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Girl Pushed, Mom Approved

Published 12.08.2008 | Permanent Link | Comments (10)

What Tween Girls Want for the Holidays

allykattz_girls_3.jpgRemember when you were a tweenage girl and all you wished for, was that your parents just understood you? That of course, included the impossible, like reading your mind. And that included buying you the right Holiday Gifts, too.

They say that necessity is the mother of invention so, we asked tweenage girls (ages 9 to 15) of the AllyKatzz safe-social networking site to tell us what they really want this Holiday season. Then, we asked our community, through Alphamom Labs, whether or not they approve of some of their choices.

What we now have, is knowledge of the hottest products for tweenage girls this season and a reality check into what moms are planning on buying (and not buying) in these hard economic times, and why.

Here are some results of our "Girl Pushed, Mom Approved" shopping survey. (If you are interested in the full report, please contact us)

What do Tweenage Girls want for the Holidays?

Girls’ Top Ten List:

1. Gift Card
2. Music/CDs
3. iPod or MP3 player
4. Clothing
5. Books
6. Mobile phone
7. Laptop
8. Makeup, perfume, hair accessories
9. Video Game Systems and/ or games (tie)
9. Digital Camera (tie)
10. DVDs

As an aside, does it not warm your heart to see Books in the Top 5? Yeah, us too!

Details of Wish Lists

You didn’t think we would leave you without a detailed map now, would you? Below are the girls' top ten lists by categories. We have bolded the moms' top three of the girls' choices.

Gift Cards
1. iTunes
2. Target
3. Claire’s
4. Hollister
5. Barnes & Noble
6. Walmart
7. Abercrombie & Fitch
8. Limited Too
9. American Eagle
10. Aeropostale

Music
1. Jonas Brothers
2. Demi Lovato
3. Taylor Swift
4. David Archuleta
5. Miley Cyrus
6. High School Musical 3 Soundtrack
7. Paramore
8. Vanessa Hudgens
9. Pink
10. Clique Girls

Clothing
1. Aeropostale (Tie)
1. Hollister (Tie)
3. Abercrombie & Fitch (Tie)
3. American Eagle (Tie)
5. Kohl’s
6. Pac Sun
7. Limited Too (Tie)
7. Hot Topic (Tie)
9. Wet Seal (Tie)
9. Forever 21 (Tie)
9. Old Navy (Tie)

Footwear Brands
1. Converse
2. Uggs
3. Vans (Tie)
3. Nike (Tie)
5. Ecko Red
6. DC
7. Rainbow (Tie)
7. Ed Hardy (Tie)
7. Wallabees (Tie)
7. Coach (Tie)

Footwear Retailers
1. Payless
2. Target (Tie)
2. Kohl’s (Tie)
4. Delia’s (Tie)
4. JC Penney (Tie)
4. American Eagle (Tie)
4. Pac Sun (Tie)
4. Shoe Carnival (Tie)
4. Walmart (Tie)
4. West 49 (Tie)

Books
1. Twilight (by a very wide margin)
2. The Clique Series
3. Books about Vampires (Tie)
3. Dear Dumb Diary (Tie)
5. Beacon Street Girls
6. Pretty Little Liars
7. Nancy Drew
8. Wicked

Other than Nancy Drew and Twilight, our survey shows us that moms need more information before making a decision on their book purchases. They just are not familiar with these other titles.

73% of moms said that they would buy a book they are not familiar with if it is approved by other moms. So, don’t despair, we have reviewed a number of the tween girls' preferred books.

Video Game Systems
1. Nintendo Wii
2. Nintendo DS
3. Xbox 360
4. PlayStation 3 (Tie)
4. PlayStation Portable (Tie)
5. PlayStation 2

The Wii led the pack with an astounding 56% of tweenage girls picking it as their top wish among game systems, followed by the Nintendo DS at 20.5%. our moms agree selecting the Nintendo systems ahead of the rest, by a very large margin.

Video Games
Girls love music and to be on their feet. Moms agree and are favorably disposed to the vast majority of the girls’ choices.

1. PopStar Guitar
2. Guitar Hero
3. Wii Fit (Tie)
3. Imagine Fashion NY (Tie)
5. Mario Kart (Tie)
5. Animal Crossing (Tie)
5. Cooking Mama (Tie)
5. Dance Dance Revolution (Tie)
9. Rockband
10. Sing It

DVDs
1. Camp Rock
2. High School Musical 3
3. Twilight
4. Another Cinderella Story
5. High School Musical 2
5. Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants 2
5. Journey to the Center of the Earth
8. Kit Kittredge
9. Juno
10. The Clique

Other Gift Categories

  • Makeup, Perfume and Hair Accessories: moms are pretty relaxed about giving these as gifts.

  • Electronics: moms favorites (in order): Video Gaming System, Digital Camera, and iPod.

  • Laptops: Even though the girls want them, the tough economic times means the outlook is not as good.

  • Mobile Phones: According to moms, the outlook is good for older tweens (aged 13+), not as good for the younger ones (ages 9-12).

