to accessory stores such as Claire’s and looking at their earring selection. Claire’s also has great sales! It’s very helpful to buy good quality earrings that are nickel-free and made for sensitive ears. These darling earring sets won’t irritate my girls’ ears.

If your daughter doesn’t have pierced ears, you can find many styles of clip-on earrings. My girls, Kiera and Sylvie, often wore Earzings before they had pierced ears. Earzings pierce-free earrings come in many darling styles and designs. The innovative clip-on coils actually twist onto the ear and keep the earrings in place. Earzings were designed by a mom who set out to create the perfect non-pierced earrings for girls and women. Girls without pierced ears can easily accessorize with glittery earrings thanks to Earzings!

Playmobil Gift Ideas for Girls

Playmobil is another really fun toy collection my kids love playing with. My girls especially like the fairy and princess sets. They also play with a Playmobil Victorian doll house I had as a kid. Playmobil characters are fun to play with and set up. Kids can create all sorts of scenes and scenarios for the Playmobil people. I especially like the beautiful details and tiny accents that come with many of the sets. The Playmobil collection for girls includes fairies, crystal world, mermaids, princesses, city life, wedding, Everdreamerz, dollhouse, Spirit Riding Free and much more.

Lego Friends Sets

Also perfect for tween girls, Lego Friends sets come in all styles. My daughters’ favorite sets include the Lego hotel and the Lego mall. Each Lego Friends character such as Emma, Stephanie and Julian have their own hair colors, styles and outfits. My kids love playing with Legos, pretending to be the characters and building creative houses and shops. Lego Friends sets are very fun girls gift ideas for any special occasion.

Affordable Gift Ideas for Girls

I hope you discovered something your little girl will love! Many of these creative gift ideas for girls are very affordable. On the other hand, I also enjoy giving my girls a few high quality toys to add on to their collectible toy sets. Finally, if you’re feeling crafty, you can make many DIY gift ideas for girls! Design a custom headband or necklace, make lip gloss, or even make some new doll accessories. The holidays aren’t all about gifts, but I really enjoy making Christmas and birthdays extra special for my kids!