First published September 17, 2025
Update November 10, 2025
Key takeaways:
- Certain gifts will be in the zeitgeist.
- The weighted vest, beef tallow balm, miniature paint sets top our list.
- In your quest to be on-trend, avoid falling for the wanna-bes.
If you’re at a gift exchange of 10 or more people this holiday season, we predict you’ll see at least one of these. At this early date they are shaping up to be the Stanley Quencher, the Electric lighter, the Himalayan glow salt lamp, etc. of 2025.
We started in September with a partial list, in order of certainty, and add to it as we gain more clarity. Please chime in and send your own ideas!
Weighted vests
Wearing one of these vests—made of canvas or nylon—started as niche training for athletes. Added weight provides resistance to challenge muscles. Then, from military training comes the concept of “rucking,”which involves walking with what the Germans call a rucksack also known as backpack.
Weighted-vest wearing is catching on because of the many benefits: improved cardiovascular health, increased calorie burn, strength and muscle building, improved bone density. Also, walking with a vest is exercise that can be done anywhere—no gym required.
Will you be among those presenting weighted vests this year? You have a range of gift-giving choices.
The budget-friendly ($25-$75): Go with these if you’re not certain of your intended’s interest or likely commitment.
The eight-pound Henkelion vest is filled with premium iron pellets and metal rock. For some reason, that appeals more than wearing river sand, the material that some cheaper vests use.
I love my walks and if I’m going to voluntarily put something on that’s going to drag me down, it had better be comfortable—and this one is. (Naturally, that gives me doubts that it’s producing the promised benefits. Shouldn’t I be suffering more?) There’s a strap to adjust it to keep from slipping and sliding.
More dedicated fitness enthusiasts wearing more than eight pounds will have added requirements. They may want to add or subtract weight. The vests in higher price ranges can come with removable pockets or slots for individual weights. They might be going faster so need the fit to be more secure, which points to better materials and more advanced straps.
The Sportneer is an idea for them. More serious, but I see that it also comes in a range of colors like my Henkelion does.
From there the training gets even more intense with vests that have more bells and whistles (e.g., padded shoulder pads, breathable mesh, adjustable cinching systems). If the Goruck Plate Carrier shows up at your holiday get-together, it’s likely this gift is fulfilling a request that was made. I don’t think you’d give this one as a surprise.
Beef tallow skin cream
It’s back in our french fries and now it’s in our skin products: “beef tallow for skin”searches are spiking on Google.
As championed on TikTok, the drive toward ancestral wellness and clean beauty leads to the forecast that there will be lots of tallow skincare products under the tree in December.
Tallow is a natural substance that contains ultra-hydrating lipids that create a barrier to protect the outer layer of the skin. It contains the same fatty acids human skin naturally has—helping lock moisture into skin, keeping it hydrated. It also contains vitamins E and A.
If you expect to be introducing the concept to your intended, Harvest & Herd Citrus & Honey Tallow balm is a good place to start.
Made in small batches by a family owned business using grass-fed beef tallow, the balm is enriched with olive oil, Manuka honey, beeswax, royal jelly, and essential oils. The citrus scent more than offsets any hint of tallow smell (a distinct turnoff for the uninitiated).
Tallow’s benefits—deep moisturization, barrier repair and nutrient density—are universal to human skin. In other words, this is an idea for everyone, male or female.
Miniature watercolor sets
We’ve been skeptical too—of course, they’re cute and they get lots of marketing support but is anyone really using these miniature watercolor sets?
If all those YouTube tutorials and Reddit posts (and views) are to be believed, yes, yes, they are. They appeal to creatives who can be creative anywhere and need their painting supplies to be portable.
This Lightwish set is about 4 inches by 4 inches. The entire set, including 12 vibrant watercolor pans, a mixing palette and collapsible water cup, fits neatly into its portable case to carry in a pocket, purse or backpack.
Pair it with an equally adorable sketchbook of 60 mini sheets.
Dubai chocolate
Here again we have social media to thank for raising our consciousness about a product. Dubai chocolate debuted as the “Can’t Get Knafeh of It” bar from Fix Dessert Chocolatier in 2021, was “discovered”on TikTok in 2023, and is now broadly available.
Guaranteed that it will be heralded at your holiday party as the new taste sensation.
Do you want to be the tastemaker? Then be the one who brings the Nuts Factory Dubai Milk Chocolate Bar, which many culinary experts agree is the best of what’s out there and most faithful to the original. This two-pack will cost you about $50 for two 13.2 ounce bars.
Here’s what justifies the price of the authentic versus the $1.99 bars you see when you’re checking out at the grocery store:
- The quality of the chocolate. High-quality couverture chocolate has a higher percentage of cocoa butter that produces a smoother, richer flavor. That glossy shine of the chocolate is a result of being tempered. Also, there’s a snap when it’s broken. The quality of the crunch is part of what attracted TikTokers.
- The filling. Pistachio paste and high grade tahini drives the cost up, but it’s what provides the authentic nutty flavor. Only natural pistachios can produce that bright green color. Cheaper candy may opt for pistachio-flavored spread as opposed to 100% pistachio, and they make up for it by using artificial coloring to achieve the green.
The filling includes Kadayif (or Kataifi), which is a thin, shredded phyllo dough that’s toasted until it becomes golden brown and crispy. The strands are mixed with the paste and tahini. Not everybody can get that right. If it’s soft, chewy or stale, that’s a fail.
CarPlay “AI”boxes that enable streaming TV
Let’s first start with a few notes about this breakout product. There’s no succinct consensus way to describe it, some of the terms used are a tad off—and could lead you in the wrong direction. Oh and depending how used, it could be illegal.
All that said, we see the marketing heating up and more providers entering the space. As the days march toward December, you may find yourself considering it as a potential gift.
In the most straightforward terms, this is a small (no bigger than 4”x4”) black box that plugs into a car’s USB port. It’s a mini Android computer capable of streaming live TV, NetFlix, YouTube and other apps, that can display on a car’s screen. To work, it needs an internet connection, which is provided by either an iPhone or an Android phone.
People and providers may refer to it as a CarPlay box but that’s not correct. All the video playing happens outside the CarPlay environment.
Also, it’s not really AI. Smart because it uses a smartphone, I guess. But the closest these boxes come to AI is when a user uses the voice assistants of either Siri or Google Assistant on their phones to direct something on the screen.
In most states it’s legal to watch only when the car is parked. If you’re waiting to pick up someone or if you’re charging your electric vehicle, for example.
Still with me? Expect to see a flood of online advertising from all kinds of companies over the next few months. We’ll point you to the leading brands: for iPhone users only, Ottocast U2-Air, and Carlinkit MiNi Ultra for Android and iPhone users.
More to come as the season progresses…