Holiday gift guide: $50-$100

My favorite from this range is probably 60446. Lots of play potential in this one, I would argue it's even better than 10355, even if the ppp isn't as good.

I ordered both more or less Day One. Eventually got the AT-AT but still waiting for the Santa. Clearly there has been a big demand. Great choices though!

Botanicals: 10373 ...?
City: 60445 60446? ...?
Creator: 31161
Disney: 43279
Friends: 42656 42674
Icons: 10355 (10353)
Ideas: 21362 (21355)
(Jurassic World: 76974)
(Marvel: 76317 76321)
Yellow, or rather Green banded: 40820 and CTF: 80117
Monkie Kid: 80066
Ninjago: 71832
Star Wars: 40806 ...??
(Super Mario: 72043)
Technic: 42213 ...?
Wicked: 75690

Surprised to not see 21349 on the list, my partner is after that one!

If you'd told me, before I opened the article, that there were two Star Wars sets on it, I'd have guessed that @CapnRex101 had recommended one (duh!), but I wouldn't have guessed that @MeganL was the one who'd recommended the other! Also, "...burninate some peasants..." "I understood that reference."

@Belboz said:"Shame that both the Santa and AT-AT won't be available until after Christmas. That puts them firmly out of the running for Christmas gifts. Perhaps they're available elsewhere but not here on the UK site."

40820 doesn't have an availability window listed, but 40806's page says it's been available since October First.

Nice selection......3 sets I still want (Wall-E, AT-AT, Game Boy), and most of the other ones are pretty good too.

As for the ones I did already get, but have yet to build: Star Wars droids never disappoint (and I'm not even that big a SW fan, and haven't even seen the movies most are from), so I expect both 75416 Chopper (C1-10P) and 75434 K-2SO to hold up pretty well. Not quite such high expectations for 10353 Williams Racing FW14B & Nigel Mansell, probably not as flawed as the Mclaren that came before, but I wasn't sucha a big fan of that F1 era, I would probably have skipped it.

And two more I think are worth mentioning are 21357 Disney Pixar Luxo Jr (still on my Brickwatch....) and 42213 Ford Bronco SUV (considered it as a gift for my nephew before teaming up with family to get him 42175.....)

@Belboz said:
"Shame that both the Santa and AT-AT won't be available until after Christmas. That puts them firmly out of the running for Christmas gifts. Perhaps they're available elsewhere but not here on the UK site."
On the NL site: "Will be shipped by 16 January 2026"

Well, luckily no hurry since I won't be at home anyway during Christmas this year....
(and I do wonder if I'm gonna see knock-offs of that set in Taiwan....)

Does make me wonder if there's such crazy high demand (I kinda can imagine that in this case), or just very limited stock?

Too many great sets in this range: 31161 60446 10355 43279 60433 10373 76321 are only the firts that come to my mind.

Bonus points to @SetToBuild for the Trogdor reference!

I picked up 10355 on sale a few weeks ago. I just finished putting it together. It was a delight. It retails for $100 but it’s currently on sale and will probably stay on sale thru the holidays. Highly recommend it!

@TheOtherMike said:
"
40820 doesn't have an availability window listed, but 40806 's page says it's been available since October First."

According to The US website, Santa ships in 60 days and AT-AT is OOS. Good news here is that Santa has just been updated to say it will ship by 8th December so I may well get mine before Christmas. YAY!

@Huw said:
" @Belboz said:
"Shame that both the Santa and AT-AT won't be available until after Christmas. That puts them firmly out of the running for Christmas gifts. Perhaps they're available elsewhere but not here on the UK site."

I hadn't realised that! Perhaps we should check availability before including in our list."

"This is not the best set at this price point by any means"

Maybe you can replace it with something that you think IS the best set :)

I’ve already built and have on display the Game Boy (one of the best LEGO sets EVER, IMHO!), and Gingerbread AT-AT (so whimsical and fun, great Darth gingerbread fig!), and I bought Wall-E & Eve after reading a glowing review (will build that in the summer holidays with my daughter, after watching the movie with her).

I will buy the Up-scaled Santa when it’s back in stock, and definitely pick up the Medieval Dragon when heavily discounted at one of the cheap department stores here in Australia!

I’m tempted to get the Bulldozer too, if on sale!

So the ONLY set recommended that i won’t have will be the V19 Torrent, and I actually like Star Wars a lot! (original trilogy primarily)…. Go figure!

We wish you a merry AT-AT!

All of these sets, except Santa, I either have already gotten, or plan to get. 42213 I think is also worthy of this list.

Very interesting that each price bucket has had about the same number of sets.

Even more interesting is the continued dearth of great (not good) choices across the 3 buckets. I’m starting to come to the realization that 2025 may be a down LEGO year overall for me.

Here’s to the next bucket!

