Buyer's Guide - Tweens & Teens

Jewelry & Watches

One of the easiest and least expensive ways to keep your teen up with the trends and look cute is to purchase eye-catching accessories.  Jewelry and watches, along with any other accessories, dress up any outfit your teen is wearing and can help take the pressure off of having to wear something new every day.  

• Jewelry:  Here are a few tips to help you invest in the right pieces for your teen:

• Consider Cost:  There’s no need to spend a ton of money on jewelry in order to look current – simply invest in some key pieces such as bold pendants, chunky bracelets and fashionable earrings.  Local stores stock their shelves with the “in” items, so take some time looking at the most recent pieces available.
• Where to Wear:  Except for special events, key pieces of jewelry are not meant to be real – they are meant to be able to be changed daily and as frequently as your teen’s mind dictates.  Encourage your teen to show off new jewelry at a special event and then continue to mix in to daily wear.
• Jewelry Party:  Stock up on jewelry making supplies and allow your teen to invite over friends for an evening of beading or jewelry making.  Some of the hippest jewelry today is that which is homemade.
• Safe Keeping:  Provide a jewelry box or other storage container for your teen to try to keep from losing any of the pieces.  Though all of the pieces may not be too expensive, learning how to properly keep jewelry will encourage responsibility for future, more-expensive jewelry ownership.
• Watches:  Teen girls are intrigued by trendy watches – it doesn’t always matter what they can do, just that they make the perfect accessory.  Teen boys can begin to define their own style with a cool watch.  Here are some things to look for when purchasing your teen a watch:
  • Complication:  What else does the watch do?  Any function of a watch beyond simple timekeeping can be categorized here such as an annual or lunar calendar or a stopwatch.
  • Movement:  Digital or not?  Can you see the bits and pieces moving inside?
  • Quartz:  These watches refer to those that the movement is powered by a battery and then regulated by the oscillations of a quartz crystal.  While not necessarily a must-have, it’s more accurate than the average watch.
  • Self-Winding:  Many watches are wound by the day-to-day movement of the wearer’s wrist – also referred to as automatic.
  • Water Resistant:  How wet is it going to get?  Just because the watch says it’s water resistant doesn’t mean that your teen should swim or shower with it on – to be safe, only those that are water-resistant up to one hundred meters should actually go underwater for any length of time.
  • Where to Wear:  Like jewelry, it is important to determine the purpose of the watch – for every day wear, go casual.  If your teen is an athlete, find a watch that is recommended for wear when jogging, cycling, rock climbing or any other outdoor sport. 

Keep your teen up with the trends by investing in jewelry and watches that are more cost effective than changing your teen’s wardrobe weekly.