Skip to main content

Best Holiday Gifts for Your Wallet

holiday gifts by the fireplace
Image used with permission by copyright holder

If you’re trying to budget out your gift-giving, we’ve designed our guide with price in mind. Here you’ll find gifts at a variety of price points, so whether you’re buying something for a casual White Elephant party or trying to spoil someone special, you’ll find it.

Gifts Under $50

It’s never too early to learn chemistry, but you probably don’t want a child fiddling with caustic substances. A child-safe chemistry kit like this offers kids a chance to learn science through dozens of experiments.
Recommended Videos
Toys come and go, but creativity lasts forever. Skip the action figures and dolls this year, and give a child the gift of Legos. The medium brick box has all the pieces they’ll need to build anything their imagination shows them.
Wrapped in fabric, the third incarnation of the Echo Dot isn’t just a good-looking smart speaker; it’s got a big, bold sound as well. Of course, it also comes with Alexa, one of the most useful digital assistants around. Read our full review.

Gifts Under $75

Smartphone cameras keep getting better, but film never goes out of style. The Instax 9 Mini is a nifty instant camera with an ambient light sensor, selfie lens, and the ability to overexpose film for stylish photos.
Time ruins all things, especially a good cup of coffee. Leave your mug for a bit, and you’ll come back to frigid joe. Not so with the Ember, which can keep your drink warm for over an hour. Read more about the Ember mug
Nintendo Labo combines video games with arts and crafts. The variety kit comes with a few different projects to build out of cardboard, each tying in to a minigame you can play on the Nintendo Switch. Read our full review.
The Labo vehicle kit offers a focused building experience, including a steering wheel, flight stick, and submarine … control device. Once you’ve built the controllers, you can pilot the vehicles around a colorful video game island.

Gifts Under $100

One of the most versatile appliances you can have in your kitchen, the Instant Pot Duo functions as a pressure cooker, slow cooker, rice cooker, even yogurt cooker. Whatever meal you want to cook, it’s quick and easy. Check out our favorite instant pots.
For the aspiring artist looking to go digital, the Intuos drawing tablet is a user-friendly tool for drawing in cyberspace. The sensitive pad allows for precise brush strokes, so even your most complex visions will be rendered beautifully. Read our full review.
Voracious readers don’t need to lug their collection around with them if they have a Kindle, a slim ebook reader that can hold thousands of books. Long battery life and waterproofing mean you can keep reading even in the wilderness. Read our full review.
A great cup of coffee or tea requires precision; if the water is too hot, the brew is ruined. The PerfectTemp kettle offers six distinct temperature settings to get that perfect cup, and will keep the water warm for a while after brewing. Check out our favorite electric kettles.
Ding, dong. Who’s at the door? You don’t have to walk over there to find out. The Ring doorbell connects to your phone, letting you see and talk to whomever might be at your door, and it can record visitors who come while you’re away. Read our full review.

Gifts Under $200

Bonavita’s elegant drip coffee maker is more than a pretty face. It pre-infuses the grounds, evenly extracting for a rich flavor in every cup. It will even keep the coffee warm after brewing, so you can make a big batch without fear. Check out our favorite coffee makers.
Music can supercharge your workout, assuming you’ve got the right headphones. JLab’s wireless Epic Air Sport headphones are comfortable, sweat resistant, and muscular bass to help you power through your goals. Read our full review.
The ideal drone for those looking to get into the hobby, the Tello is small and easy to steer. You can fly it with a smartphone app or with a drone controller, and the 5 MP camera shoot great photos and videos. Check out our favorite drones.
Kids want tablets, and adults want them to browse the web safely. Amazon’s Fire HD 10 Kids Edition is the perfect compromise. It serves up age-appropriate games, books, and more, and has rubber casing in case it gets dropped. Read our full review.
When cooking outdoors, nothing beats the smokey flavor of an open flame, and the Biolite Firepit ensures you’ll always have one on hand. It burns more efficiently than a campfire, producing less smoke. Read our full review.
Learning to play guitar would be a lot easier if you could being your teacher home with you. With the Fret Zealot, you can! These LED strips light up to show you which notes to play at any given moment, so learning songs and chords is easy. Read our full review.