Good luck getting the AT-AT. Worthless scalpers are already telling it for $100+.

Some great recommendations here. I love 40806, 43279, and 31161.

@Belboz said:
" @TheOtherMike said:
"
40820 doesn't have an availability window listed, but 40806 's page says it's been available since October First."

According to The US website, Santa ships in 60 days and AT-AT is OOS. Good news here is that Santa has just been updated to say it will ship by 8th December so I may well get mine before Christmas. YAY!
"

Ah, I didn't think about backordered/OOS items.

@vw2 said:"Bonus points to @SetToBuild for the Trogdor reference!"

And the Trogdor comes in the niiiIIIIIGHT!

My pick goes to 43279 WALL-E and EVE

A really fun build of the best Pixar couple!

@SMC said:
" @Huw said: "This is not the best set at this price point by any means"

Maybe you can replace it with something that you think IS the best set :)"
Nonsense, this isn't a "best set of the year" list (we've already gone through that whole debacle...), this is a "what I'd recommend" list. Those needn't necessarily coincide. The line "This is brilliant, but I like this" comes to mind.

Anyways, I'm pleased to see 3 of my most-wanted sets this year (40806, 31161, 60466) on this list. I haven't gotten any of them yet (I'll wait for sales next year), although my brother was able to snag a 40806 at his local LEGO Store this past Saturday. It's the most popular SW set of the year, apparently, and deservedly so.

@Lemerbrix06 said:
"My pick goes to 43279 WALL-E and EVE

A really fun build of the best Pixar couple!"

I'll definitely be picking that one up once I work through some backlog. Heck, I might just go ahead and get it after Christmas (and thus, when I don't need the space for 21280), although I'll probably at least get 21358 built.

So many GREAT sets within this reasonable price range.

My Fabulous Twenty-five Fave $50 to One Hundo prices...
- 10355: Blacktron Renegade
- 10446: 3in1 Wild Animal Families
- 10451: 3in1 Dinosaurs on Wheels
- 11200: Spidey and Gobby's Raptor Battle at Tree House HQ
- 21355: The Evolution of STEM (historic minifigures and can be a great teaching model for kids to seek out the history, backstory of the various vignettes).
- 31161: Medieval Dragon
- 31166: Beautiful Horse
- 40806: Gingerbread AT-AT Walker
- 40820: Up-Scaled Santa Minifigure
- 42652: Friendship Tree House Hangout (great, fun playset chockfull of accessories and play features).
- 42663: Friendship Camper Van Adventure
- 43279: WALL-E and EVE (well done figures from a beloved movie).
- 60446: Galactic Spaceship (excellent modular space ship and station).
- 60462 Helicopter, Fire Truck & Submarine Remix (what a lego play set should be!).
- 60466: Bulldozer
- 60472: Scrapyard (what an underrated play set. Wow!)
- 71499: Mateo's Spray Paint Truck (another set that flew under the radar. Incredibly fun!)
- 71844 Ninja Combat Vehicle (three great vehicles in one).
- 72036: Baby Peach & Grand Prix Set (wow, another fun set for the little ones).
- 72046: Game Boy (want nostalgia, want an interesting build, and great replica, this is for you).
- 75407: Brick-Built Star Wars Logo (nice to have on the shelf or backdrop your Star Wars display).
- 75689: Emerald City & Kiamo Ko Castle (nice mini castles for you Wicked and/or Castle fans).
- 76316: Fantastic Four vs. Galactus Construction Figure (great fun figure battle set!)
- 76785 Thing's Apartment (Not just for the Addams family aficionados. For horror fans and fun unique play set/trunk).
- 910056: Off-Road Adventure (another fun under the radar set).

@Calabar said:
"Too many great sets in this range: 31161 60446 10355 43279 60433 10373 76321 are only the firts that come to my mind. "

Love all your picks, but 60433 came out last year. Great set though.

@legoDad42 said:"3in1 Dinosaurs on Wheels"

Oh, I'd have loved that when I was in the target age range. Honestly, if you handed it to me right now, I'd probably still have fun with it.

@TheOtherMike said:
" @legoDad42 said:"3in1 Dinosaurs on Wheels"

Oh, I'd have loved that when I was in the target age range. Honestly, if you handed it to me right now, I'd probably still have fun with it."

HA, same! There's another dino set 11041 Creative Dinosaurs that's I'd LOVE to have and build right now ;)

I bought the gingerbread AT-AT on back-order a few weeks ago, thinking it wouldn't take that long to ship... I guess I'll leave it in the box until next year then.

@Klontjes said:
"I bought the gingerbread AT-AT on back-order a few weeks ago, thinking it wouldn't take that long to ship... I guess I'll leave it in the box until next year then."

That's sort of like how I ordered 41706 after Advent 2022 on clearance had already started, and just saved it to go through in 2023.