If you've ever watched "Jingle All the Way," you'll know that you shouldn't leave it until the last minute to buy the popular toy your kid wants for the holidays. You can avoid unnecessary stress this festive season by doing your shopping well in advance. And part of this is finding the most popular toys of the 2025 holiday season.
Unless your child has made you a detailed list, you might still be looking for the hottest toys to make them happy this Christmas. From Barbies and Kens to LEGO sets and laser tag, we've put together a comprehensive list of popular toys that kids will love.
Popular toys from The Toy Insider's 'Hot 20' list
Every year The Toy Insider releases their hot holiday toys list, and this year's is so fun. From interactive plush companions that respond to every cuddle to elaborate playsets that transform bedrooms into movie sets, this year's hottest toys would make our childhood selves weep with envy.
This delightful grocery store playset brings the beloved Australian Blue Heeler family to life with realistic shopping fun. Complete with a working escalator, authentic supermarket sounds and 15 play pieces, kids can recreate their favorite Bluey episodes while learning about grocery shopping.
This set allows kids to wet the play food and watch it change color before their eyes. Use the included olive oil squeeze bottle to change play food from "frozen" to “cooked”.
Best toddler toys this season
This set includes big blocks perfect for little hands in 10 shapes and nine bright colors. The blocks are easy to grip, stack and pull apart. The set has 80 pieces and features a reusable storage bag to make clean-up easy.
There's a good reason this made the Amazon "Toys We Love" list in 2025. This set of 288 colors includes 8 retired colors, other classic collections like glitter, metallic, colors of the world and bold & bright. Kids will also get mini coloring pages, all tucked away in a tub that's perfect for taking art on the go.
Made in response to a lack of dolls of color on the market, this one is available in several brown skin tones with various hairstyles, colors and outfits. It measures about 12 inches tall and has a cute, realistic face with dimples.
Not only does this set include six Breyer unicorns of various colors, but it also comes with a cute wooden stable for kids to store, play with, and carry them around. It's recommended for ages 4 and up.
Best toys for kids in 2025
30K of this hot toy have been bought in the last month! Kids will love watching the egg hatch and seeing a baby dinosaur emerge from the slime. Feed it a steak and use the over 100 sounds and reactions to train it into a friendly T. rex or a vicious predator.
This new release children's book helps little ones understand that love comes in many forms, including siblings, friends, families with two moms or two dads and more. Children will love the real photographs of all different kinds of families.
You can grab this adorable and super nostalgic compact for your kiddo, but actually keep it for yourself. It combines iconic characters from Peanuts with Polly Pockets in one super cute compact. The compact includes six micro main character dolls, seven themed accessories, including a Woodstock figure, and four locations from the animated series.
If you are getting gifts for a kiddo who loves puzzles and Batman, this is the perfect choice. It's a great travel toy to keep you busy at the airport during the harried holidays, or to leave in the backseat of the car for road trips.
Patrick Mahomes, but make him an intergalactic hero that transforms into an inanimate object. This action figure toy is a great gift for a KC fan. The transformer becomes a football helmet, which means it can go from the shelf to the floor for playtime fun.
It's a digital pet, but it responds to swipes, tilts and touch, making it a more interactive choice for kids. There are 15 pets in just one pod, so kids can collect them all.
Best Barbies and dolls this season
This playset features seven play areas and more than 60 accessories! Kids can "drive" the camper into the great outdoors to find the perfect campsite, then unfold it to reveal a pop-up roof tent, living room, dining area and bathroom. Catch fish in the pond, chill in the swing chair and grill up burgers using the included color-change dough. We found it easy to assemble and it kept our editor's 9-year-old off her screen for hours.
American Girl's adorable line of AG Sisters dolls are perfect for younger girls and more affordable than the brand's historical dolls. Wesley comes with her own pink stand mixer and other fun accessories.
Another movie tie-in, this Barbie is based on the president from the "Barbie" movie. She has a gorgeous pink dress and a sash that says "President," and she's ready to lead the people of Barbie Land.
