The 59 Best Stocking Stuffer Ideas for Kids in 2025

Backpack bling

Is a backpack even worth toting if it’s not decorated with bling? Both the Squishmallows 3.5-Inch Clip-On Plush and the Kikkerland LED & Sound Keychain were crowdstoppers when we hosted 100 kids at the New York Times office in the summer of 2025 to test back-to-school supplies. The Squishmallows are adorable, cuddly, and comforting, and the Kikkerland keychains are fun to play with. Kids begged to take them home — and the adults wanted them, too.

—Ellen Lee

A standout soundtrack

Kids are often in tune with the hottest music, and this year, the songs from KPop Demon Hunters were ubiquitous. For those with a Yoto Player or Yoto Mini, a Yoto card featuring the soundtrack from the mega-hit Netflix movie will get the whole family dancing. Kids can sing and bop along to hits like “Golden,” “Soda Pop,” and “Takedown,” all without staring at a screen.

—Amy Miller Kravetz

Snarky stickers

If birds (or fish or cats) could talk, would they be chirping snarky comments at us? That’s the fun of the Salty Birds Sticker Book, which juxtaposes realistic images of birds with sarcastic one-liners (“I love that you don’t let facts get in the way of your strong opinions” and “I really like that one story you’ve told me 20 times”). This slim 4-by-6-inch book slips easily into a stocking and includes 40 stickers (two per page). My teenage daughter liked them so much, she placed one of them prominently on her laptop.

—Ellen Lee

Ring a bell

Proper bike etiquette is essential, and bells are an integral tool for letting pedestrians and other riders know you’re nearby. We tested six bike bells for our guide to kids bike accessories and determined that the Mirrycle Incredibell Jellibell is best for younger kids. It’s easy to attach (though it doesn’t fit perfectly on handlebars under 21 mm in diameter) and to twist, and the ring sound is reminiscent of an old-school telephone. The Electra Domed Ringer Bike Bell comes in zany patterns, including a cat, donut, and unicorn. This bell operates via a thumb tab, which our 8-year-old tester found simple to manipulate, and it makes a bright, clear sound.

—Laura Motley

Bicycle bling

Once you’ve got the safety features covered, why not add a little pizzazz to a kid’s bike? The Dimension Bike Streamers have a classic Mylar look and come in pink, purple, and silver. The cloth Guardian Streamers (pictured above), from the same company that makes our top-pick pedal bike, are available in nine color combos and feel more durable than Dimension’s plastic ones. Both attach easily to handlebars, provided that there’s a hole in the side of the grips.

—Laura Motley

Highlights inspired by demon hunters

One easy way for kids to get the KPop Demon Hunters look? Start with the hair. We tested five types of hair chalk with more than a dozen kids, and the OMY Hair Chalk was our favorite. Each of the six colored chalks — pink, purple, red, blue, green, and yellow — comes inside a small plastic clamp, so it’s easier to apply than others (we tried a range of applicators). Most importantly, the colors showed up on both light-colored hair and dark-colored strands (though our favorite colors ran out fairly quickly and there was some hair-tugging involved).

—Ellen Lee

Perfumed pieces

There are some things in life that you have to experience to realize what you’ve been missing, and apparently a pint-size scratch-and-sniff jigsaw puzzle is one of them. As advertised, Mudpuppy’s Watermelon Pupsicle 48 Piece Scratch and Sniff Shaped Mini Puzzle smells like — yep! — watermelon in a nice, Jolly Rancher–esque way. Since the puzzle pieces are pretty small, this is recommended for kids ages 4 and up — the diminutive size also makes the puzzle a bit more challenging to put together. If you want a larger-scale scented puzzle, the 60-piece Mudpuppy Campfire Friends Scratch and Sniff Puzzle — with select pieces that smell like marshmallow, cocoa, and cinnamon — probably won’t fit in most stockings, but it sure is a hoot. There are more options on Mudpuppy’s site, and Wirecutter parents are fans of many of them.

—Ingela Ratledge Amundson

A stick-on ’stache

There’s little risk of regretting a fake mustache, or the family photo you take of your mustachioed brood. Many similar options exist, but the Bobofly 36-Piece Fake Mustaches offers good value for the volume, with three sheets of 12 mustaches, each of which can be perforated into six-packs that’ll slot well into the typical stocking. Mr. Moustachio’s Top 10 Manliest Mustaches offers a slightly higher-quality mustache, and a couple of more-unusual designs, including white-haired offerings like “Rich Uncle Nicklebags.” But its rigid packaging may make it harder to stuff in a sock.

—Kalee Thompson

Finger paints

My kids and I love to paint but hate the smell. The first thing I noticed about Elseware Unplug Finger Paint was the absence of a strong artificial scent. There wasn’t one because each paint is made with food-safe ingredients like potatoes, rice, and beans. Each kit includes four colors (watermelon red, blueberry blue, cabbage green, and orange), which start as powders. Mixing them with more water brings lighter, fainter colors, and mixing them with less water creates deeper colors that have more texture and smoother application. You can also mix them for more-dynamic options and shades. (Blue plus red made a fuchsia we loved.) My kids and I made a mess, but it was easy to clean. The paints easily washed off surfaces (including our mat), the dishes we mixed them in, and our fingers.

