There are 3 types of tripods.
1. The useless rickety ones that will hold a camera, but it won’t be stable, making it completely ineffective.
2. Good, solid, but unfortunately a bit pricey tripods that will do the job for decades.
3. Insanely overpriced, but still good ones that are really specialty items for upper level photo and video.
I owned a few from category 1. They never really did the job. Then about 15 years ago I firmly entered category 2 with a Manfrotto 055XB and a 484RC2 ball head with quick release plates. It’s a lot heavier, so I’m very aware when it is along for the ride. However, the thing is solid. I never worry about the camera or the lens I put on top of it. I love that I can set it up on very uneven ground and get a good solid platform to work from. I use it for still photography. And the first thing I noticed was that little wobble of the crap tripods was gone. So it was easier to get sharp pictures. At first I thought I had paid too much for it, but after a couple weeks using it in the field, I decided it was the exact correct gear for me. Staged shoots like a couple hundred portraits in an afternoon were just easier with the right gear.
As for your niece, it all depends on her needs and how long she will want to use it. Any tripod will simply hold a light camera. As long as she knows the limitations of the really light cheap ones, they may work. But they shake if disturbed at all. If she is really young, a cheap one might be best. But if you get something that will work for decades, maybe that isn’t bad either. I’d just stay away from the category 3 stuff, because $600 tripods even shock my senses still.