The Pokemon Center gets a lot of credit for its annual Halloween collection, but this year’s Winter Collection may have finally topped it. The holiday offerings feature a mix of decorations, apparel, stocking stuffers, and high-end gifts, so there’s bound to be something there for you no matter what. The Pokemon Company sent over a variety of samples so we could get a taste of everything the 2021 Winter Collection has to offer, so here’s our top pick of Christmas-themed items available now at PokemonCenter.com.
If you’re looking to dress for the winter season, the Winter Collection has plenty of Pokemon-themed options from hats and gloves to sweaters and pajamas. One of my favorite new items is the Stantler Holiday Lights Knit Sweater, which features the reindeer Pokemon Stantler tangled up in a string of Christmas lights. You can also find the same pattern for Pikachu and Eevee, but Stantler feels like the most holiday-appropriate. This year’s collection feels especially creative. There are plenty of Pikachu items of course, but there are also sweaters, gloves, and pajamas that feature designs based on Snorlax, Galarian Ponyta, and even Snom. Rejoice Snom fans, this is your year.
We got to sample the Pikachu Festive Winter Blue headband, which is 95 percent acrylic, super stretchy, and very warm. All of the headbands, scarves, gloves, and beanies are hand wash only, which is something to keep in mind if you’re getting them for kids that might accidentally get them extra soiled.
If you’re looking for Christmas decorations, this year’s collection has some of the best. Our sample box included an adorable mini-wreath featuring Pikachu and Piplup - perfect timing for the Diamond & Pearl remakes - that looks great hanging on our Christmas tree. We also got the Pikachu Undersea Holiday Plush, which is a strange name for it frankly because it’s just a Pikachu popping out of a gift box. Regardless, the eight-inch figure looks fantastic under the tree with the other gift boxes and would work great as a stocking stuffer.
Speaking of stocking stuffers, there’s a great selection of mini-plushies, backpack hangers, and pin sets that would be perfect last-minute Christmas gifts. We got our hands on the Galarian Corsola Key Chain, which at four-inches tall and five-inches wide is definitely too big for a key ring, but perfect for hanging on a tree or bag. It’s spines are covered in bunches of lace that give it a nice undersea effect, and it's got a candy cane bowtie so you know it's festive. We also got a pack of the Pokemon Snowy Holiday pins, which features Pikachu and an adorable Pikachu snowman, Piplup in a scarf, and Pokemon’s unofficial holiday mascot, Delibird. The pins are embossed with gold lines that reflect the light and look beautiful on a stocking or as an accessory on your Christmas sweater.
Delibird is also the star of the Delibird Holiday Express, a series of ornamental figures that feature Pokemon riding on different sections of a train and all fit together like a diorama. The one we received features Jigglypuff and Cubone riding on a pair of Ponyta rocking horses in front of a Christmas tree. It’s finely detailed and sturdy, and I love displaying it on an end table during the holidays. The only problem with the set is how quickly they’ve sold out. The one I’ve described is still available and there are two or three others still on sale, but most of them have been out of stock for weeks. I had the same problem with the Haunted Village series from the Halloween Collection earlier this year. I’d love to collect the whole set, so hopefully they’ll return next year.
That’s just a fraction of the items available in the Winter Collection, so head over to the Pokemon Center website to check out all of the holiday goods on sale this year.