Cool gifts for a nine year-old girl

January 16, 2006 3:15 PM

I want to buy some fun, interesting "stuff" for my girfriend's nine year-oid daughter. Suggest away: toys, crafts, music, surprises....If it helps, she's in Ontario, and I'm here in NYC.
posted by ParisParamus to sports, hobbies, & recreation (26 comments total)

What's she into? It would help if we knew a little more about her.
posted by killdevil at 3:17 PM on January 16, 2006

I don't know a thing about her, except she's fairly athletic and has a little terrier (for whom I just bought a flexible frisbee thing). Have a Mets cap in wrapped already, too...
posted by ParisParamus at 3:27 PM on January 16, 2006

Origami kits? (and maybe that book about the little girl who made all those paper cranes...?)
posted by PurplePorpoise at 3:40 PM on January 16, 2006

See if you can't find some brightly-colored kneepads or other generic athletic gear, or a bike helmet?
posted by Gator at 3:46 PM on January 16, 2006

Nine year old girl? Ipod Nano.
posted by Neiltupper at 3:48 PM on January 16, 2006

Did someone say bike helmet?
posted by PurplePorpoise at 3:52 PM on January 16, 2006

You can't go wrong with books of optical illusions.
posted by Astro Zombie at 3:58 PM on January 16, 2006

Discovery has some cool stuff for kids- here is the toy shop for girls 8-12.

Books, books, books, and more books- assuming she likes to read.

You say she's atheletic- do you know what sports she plays? Find out and check out a sporting goods store for accessories.
posted by Meredith at 4:06 PM on January 16, 2006

Not to pry, but can you get some details from the kid's mom about what she's into? Or is this supposed to be a surprise that neither of them knows about, or something?
posted by Gator at 4:10 PM on January 16, 2006

Get her all sorts of stuff to make crafts- stickers, paper, crayons, pencils, pens, glitter, glue sticks.
posted by ThePinkSuperhero at 4:41 PM on January 16, 2006 [1 favorite]

Klutz my friend. Klutz.
posted by plinth at 4:41 PM on January 16, 2006

I have a nine-year-old niece who lives in Ontario, and she likes pretty much everything. But in a effort to be more specifically helpful, her favourite two gifts this past Christmas were a fleece blanket with kittens and paw prints on it that her sister gave her, and the tutu I made for her (she's into ballet). Her favourite movie is The Incredibles (a B sci-fi action movie), her favourite book is one by Roddy Doyle (can't recall the title), and her favourite singer is Avril Lavigne.
posted by orange swan at 4:58 PM on January 16, 2006

If she has a Playstaion, how about one of these Dance Dance Revolution thingees? Or a gift certificate for horseback riding classes, atlatl throwing, ice skating, etc? Of course, there's always the Hello Kitty store for gentler temperments...
posted by maryh at 5:06 PM on January 16, 2006

When I was that age I was really into Sanrio (Hello Kitty and all her various companions). Find a store in New York that sells some of the really unique Japanese cartoon stuff, like the kittens and puppies that are also sushi or candy. A selection of notepaper, pencils, and erasers with random cute characters on them would probably go over pretty well.
posted by MsMolly at 5:49 PM on January 16, 2006

Go to the store "Pylones" near the NW corner of Spring and Lafayette in Soho. Reasonable prices on some of the neatest and cutest items ever, including toys, accessories, home stuff and office stuff. I bought a purse for my sister from them that was shaped like a watering can. That place made me wish I was a girl.
posted by hermitosis at 6:04 PM on January 16, 2006

Not just Klutz (all of which is great) but polymer clay. I loved this when I was 9. And it's great for creativity--you can put together a kit of all kinds of cool stuff (either from a store or just in nature/by raiding the kitchen) to make neat patterns and what have you.
posted by fuzzbean at 6:06 PM on January 16, 2006

I second Klutz. I loved their stuff when I was about 8 to, er, now.
posted by kalimac at 6:08 PM on January 16, 2006

Holy moly, do I ever second the rec for Pylones. If memory serves, there's also one on the Upper East Side?

I always spend way too much on neat "stuff" when I go there. It's one of my favorite places for stocking stuffers at christmas time.
posted by ersatzkat at 6:47 PM on January 16, 2006

Whoops, I got my title wrong. My niece's favourite movie is not The Incredibles, but The Fantastic Four.