    • ***********
    Tween Girl Gift Giveaways

    Each day this week (starting December 8) you can enter to win an awesome prize at our partner site for tween girls, AllyKatzz.

    Just head over there and enter your email address (and confirm that you are over 18).

    If you are the lucky daily winner, they will contact you via email to get your mailing address to send you your prize. Simple! And since they are our BFF, we trust their word that they we will not give your email address to anyone. They are a SAFE site for tween girls. They NEVER share personal info.

    Comments (10):

    Janice said:

    Thanks for the great information on what the 'tweens are wishing for. My daughter is 9 and we have not yet started the Twilight books but I've heard that they are a big hit so they are certainly in my future!

    Posted on December 8, 2008 12:03

    Musings of a Housewife said:

    What a cool post!! Don't have a tween yet, but I know this will come in very handy for a lot of moms!

    Posted on December 8, 2008 14:35

    Gloria said:

    Great post! I don't have tweens any more, I wish I'd had this list back then, Very informative. Great to see that books are still up their! A lot of Moms are going to appreciate this.

    Posted on December 8, 2008 23:45

    Kristen said:

    I'm the owner of a tween boutique, and I would say that your list is right on the money (oh, what a lot of money if they received all of their favorites!). I'll be shopping the sales myself, as well as running a big holiday promotion on our website next week. This year, laptops are out, and cute accessories and books are definitely in!

    Posted on December 9, 2008 11:31

    jkerrigan said:

    I need a Boy List too.....Thanks for the ideas!

    Posted on December 10, 2008 09:56

    Janine (@twincident) said:

    My friend was just asking me what she should get her tween daughter! I'm going to email her this link.

    If anyone is looking into cell phones, www.kajeet.com offers a great 1st cell phone/service. Lots of parental options you can easily configure online. I liked it so much I joined the Mom Team (use promo code:JANINE to save 15%)

    My friend's daughter already has a phone and she thinks it's enough electronics for this year so she's not doing the games or iPod. I love the idea of hair accessories. Girls always lose them and love getting new ones.
    Great post and I love that the suggestions are coming from the girls themselves!

    Posted on December 12, 2008 12:53

    Lorien said:

    Wow, Juno for tweens? I loved that movie, and bought it for myself, but I can't imagine letting my tween watch it. Of course she is just on the cusp of tweenhood, so maybe that's why.

    Posted on December 12, 2008 15:36

    reason said:

    Girls all need a good back massager like the Hitachi magic wand.

    Posted on December 16, 2008 18:26

    wow gold said:

    These are awesome. I bet that some boys have this kind of wish list too.

    Posted on March 19, 2009 14:21

    hair clips said:

    My top three would be:
    1. ipod
    2. video game (wii)
    3. digital camera
    I wish I can have one of these....

    Posted on March 19, 2009 14:43

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    About this column

    This is a year-round Holiday column. Kids love Holidays. As parents we have come to appreciate how Holidays seem to help structure our lives. Plus, any excuse to have fun sounds good to us!

    We'll admit it, now that we're parents, we secretly look for Holidays to celebrate and between National, Secular, Unofficial and Bizarre Holidays, we think there are enough days out there to keep us inspired every week.

    This column will be a place where you can get inspiration for how to enjoy time with your kids. Crafting projects and ideas will be posted on Thursdays by our brilliant contributors (see below). Other fun ideas will be posted here throughout the week as the inspiration hits us!

    About our Craft Contributors

    Ellen Baker Bio Ellen Luckett Baker is the author of the long thread, a blog about handmade goods. She has always enjoyed making things, but the flexibility of staying at home with her two daughters along with the creative inspiration they provide has led her to craft on a daily basis. Combining her love of graphic design and sewing, she has created an Etsy shop selling machine embroidery designs and sewing patterns.

    Ellen lives in Atlanta with her husband and two young daughters. She holds a B.A. in Art History and a Master's of Public Administration with a focus in Non-Profit Management.

    Cindy Hopper BioCindy Hopper was fortunate to be raised in a family who appreciated the arts. This background led to a Bachelor's Degree in Art Education. With a keen eye for design and color, Cindy has continued her love of art and is now passing her creative skills on to her three children. Cindy's family and friends are the beneficiaries of her passion for fun and meaningful creative projects. Cindy's personal blog, Skip to My Lou, has taken her love of a project to new levels. Postings keep the family busy -– from testing new recipes for holiday treats to designing and building floats for a neighborhood parade to making fabric rolls to hold crayons to creating themed parties. Cindy seems to have an unending supply of ideas for gifts, parties and rainy days.

    Brenda Ponnay Bio Brenda Ponnay is a stealthy secret agent who juggles parenthood to her adorable daughter by day and freelance graphic design by night. Whether it's painting, baking, drawing, making castles out of card board boxes or just doing the laundry with flair, Brenda Ponnay has finally discovered (at the ripe old age of thirty-six) that what really makes her happy is being creative every single day.

    Brenda lives in Southern California with her husband, daughter, three cats and thirty-seven pet birds. You can read about all her crazy adventures on her personal blog: Secret Agent Josephine.

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