When Monica Green — a Gen X mom who lives in Texas — was her daughter’s age, the closest thing she had to an “influencer” was her middle sister, whose drugstore makeup routine she admired. Green didn’t really know much about skin care until high school. Today’s teens, including her 13-year-old daughter, are growing up in an entirely different world — one with kiddie Sephora hauls and $200 Advent calendars packed with goodies from youth-obsessed beauty brands. Not surprisingly, her daughter’s holiday wish list is full of “lotions, potions and all things skin care,” Green tells Yahoo.

And she’s bound to find many of them in her Christmas stocking. Like most moms, Green knows all too well the pressure to buy the perfect present for a teenager. It’s not just that they’re particular — trends can shift so quickly in their world that what’s cool one month may be "cringe" the next (translation: the exact opposite of cool). And good luck if you go off-script with a gift.

What are the youngest members of Gen Z asking for? According to their parents, tweens and teens know exactly what they want, and some of them are impressively organized, painstakingly tracking their wish lists (e-bikes, AirPods, etc.) on Google spreadsheets and even creating slideshows with shoppable links. Here, nine moms spill on what they’re buying (and what they’re not) and how modern-day expectations have changed the gift-giving game.

Monica Green, mom of an 11-year-old son and 13-year-old daughter

Teens today are bombarded with “vast amounts of information and advertising of products,” says Green. Her daughter gets product recommendations from influencers on YouTube and Pinterest, as well as from friends at school, and then she and her mom discuss which products are “safe and appropriate for her young skin.”

All of that exposure has sparked a genuine interest in skin care — and it shows. Some highlights from the holiday wish list the teen has compiled: Byoma moisturizing gel-cream, the Ordinary Salicylic Acid 2%, Glow Recipe Watermelon Glow Pink Juice Moisturizer and Beauty of Joseon Day Dew SPF 50 sunscreen.

Her other holiday must-haves include Rhode Peptide Lip Tint in Salty Tan, Summer Fridays Tinted Lip Butter Balm and Sol de Janeiro Perfume Mist — all brands that are sought after by Gen Z-ers.

Green’s 11-year-old son’s wish list, on the other hand, is all about technology. He wants an Apple Watch and headphones (Apple AirPods Max run $549), Robux (money for Roblox games) and “a full Meta wallet for Oculus [virtual reality] games,” she says.

But there’s one gift her kids fully agree on: “They both want an in-ground basketball hoop,” Green says.

Brooke Buettner, mom of sons aged 14 and 16

When it comes to gifts, “we don’t have a lot of rules,” the Atlanta mom of two boys, 14-year-old Evan and 16-year-old Alec, tells Yahoo. “At this point, they are in high school, so we are pretty laid back about ‘rules with gifts.’” The one exception: electric scooters are out. “In the past, we’ve done e-scooters,” Buettner says. “We returned it after Alec crashed and slid down the street on his elbow, and Evan fell and broke his elbow.”

So what’s on their Christmas wish list? It’s top tech products like Apple AirPods and new smartphones. Alec also wants a gaming PC (“It’s $900, so Alec has to go in on that with us”) and a Lego light kit, like this one for the Lego Avengers Tower. “These are cool!” Buettner says, referring to the light kit. “It’s definitely for older kids. You wire your built Legos, and they light up. It’s a great use of his time, gets him off the Xbox and it’s got some engineering to it.”

Evan would like accessories for his electric bike, including a new full-face helmet and a bag to hold stuff. “It’s really important to Evan that he gets specific things on his list,” she says. “He literally checks them off later on Christmas Day. Alec is less materialistic, so he struggles to find items other than 1,000 Lego sets.”

Buettner says her boys also love a fuzzy blanket (who doesn’t?). Their favorite: The Brookstone Nap Plush Throw Blanket. “They fight over blankets when we are on the couch,” she says. To remedy that, “Alec is getting his own because obviously the younger kid takes it and won’t share.”

Gift cards — an easy win for relatives on the hunt for presents — are also on their lists. “The kids hang with their friends at the shopping centers by us, so Starbucks gift cards, Panera gift cards — basically, anywhere they can eat with their friends,” she says.

Nicole Macuil-Meehan, mom of three, including a 13-year-old daughter

The Palo Alto, Calif., mom of three shared her 13-year-old’s Google slideshow, which is packed with items Nathalia earmarked for the holidays (there’s even a slide on how many business days shipping takes so Macuil-Meehan can plan accordingly!).

“I mostly pick from their lists because otherwise they get disappointed, but they ask for a lot of makeup products that I think they seem too young for,” Macuil-Meehan tells Yahoo. “They always want Uggs, but this year they want all the popular hoodies.”

Her mom isn’t kidding about the hoodies. There are 11 oversize hoodies to choose from on Nathalia’s list, from popular brands like White Fox and Pink Palm Puff — the latter founded by a 15-year-old in 2023. There are also several fast-fashion clothing items, including staples like tank tops from Garage, tops from Brandy Melville and low-rise jeans from PacSun and Hollister — all Gen Z-favorited brands.

Beyond clothes, Nathalia is asking for the Lululemon dual pouch wristlet wallet ($58) and fairy curtain lights ($23) for her bedroom.

