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2019 Holiday Gift Ideas for Kids of All Ages
After combing through dozens of Holiday Gift Buying Guides from the experts, here are a variety of great holiday gift ideas for your kids, from toddlers to teens.
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Holiday Gift Guide
There’s a lot about the world that has changed in the past couple of decades. However, you may be shocked to find out how similar many of today’s top toys are to the ones you remember from your childhood.
After combing through dozens of Holiday Gift Buying Guides from the experts at notable media outlets such as Today, Good Housekeeping, The New York Times, BuzzFeed, HuffPost, The Verge, and POPSUGAR, here are a variety of great holiday gift ideas for your kids, from toddlers to teens.
Infants and Toddlers
Everything is a toy to infants and toddlers as it all stimulates their senses and starts to teach them about their place in the world. That’s why babies and toddlers love a plain old box. And many of their favorite toys are often explored with their mouths as well as their fingers.
Best Baby & Toddler Gifts
Noisemakers
If it makes noise, it’s probably going to be a hit with a baby. That’s why the simple baby rattle is still top of most lists, or check out this new twist, the Oball Rollin’ Rainstick Rattle. As baby gets a bit older, the Fisher-Price® Linkimals Smooth Moves Sloth entertains with lights, music, songs, and groovy dance moves.
Soft Feels
Textures stimulate baby’s sense of touch, and Taggies Little Leaf Elephant Lovey Soft Toy is covered in soothing satin ribbons that your little one will love to run his or her fingers across. Or, combine sound and feel with colorful, plush Baby Shark Sound Cubes – baby shark, doo doo doo doo doo doo!
Early Crusin’
Pull and push toys encourage mobility and interaction. Petit Collage makes a Jumping Jumbo Elephant Wood Pull Toy that jumps up and down and wiggles his ears as he moves, and VTech offers its Sit-to-Stand interactive learning walker.
Bath Toys
Bath time is a big deal at this age, so toys for the tub are a great choice. Consider the Kids II® Oball™ Tubmarine™ Bath Toy that can whoosh through the water with its wind-up propeller or stick with an oldie but goodie, the yellow duckie inflatable tub.
Blocks
When it comes to developing motor skills, nothing is as easy or as fun for baby as blocks. Just remember—they need to be safe for stacking and snacking, as they will be chewed. Exciting textures and high contrast colors put these Infantino® Press and Stay Sensory Blocks on Today’s list of best gifts.
Preschoolers
Preschool-age children are discovering the world around them, so any toys that allow them to mimic the world around them and pretend play are still incredibly popular.
Preschool Gift Ideas
Building Kits
Fisher-Price® has been making memories with kids for decades. Their Wonder™ Makers Build Around Town™ Starter Kit allows toddlers and preschoolers to create their a world with wooden track pieces, characters, vehicles, and more.
Stuffed Animals and Puppets
That international YouTube phenomenon isn’t just for babies and toddlers. Move the mouth of the Baby Shark™, Mommy Shark, or Daddy Shark plush puppet to hear the entire song over, and over, and over again. And Elmo is still all the rage with the preschool set. Sesame Street Love to Hug Elmo will sing, talk, and hug your little ones.
Dolls and Home Accessories
Baby dolls are a quintessential gift for young children, giving them the chance to pretend to be mom or dad. Luvabella Newborn doll is an interactive doll that sleeps (and breathes while doing so), has a heartbeat, coos, and cries like a real baby! Preschoolers also love to play school, clean the house, go grocery shopping, cook dinner, and much more with pint-sized play toys made just for them, like these wooden kitchen appliances from Pottery Barn Kids.
Cars, Trucks, Trains
Race them up and down the hallway or drive them through an imaginary town, but vehicles like cars, trucks, and trains are still a staple toy for kids. A particularly cool one is this Rescue Heroes™ Transforming Fire Truck with lights and sound. And Hot Wheels® continues to be a hot commodity with popular toys like the Hot Wheels Ultimate Garage Playset.
Games
Games are a mainstay toy at any age, and many of you probably remember this popular one – the magnetic fishing game, Five Little Fish™.
Elementary School
For the grade-school set, a love of learning is starting to kick in, and they want to explore, invent, and create. They also are more physically active and competitive, so bikes, scooters, and skateboards are popular at this age.
