10 Best Pickleball Christmas Gifts
OSO makes a quality pickleball.
Stocking Stuffers & Small Holiday Gift Ideas
Pickleball Balls
Every pickleball player needs balls. We love balls, the more balls the better. They get lost. They crack. They wear over time. So a pack of 6 – 12 quality pickleballs will always be appreciated.
PRO TIP: If your shopping for a player that plays competitively, you can ask them what tournaments they are planning to play. Then simply look up the tournament online and you can find out the official ball for the event. Even if you get a ball that isn’t their preferred brand, you can leave a note saying, “I know your playing in this tournament coming up so I bought you these balls to use to practice leading up to the event so you’re dialed in.:
SUPER PRO TIP: You can also make an account for yourself on pickleballbrackets.com and search by player name and find out registration details for upcoming tournaments. Then find the official ball and you don’t even have to ask.
If you want to know our favorite pickleball balls, check out this video:
Cost: $15-$30
Edge Guard Tape
Edge guard tape protects the outer edge guard from scratches and damage. This accessory also allows players to add a little style to their paddle. You can pair it up or mix and match with overgrips to make a unique paddle combination that stands out visually. We also use this tape to cover and secure the weighting tabs used to tune our paddles.
Cost: $15-$30
Lead tape or Lead weights
We like the 3 gram adhesive weights from Pello. You can find similar on most pickleball sites as well as Amazon. We don’t buy the more expensive brand name weights as we like to cover ours up with edge guard tape.
Cost: Under $15
Overgrips
You can find these for a few bucks for a 3 pack on most tennis sites as well as Amazon. Our favorites are the Head Supercomp. They have great sweat absorption and touch. Best of all you can find them at Big 5 or Walmart if you need a quick stocking stuffer at the last minute. Another favorite overgrip are the ADV MaxTac. We order these from Amazon or Tennis Point, but you may find them at your local tennis shop or larger sporting goods store like Dicks.
Cost: Under $10
Paddle Eraser
Refresh your paddle face with a paddle eraser. These can bring back some of the grip on the ball that is lost over time due to small particles of plastic filling the nooks and crannies of the paddle face. We use the CRBN paddle eraser but you can find many paddle eraser variants on Amazon.
Cost: Under $20
Lock Laces
Lock laces are popular with pickleball players as they allow you to quickly put on your shoes and hit the court. The cinching system ensures your shoes grip your feet well and you don’t have to worry about your laces coming untied. We highly recommend these for young players who need to frequently retie their shoes. You can find them on Amazon or on Lock Lace’s website.
Or if you have a player in your group that regularly stops play to retie their shoes, these make a great gag gift and everyone can give them a hard time about stopping play.
Cost: Under $20
Wristbands
Pickleball players are fond of wristbands for two reasons. One, wristbands keep the sweat from the forearm dripping onto the grip, making it slick. Secondly wristbands can be used to wipe the sweat off your brow and from around the eyes so sweat doesn’t get in your eyes and obscure your vision.
Our favorites right now are the ADV Bamboo Wristbands
Cost: Under $5
Sunscreen
Everyone who plays outdoor pickleball needs sunscreen. The small portable varieties that fit in a pickleball bag are great for when you forget the sun protection and the sun is blazing.
Cost: $5
Cooling Towels & Gaiters
If your recipient plays in a hot climate, cooling towels and gaiters like the Chilly Pad by FrogTogg, or cooling gaiters by Mission, work great for keep cool in hot weather.
We bought a pair of Chilly Pads and kept them in a small ice chest. This allowed us to play much longer in temps over 110F in Arizona over the summer.
Cost: Under $50
Grip Strength & Pickleball Elbow Exercisers
We love our extenders and stress balls that help with both grip strength and finger extension. (Basically strengthening closing AND opening of the hand.) These exercisers help tremendously for alleviating and preventing pickleball elbow.
We have used these grip extenders to great effect.
