Top Gifts for Girls Teen & Tween Ages

Overnight my children have graduated from young tots to feisty tweens and teens. With their aging, going step-by-step into various gift brackets, we finally arrived at the teen stage. Having outgrown toys, tweens and teens are now into their pseudo-adult type gifting. This holiday season I needed a true list from my daughter as to what the top gifts for girls would be for teen and tween ages. The results were enlightening.

Needless to say I should have packed away all my Caboodles, scrunchies, my checkered Vans and teal Chuck Taylors, coupled with my neon colored clothing, scrunchies, bell bottoms and overalls. 30 years later and my youth is that of my daughter, apparently they are called VSCO girls – albeit sometimes an insult, other times not – we just thought we were trendy when we coveted these must-haves the teens of today desire. Might I suggest to my daughter to pack away all these items for her daughter in an airtight time capsule. They would make perfect gifts for girls in the next 30 years. I digress.

Her list was comprised of the aforementioned and a few functional and tech savvy gifts, here is what we found are the top gifts for girls that are teen and tween ages. Best part, all of these gifts are plenty affordable, won’t break your budget or the bank and you’ll be winning at this parenting gig.

1. Unique Fragrances with Demeter

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Remember when CK One was all the rage? A perfume and cologne in one that was totally unisex but smelled completely different on everyone? Yeah me too. While I refuse to wear the scent as a grown woman, I do find myself reminiscing of my youth when the fragrance hits the olfactory senses.

So this year, why not step up the fragrance game for any young woman with Demeter’s Fragrance Library. Moms, you all know Demeter and their signature scents, the bottle is unmistakable and so are their scents. I remember rushing out to purchase Grass after it first debuted in the late 90s.

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Today, our daughters can enjoy the wide variety of signature scents of Baby Powder, Pure Soap, Kitten Fur, Sunshine, Gin & Tonic, Clean Skin, Wet Garden, Salt Air, Lavender, Jasmine, Mandarin Orange and Myrrh. In Demeter’s Signature Foolproof Blending Sampler, they can create a scent all their own that is unique to their own personality. Just in time for the holidays is the Winter Wonders Roll On Perfume Oil Blending Pack with the rich scents of Mulled Cider, Purple Iris, Musk#7, Egg Nog, Blue Spruce, Whiskey Tobacco, where these scents can be layered on the skin to create a fragrance and scent all their own. Use Demeter’s recipe blends or create your own! Find the scents online at the Demeter site, Amazon, or your local store – use the store finder to see where you can purchase locally.

2. Cellphone & Service with Tello

Unfortunately the rule in our house is 8th or 13, you must be in 8th grade or the age of 13 to have a cellphone. Anything prior is a violation of TOS for most social media, and with kids these days, they are ALL OVER social media. However, if you feel the need to give your kid a cell phone this year for Christmas but cannot afford the latest iPhone 11 with the monthly fees, we have another option!

Say hello to Tello! tello cell service, gifts for girls, gifts for teens, teen cell service, teen phones For as little as $10 per month, your teen or tween can be gifted a new phone and phone plan that is budget friendly, offers unlimited talk and text, data, upgrade or downgrade anytime, and no long term contracts so you can cancel at anytime. Coast-to-coast coverage using the Sprint Network. No more lost or dropped calls, loading issues or slow speeds.

Worried that you have never heard of Tello, maybe you’re asking “who is Tello?” or “who owns Tello?” We are glad you asked because their mother company (ahem, Sprint) has been in telecom since 2002. Tello has been servicing as a provider for the last three years and are a leader in being the most flexible carrier in the US. We wished we knew about them when our oldest teen got his first phone as it died a slow watery death when he jumped into a pool with it in his pocket, lost the second one at school, only to be given a third to have the second miraculously show up. Add in all the hassle of managing locking down the phone and what not, we were thrilled to hear of Tello’s no hassle options!

3. Reusable Straws & Water bottles

Apparently you are a nobody if you don’t own a hydroflask. I had no effing clue what exactly a “hydroflask” was until I sought the knowledge from Google. Gone are the days of single use plastics with straws and water bottles, welcome the world of stainless steel straws and fancy named water bottles. If only daughter had been more aware that I have been using reusable water bottles for over a decade. Basically her whole life. Again, I digress. Yet, I love the new found enthusiasm of youth with their desire to rid our planet of plastics that simply are not recyclable because they saw an IG story of a sea turtle.

