This year, the scent of pine needles is competing with highly desired, influencer-backed artificial vanilla perfumes. The sound of Christmas music is mixed with the excited chatter of teens talking about the new holiday steal they found on TikTok. A new reality is setting in, where holiday magic has gone digital.
When sophomore Claire Fritz started making her Christmas list, she didn’t write down what she wanted on a piece of paper or go to the mall for gift ideas. Instead, she scrolled through TikTok. “My entire Christmas list came from TikTok or Pinterest,” Fritz said, “I saw a couple of the influencers I like to watch sharing what was on their list, and I made mine based off of theirs.”
Influencers often post curated holiday gift guides, making it easier for viewers to gather gift ideas. The platform’s algorithm highlights items gaining popularity, which makes certain products appear repeatedly across different users’ feeds. For many teens, TikTok is a convenient and easy way to learn about trending or highly recommended products.
Many teens claim they don’t feel pressured to purchase things because of social media; however, many say they take notice when certain products constantly appear on their feeds. Sophomore Greta Dilatush shared, “I kept seeing this hoodie TikTok, and I thought it looked really cute. I didn’t look at the real reviews on their website, but I bought it anyway. It came, and it was made of this weird material, and it was way too small, so I’m kinda upset I spent the money that I earned on it.”
Another factor shaping holiday gift lists is the speed of trends. Products can go viral and sell out quickly, leading teens to feel a sense of urgency to ask for an item. For example, many
influencers caption their videos with “run, don’t walk to ___” or “products I cannot live without.”
Viewers also say they are aware that many of the products they are seeing are paid promotions, but this can still make a product more visible to the public and more exciting. Seeing multiple sponsored posts for the same item within a short period can create a sense of urgency.
If a product keeps appearing on their feed, teens often take it as a sign that the item is either genuinely popular or at least worth checking out. Due to this combination of authenticity, marketing, and repetition, social media has become a platform where holiday gift ideas spread rapidly.
Sophomore Maggie Bialobok said social media definitely influences what ends up on her wishlist; however, it’s not in the way adults would assume.
“It’s not like, ‘They have it, so I need it,’” She said. “It’s more like I see people using something and think, ‘Oh, that would be actually useful or fun.’” Bialobok also said the content on social media can help her decide if certain products are actually worth buying. “With a lot of products, I don’t know most of them exist until I see someone doing a product review on them or something similar to that,” she said. “TikTok and Pinterest are how we find new ideas for basically anything now.”
Viewers also said that social media helps her decide what to keep off her wishlist. Sophomore Ava Sanders says, “Sometimes something that I see on Pinterest looks cool at first, but then I will go search it on TikTok and see what other people think about it, and then I realize this isn’t the right product for me,” she explains. “TikTok is a quick way to get a variety of different opinions and figure out what would work best for me.”
For many teens, TikTok serves as a valuable resource and source of inspiration rather than just a platform for mindless scrolling. Influencers are the new personal shoppers, offering product reviews and unboxing videos. Teenagers today engage with social media as an interactive marketplace, helping them make informed choices, share ideas, and quickly refine their wishlists.
