The Verge’s 2025 holiday gift guide for teens

Case-Mate’s Phone Charm may pass for just another cute bracelet, but it’s actually a useful accessory. The strap keeps your teen’s phone attached to their wrist, so they can snap selfies at a party, run errands, and more without worry that they’ll drop their pricey, vital smartphone.

JBL’s Clip 5 Bluetooth speaker delivers surprisingly good sound for its size. This tiny yet mighty waterproof speaker has a built-in clip (hence the name) that lets it easily attach to backpacks, bikes, and more, so you can play music or podcasts just about anywhere.

From snapping memories at parties to decorating lockers and journals, the Fujifilm Instax Mini 41 is a must-have gift for teens who want to share photos the old-school way. It’s so easy to use, yet its black and silver body gives it a sleek, sophisticated vibe that older teens will likely appreciate.

If your teen is into mood lighting, Govee’s RGBICW smart floor lamp can add a stunning pop of color to any room. The 4.6-foot lamp can blanket their space in a wild array of colors, offering plenty of preset scenes to match their mood. Plus, it can sync with music.

Let’s face it, going with the base-model iPhone used to mean you were giving up some key features. Not anymore. Apple’s latest iPhone is outfitted with a 120Hz screen for smoother gaming and scrolling, an always-on display, double the base storage, and the same 18MP ”Center Stage” camera found in the iPhone Air and 17 Pro.

A Kindle is the superior alternative to carrying a stack of books from class to class, as if you needed us to tell you. Your teen will appreciate the pocket-friendly 6.1-inch e-reader, which can fit thousands of ebooks on-device without weighing them down during their daily adventures.

If your kid is a Nintendo fan, Alarmo should make waking up feel more fun. It plays sound effects from classic games, like Super Mario Bros. and The Legend of Zelda, and characters appear on its 2.8-inch display. You can snooze with a hand wave or end the alarm by getting out of bed.

Teens who live online want a gift that feels personal and current. Apple Gift Card covers it all, from gaming credits and trending apps to Apple Watch bands and music subscriptions. With easy ways to send it digitally or wrap it up as a physical surprise, it is a flexible gift that matches their creativity and energy while making the moment special.

Apple’s latest AirPods Pro aren’t just great for listening to music. They double as a fitness tracker, thanks to a new built-in heart rate sensor that can monitor calories burned and provide progress updates in more than 50 workouts. They’re a great gift for any teen who’s into both fitness and music.

If your teen has an Android phone, the Google Pixel Buds 2A are the wireless earbuds to buy. They’re comfortable, with crisp sound and good active noise cancellation that can help them focus while studying. Plus, they offer built-in Gemini, which they can use to summarize messages and more.

Don’t get tripped up by the “poetry” part — the Magnetic Poetry Kit is really just about having fun with words. The Original Edition comes with more than 300 magnetic tiles to mix and match, allowing you to cover your fridge with random thoughts, inside jokes, and other carefully chosen creations.

Your teen’s phone probably drains its battery quickly, so you should gift them Anker’s Zolo 10,000mAh portable charger. It comes with a built-in USB-C cable and multiple USB ports that deliver up to 30W of total output, so it’s perfect for their phone, Kindle, Switch 2, or other small gadgets.

Amazon’s latest Echo Show 8 smart display can do a lot. Its upgraded screen and speakers are great for streaming shows or playing music. For teens who care about smart home tech (they exist!), it doubles as an Alexa Plus-powered hub with support for Zigbee, Matter, and Thread.

Jem and Cozy’s cheeky, irreverent Naughty Birds Vinyl Sticker Sheet adds a touch of humor to just about anything, from laptops and lockers to water bottles and notebooks. The waterproof stickers are bound to make your teen (and their friends) giggle every time they see them.

For older teens (especially those who are college-bound), owning a good laptop is a must, and Apple’s M4-powered MacBook Air is one of the best. It’s fast and lightweight, with all-day battery life and a slim design that can easily slip into a backpack between study breaks.