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With that, I could not be more on board with the reusable straws and water bottles. I have a 40 ounce bottle I lug with me everywhere, despite not fitting into any traditional cup holder. My sweet daughter also likes to flavor her water with essential oils too, so we opted for the more “dropped often” version of a stainless steel water bottle from Simple Modern as opposed to glass. This still accommodates her desire to be stylish and functional. Plus the stainless steel straws come in a variety of either straight or bent and have a easy store canvas pouch. I stole one out of the lot to use with my Yeti for beach days and to keep those pesky Love Bugs out during nasty summer months.

4. Vans, Birkenstock’s, Overalls – Oh My

A little part of me died inside when I saw my daughter’s wish list for Christmas. The top of her list was a “pair of checkered Vans,” “Birkenstock’s,” “overalls, ripped jeans, jeans with cute patches,” and of course all of her remaining requests. Her titled list indicated in bold and underline, “NOTHING KIDDIE.” Got it!

VSCO girl, teen girl gifts, gifts for girls, trendy girl gifts

Living in a digital world and even a major metropolitan area offers the luxury of finding these requests easily. A simple trip to the actual mall, the nostalgic relic of my youth reeking of the 90s, Annie’s Pretzels and Orange Julius meant I could find everything she desired. So I darted into Children’s Place to find half of her apparel requests. Jeans with “cute” patches, jeans with rips, and – the jackpot – overalls! Little Miss has been asking for overalls for a while now but I struggle with paying over $20 for a pair of pants she may wear once. Luckily they were on sale and under $20! Score.

Next stop was my favorite of the era: PacSun. Formerly living on the west coast you always felt on the forefront of fashion trends and PacSun was it for the grunge, skater, chill, original VSCO girl fashion of the 90s. Scoping out her footwear, I knew I had better go the old fashioned route and visit, dare I say, the outlet mall for more bang for my buck. There I could round up everything on her list and then some while still maintaining my budget.

If the teen or tween girl in your gifting arena isn’t a fan of the Vans, Birkenstock’s or overalls, alternatives are always available. Scrunchies are all the rage once again where you can purchase over five dozen for less than two Starbucks lattes. Lip balm is always a hit as a stocking stuffer or even mascara, can’t go wrong with the simplest form of makeup for teen and tween girls.

5. Stardust LED lighting

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As if these kids did not have enough distractions, now they want to add LED lighting to the mixture? Actually, I think the idea is brilliant and a fun way to add a nightlight or flare to a teen room without being too over the top, expensive or distracting. The perfect gift for girls, boys, tweens and teens, these LED rope lights are functional, fun, satisfy your children’s desires and keep you on track with your budget. Spend less than $50 and you have got yourself a room makeover for your teen where they can transform their room with their varying moods.

These tape or rope lights come in varying lengths, we found a 32′ length LED tape light with 44 different LED colors that your teen can control with a remote. Tape lights mean easy installation to install under your teen or tweens bed, along the wall, in the closet, or parents, get funky and install in your kitchen for some cool effects and really wow your kids with your edginess. While we didn’t purchase the name brand Stardust, we did find some fabulous lights on Amazon that were more affordable, had great reviews, excellent warranties and coverage in the event of failure.

Whether you are gift giving for your daughter or someone else’s daughter, these were some of the most requested, top gifts for girls, teens & tween ages. You are sure to be “Gucci” in their book with one of these top gift requests. Long gone are the days of socks and underwear and matching PJs. Shopping for any female can seem like a daunting task, whether she’s 14 or well into her 40s and beyond, sometimes the most simple gift is the best gift this holiday season.

Tekno Newborn Robotic Pets


Kids everywhere can fall in love with these adorable interactive puppies and kitties! Teksta Newborn & Tekno Newborn from Genesis Toys are sweet and adorable life-like robotic pets that know when you’re talking to them! Program your pet to walk, sit, beg, sing, and even jump into your hand! With their light up eyes, sounds, and movements, Teksta/Tekno Newborns are sure to capture your heart. Continue reading “Tekno Newborn Robotic Pets”

iClever Cat Ear & Reindeer Holiday Earphones


iclever2
Many kids are now required to have over the ear headphones for school. Our school kids all have Mac Laptops instead of textbooks and these are necessary so that each kids can work at their own pace. These darling headphones allow our children to be expressive and have the tools they need for school. These headphones come with cat ears and reindeer horns that are detachable on the top part of the headphones. iClever is just that clever with their products and these are no exception. These work well and look cool! Continue reading “iClever Cat Ear & Reindeer Holiday Earphones”