Cost: Under $20
Brock Strings
These magic beads are great for improving the focal strength of your eyes. Much like the grip training, you won’t notice a difference at first. But after a few weeks of regular training, you’ll notice you can track fast balls much better.
At night the effect is even more pronounced. I was having trouble with depth perception under artificial lighting. After adding steric beads to my training regiment, I noticed reduced eye strain at night, and much better tracking ability.
Best of all, you can make your own Brock String with a quick trip the arts and crafts section of your local super store. You’ll have an affordable gift that shows you care and makes an impact.
LED Light Up Pickleball Balls
Grab the strongest eggnog and hot toddies, hit the courts Christmas Eve and start a new tradition. Blackout Pickleball tournament where the only objective is to have fun. This could be a perfect gag gift for you pickleball playing friends.
Let’s be real, there’s no way to judge the lines in the dark, and turning on the lights means the LED lights are pointless. Maybe this is a terrible idea, let us know what you think in the comments.
Best Pickleball Gifts
If you need a more substantial gift than those already listed, we have a few ideas that are easy to get right.
Water Bottle
Everyone needs a water bottle. They are essential for extended periods of play. Serious pickleball players will need multiple water bottles, as one will contain chilled water, while another water bottle is needed to mix in electrolytes and nutrients.
Plus, water bottles get lost all the time, so having an extra one will always be appreciated.
Takeya makes quality water bottles loved by the pickleball community.
LuluLemon also makes high quality water bottles as well.
Pickleball Bag
Owning a quality pickleball bag let’s everyone at the court know that you’re serious about pickleball.
Ideally, you’d like to match their bag with their paddle brand, but it’s not absolutely necessary. For casual players the sling bags on Amazon are a good starting point.
For more competitive players, you’re going to want to get them a pro tour bag. We currently use the CRBN Pro Team Tour pickleball bags, (pictured below) and absolutely love them. We’ve used them for a daily bag for the courts, as well as multiple tournaments and pickleball vacations. Use code PBJETTCRBNX at checkout to receive a discount and support the site.
The best part is the thermal paddle pockets. We don’t carry 6 paddles, so we use one side as makeshift ice chest. Put some cooling pads in there and it will keep snacks and drinks cool for hours.
Avoid the CRBN Pro Team Backpack, it has bad reviews due to a zipper issue in the shoe compartment. It’s $30 cheaper than the tour bag recommended above. Spend the extra money and get the tour bag, it’s worth the investment.
Vulcan’s VPro Bag is also highly reviewed as well. We have handled these up close and personal, and they have room for everything and look pretty cool. You’ll see many players who don’t even use Vulcan paddles rocking their bag it’s so good.
Cost: $40 – $140
Visor or Hat
Both visors and hats make a good practical gift for your pickleball fan. Visors are popular as they can shield the eyes from the Sun without trapping the heat from your head under a cap. Ideally you’d want to be on-brand with this purchase but any brand can work.
Hats provide the same function, but also protect the scalp from UV rays. As a balding senior male, I much prefer hats to visors for this reason.
Pickleball Pickup Tube
For serious pickleball players who use buckets of balls for drilling, or better yet, have a ball machine, a ball pickup tube is a great pickleball gift.
If you’re strapped for cash you can DIY this gift using some 3.5″ PVC pipe and some zip ties.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ggyh0gB4mlQ&t=59s
Or you can find them for less than $40 on Amazon. The Tourna pickleball pickup tube is durable holds up to 17 balls.
Cost: Free – $40
Ball Suction Cup Retriever
For players who lack flexibility to bend over and pickup the ball, you can get them a suction cup that goes on the end of the grip. This will reduce how far they have to bend over to pickup the ball.
These silicon ball retrievers can be had for less than $10 on most major online retailers.
Cost: Under $10
Pickleball Gift Cards
These are perfect for if you want to get a large gift that requires nuance such as size, brand, and fitment. Think shoes, paddles, etc. Pickleball shop gift cards let them know you’re thinking of them and understand their obsession without getting something they don’t want.
