2025 Holiday Gifts for Scientists

Are you on the hunt for the perfect holiday gift for the scientist in your life? Or maybe for yourself? (You’ve earned it!)

From functional office decor to stylish science-themed accessories, our guide rounds up some of the best gifts for scientists.

Perk up the lab and office

Help them de-stress between experiments with a quirky chicken coop, ocean zen garden, or calming desktop kinetic sculpture.
Organize the textbook collection with planter or stained glass mushroom bookends.
Get a sugar rush with a lab emotional support candy jar.
This adorable crochet desk plant needs no watering.
Stay ahead of deadlines with a desktop perpetual calendar.
Let colleagues know when you’ll be back at your desk with an office doorknob tassel sign.
Pack your lunch sustainably in this waxed canvas lunch tote.
Marvel at your very own brick toy model lab or 1/12 scale mini lab with all the details.
Go abstract with these beautiful, colorful interpretations of biology, chemistry, and physics concepts.

Spark some joy around the –80 with these red blood cell morphology fridge magnets or mini potted succulent magnets.
Be stylish and safe with these cat eye lab safety glasses. Then, store them on these colorful racks when you’re done in the lab.
Record the latest results in a molecular biology lab notebook.
Let this tiny crustacean hold your favorite lab pen while you’re running assays.
Mark your place with a colorful bacteria bookmark or a bookmark that lets you log your reading list.
Keep track of your keys and badge with a DNA lanyard.
Plan experiments and plot results quickly with a 96 well plate sticky pad.
Upgrade to a tie-dye lab coat (or get the whole family involved in science with lab coats for dogs/cats and dolls, for the young scientist).
Slow down from the research grind with Cal Newport’s roadmap for sustainable, long-term achievement with Slow Productivity: The Lost Art of Accomplishment without Burnout.
Destress with a fun desk fidget toy (don’t panic!).
A post-it holder with stencils for the sticky note fiends of the lab
Create your own water bottle design for hydration on-the-go

Spruce up your notebook entries with genetics washi tape or stickers, like these cute pipettes or a cheeky CRISPR Cas-9 reference.
If you like enamel pins, there are plenty of choices: D. melanogaster, tardigrade, DMEM, antibody, “lab cats,” a streaked petri dish and more.

Learn a beautiful and simple printmaking method with a cyanotype kit.
Wrap your gifts with mitochondria, oxytocin, cell biology, chloroplast, or DNA themed wrapping paper.
Bake cookies for the lab with this qPCR serial dilution cookie cutter.
If you’re into the fabric arts, check out these anatomy and microbe needlework projects; micropipette and scientist crochet patterns; and white blood cell, antibody and bacterium knitting patterns.
Make your own swag with this electrophoresis gel fabric.

Looking for more inspiration? Be sure to also check out last year’s Connect to Science gift guide and subscribe to our bimonthly newsletter to receive updates on articles like this one and a free digital care package, including an extended gift guide, holiday cookie recipes, and paper snowflake templates.