Hands Free Cradle Free iMagnet Mount

imagnet mount, cell phone cradle, cell phone magnet, cell phone holder

My husband is a gadget dude. He is all about the coolest and fun tech gear. He is in IT so of course this whets his pallet. When we bought our Jeep we realized we had no where to place our cell phone and phones. The one spot we have is under our emergency break and results in difficulty when driving to grab the phone and pass to the passenger for handling. So The Chad has been looking for an innovative gadget that will cradle his phone but doesn’t require two hands. Continue reading “Hands Free Cradle Free iMagnet Mount”

BuyDig.com Nikon Camera Giveaway

Win A Nikon COOLPIX 27000

Have you ever wanted to take some amazing photos but are not sure where to start with a purchasing a quality camera? Are you tired of using your cell phone or a dated 35mm camera that takes less than stellar photos? Well look no further than this amazing giveaway for a Nikon camera from BuyDig.com. BuyDig.com is your one stop shop for electronics, gadgets and other gear for the electronics guy or gal in your life. Their expert advice for consumer electronics has been named BizRate’s Circle of Excellence Platinum winner four years running. Continue reading “BuyDig.com Nikon Camera Giveaway”

Power On the Go with Go-Go Juice from JellyFish

Ladies, have you ever noticed that all the gadgets are geared towards men? As if we cannot have a handle on the latest in high tech innovations. The industry might as well lump us into the category that says we don’t understand horsepower or pound foot of torque. Moreover have you noticed the gadgets are masculine in nature, they lack curves, styling, or even a pop of color? NO MORE! Now you can have the latest in gadgets, even gadget accessorizing with Jellyfish. Continue reading “Power On the Go with Go-Go Juice from JellyFish”

Sol Republic PUNK Wireless Speaker Giveaway

The Five Fish, Gift guide, The Five Fish gift guideMusic is always playing in our house. We love to take the music with us and sometimes doing so with Pandora on our computers can be cumbersome. So a few years ago I bought my husband a portable speaker. It served its purpose, but it could not stand up to being next to our pool, the kids, and being trucked around everywhere. The speaker lacked personality and the rugged feel it needed for being an “on the go” portable speaker. We needed something to withstand the kids, my husband, and being taken by our pool and around the house. Until we found PUNK Wireless speaker from Sol Republic.

Founded by consumer electronics veterans whose sole purpose was to rid the world of hollow sounding music. PUNK is everything but hollow or weak when delivering premium sound for listening.

sol republic punk, punk bluetooth speakerWe opened our PUNK from Sol Republic to listen to music on Thanksgiving Day. I had no idea what to expect or what sound we would hear from this palm sized device. What we do know is that the music pumping out was rocking. Did we mention the  music is linked through blue tooth? My husband could be on one end of the house with this phone while the music was still playing on the opposite. No packet loss with the streaming, no scratching or struggles to play the music clearly and with tons of attitude.

Our guests on Thanksgiving Day were absolutely amazed at this little wonder. First were the questions about what it was. The color is tremendously bright and attractive, the skin is smooth, rugged and grippy all at the same time, a sporty skin that can handle water, drops, and some dirt. PUNK is light but sturdy, emitting unbelievable sound that doesn’t compromise your music. Next the questions were how it works, where can it go, how easy was it to use. Needless to say we had plenty of fodder for this gem of a wireless speaker.

punk, punk sol republicWe talked about what a great gift this is for anyone in the family because of the versatility. No blue tooth? No problem, there is wire connectivity to jack your sound from PUNK to your device to a home stereo. What about size? The PUNK can go anywhere with you. In your purse, pocket, backpack, or just carry in your hand. PUNK goes where you go.

The most important question is where you can go to buy PUNK and take it with you? Find PUNK Sol Republic blue tooth speaker at any Best Buy or directly from the Sol Republic site. Stay up to date on all the news, fashion, and events on all their social media channels as well! Or, you can enter to win your very own PUNK wireless blue tooth speaker from Sol Republic and see for yourself what all the raving is about.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Disclaimer: Participating Blogs were not compensated for this post. No purchase is necessary to enter. One entrant per household, per address. Void where prohibited by law. Winner(s) will be contacted by email and have 48 hours to respond before a new winner is chosen. SOL Republic will be responsible for processing product to the winner of this sweepstakes. This event is in not administered, sponsored, endorsed by, or associated with, Facebook, Twitter, Google, Pinterest. Contact karie@thefivefish.com if you have additional questions or concerns.

