Festive top fives for 2025: Stocking Fillers
Welcome the the next instalment of our festive top five series! For our next category, we're going smaller but no less mighty, despite prices no higher than £20, and much lower in some cases. Introducing our pick of the stocking fillers...
Barbecubes was a new release in 2025, and for us it was love at first sight! We wouldn't have believed that Alley Cat Games could come up with a cuter dexterity game than their previous hit Tinderblox, but we really think they've managed it! The rules of Barbecubes are super-simple: just flip a card and add the order to the barbecue using the tiny tongs. Drop something into the flames once and you can carry on, but the second time it's game over, for you at least! The last player standing wins. This adorable, pocket-sized tin of delights is suitable for 2 - 5 players aged 8+.
The concept of Things in Rings will be instinctive to anyone who's familiar with Venn diagrams. The game starts with three loops of string being laid on the table so that they partially overlap. One player becomes the clue-giver, and secretly chooses a category to assign to each loop/ ring. The other players then try placing "things" into different sections of the diagram to learn more about what the categories might be, with the clue giver reallocating incorrect guesses to the section where they belong. If you keep getting it right, you can keep guessing, which is great because if you can get rid of all your things cards first, you win! A fun deduction puzzle for 2 - 6 players aged 8+.
L.L.A.M.A. is an accessible and extremely moreish small box card game from the mighty Reiner Knizia, one of the most successful board game designers of the last three decades. The aim of the game is simply to get rid of all your cards by playing them to a pile in the centre of the table. You can play a card identical to the previous card or one number higher, with values wrapping back to one after the number six card, represented by a llama. If you can't go, you can draw a new card, or bow out of the round and gain points for your remaining cards (points = bad in this game). As in many of Knizia's games, the decisions are simple on the surface, but subtle underneath, creating a simple but highly replayable game for 3 - 6 players aged 6+.
Flip 7 has been a super-hit on the Treehouse team this year, with one team member in particular determined to bring it to the widest audience possible (check out his 'how to play' video here). The game consists of a deck of cards containing one 'one' card, two 'two' cards, three 'three' cards, and so on up to 12. Players take turns to flip a card if they choose, accumulating points equal to the total of the numbers on their face up cards. The catch is that if you ever flip over a number you already have in front of you, you go bust and end the round with no points. If you can manage to flip seven cards without this happening, you instantly win the game, so risk taking is encouraged! Another simple and addictive delight in a very affordable box, suitable for 3 - 10 players aged 8+.
Gloomhaven: Buttons and Bugs is a very different offering than any of the games above, and will only appeal to a small audience. However, if you know someone who fits the niche, this is potentially the very best gift you can get them for £20, so we thought it deserved a mention! If you're into your big strategy games, you've likely heard of the original Gloomhaven, a modern dungeon crawling blockbuster, which has a three-figure price tag and basically needs a wheelbarrow to move it around. Buttons and Bugs takes this behemoth and miraculously shrinks it down into a genuinely pocket-sized package, whilst retaining the incredible storytelling and intricate, strategic gameplay. The catch is that the miniature version is single-player only, making it suitable only for those who enjoy solo gaming. If you'd like to find a multi-player middle ground in terms of scale and price, we would highly recommend Gloomhaven: Jaws of the Lion, which won't fit in a stocking but will fit into a normal-sized bag, unlike the original!