The holidays have come and gone, leaving trails of gift wrap and discarded eggnog in their wake. However, though the season of giving is behind us, it’s never too late to be thinking about next year, and Pokémon gifts are always a great gift option, even TCG-related gifts. Here is my list of the top 10 TCG-related holiday gifts to consider for next year.
10. Theme Decks
Theme decks have been coming out since there has been a Pokémon TCG. The first was the 2 Player Starter Set in 1998. Theme decks usually contain cards from one or two energy types, along with the other essentials for playing the game (coin, play mat, etc), and run about $10 or so. The themes differ depending on the deck, but they usually have something to do with the energy type or types of the cards in the deck. They also usually include one holo card, like Machamp in the 2 Player Starter Set and Vaporeon in the Water Blast theme deck. You can find these decks online or at stores that sell Pokémon cards, like card stores or even Target, Wal-Mart, and ToysRUs.
9. Pokémon Cards Holiday Bag
Pokeorder.com features this holiday set, which retails for $49.99. It contains 5 different booster packs, 1 holo pack, 1 Pokémon grab bag, 1 deck box, and 50 card sleeves. All of this comes in a nice holiday-themed bag. I’m not exactly sure why this retails for the amount it does, but you do get quite a lot of stuff for the money, especially considering that just the “grab bag” by itself (containing 75 cards) runs for $29.99.
8. Pokémon Advent Calendar
This item was released in October 2008. It contains a set of 24 cards from several Diamond and Pearl expansions, each with special foil stamps of snowflakes on them. It also contains one regular Diamond and Pearl booster pack and a base of some sort for the cards. The promo cards include Abomasnow, Stunky, Plant Cloak Burmy, Chingling, Glaceon, Munchlax, and the Sinnoh starters. I’m not sure if you can find it in stores, but it retailed at theintoy.com for “from £14.67” (about $24 at current exchange rates); however, it is now out of stock.
7. Regigigas Colossal Box
This was released in February 2009, probably as a promotion for the Regigigas giveaway at ToysRUs the following month. It contains the usual promo card of the featured Pokémon common to the special boxes in both a playable and a jumbo size. This box also includes 2 Diamond and Pearl booster packs and 3 Platinum booster packs. This appears to be the first special box set to feature Platinum expansion cards. It retails for £18.15 (about $30) on Amazon UK.
6. Classic Trio Sets
This trio of Pokémon TCG tins was released in conjunction with the release of Diamond and Pearl. The tins feature the three Sinnoh starters – Turtwig, Piplup, and Chimchar–respectively. They have a slightly different shape and design than other collector’s tins, being larger and less rectangular. The sets include holographic reprint cards of their featured starters, two booster packs of late-released cards from the EX series, and one Diamond and Pearl booster pack. They retail for $10 or so.
5. Giratina and the Sky Warrior Collector Tins
These TCG tins were released in Spring 2009, in conjunction with the U.S. debut of Giratina and the Sky Warrior, the 11th Pokémon movie. There are three of these tins, featuring Dialga, Origin Forme Giratina and Sky Forme Shaymin respectively. They each contain a Lv. X promo card of their featured Pokémon and two booster packs apiece from the Diamond and Pearl and Platinum sets. They were originally supposed to also include a Trading Figure Game figure, but this idea was dropped when the TFG was discontinued. A set of all three tins retails for $36.86 on Amazon, so the tins probably retail for about $10 individually.
4. Darkrai Premium Box
This large box set features, among other things, the Darkrai card that made #8 on my promo card list. The box includes the card in its playable size as well as a jumbo size, as is customary for the premium boxes. The jumbo Darkrai card was the first jumbo card to be released since the jumbo Shadow Lugia card. Aside from the Darkrai cards, the box includes one EX Crystal Guardians booster pack, one EX Dragon Frontiers booster pack, and one Diamond and Pearl series theme deck. This box retails for $29.99. You can find it online or at Target.
3. Arceus Poster Pack
Released on November 4, 2009, this special box set is the first box set released for the newest TCG expansion, Platinum: Arceus. It features an Arceus promo card (from the DP Black Star promos) that is level 100 and has the attack Judgment. It also contains 2 booster packs apiece from the Platinum: Arceus expansion and the POP Series 9 expansion, which contains cards originally released at special Pokémon Organized Play events. You can find it in stores such as Target and ToysRUs for $11.99.
2. TCG Puzzles
Looking for a nice free gift to send someone over the web this year? Then give them a fun re-playable gift by sending them a free TCG-related puzzle this holiday. You can find these available for download at go-pokemon.com in the “Fun Stuff” section. The currently featured ones are from the Platinum expansion, but they have ones archived going back to the EX Dragon Frontiers expansion.
1. Platinum Arceus Collector’s Tin
Due to release December 16th – just in time for Christmas – this tin is the first collector’s tin from the new Platinum: Arceus TCG expansion. It contains 4 booster packs from this new expansion along with a special foil Arceus Lv. X card (there are 3 different ones in the expansion set) in a tin with a nice display window for you to display your favorite card. The tin itself features Arceus on the front in all its glory. Since there are no restrictions on how many Arceus cards you can have in your deck, this tin can be the start of a super-powerful all-Arceus deck that will provide quite the challenge for your opponents. I do not know what stores will sell it for; prices are varied on those online retailers who have it.
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In conclusion, these 10 gifts will surely bring a smile to any Pokémon fan’s face for the holiday season. Except for #9, none of them are very expensive either – an important consideration in these tough economic times. So go out there and bring some cheer to the holiday with these great gifts. Have a happy holiday season – no matter what holiday you celebrate – and keep collecting!
I thiink its a tad late for this LOL, wait theres an advent clnder wish i could of found it
I submitted this well before Christmas; it just took a while for it to get up here — see Ducky’s comment below.
Yeah, just a few days earlier would have been nice, but still, good article.
One small problem, Lara. While all these gifts would have been good this year, next year introduces HGSS sets, and half these gifts will go obsolete. Otherwise, good list.
Yeah, they probably will. I’ll have to take that into consideration if I do this sort of article again next year.
That’s my fault, Pwnemon. I got to this article too late, so I had to hasty-edit to make it post-holidays.
I didn’t know a holiday grab bag existed. Hmmm…
Yeah me neither. I found it when I was looking for items to put on this list.