Billy Joel Piano Man

Funny conversation my sister and I had the other day about music. She was talking about how at her school during instruction they are only allowed to listen to music that is free of cursing, derogatory messages and the like. I couldn’t agree more, that sort of music really isn’t apropriate in any professional setting. I laughed further when she mentioned that jazz and blues were played and some of the girls in her class became twisted because it wasn’t the emo techno they are used to hearing. Sadly, they are missing out.

As a product of the late 70s and huge fan of 80s music I have been exposed to a myriad of genre’s with music. Some of my favorite 45’s to listen to (by the way those are a type of record…a.k.a. vinyl) were The Beattles, The Beach Boys, Led Zepplin, and in the 80s on tape I listened to and fell in love with Billy Joel. Especially when he performed “Uptown Girl” and his then wife Christie Brinkley starred in the video. Oh how everyone thought at the time they were royalty of sorts with his magical voice and her stunning good looks. How I digress.

But I have always loved Billy Joel. I danced at my wedding to Billy Joel’s “Just the way you are,” my husband and I celebrated on a trip to Las Vegas listening to “Piano Man” and finally when I had my twins, my son would only fall asleep to Billy Joel’s “Piano Man” or “Songs from an Italian restaurant.” I have videos of my son Seth and his sister Sara falling asleep to Billy’s music because he has such a melodic voice and his music is soothing and full of talent.

Imagine my excitement when I was told that Billy was releasing a commemorative CD to celebrate his 40 years in music. Yes, 40 years, almost as I am old, this man has been touching the lives of people where they can recall moments in their lives, as I have, where they heard one of his songs. Two very special released CD’s are available, Piano Man (Legacy Edition) and Billy Joel – The Complete Albums Collection:

Columbia/Legacy Recordings, a division of Sony Music Entertainment, is commemorating forty years of Billy Joel’s career as a solo recording artist with a pair of historic releases–a limited edition Billy Joel – The Complete Albums Collection boxed set and a two-disc Legacy Edition of  1973’s Piano Man album (exclusively featuring a long-lost fabled radio concert from 1972)–each appealing to aficionados of the iconic American singer-songwriter-performer.

Billy Joel – The Complete Albums Collection brings together for the first time, in one elegantly designed box, the artist’s complete catalog of 14 essential titles, from 1971’s Cold Spring Harbor through 1979’s Grammy-winning Album of The Year 52nd Street and 1981’s live Songs In The Attic to 2001’s Fantasies & Delusions, the first album of Billy’s classical compositions.  Each album has been recently remastered in 24 bit audio for this edition and comes in cardboard jackets replicating the original album covers and sleeves.  Included in the box are:

1. Cold Spring Harbor (1971)

2. Piano Man (1973)

3. Streetlife Serenade (1974)

4. Turnstiles (1976)

5. The Stranger (1977)

6. 52nd  Street (1978)

7. Glass Houses (1980)

8. Songs In The Attic (1981)

9. The Nylon Curtain (1982)

10. An Innocent Man (1983)

11. The Bridge (1986)

12. Storm Front (1989)

12. River Of Dreams (1993)

14, Fantasies & Delusions (2001)

15. Collected Additional Masters (1985—2007)

“This has been a long time coming, putting all my albums into one package,” said Billy in a recent in-depth interview for The Complete Albums Collection.  “I’d never seen them all together in one place until I got the box set.  It represents a lot of work! It’s a little overwhelming, actually, looking at each individual album and remembering how much writing and recording, the time spent arranging and producing everything that went into each album.”

In addition to offering brand-new remasters of every Billy Joel studio album, Billy Joel – The Complete Albums Collection includes two lavish 60-page booklets, printed lyrics to every Billy Joel composition, a new Q&A with Billy conducted by noted music journalist Steve Morse, and a bonus disc of 17 rare and non-album recordings including “Elvis Presley Boulevard” (B-side of the “Allentown” single, 1982); the live cover version of the Beatles’ “I’ll Cry Instead” (B-side of “An Innocent Man,” 1983); “House Of Blue Light” (B-side of “We Didn’t Start The Fire,” 1989); and “You Picked A Real Bad Time” (B-side of “All About Soul,” 1993).  “You’re Only Human (Second Wind)” and “The Night Is Still Young” are outtakes that did not see light of day until 1985.

Several tracks on the bonus disc originated as Billy Joel’s contributions to various multi-artist movie soundtracks, notably his covers of the Elvis Presley hits “Heartbreak Hotel” and “All Shook Up,” both from 1992’s Honeymoon In Vegas.  Billy covered Lloyd Price’s 1959 hit, “Where Were You On Our Wedding Day,” for the 1999 movie, Runaway Bride, and Duke Ellington’s “In A Sentimental Mood” for A League Of Their Own in 1992.  In 1982, Billy Joel contributed his original “Nobody Knows But Me” to In Harmony II, a Columbia LP to benefit Sesame Street/Children’s Television Workshop.

