Amazing Gift Ideas for Teens and Tweens

 

Teens and tweens are one of the hardest groups to buy for. These days it's worse, because they are mostly involved with tablets and smartphones, so what do you buy for them that won't last five minutes before they get bored with it and it potentially ends up in landfill? To avoid having to resort to money or vouchers, this year I've used all my experience raising teens and tweens to come up with some great suggestions. I've got together some amazing gift ideas from Buzz Beauty and Buzz Retail to help you out this Christmas with some entertaining gifts that teens and tweens will love. I have not been paid for this post, but I did receive free products, chosen by me, so that I could review them properly and take photographs. 

Styling for the Image Conscious

Girls and boys often start to take an interest in their appearance when they start secondary school.  They are likely to want all the latest gadgets and trends, but these don't always fit in with a teen lifestyle. Electrical hair stylers can seem unsafe when they have exposed hot plates that could cause damage or injury, it's something I often worried about when my daughter first started using them. It's so easy to catch your finger, or put them down on an unsuitable surface. Looks are really important to this age group though, as they can feel really self conscious, so it's great when you find a compromise, like these Jose Eber Air Stylers.  

They have so many teen-friendly features, including a built-in nano fan which blows a constant stream of cool air through the device, meaning they set the style really quickly, so you don't need to have the hot plates in contact with the hair for as long and you can get really close to the scalp with no risk of burning the skin. The hot plates don't come completely apart like traditional straighteners, the spring-loaded plates separate within the barrel, leaving room to slide the sectioned hair between the plates, with very little risk of touching them. Also, if you put them down while they are switched on, there is no exposed metal to touch surfaces either.  A huge improvement on traditional straighteners, and because the barrel is round they also make amazing curls! I'm by no means an expert on hair straightening, I have a spinal condition, so I can't usually sit still for long enough to achieve complicated styles, but this before an after photo shows how straight I got my hair in just ten minutes with the Jose Eber Air Stylers. It rained after I took the first photo, so the second one was taken the following day, hence the change of t-shirt and light! 

If straighteners still seem a bit of a leap, a digital straightening brush is a great option for beginners. My daughter owns one and really rates it for a quick fuss-free straightening option. They work surprisingly well and can get a pretty decent straight style, as well as a softer, wavier look if you don't want a really drastic change. They are also really good for tidying up your previously straightened style in a few minutes. I had a go with these and tried really hard to burn myself (that's dedication, right there) but absolutely failed, making them really safe for the hot styling novice. They also heat up in under three minutes, which is great if you're late for the bus. Again, the outside doesn't get hot so there is less risk to your furniture and other surfaces. 

My teen has been asking to dye his hair now for about three years. It's a frustrating age, because teenagers are really keen to express their personality and generally the school are having none of it, the less personality the better! I worry about letting him use semi permanent hair dye even in the holidays in case it doesn't wash out in time for back to school, so these hair chalks are a great compromise. They wash out in one or two washes and come in a range of fun, vibrant colours. They are also very easy to use, with none of the mess that comes with a wash in hair dye. The chalk is inside the container (a bit like a make up compact) and you just close it over the section of hair and push it downwards, applying just a small amount of pressure. You can build the colour to make it darker by going over the same section a few times. 

An easy way to express your personality, that can be removed quickly on a Sunday night, is nail varnish. Nail art is big news at the moment and pictures of amazing styles and designs are all over social media. If you know someone who is really keen to embrace this trend, but isn't all that confident, or if you just want a simpler option to all the expensive and space-consuming equipment that often accompanies nail art projects, this Buzz Nails Classic set is brilliant. An array of fabulous colours of varnish, with a pen in the lid, for finer detail. I love this idea, the whole set is so compact and no fiddly bits to lose, either. I handed the set over to my daughter to see what she could come up with and this was her first attempt. Not bad for a first go, and she told me it was really easy to use with straightforward instructions. It even comes with tiny cleaning sticks in the base for the pen.

These Body Art Tattoos offer budding artists a great way to use their own body as a canvas, by creating their own temporary tattoos. These would make excellent entertainment for a group activity, such as a sleep over. The set comes with 50 stencil designs and 6 pots of glitter, allowing for endless creativity and design potential. The tattoos last up to a week, but can be washed off with water if necessary. 

Fun Remote Control Gadgets

Have you ever tried to fly a drone? If you have, unless it's just me, you'll probably have noted how frustrating they can be, requiring an unnatural helping of patience and coordination, which isn't always available, particularly if you are a prebuscent teen, prone to growth spurts, hormones and general clumsiness. If you know a teen or pre-teen who has always wanted to master drone flight but struggles with the complexities of the controls and general fragileness of the thing, I highly recommend this Thunder Glow Drone, as it has so many features perfect for beginners. 

Firstly, after considerable attempts to fly it, by myself and the teen, it has sustained no damage. I don't know what it's made of, but it's almost bouncy when it plummets to the ground and I was amazed to discover that I didn't break it, or any of my valuables, when flying it indoors. While we were getting the hang of it, we; dropped it several times from ceiling height, crashed it into a mirror and flew it under the sofa and, I repeat, no damage. At all. It's a Christmas miracle. Ironically, it comes with spare rotors, should you need them, but I've been amazed with it's indestructibility so far. The controls are also refreshingly straightforward, although it still takes a little bit of practice, which is so much more achievable when there's less risk to your surroundings. It also lights up,  so if you happen to park it under an immovable object, it's so much easier to find! Here is my daughter, proving how is it is to get the hang of the controls, by flying it directly at my face. 

This gravity defying sports car is a product I mainly wanted to try to see if it actually worked, because it sounds completely bonkers, but I was surprised to discover it's actually brilliant and very entertaining. This little car may look fairly unassuming as R/C vehicles go, but it has a hidden talent, in that you can literally drive it up the wall. My son was dying to try it out and was amused for ages by the results. 

I couldn't help thinking it made a change for him to be driving something other than me up the wall, but I managed to stop myself saying it. The car itself is really light and, as such, I did wonder how durable it would be, but it's actually fallen from the ceiling a few times (he does like to test things properly!) and is still in one piece. It sticks to the wall using suction, so we did find it needed to be a smooth wall and the controls take a bit of getting used to, so it takes a bit of practice to drive it across the ceiling without incident. It takes 6 AA batteries for the remote and the car uses these to recharge. We've charged it twice now and it's going, so I can't give you an indication of how long the batteries will last. Please enjoy these photos of the Wall Racer being put through its paces. 

More Entertaining Ideas

I thought this Fake Snow would be a fun idea to create your own white Christmas, since the weather always lets us down. You can let your children create their own Christmas window displays safely, since it's non-toxic and won't stain. Just add water to turn it from a sugar-like substance to soft, powdery snow. After a couple of weeks it will return to it's dehydrated state, ready to be used again whenever you like. 

Last, but not least. Something to keep them busy in the run up to Christmas, where they could be put to good use making Christmas gifts for friends or relatives, or during the very long Christmas day, when the reruns of old sitcoms get too much. This Holographic Sticker Set could be something all the family might enjoy having fun with. The three enclosed stencils can be used to make your design using the foam stickers, then you can add detail by rubbing on holographic and metallic detail, using one of the 50 sheets included with the set. 

We had so much fun trying out these toy and gift ideas and I really hope you find something to solve your teenage buying dilemmas in amongst them. Buzz Retail and Buzz Beauty have really put a lot of thought into their range of products and their website is well worth a visit for even more gift ideas!