—Ambreia Meadows-Fernandez

Tats for tots (and big kids too)

Kids of all ages like fake tattoos, but the quality can vary greatly. We tested some from a few brands during Wirecutter’s Take Your Kids to Work Day, and Tattly’s Temporary Tattoos were a hit (including with some adults who didn’t want to be left out of the fun). The tats have vibrant colors and exquisitely detailed designs, and they lasted for a few days. The line includes plenty of options that should appeal to kids, such as these dressed-up animals, which our testers loved, as well as some from well-known artists commissioned by the company to create designs.

—Amy Miller Kravetz

Bath bombs with bling

An effervescent bath-time treat that packs a hidden surprise, the Two Sisters Squishy Surprise Bubble Bath Bombs Set — one of our picks in the guide to bath bombs — makes a great little stocking stuffer. The bombs dissolve for about five minutes, releasing a stellar amount of fizz, and they come in six pleasantly sweet, fruity scents including citrus and grape. The toy hiding inside isn’t anything special, but the surprise element is really fun. (We did find that kids had a hard time prying open the little plastic balls the toy comes in, so be prepared to offer an assist.) If you’d prefer to give something a bit more luxurious, Lush Bath Bombs, our top bath-bomb pick, are gorgeous, and they fizz spectacularly.

—Ingrid Skjong

Sidewalk chalk with sparkle

When my younger son was little, I liked to stash sidewalk chalk in the bottom of his stroller. Colorful and creative, it came in handy when his older brother needed something extra to do at the playground. This Unicorn Horn Sidewalk Chalk from Twee has the potential to bring even more style to asphalt art. The small-batch, unicorn-horn-shaped pieces of chalk are cast in pastel rainbow hues or painted shiny gold, and they are perfectly sized for a kid to get a good grip (the manufacturer recommends the set for ages 3 and up). When we tested sidewalk chalk with a group of our kid testers, they noted that, while this multicolored chalk is eye-catching, you can’t always access each color until you’ve worn down the layer before it. We found that Crayola Washable Sidewalk Chalk has a bit more of a pedestrian aesthetic, but its colors, quality, and value are unsurpassed. For classic color chalk in not-so-classic shapes, check out Nikolas Bentel’s Moon Chalk; it comes in three otherworldly styles that make fun dotted and wavy patterns when you drag them across a surface. These wear down fast (as does most chalk), but the pieces are fun to hold and draw with.

—Ingrid Skjong

For special stories

I bought customized bookplates for both of my kids a few years back. Each time we reopen a storybook with the personalized flourish pasted inside, it brings me a little joy. In truth, my boys seem pretty much indifferent to these nameplates at the moment (except when they’re being used to argue the point that a particular book belongs to me, not my brother). But I’m optimistic that in time they’ll appreciate these little badges, which signify that a certain book felt special enough to be tagged and added to what may be a lifelong library. The bookplates I bought came from a Los Angeles Etsy shop called Oiseaux, which specializes in old-timey storybook images. Felix Doolittle also has a lovely collection, but with a cleaner, more contemporary look.

—Kalee Thompson

Comics of all kinds

When my three brothers and I were kids, we’d discover magazines, special catalogs, and the occasional comic book tucked into our stockings. A few years ago, on the heels of my 5-year-old announcing his love for all things comics, the tradition continued. (“When I cried when I was a baby,” he told me, “I just wanted comic books.”) He loves Teen Titans Go! and DC Super Hero Girls. But I’ve found that beginner paperback books with a comic-book feel, like Scholastic’s Mega Robo Bros and The Snow Day From the Black Lagoon (from the Black Lagoon series) do the trick, too. We also dipped into the English adaptation of the manga series Naruto, written and illustrated by Masashi Kishimoto, which tells the story of the plucky ninja for which the series is named. The volumes (all 72 of them) are read from right to left, just like you would read Japanese, and they deliver action-packed fun.

—Ingrid Skjong

Make a match

Petit Collage hasn’t reinvented matching games — it’s just made them prettier. Each of the company’s themed sets — choose from ice pops, fish, construction vehicles, and baby animals — contains 24 colorful, beautifully illustrated cards. The compact game comes in a sturdy, 6-by-7-inch pouch that’s handy for travel and storage, and it should slide into a stocking nicely. To play, you take turns flipping over two circular cards in hopes of finding a pair, competing against other players or yourself. I’ve come to especially appreciate how nuanced these sets are (we have the fish and ice-pop versions). Some designs have similar colors and just slight variations — like a multicolored ice pop pair with three stripes and another pair with six stripes — making the game more complex and encouraging young kids to concentrate. It’s recommended for ages 3 and up, but even younger children might enjoy looking at the cards or trying to match up smaller groupings.

—Barbara Kimberly Seigel