Other cover tunes on the bonus disc range from Bob Dylan’s “To Make You Feel My Love” and Leonard Cohen’s “Light as the Breeze” to the Gerry Goffin-Carole King standard “Hey Girl” (Freddie Scott, 1963).  In 1991, Billy Joel contributed “When You Wish Upon A Star” to Columbia’s Disney tribute album, Simply Mad About The Mouse.  And in 2001, Billy Joel sang the Beach Boys’ “Don’t Worry Baby” at the Radio City Music Hall All-Star Tribute to Brian Wilson concert.

The exclusive bonus disc included on Billy Joel – The Complete Albums Collection closes with “All My Life,” a 2007 single (which marked Billy’s first newly-written song since 1993’s River of Dreams) now making its first appearance on an album.

I immediately tore into my Piano Man CD just to hear Billy Joel sing as he did forty years ago. I got goose bumps, I recalled memories myself, I called my mother and reveled in the memories she had when listening to Billy Joel. He has touched many generations and his music is well known and transcends time. If looking for a gift for your music aficionado or someone who is as big of fan of Billy Joel as myself this would be a wonderful gift.

“Disclosure: I was provided with a copy of Piano Man – The Legacy Edition at no cost in order to test the products’ abilities and give my own personal opinions on it. The opinions I have given are mine and may differ from others but were not influenced by the company or the free product provided.”

Nintendo America Superb Customer Service

Customer service is vital for the success and or failure of any organization. Not to mention that customer service is a huge selling and marketing point to consumers. I am one to rant and rave about terrible customer service by companies and their employees. My recent trip to my local Mesa Starbucks resulted in me never visiting that location again due to an assistant manager (sad that managers have this poor customer service) by the name of Sean who treated me like I was a third rate citizen and argued with me despite my simple request. Sigh, I digress because my focus is about fantastic, exceptional, no questions asked customer service where an organization values their customers.

This Christmas Big G was given Guitar Hero Heroes of Rock for Christmas in addition to Sonic and The Dark Knight and other miscellaneous games on behalf of family to play on the Wii. Our family LOVES, let me stress, LOVES our Wii. We workout to the Wii Fit and love the sports games and Mario Cart to name a few favorites, and we enjoy a family game afternoon where we all get involved. So when Grant got these cool games to enjoy all for himself (and mom and dad when he’s not looking) we immediately wanted him to play the games and get his initial fix. However, the poor guy did not get to enjoy his game at all. When we loaded the discs into the Wii we received an error.

We thought nothing of the error at first because the boy had lost his privileges to the game console for a bit. Maybe the unit just needed a good cleaning and maybe had an excess of dust or just needed to be rebooted. After these trials had failed we resorted to our owner’s manual and then to the web. These fixes did not bring our poor Wii back to life.

Finally the hubs called Nintendo America to find a service center or more information to find out where we could get our Wii repaired. The service specialist on the other end of the line told us that we would be better off just sending our Wii straight back to Nintendo to have it repaired. Furthermore Nintendo added that the shipping to them and back to us was included along with the full refurbishing and repair of our Wii. They would tear apart, clean, rebuild and make sure the entire guts of our Wii are in proper working order for us to begin enjoying our Wii again.

More so, we sent our Wii in and within two weeks we receive our Wii delivered UPS to our doorstep. Nintendo America told us that the repair would be six weeks so the delivery was a great surprise to us. Now here is the best part…the cost. The cost was totally minimal, $92 for us to have our Wii cleaned, repaired and the guts all in working order and all the shipping costs. Needless to say I had to brag about how awesome and wonderful Nintendo was to us and our Wii.

Thank you Nintendo.

For anyone who has trouble with the Nintendo gaming consoles or their personal gaming unit be sure to contact Nintendo before you waste your time and money with the traditional repair centers.

Technological Lust!!

Okay…..so here is my NEW object that I am totally in lust with and for the ladies…..it vibrates!!

I have to say I just think that this thing is the coolest and I have been playing with it since the Fed Ex man left me with it. Now I can tell Chad…yes, the Fed Ex man has given me love….my phone! By the way…this cool new phone has unlimited text for my text happy family, and it was part of my 2yr upgrade so I paid a whopping……..are you ready for it????
$29.99
I know you are jealous right? LOL Anyway, just had to share my love of my new phone that I can text to my heart’s desire now too!