The gift that works for girls at five, at ten and at fifteen

Buying a gift for a five year old is easy. For a ten year old, harder. For a fifteen year old, honestly a bit frightening. Beanie Boos are one of the few gifts that work across that whole stretch, because they do a different job at every age.

At five, a Beanie Boo is a companion. It already has a name and an official birthday printed on the swing tag, which small children find deeply satisfying, and the big glitter eyes make every character look like a treasure. This is the age of one favourite that goes everywhere, survives the washing machine and gets tucked in at night.

Around eight or nine, collecting takes over, and this is the golden age. One unicorn becomes four, characters get organised on shelves, and swaps get negotiated in the playground with the seriousness of a trade deal. At $11.99 for a regular size, a Beanie Boo sits perfectly in pocket money and party present territory, so the collection can actually grow without anyone wincing.

By eleven or twelve, the bag clips do the work. At $6.99, a clip on the schoolbag keeps a favourite character close while its owner is officially too grown up for toys. Bag charms are everywhere at school gates right now, and a Ty clip is the licensed, affordable version of the trend.

And at fifteen? The internet did us all a favour here. Capybaras, axolotls and their friends made cute animals a personality trait, and a teenager who would never ask for a toy will happily accept a capybara for her shelf. Nostalgia has started working too, because this is the girl who had a Boo at six and remembers it.

The practical case seals it. The range is deep, so there is a cat person's cat, a unicorn girl's unicorn and a frog for the frog era. The price means getting it slightly wrong is a small miss, and in our experience the glitter eyes mean you rarely get it wrong at all.

Whatever the age, if you are stuck: the unicorn. The unicorn never misses.