The Wacom MovinkPad 11 is a great gift for an aspiring artist or designer. Its 11.45-inch display runs Android 14, so they can sketch directly in apps like Clip Studio Paint, Ibis Paint, or Krita. The best part? You don’t need to connect it to a laptop or PC, making it great for doodling wherever they are.

The Switch 2 is arguably the best gaming handheld available — especially now that it’s actually, truly available. Nintendo’s latest hybrid console packs a larger 7.9-inch 1080p display, magnetic Joy-Con controllers, and a host of other minor, albeit welcome improvements that build upon what was already a winning formula in our book.

Ray-Ban’s second-gen Meta smart glasses allow teens to snap photos, record short videos, play music, take calls, or even translate a menu, all without reaching for their phone. It’s futuristic tech packaged in a stylish pair of frames, but it’s not without its share of privacy concerns.

The Mechanism Gaming Pillow helps gamers stay comfortable for hours on end. Made from soft, high-performance Lycra, it holds tech up so their arms don’t have to, letting them play longer without arm strain. It also comes with a mount for one of many popular gaming handhelds.

A VR headset lets you step inside of virtual worlds bristling with detail and interactivity. Few do it as well as the Meta Quest 3S. It’s the successor to the Quest 2, with similar optics but faster performance that matches the pricier Quest 3. Its relatively low cost makes it a great first VR headset for teens.

Who needs magnets when you have suction cups? Octobuddy’s cheap silicone mount works with most phones to provide hands-free flexibility whenever necessary. It features 24 single-sided cups, which allow you to stick your phone to a mirror, window, or any other surface you think will provide that perfect TikTok angle.

Crunchyroll is like Netflix for anime, granting anime-obsessed teens access to the latest shows and movies just after they air in Japan, along with thousands of classics. A paid membership also grants ad-free viewing, early access to episodes, exclusive discounts, and more.

Wyrmspan is a one-to-five-player tabletop game where you build a sanctuary for dragons, rising through the ranks of the Dragon Guild and working to attract different species. With stunning artwork, it’s a beautifully designed game that’s perfect for fantasy lovers and strategy fans alike.

For the Star Wars fan in your life, the Dark Falcon set is a 1,579-piece kit that lets them re-create the dark version of the Millennium Falcon, complete with a removable cockpit, bunk beds, and even a throne. The set also includes minifigures like Darth Jar Jar, Beach Luke, and Bounty Hunter C-3PO.

Despite its slim design, the Asus ROG Zephyrus G14 is a gaming powerhouse with an AMD Ryzen 9 270 chip and Nvidia’s GeForce RTX 5060 GPU. Its customizable RGB keyboard adds a stylish touch, while the long battery life ensures your teen can enjoy hours of uninterrupted gaming.

The NASA-inspired Genki Moonbase functions as a 240W GaN charging station, one capable of powering up to seven devices simultaneously via three AC outlets and four side-mounted USB-C ports. The bigger draw, though, is that each outlet can display one of eight mesmerizing colors, providing a bit of style and substance.

The Lego Animal Crossing Stargazing with Celeste set lets fans bring Animal Crossing into the real world. With just 78 pieces, you can build a peaceful outdoor scene featuring Celeste, the astronomy-loving owl. It also connects to other Animal Crossing playsets, if your teen wants to expand on it.

The Govee Table Lamp 2 Pro combines a portable color-changing smart lamp with a Bluetooth speaker. Through the Govee app, you can customize its LEDs to sync with your music, or to display the light scene of your choice. It’ll let you set the mood for a party or for a night of studying.

The HoverAir X1 will let your teen capture seriously cool shots. The pocket-size drone takes seconds to set up and is easy to use, with six customizable flight modes for hands-free shooting. It delivers impressive image quality (2.7K at 30fps) that’ll look great to share with friends and family.