You can't go wrong with a kit of art supplies. You can get a plastic suitcase type thing with markers, pencil crayons, wax crayons, scissors and so forth in it, plus a big pad of paper.
posted by orange swan at 6:48 PM on January 16, 2006

If you go for books, Scott Westerfeld's young adult fiction is superb.

Otherwise, I second Hello Kitty.
posted by krisjohn at 7:30 PM on January 16, 2006

Thanks. That store is exactly what I was looking for!
posted by ParisParamus at 8:12 PM on January 16, 2006

we have a nine year old girl. here are the things she loves:

beads and jewerly

funky urban outfitters jewerly box ($30)

hello kitty playset

easy bake 'real meal' oven

rose art knitting machine

voice password journal

paint by number (horses, always horses or unicorns)

... so paint by number unicorn

horse paint sculptures

nintendogs

bop it (get the pink one, i'm told the 'blast one' is for boys.... ugggg)

(dance, dance revolution - is a great gift, but you'll have to find it through a reseller (about $50 for game and pad - and stay away from the wireless dance pad) and be sure they've a playstation.)

as cool as that Pylones website looks, i don't really see much that would have more than a two minute hook on a (insert generic word) nine-year old girl. they're all cool looking, but more like office or kitchen supplies than a proper 'tweens' ideal gift. they will end up forgotten on a desk or in some junk draw.

i know you want something 'cool,' but what's 'cool' to us isn't necessarily 'cool' to them. girls that age are usually trying to be 'older,' - and easily impressionable by the media and peer pressure (*sigh*), and have very strong ideas about what is 'cool.' my best advice is to get one of those john lennon inspired 'i love new york' t-shirt (baby-doll style- trust me, this is definitely their 'cool') and a jewerly box from urban outfitters (soho). that will cost you $40, if you really want to get something more, get a bead jewerly-making kit for about another $15. ok, you may think this isn't the most inspiring of gifts, but she's sure to love it and the point is that *she like it,* right? wrap it up in funky paper from kate's paperie (which is incidently almost across the street from soho's urban outfitters). you will make a positive impression if she's typical. you may even find a few neat geegaws at another broadway soho store (joe's? lindy's? it's a makeup/knick-knack/everything) i forget the name but it's right next to duane reede / pottery barn in soho at broadway & houston.

unless you know her perfectly well and know what is particular to her, this is the best list i can give. i would definitely love to tell you there exists a list of other 'cooler' things, but for that age/gender - we haven't found anything - and we've tried everything. 'ello' (mattel's funky building sets) was my great hope (appealing to her pink frilly side, very creative, and avoiding my fear of enforcing those old gender roles), but they seem to have gone away. i'm a new yorker, professionally trained artist and hard core feminist and i'd love to say to you, yeah - here is an unconventional awesome gift that all 9 year old girls will love, but alas, sometimes you can't get away from young estrogen.

again, the point is she likes it, right?
posted by eatdonuts at 9:10 PM on January 16, 2006

oh hey, urban outfitters are selling 'Eggling" - these are little plants that are housed in 'shells' - for about $10. last year our girl enjoyed urban gardening with me, i bet you this would be a hit, and very neat too. $10.
posted by eatdonuts at 9:20 PM on January 16, 2006

There are so many great answers in here--I hope they help not just me, but lots of other people. And a special thanks to eatdonuts, who I will try to thank separately by e-mail.

I'm going to past this entire thread into an e-mail and send it too myself. Thanks!
posted by ParisParamus at 4:10 AM on January 17, 2006

Father of a ten (and a half) year old here:
nintendogs and/or easy bake
nintendogs and/or easy bake
nintendogs and/or easy bake
Or a Roseart fuzzy velvet color-yourself jewelry box.
That's all you really need to know.
posted by MrMoonPie at 6:33 PM on January 17, 2006

Pylones is so awesome, and this is the first I knew that they had a store in the US at all (the shops in Paris are super-cool - one is on the hill at Montmartre and there's another one... uh, somewhere). They definitely have cool kitchen office accessories, but the website fails to show all the random little gee-gaws they have that can entertain anybody for ages...
posted by whatzit at 3:47 PM on February 13, 2006