What Gen Z Wants For Christmas 2025, According to TikTok
here are the top 15 gifts this year
Welcome back to After School Monday Edition, a not-so-brief trends debrief for paid subscribers. 🫶
In today’s letter
After hours lost to Christmas wishlist TikToks, I emerged with a definitive list of the year’s top 15 gifts (and some thoughts about the macroeconomic climate that no one asked for)
The “millennial optimism” meme
The yellow font trend
“Winter coating”
A “performative maturity” pushback
Sledging season
The rise of sad beige blush
Gen Alpha’s press-on nails surge
Midface anxiety
And so much more, plus everything I’m buying (or, in this case, not buying), reading, and listening to. But first, my favorite TikTok of the week:
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WHAT DOES GEN Z WANT FOR CHRISTMAS IN 2025?
For the last four years, I’ve spent the days after Thanksgiving watching thousands of Christmas wishlist TikToks. This genre, in which young people (mostly girls) share their holiday lists (often with PowerPoint-style presentations), began on YouTube in the 2010s but really gained mainstream traction once TikTok became the dominant platform.
Immediately after I sent out my Black Friday haul report, I turned my attention to Christmas wishlist TikToks, like I always do. Except this year, there weren’t any. I mean, there were. But not nearly as many as years past. Maybe girls were waiting for December, I thought, so I kept scrolling this past week, waiting for an onslaught that never came.
I can’t say for sure why I’m seeing fewer Christmas wishlist TikToks. There’s a possibility that young people are posting less on TikTok altogether, but I don’t think that’s it, based on the volume of young people on my feed.
I guess it could also be the “algorithm.” Maybe TikTok simply doesn’t want to show me this content, even though I’m trying to seek it out via search. But I don’t think that’s it, either.
Last year, I wrote:
I mentioned two years ago that the trend of sharing your Christmas list on TikTok seemed bigger than ever, and noted that #christmaslist2022 had 34.5M views, #christmaswishlist2022 had 33.8M views, and #christmas2022 had a whopping 3.7B views.
Last year, views on Christmas list hashtags were down slightly — at the time of publishing, #christmaslist2023 had 30.3M views, #christmaswishlist2023 had 28.6M views, and #christmas2023 had 5B views — but I also sent the newsletter earlier in 2023 than in 2022.
As of January, TikTok began only sharing the number of videos associated with a hashtag rather than hashtag views, which makes it hard for me to compare year-over-year data, but I can tell you that #christmaswishlist2022 currently has 4,975 posts; #christmaswishlist2023 has 3,482 posts; and #christmaswishlist2024 has just 1,937 posts.
Currently, #christmaslist2025 has just 437 posts and #christmaswishlist2025 has 752.
In other words, each year brings fewer wishlist posts than the last, but 2025 is at an all-time low. The only thing I can attribute this shift to is the broader macroeconomic climate. I can’t imagine that teens are consciously deciding not to post their Christmas wishlists on the internet because of the U.S. economy, but sharing the thousands of dollars’ worth of stuff you want for Christmas probably doesn’t feel quite right when financial anxiety is at an all-time high.
What’s interesting is that a different kind of genre emerged this year on TikTok: “Things I would put on my Christmas list if I didn’t already have them.”
At first, I thought this was just an affiliate revenue play (the rise of the gift-guide industrial complex!), but I actually think it’s a way to participate in the Christmas wishlist trend without asking for stuff — instead, you’re very generously recommending things you love.
That brings me to the actual wishlist data. I watched the hundreds of Christmas lists I could find (nevertheless, she persisted!), tallied the most asked-for gifts, and compiled them for you below. For my specific research purpose — determining what Gen Z is asking for this year — I’m not especially interested in what people are recommending, so I did not factor in the “Things I would put on my Christmas list if I didn’t already have them” videos.
