What Gen Z Got for Christmas in 2024
the most popular gifts + Kylan Darnell DHgate drama
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Happy holidays from rural Missouri. I hope you had a great Christmas if you celebrate, and have had a nice few days off even if you don’t.
After opening presents, I immediately clocked in at work — and by that, I mean opening up TikTok and then proceeding to spend hours watching Christmas hauls. In between games of dominoes and mugs of mulled wine, I’ve watched hundreds, maybe thousands, of hauls, subjecting my family to rich insights like “platform Uggs are so last year” and “Alani Nu is the cool-girl energy drink.”
Yesterday, I changed out of leggings for the first time in a week to join CNBC’s Kelly Evans to talk about popular gifts this year. Going on live TV at my parents’ open-concept house — with six people, five dogs, and an elderly cat — was very nerve-racking. I spent the 3-minute segment terrified that my brother, who is theoretically though not actually too old for high jinks, would ruin my life somehow. He didn’t, but you can probably tell I’m waiting for all hell to break loose:
Anyway! Today we’re talking about:
The most popular Gen Z gifts of 2024
The most-mentioned brands this holiday season
Exactly two things I was influenced to buy by Christmas HaulTok
The sisters going viral for their luxury Christmas haul that’s actually DHgate (yes, we’re talking about Kylan Darnell)
But first, my favorite TikTok of the week:
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For the third year in a row (here’s 2023 and 2022), I spent many, many hours watching Christmas hauls on TikTok, and then I tallied up the most popular gifts of the holiday season.
Christmas hauls, for those unfamiliar, are videos in which people — mostly young, mostly women — share all of the gifts they received for the holidays. I mentioned last year that it seemed like there were more hauls in 2023 than in 2022, and the same is true again this year: There are so many hauls, which is interesting given the impending ban.
Though it remains to be seen whether the app will or will not disappear in two weeks, young people sure are posting through it.
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THE TOP 15 GEN Z GIFTS OF 2024
A necessary aside before we get into it: The TikTok algorithm tends to prioritize a certain kind of person (pretty, thin, white) no matter how much you scroll, so this is by no means representative of Gen Z, broadly.
1. DIGITAL CAMERAS: Last January, the New York Times published a story with the headline, “The Hottest Gen Z Gadget Is a 20-Year-Old Digital Camera.” Twelve months later, that appears to be more true than ever. I saw a lot of this $65 Camp Snap digital camera and this $49 Amazon digital point-and-shoot camera — both pink and teal were popular colorways — and on the higher end, the $330 Canon Powershot and $750 Sony a6400 were frequently mentioned.
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2. UGG BOOTS: Last year, I wrote that “seemingly everyone” got the $170 Classic Mini Platform Boot; this year, “seemingly everyone” got the $160 Classic Mini and $150 Classic Ultra Mini — both sans platform — which is consistent with my analysis of what Gen Z asked for this Christmas. The slippers, especially the $130 Tazz style, were also popular gifts. I’ve said this before, but the hold that Ugg has on this generation is really something…!
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3. RHODE LIP PEPTIDE TREATMENT: A few weeks before the holidays, Hailey Bieber’s beauty brand launched — with the help of a pre-cancellation Matilda Djerf — a limited-edition peppermint lip balm. It sold out almost instantly, so I was surprised to see it come up again and again in Christmas haul TikToks. Santa had an in, I guess. Either way, it’s definitely the “it” lip balm of the holiday season. Rhode’s viral lip phone case was also mentioned a lot, as were the beloved Rhode Pocket Blushes, particularly in the shades Piggy and Sleepy Girl.
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4. SOL DE JANEIRO: Ubiquitous in hauls last year, Sol De Janeiro — which is now Sephora’s number-one brand — came up constantly this Christmas, too. They make a lot of minis and limited-edition gift sets, all of which are highly giftable. Brazilian Crush Cheirosa ’62, a “gourmand” fragrance that smells like caramel, was the most requested and most gifted scent. Like last year, 68 (“notes of Brazilian jasmine and vanilla”) and 40 (“notes of black amber plum and vanilla woods”) were also favorites.
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5. JELLYCATS: These cult-fave fuzzy toys that young people literally can’t stop buying were popular stocking stuffers, though there were fewer of them than I was expecting, given how requested they were in Christmas wishlist TikToks, which makes me wonder if fatigue is beginning to set in. (How many plushies does a young adult really need?) The latte plush toy was a favorite, as were the holiday ones (gingerbread, reindeer, candy cane, etc.).
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