The Evil Queen, Cruella De Vil and Yzma make up this trio of Disney fashion dolls. They're great for kids more obsessed with the villains than with the protagonists. Each comes with its own stylish outfit.
The super-popular collab between Barbie and the iconic and sensory material is back! This Barbie is headed to the garden party, and it's up to your budding fashion designer to create her outfits. They'll get a pre-made sheet of Play-Doh to create skirts and shirts, plus enough material to make hairstyles and a tool to create edges and other fashion-forward styles.
Best toys for tweens & teens
Kids of all ages appreciate a good mystery toy, and this blind box is a fun and trendy option. Featuring The Monsters Wacky Mart figures, your tween or teen will get one figurine out of a possible 12 to add to their collection.
A 'grandma hobby' that's back in a big way, Gen Z and Gen Alpha kids will love this crochet starter kit that includes everything from pre-started yarn to hooks, needles, eyes, stuffing and tutorials that will help teens make characters like Pierre, Felix, Bjorn, Jojo, Fred, Kiki, Sebastian, and more.
Give your teens a fun excuse to stay off their screens for a while with this Tetris board game. The set includes the brightly-colored tiles, four grids and the cards needed to see what shape comes next.
Give your teen or tween a little brain game to pass the time with this Rubik's Cube that lights up. The idea is to solve the puzzle before the lights shut off giving kids an engaging non-screen activity that also helps memory.
It's no secret how cute sloths are, and now your kid could have one of these slow critters in plush toy form. With its Velcro hands, kids can hang it to display it.
Kids can get the excitement of playing laser tag without having to go to an arena. This set comes in two-player and four-player options with laser guns and sensor vests for each player. Unlike most sets, the lasers are visible, which can add to the fun.
You might know the card game UNO, but this game combines the iconic look of UNO's cards with the fun of four-in-a-row. Players can match colors or numbers, making it a more challenging version of the classic four-in-a-row game.
Best building set gifts
If you've got a tween or teen who's "too cool" to build with LEGO, this adorable set from the Botanicals line might make them think again. They're happy little plants that look great displayed on a shelf or desk, and complex enough that they'll be a challenge for kids ages 9 and up.
One of the most anticipated LEGO sets of 2025 is a world of pure imagination. Willy Wonka's chocolate factory comes to life, complete with a chocolate river, the infamous ferry boat, candy trees and flowers, and minifigs of all the lucky winners (with their golden tickets, of course), Grandpa Joe, the Oompa Loompas, and the magical man himself.
This LEGO set is designed specifically for kids ages 4 and up, so it's perfect for bonding with your 'Bluey' fan. It's got simple instructions for new builders, detachable rooms, a garden and Bluey, Bingo, Mum and Bandit minifigures, plus Chattermax and Jeremy the gnome.
With these blocks' range of skin tones and hair colors, kids can use them to build a diverse range of people. Not only are they fun for little kids to build and play with, they may also help develop fine motor skills.
Pokémon fans will love building this adorable Pikachu figure. It measures 12 inches high when assembled, making it impressive to display. The set contains 825 blocks and is recommended for ages 8 and over.
More of the best toy gifts
If your little one is interested in gardening or growing food, this cute "Very Hungry Caterpillar" set is a great place to start. It contains everything needed to grow chia sprouts. Since they only take three to five days to sprout, kids won't lose interest before seeing results.
Little artists will love this light-up tracing pad. Not only does it make tracing easier, but it also works as an all-purpose lightbox for drawing. This makes it quicker to redraw and refine pieces, helpful when learning to draw.
Ever find yourself humming a tune from your favorite movies? This is the game you'll want to introduce to the whole family on your next game night! You can select different genres and movie eras, and use the free app to get thousands of hints!
This remote control toy is based on Aaron "Wheelz" Fotheringham, the Wheelchair Motocross World Champion. Kids can zoom around and perform stunts with this RC toy, just like the real Fotheringham does in his wheelchair.
Prices listed reflect the time and date of publication and are subject to change.
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