Our 13 Year Old Girl Birthday Gifts

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We loved celebrating our newly minted teenager yesterday! My mind is still spinning a bit that we now have TWO teens at home. How in the world did this happen?

K is pretty easy to please and has simple interests, so it’s always really fun picking out a few special things for her. We spent her birthday day having a special breakfast before school (yorkshire puddings with whipped cream, the perfect British/American combo that I’m sure would horrify most people who live here haha), having a special family dinner at home (she chose Vietnamese food from our favorite little restaurant), opening cards and gifts, having chocolate chip cookies, and watching some Great British Bake Off. As our 4th kiddo, A doesn’t need much in terms of everyday basics, but it was still really fun to celebrate him with a few fun gifts and activities. It was a lovely, low-key day and we’re excited to continue celebrating with a couple of different friend hangouts.

In addition to the darling cards and sweets that her siblings gave her, here are some of the presents we got K that she loved opening over dinner.

Experience: Harp Lessons

For nearly a year now, K has been mentioning how much she’d like to learn the harp. And for the last 6 or so months, she’s been soooo keen to do this, even going so far as to tell us she would be happy to not have any other gifts at all until she turned 18 if she could just do this.

I was pretty resistant at first because a) she already plays two instruments (violin and piano) and the sheer practice time would be overwhelming (though she did say she’d be happy to give up the piano in favor of harp) and b) because it felt expensive, difficult to arrange, and really hard to find an instrument.

But then in the week before her birthday, not one but TWO different things happened that made me think maybe we could make it happen. First, we heard about an Irish Center that offers virtual harp lessons, and then I found out one of K’s good friends’ grandpa plays the harp – which saw through the window of their house when picking her up (K didn’t even know this!). He’s well connected to the harp community and knows some teachers, so it felt like we could get that bit sorted. So now we’re working on figuring out an instrument, but we have a few months – K is committed to piano lessons through the end of the calendar year, so we told her she could start harp lessons in January.

I’m so glad we recorded her expression when she opened the card that told her this would be happening – the shock and delight were so sweet. I’m glad she’s so excited!

Rock Climbing Earrings

K has been quite into rock climbing the last year or two (and climbing in general for years – she is ALWAYS high up a tree anytime we’re at the park and all the school mums just know to expect her there now) and requested these cute climbing carabiner earrings. She saw them at our local rock climbing gym but they were out of stock, so we ordered them from the maker here. These are similar.

Book

I always gift my kids a book for their birthdays, Christmas, and Easter – I hope that by the time they’re adults, they’ll have their own little special little collection of books chosen just for them that they can take with them when they leave home.

K is a voracious reader and starting to move into slightly older books with some romance elements. She recently asked to read Pride & Prejudice, which I was of course thrilled about, so I got her a beautiful copy (I love the Puffin in Bloom x Rifle Paper Company covers!). Also available from Target, Walmart, Bookshop.

Puzzle Book

I’ve had this puzzle book in the back of my mind for ages, and I think K will have a great time with it. It’s wildly popular with fantastic reviews! Also available at Target, Walmart, Bookshop.

Hair Claw + Clothes

K has been growing like crazy (she’s a touch taller than me now!) and has been asking for a new church outfit or two, plus some basic shirts. In the last year, we’ve gotten 95% of the kids’ clothes via the Vinted app for secondhand items, which I love – it makes me happy to give new life to things and not add to landfills, plus it’s way cheaper. Still, it’s a bit harder to find a few basics in good condition, especially for K’s long and lean body type. So I grabbed her a floral maxi skirt, a dress, and a few t-shirts and casual tops. She was honestly so sweet and excited to have a few new clothes – absolutely nothing fancy but she was really happy. 🙂

I also grabbed her a cute flower hair claw that’s gold with pearl petals – super pretty and she was really excited about this one, too. (Here’s a similar one, as is this one.)

Daunt Books Gift Card

My sister and her family sent K a gift card to Daunt Books, a super lovely bookshop near us. She’s very excited to be able to choose her own book soon!

We loved celebrating sweet 13 year old! And hope these help if you have a kiddo this age, too. Do you have any favorite 13 year old birthday gifts for girls or boys? I’d love to hear all your teen gift ideas!