The Biggest, Best Holiday Gift Guide for Absolutely Everyone on your List in 2023!

Every time I see someone on social media talking about what to get tweens and teens for the holidays, they all list the same three things: a pair of Uggs (and yes, Mazzy asked for these too), a Stanley Cup (not the hockey trophy, the kind that keeps your drink cold), and a gift card to Sephora. Lip gloss still reigns supreme in the tween world, I suppose.

But what happens if you have the kind of kid who would open up a beautifully wrapped package to reveal an insulated cup and think you’ve lost your mind? Or if you’ve already bought the Uggs and the cup and now you’re out of ideas?

That’s where The Mommy Shorts Holiday Gift Guide comes in, because if there is one thing I’m good at, it’s recognizing that kids are all unique individuals with distinct preferences, who just might want, I know this is shocking— DIFFERENT PRESENTS.

Many of you have probably seen my gift guide already, because I made sure to publish it in mid-November, to give everyone celebrating Hanukkah plenty of time to order their gifts. (FYI, Hanukkah starts today, so Happy Hanukkah to all my Jewish followers! That includes you, Mom!) But if you haven’t seen it yet, you should know that the reason I can’t post my guide on Substack is because it is HUMONGOUS. Literally too big to email. The amount of categories and number of gift ideas and extensiveness of the list are borderline psychotic. I think this is what happens when you've been blogging for a long time and you keep trying to one up yourself every year. The first gift guide I made was in 2014 and had 95 gift ideas. By 2019, I had 250 (which seemed huge at the time) and now in 2023, there are 75 categories with 10-15 items per category. That’s at LEAST 750 gifts, if not more.

In addition to categories like “hottest new toys” and wishlists for Mazzy, Harlow, Jack and Neve, I’ve also got tons of ideas for a wide variety of kids, including but not limited to: aspiring astronomers, future museum curators, mushroom enthusiasts, ambitious bracelet makers, members of the geek squad, members of the glam squad, kids who wish they lived in Stars Hollow and more, including every “aesthetic” under the sun.

There is a broad range of price points too, because I'm a firm believer that gifts don't always have to be the latest, greatest, most expensive gift on the market, and sometimes a $5 pack of New Girl stickers is appreciated more than a $300 gadget. Personally, I think the goal of gifts is to show your kids that you are paying attention to their interests, big and small. I also believe that every kid, even the grown ones, should have a couple of items they can play with on Christmas morning, and that it’s fun to include a family game or puzzle for everyone to play with together over the holidays. You can wrap that one and put your own name on it.

I've also got lots of gift ideas for adults, including grandparents and those hard to shop for husbands. Mike will be getting several items off the "your husband who thinks he's a comedian" list. 

For full transparency, almost everything on there is from Amazon, both because it makes shopping easy and because I earn a small commission with each purchase, but please know that the time and effort we put into creating this list definitely outweighs the payment. It’s a labor of love and as some of my followers have started calling it— a public service. If you find even one gift on there that’s perfect for someone on your list, it makes it all worth it.

So like I said, go check The Mommy Shorts Holiday Gift Guide, and let me know if you find something! If there's a category you feel like I'm missing, let me know in the comments. I love a gifting challenge. Happy shopping!