There are only a few days left until Christmas, and you haven’t finished your holiday shopping. No worries! In the age of two-day shipping and big-box retail stores, you’ve still got time to get it done. Now you only have to figure out what to buy.
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Fortunately, we’ve got you covered. From phones to toys to gardening tools, here are our guides to all the best tech stuff to buy your friends and family this holiday season.
The Best Tech Gifts Under $30: Gifting on a budget can feel impossible, especially within the constraints of a white elephant or Secret Santa event. The good news is that there are gadgets out there for every budget, whether you’re carefully counting your dollars or shopping for one last affordable yet tech-oriented stocking stuffer.
The Best Phones to Make You a Holiday Hero Come Gift Time: Smartphones saw a big shakeup this year with the introduction of the iPhone 15, which finally ditched Apple’s proprietary lightning port for a more conventional USB-C port. Meanwhile, Google’s Pixel 8 is fully embracing AI with exclusive features like Magic Editor, while Samsung has released its first fold-flat foldable phones. You can find new iPhones as cheap as $800, and other great deals in The Messenger’s guide to the best phones to gift in 2023.
The Best Toys for All the Kids and Kids at Heart on Your Gift List: Nothing says it’s the holidays like an action figure or plushie. This year, consider a digital pet hologram or a Star Wars droid animatronic. If you’ve got money to burn, you could also grab a self-transforming, programmable Transformers robot.
The Best STEM Toys for Toddlers and Beyond: You’re fighting a losing battle against toy commercials when it comes to what kids put on their holiday wish lists, but you can feel less guilty about what they’re playing with by buying them toys that surreptitiously teach concepts like match, science and engineering.
The Best Gifts to Trick Out Your Home Office: With more people working from home now, it’s more important than ever to make your home office space or work desk as comfortable as possible. If someone you know is going to spend next year sitting at their desk for hours on end, then be the person who helps them kick off 2024 right with these useful desk add-ons.
The Best Lego Sets for Every Type of Person on Your Shopping List: Lego is like a cheat code to gift giving, with options for Star Wars fans, Marvel loremasters and even the NASA obsessed. This year, we like this giant upscaled Lego figure and this set of the famous Concorde supersonic airliner.
The Best Cleaning Gadgets to Gift to Your Most Slovenly Friends: Unless you’re being paid handsomely to do it, no one wants to spend all their time cleaning. But entropy is inescapable, and though the war against dirt can never be truly won, technology can make each battle with it much easier.
The Best Fitness Gadget Gifts, From Fitbit to VR: Once the holidays have passed and it’s 2024, all that’s left is the sobering reality of living with your new year’s resolutions. The right fitness gift, for yourself or for a friend, can help with that. Consider a Fitbit Charge 6 to help keep you motivated into next year. Or, to access all new kinds of workouts, grab yourself a Meta Quest 3 and a subscription to FitXR.
The Best Tech Gifts for Gardeners and Plant Parents: Plant parents love their peace lilies and golden pothos climbers, and there are plenty of potential gifts out there to help their plants grow. From weeding robots to indoor hydroponic gardens of all shapes and sizes, this holiday season has plenty of opportunities to elevate your giftee’s gardening game (or gift yourself a green thumb upgrade).
The Best Tech Gifts to Relax the Stressed Out People You Love: After a workout comes chill time. This year, snag a friend an Ember Mug to ensure they always have a hot drink on hand. Or grab an annual subscription to Headspace to clear your head after a stressful time shopping.
The Best Cheap Games To Stuff Your Stockings This Year: 2023 was a massive year for video games, from Spider-Man 2 to Baldur’s Gate 3. Chances are that the gamer in your life already has the big games they want, but what about smaller titles? From Nintendo cult favorites like Detective Pikachu to lesser known indie gems like Jusant, there’s plenty of great small and mid-budget adventures to be found in our guide to the best video game stocking stuffers of 2023.
The Best Gaming Accessories To Give the Gamer Who’s Got Everything: Dedicated gamers might already have the games they want, but there’s still plenty of ways to shop for them. Try snagging the gamer in your life a pro controller like the Xbox Elite Wireless Series 2, or a handheld like the PlayStation Portal, which lets them take their console games off the TV and into their hands. There’s plenty more to be found, even a Game Boy wrist watch, in our guide to the best gaming accessory gifts of 2023.