GIFT GUIDE 2025: WHAT GEN Z WANTS THIS YEAR
1. HATCH ALARM CLOCK, $170: You would not believe how many teens want this nearly $200 (with sales tax) smart alarm clock, especially since nearly all of them have an alarm clock on their iPhone (which is essentially free). “I’ve heard the Hatch Alarm clock is, like, one of the best alarm clocks you can have,” said one girl on TikTok. “I feel like my alarm goes off on my phone and 1. snooze immediately and 2. I end up picking up my phone and doomscrolling. Having the inaccessibility of my phone in the morning and using an alarm clock just makes my mornings probably a lot better.”
2. SCUFFERS HOODIE, $109: Last year, the Pink Palm Puff hoodie was the “it” hoodie. The year before, it was all about the White Fox hoodie. While those two still made it onto plenty of Christmas lists, Scuffers, a Spanish streetwear brand, was by far the most-mentioned hoodie brand this year.
3. RHODE DEPUFFING EYE PATCHES, $25: It’s been four months since Rhode entered Sephora, and the mania surrounding Hailey Bieber’s brand shows no signs of letting up. Rhode’s entire line was mentioned over and over. The eye patches came up the most (“Not only are they so aesthetic, but I hear they work super well,” said one girl), and the skincare sets and lip balms are also very popular.
4. UGG ULTRA MINIS, $160: While the Ultra Minis are definitely the most desired of all the Uggs, girls also name-dropped Ultra Mini Platforms ($170), Cozy Knit Genuine Shearling Slippers ($125), Tazzelle Slippers ($150), Lo Lowmel Sneakers ($130), and Tasman II Slippers ($125).
5. LOLA BLANKET, $400: I’d never heard of this blanket brand until I started watching Christmas list TikToks, but hundreds of girls mentioned it (“I also want this Lola blanket everyone’s been talking about. I literally think it’s so cute,” said one girl) and then I noticed last week that they’ve been advertising on the NYC subways, too.
6. JELLYCAT, $35: I didn’t see a single Christmas wishlist TikTok mention Labubu, but the vast majority of them want a Jellycat. “Of course I’m asking for this Jellycat. The Smudge Monkey is literally the most adorable thing I’ve ever seen in my entire life. And everybody needs a Jellycat for Christmas. Like duh. Get a girl a Jellycat and she’ll love you forever,” said one girl. “I feel like you can’t really go wrong with a Jellycat,” said another. Last week, André Maeder, the chief executive of Selfridges, told the New York Times that the Jellycat is “one of the hottest gifts in the world,” and Pete Nordstrom, co-chief executive of the eponymous retail chain, agreed: “Jellycat is a hot item for us, too. Whether you’re in the U.K. or the U.S., the best items are really the best items,” he said.
7. CANON POWERSHOT G7, $1,400: This Canon is the most-wanted digital camera, but the Kodak PixPro came up a lot as a cheaper alternative. “This is the main thing I’m asking for this year…We all know her. We love her. I’m going to UCF this summer and the pictures need to eat down,” said one girl.
8. REVICE JEANS, $99: These baggy jeans “that look like there are sweatpants underneath them” are weirdly popular! “I don’t know if y’all have seen these jeans on your For You page, but they’ve definitely been on mine. I want them so bad with the white waistband. They’re so freaking cute. And, like, imagine them with a cute, like, crop top,” said one girl. “Revice jeans, duh,” said another.
9. PARKE MOCKNECK, $130: These mockneck sweatshirts, designed by cool-girl influencer Chelsea Parke, are so in-demand they’re pretty much entirely sold out. “I tried on one of my friends’, and it was, like, the most comfiest, cutest thing ever,” said one girl.
10. LULULEMON LEGGINGS, $108: “Can’t go wrong. I always seem to run out of black leggings. Don’t know where they go,” said one girl. “Of course, some basic black Lulu leggings. I feel like I have to kind of, like, renew those every few years. I only have one pair right now. Like, how do you only own one pair of black leggings?” said another whose TikTok I can’t relocate for the life of me, so you’re just going to have to trust me.