Argh! What to buy a 9yo girl?!

[BigFlower]

Please help!

My lovely neighbour dropped round a Christmas gift for DD yesterday so I feel I ought to get her daughter something too. Trouble is I don't really know her very well. Enough to say hi, how are you etc if I see them in town but I usually see my neighbour on a weekday morning when she is at school so I don't know what she is into.

I know she has a hamster. She is not into sports. She is pretty smart, her reading age is 11 I think her mum said. She is not a particularly "girl girl" from my observations when I see her out and about.

Any ideas would be gratefully received. I'm looking to spend around £5 - £10 ideally.

Thank you

[Morlyte]

I always buy my 9 yo neighbour crafty things. This year, I bought her a knitting doll and it teaches her to knit the clothes for the doll.

Those hama beads or binder are quite good too?

[Rosie_t_Riveter]

DP suggested getting an 8yo girl we know a "make your own bath bomb" kit. It looked a bit girlie but seemed to be a bit sciencey too. So the best of both worlds. It was £10 on amazon. I can't link because I'm on my phone, sorry. We ended up buying a family present but I'm certainly going to bear it in mind next year!

[Noir]

I'm guessing she's probably started reading Harry Potter, but a book along those lines might be nice if she's good at reading. Philip Pullman's Northern Lights is still one of my favorite books and I could've read it at that age happily- though saying that I wouldn't reccomend it if her or her parents are strongly religious. Other than that something crafty- jewellery or fimo set or something?

[Louisianablue2000]

Book token. If you know she reads a lot then a book is a bad idea unless you include a gift receipt because she might have already read it. But a book token gives her the option to choose something you know she'll like but limits it to something 'nice' for the adults.

[BigFlower]

Thank you everyone. I will look for craty bits otherwise a book token is a good idea.

THANK YOU!

[BigFlower]

So I went to Tesco and bought....a sledge!!!!

[Morlyte]

Nice! It might just come in handy too haha.