Philippa Lissoos Bregman, mom of three, including a 17-year-old daughter

While Bregman’s 17-year-old daughter is using modern technology to share her gift list with her mom — it’s all uploaded on the wishlist platform Locker.com — her holiday haul is giving retro, ’90s vibes: babydoll tops like Hollister’s tie-back henley babydoll, clothing items with skulls embroidered on them like these SardineClothing skull gloves and vinyl albums like this (sold out) liquid-filled one from the band Between Friends. Her teen even added nostalgic tech items like a Canon PowerShot digital camera (though at $750, that’s clearly not ’90s pricing!).

Bregman appreciates the fact that her 17-year-old’s wish list is all in one spot, no guesswork required. “She just adds cute things as she sees them,” the Los Altos Hills, Calif., mom tells Yahoo. “It’s so helpful just to choose a few.”

Ilissa Wood Lipworth, mom of two, including a 12-year-old daughter

The Washington, D.C., mom says her almost-12-year-old has several items she’s hoping to get for Hanukkah this year. First and foremost: “Anything from Edikted clothing,” Lipworth tells Yahoo, along with comfy items like Roller Rabbit pajamas ($128 and up) in their New York or Martha’s Vineyard print and Ugg boots ($169 and up) — but not the Tasman style, even though (or maybe because) they’ve been popular for a while now.

Other items on Lipworth’s tween’s list include the popular Owala water bottle in a limited-edition color, Milk Makeup Cooling Water Jelly Tint and a Jellycat plush — specifically, Bartholomew Bear.

Her daughter also wants a dog, but Lipworth quickly says, “We are definitely not getting a dog!” So what is she likely to get her tween for the holidays? “I'm more inclined to indulge in the clothing than anything else because I see that as a necessity,” Lipworth says. “I probably won't splurge on the Roller Rabbit PJs since she will outgrow them quickly — and there are some really good knock-offs!”

Rena Croshere, mom of daughters aged 12 and 16

Like many tween and teen girls, Croshere’s 12-year-old and 16-year-old daughters like to take care of their hair. Their holiday wish list reflects that, with picks like Olaplex No. 7 Bonding Oil to tame frizz, Kinky Curly Curl Custard Gel for curl definition and these $8 Kitsch Zig Zag headbands. “They asked for a second set of these,” Croshere says, referring to the headbands. “They’re all the rage now.”

Along with hair products, Croshere’s 12-year-old wants the Ugg Lowmel sneakers and Beats Studio Pro noise-canceling headphones, which the tween says are “perfect for warming up during her volleyball tournaments,” according to her mom, who lives in Los Angeles.

But Croshere shares that her kids would give up just about everything on their wish lists for one present in particular: the JumpFlex trampoline ($900) to replace the one the family lost after the L.A. fires in January. “The girls were heartbroken and continually tell me they’d spend so much more time outside — and off screens! — if only they had their trampoline,” she says. “I don’t completely buy it, but they did love that thing, and I’m considering buying it as a surprise gift.”

Mary Dail, mom of a 12-year-old son

Dail lives in Virginia with her 12-year-old son Loki — a tech whiz whose biggest interest right now is building computers from scratch. For his gift list, “he’s been researching components, CPUs [central processing units], SSD cards [computer storage devices], everything,” Dail tells Yahoo. “It’s pretty amazing.” She adds: “He’s already built one functioning gaming computer for himself.”

Dail is fully supportive of her son’s passion and sees it as a potential ticket to a future career. “I’m leaning into this because I feel that the manual labor of fixing motherboards and computer systems will be in demand with all of these terrible data centers being built,” she tells Yahoo. “If he can become some sort of mechanical or electrical engineer, I think that would be a great benefit to him. So these things that build skills for him are of great interest to me to provide” for the holidays and beyond.

Sara Moscoso Gaenzler, mom of a 16-year-old daughter

Gaenzler, who lives in New York, tells Yahoo that the go-to items on her teen’s gift list include Parke sweatshirts ($125 and up), which she says are “big with that age right now.” Her 16-year-old also wants “anything from Brandy Melville,” the fast-fashion, California-inspired clothing brand that’s popular with Gen Z. “That being said, I really dislike that store, so I try not to buy her things from there and leave it to friends and family,” admits Gaenzler.

Along with anything from Rhode skin care, Gaenzler adds that gift cards are “always a must” for her teen so she can pick out what she wants.

Caroline Green Rooney, mom of a 10-year-old daughter and 12-year-old son

The San Francisco mom laughs when she thinks about what was on her wish list as a tween compared to what her kids want. “What were we asking for when we were this age? Maybe a Rubik’s Cube?” she says.

Her children have bigger aspirations, however: Rooney’s son, Declan, wants an electric bike. But those carry a hefty price tag — around $1,000 to $3,000 — and Rooney would rather not spend more than $750 or so on one. “He has a great bike that he doesn’t use that often and is trying to convince me to get him an e-bike that he will use ‘all the time,’” she tells Yahoo.

Her daughter Quinn’s list is a classic tween gift trifecta (and is more budget-friendly than an e-bike): She wants “clothes, a gift certificate to Sephora and an Apple Watch,” Rooney says.