Gifts for School-Age Kids
Motion
A body in motion stays in motion, so support good habits that will last a lifetime with any of these great gifts:
Sound
What kid doesn’t love listening to the sound of their own voice? Karaoke Microphones, like this Wireless Bluetooth Karaoke Microphone, is a popular recommendation, as well as Walkie Talkies.
Creation
LEGO®s are still a mainstay on the most popular toy lists. For robotics lovers, LEGO BOOST combines the old-style building system with advanced technology to create moving, talking interactive robots. For aspiring performers, drama and artistry can take center stage, quite literally, with this hardwood stage for holding puppet shows.
Dolls and Action Figures
Dolls and action figures allow kids to use their imagination and create worlds all their own. For kids who want out-of-this-world adventures, consider the PLAYMOBIL® Mars Rover. For those who want a friend and confidant, the American Girl® doll collection is still enormously popular. And for those who love a surprise, Hatchimals remain a huge hit, including this year’s hot toys, Hatchimals WOW, and DreamWorks Dragons, Hatching Toothless Interactive Baby Dragon.
Games
Game recommendations for elementary school kids include the classic mystery face game, Guess Who?, any puzzles with 50 pieces or more, and Hasbro’s classic board game, Sorry!
Tweens
Tweens are at an age when their personalities start shining. They begin to show a much greater interest in technology, fast-paced games, and more complicated, problem-solving challenges.
Christmas Gifts for Tweens
Robots and Remote-Control Vehicles
STEM-oriented toys pick-up steam at this age as tweens’ problem-solving skills evolve. Remote-control vehicles like Air Hogs® and are popular, as well as kits that allow kids to build and code robots like Wonder Workshop’s Dash robot.
Room Décor
A tween’s bedroom is their refuge, so customizing it just the way they want is important to them. A dumpling light is a food-shaped light that emits a soft glow, bright enough to light up an entire room. Another room décor item your tween might love is a decorative lightbox, inspired by movie-style marquee signs.
Smartphone Décor
Since a smartphone is an accessory most tweens carry with them at all times, it only makes sense that they would want to personalize it with things like Rhinestone Ring Stands to prop it up while they watch videos, colorful Popsockets, or a clip-on cell phone selfie light.
Personal Style
Make-up kits, clothing, backpacks, purses, and jewelry are all popular gifts for tweens. However, self-expression has carried over into many other items that tweens find cool for reflecting their style too, like a Waffle Iron that makes breakfast in the shape of the Star Wars Death Star or reusable, personalized Starbucks® cups.
Games
If you have a Harry Potter fan in your home, there are two games we stumbled across that will have you saying, wow! The first is WOW! Stuff Collection Harry Potter Invisibility Cloak. Wear the cloak, and with the magic of the app, your tween will disappear from any photo. Or, perhaps your tween is more interested in casting their a spell? The Harry Potter Wand Coding Kit allows them to build a wand that responds to their movements and teaches them coding in the process. Now that’s magic!
Teens
Cold, hard cash is always an excellent fallback gift at this age, but below are some other gift ideas that the experts swear won’t make your teen roll their eyes.
Christmas Gifts for Teenagers
Tech
Teens and tech go together like tic and tac, although these gifts do start to cost you a little more dough. The Nintendo Switch Lite features built-in controls for handheld gaming. The Amazon Echo Dot is an affordable smart speaker. Apple AirPods for your stylish iPhone user, and there’s no doubt your teen wouldn’t love to have the latest and greatest smartphone.
Make-up
Teen’s like to look good, and here are two new contraptions out there designed to help them apply make-up like a pro. First, winged eyeliner stamps to create a perfect cat-eye. Next, Glossier® Boy Brow grooming pomade, which visibly thickens, shapes, and grooms eyebrows into place.
Wearables
High tech, high fashion, wearables are a popular gift. The Apple Watch and Fitbit Charge 3 are both on several “hot” lists, along with gifts that take your teen to all new realms like Oculus Quest virtual reality headsets.
Fitness
Staying healthy and hydrated is on the mind of many teens, so Hydro Flask stainless steel water bottles continue to be a popular gift idea, as well as backpacks, and this super cool smart yoga mat that rolls itself up.
Sleep
It may be cliché, but teens cherish their sleep, and these cozy gifts help them relax in style. This large knot pillow is unique and comfortable and a weighted blanket keeps teens snug as a bug in a rug.
Happy shopping!