If you’re in a panic, Pickleball Central will allow you to immediately send an electronic gift card via email.
Pickleball Gifts to Avoid
If you’re not intimately familiar with the recipient’s sizes and tastes, we’d avoid the following pickleball gifts:
Paddles
Paddles are a hot topic among pickleball players, and they can be expensive. If you’re shopping for an avid player, getting the wrong paddle puts everyone in a bad spot. They’re going to have to say thank you for something they didn’t want, and then feel pressured to use it so they don’t offend the giver. Even if you think you know their exact brand and model, they may be eyeing a newer version, or are considering jumping to another brand all together. If you really want to give them a paddle, a better bet would be to give them a gift card with a note saying “New Paddle.” If you don’t know which brand, you can get pickleball gift certificates from the major online retailers that carry the best brands. (See above).
Court Shoes
Much like pickleball paddles, pickleball shoes are another gift to avoid as you must get the brand, model, and size correct. Even if you have all 3, there may be a newly released version that your recipient really wants. There’s just too many variables that have to be just right, so we’d pass on this unless you’re very confident that you know what they want.
Pickleball Ball Machine
Pickleball launchers are a big investment. They can be hard to transport without the right vehicle, and you need uncrowded court time in order to set it up, practice, and break down before someone shows up wanting to share the court.
Many people have reported rarely using their pickleball machines after a few uses due to inconvenience and lack of court availability.
Lessons
Unless your recipient has mentioned wanting to take lessons, buying lessons could be viewed as an insult. Our experience is that the vast majority of players grossly overestimate their skill level. They believe that if they just keep playing they’ll improve dramatically. It’s like offering unsolicited on court coaching, never well received and unappreciated.
Tickets to a Pro Pickleball Tour Event
While we personally love going to live pro pickleball events, most of the player we know do NOT watch pro pickleball. Most of they have never even watched an instructional video. For these types of players, pickleball is just for fun, to get exercise, and socialize. They have no interest in the pro game. Unless you know they are a fanatic, this gift idea is one to avoid.
Tacky Pickleball themed Tchotchke
Anyone that gives me a gift bearing the words “Big Dill” be warned. You have just fingered yourself as one possessing low intellect and poor taste. Your punny pickleball gift will be displayed prominently as a conversation piece so I can share with others how stupid and unthoughtful you are.
On second thought, that sounds like a lot of fun. Your terrible gift will bring me great pleasure for many years, but don’t pretend like this is the intended result, as we all know you have the taste of a lobotomized mackerel.
Affiliate Disclosure
Our only affiliate program is with CRBN. You can use code PBJETTCRBNX at checkout to recieve a discount. However, we purchased multiple paddles, a tour bag, and apparel from CRBN prior to joining their program. We only recommend what we love.
We have purchased and used the following recommended products in this post:
- OSO Balls
- Pello paddle weights
- HEAD overgrips
- ADV Overgrips
- CRBN Paddle eraser
- ADV Bamboo wristbands
- Frogg Togg Chilly Pads
- Mission Cooling gaiters
- Grip Extenders
- Stress Balls
- Brock Strings
- Takeya Water Bottle
- Lululemon Water Bottle
- CRBN Pro Team Tour Bag
- Adidas visor
- Lock laces – We recieved a pair of Lock Laces as part of a gift bag for participation in the PPA Las Vegas Junior Showcase 2023
We have inspected a Vulcan Pro Tour bag (Jett’s partner at CAPA 2023 tournament owns one)
Our coach, Senior Pro, Steve Cole owns a pickleball pickup tube, which we have used extensively during lessons and practice sessions.
One of the senior players at our local courts uses a ball suction cup retriever to help with his lack of flexibility.
We have not purchased or used the following:
LED pickleballs, though these look like fun!
Pickleball Gift Cards. We have used other gift cards and assume these function similarly.