Since the start of this site in 2008, I’ve made it my mission to publish holiday gift guides to make your holiday shopping easier. My 2025 Holiday Gift Guides are full of items my own kids (now a college sophomore and senior- wow, that went fast!) would love to receive. They also feature gifts I plan to give nieces, nephews, family members, loved ones, and special people in our lives, like teachers.

Loyal blog readers know that this is my this is my 18^th year of providing age-appropriate gift selections so this year we’re mixing it up! Age-appropriate gifts will be in one amazing STEM guide featuring STEM-focused gifts for toddlers through teens. Every year you tell me that STEM Gifts for All Ages is your favorite holiday gift guide and I think this one the best yet!

You’ve also told me how hard it is to think beyond gift cards and cash for college students. While they love and appreciate both, Best Gifts for College Students is full of ideas for kids living in dorms and in their first apartments.

I’m aiming to publish all 2025 Holiday Gift Guides will be published before Black Friday and Cyber Monday so you can take advantage of the best deals this holiday season. The only exception will be Gifts that Give Back that will be published on Giving Tuesday.

Over the years I’ve made it my mission to not accept paid placements or make promises about what will be featured in my gift guides. If you happen to see a product that was part of a sponsored post earlier in the year, please know I was not obligated to include it in my gift guides but deemed it worthy of a second mention! 

Curating top gift picks is something I keep doing because of your incredibly positive feedback every year (thank you!). I take my evaluation and recommendation of these products very seriously and without bias that could come from compensation.

2025 Holiday Gift Guides

Below is the entire list of what you can look forward to this year. These links will go live as guides are published so bookmark or pin this post now so you can come back to it as you do your holiday shopping since I’ll be updating it often!

• Favorite Advent Calendars for All Ages
• Best STEM Gifts for All Ages (preK-teen)
• Best Gifts College Students(inspired by my own college students!)
• Best Subscriptions Boxes for All Ages
• Best Gifts for Teachers
• Best Hostess Gifts
• Gifts for the Best Dogs and the People Who Love Them (inspired by Goldie and Murphy, of course)
• Best Gifts for Outdoor Lovers (inspired by our family’s love of skiing, hiking, backpacking, water sports, and National Parks)
• Favorite Ways to Teach Kids to Give Back

FAVORITE HOLIDAY GIFT GUIDES FROM PAST YEARS

In case you wanted to start making your shopping lists now, here’s a look at past gift guides that are full of great ideas:

• Toddlers & Preschoolers
• Early Elementary Ages (grades K-2)
• Tweens (ages 9-12)
• Teens (ages 13+)
• College Students 
• Best STEM Gifts for Kids
• Best Gifts for Outdoor Lovers
• Gifts for Teachers
• Gifts the Best Dogs and the People Who Love Them(inspired by Goldie and Murphy, of course)
• Favorite Advent Calendars for All Ages
• Best Subscriptions Boxes for All Ages
• Fair Trade Holiday Gifts
• Best Gifts for Unplugged Fun
• Gifts for Favorite Teachers
• Gifts for Outdoor Adventures
• Gifts for Gadget Lovers
• Gifts for Hostesses
• Gifts that Give Back
• 9 Gifts that Make it Easy for Families to Give Back

I hope you enjoy this year’s 2025 Holiday Gift Guide picks and wish you happy and stress-free holiday shopping!

Note to PR: I am happy to accept items for review to consider for specialty guides. Please be specific about the products you’d like me to consider reviewing in your pitch and thanks for understanding I’m on a short deadline to get most gift guides wrapped up before Thanksgiving and do not have the bandwidth to return samples during this extremely busy time of the year. Thank you!