Gifts Under $500

Don’t wrestle with your thermostat, rolling the dial from scorching oven to frigid cave. Ecobee’s smart thermostat sets the temperature with sharp precision, so you’ll always be comfortable at home. Read our full review.
The king of portable consoles offers a library of Nintendo originals and indie games you can play on a TV or on the go. Whether you want to adventure solo or host a Mario Party party with friends, the versatile Switch can do it all. Read our full review.
Nothing ruins music like the noise of the outside world creeping in. These headphones will seal out anyway unwanted ambience for pristine listening, and the sound itself is clear and powerful. Read our full review.
When you’re adventuring in nature, don’t rely on your smartphone to capture the moment. GoPro’s Hero8 Black offers smooth, detailed video and clear audio. It captures movement without ghosting, so even your most extreme exploits will look good. Read our full review.
Home brewing lets you put your own twist on craft beer, and the PicoBrew C makes the process easier for newcomers with dishwashable parts. You can choose from over a hundred beer styles from renowned breweries like Alesong and Elysian. Read our full review.

Gifts Over $500

Apple’s latest flagship phone is a masterpiece of design, with a sleek body, powerful processor, and gorgeous display. The main attraction is the camera, with three lenses for shooting in any lighting situation. Read our full review.
Will Nicol
Will Nicol is a Senior Writer at Digital Trends. He covers a variety of subjects, particularly emerging technologies, movies…
Topics
The best 2020 fantasy football rankings to help you draft your perfect team
nfl sina weibo chargers vs cardinals football

Fantasy football, once a niche hobby for enthusiasts, has exploded in popularity lately. Last year alone, more than 30 million people ran teams in fantasy football leagues. It goes without saying that with so many newbies dipping their toes into the realm of fantasy football -- and perhaps you count yourself among this growing number -- there are more people than ever devising new team management strategies and looking for tips and tricks on how to win their fantasy football league playoffs.

The NFL 2020 season is officially underway as of September 10, so if you're already watching NFL games online or on TV and picking apart post-game highlights with apps like
ESPN+
, then that means that the fantasy football season is about to kick off. To give you a head start on planning your lineup and draft picks, we've put together a handy numbered cheat sheet of the best fantasy football player rankings for standard non-PPR leagues. These expert-ranked picks cover the top four player tiers, and we've divided the list up by position to help you better plan your lineup before the draft. We've also included the Defense/Special Team rankings for all 32 teams.
The best 2020 fantasy football player rankings
Before you begin planning your lineup and writing down your dream team draft wish list, be sure to read through our advice, strategies, and tips for winning your fantasy football league. Remember to make sure you have all your positions covered and that you know the bye-weeks of each player (especially quarterbacks) as well as every team matchup so you can tailor your team lineup to quit your players' strengths and avoid their weaknesses.
Quarterbacks

Read more
The best hurricane trackers for two severe storms now approaching Gulf Coast
best trackers for two severe storms now approaching gulf coast hurricane tracker

The Gulf Coast looks set to get battered by two hurricanes at the start of the week in a rare double-whammy weather incident.

Marco strengthened from a tropical storm to a Category 1 hurricane on Sunday and is forecast to reach the coast of Louisiana coast late Monday.

Read more
Nerve-zapping earbuds could boost your ability to learn languages
vagus nerve stimulation language learning earbuds

You’ve probably heard of language translation earbuds that are capable of translating spoken words into a language of your choice in real time. But what if someone created a pair of earbuds that went one step further and actually helped you to better learn new languages, even in your adulthood, when you wear them?

It might sound far-fetched, but it's not. Prototypes of such devices, which work by electrically stimulating a major nerve leading up to the wearer's brain, are the result of years of investigation from top researchers. And while they’re not quite ready for prime time, they’re certainly far from science fiction.

Read more