The 10 Hottest Holiday Gifts

Slide Show: The Hottest Holiday Gifts

Still looking for the perfect gift for your friends, family, or significant other? Search no longer; U.S. News has rounded up the hottest gifts this holiday season based on the most popular searches on Amazon.com and eBay.

[Slide Show: The Hottest Holiday Gifts.]

You wouldn't know there's a predicted 1 percent decline in holiday sales this year, based on how quickly some of the following holiday gifts are selling out. Several of the hottest toys of the season aren't in stores anymore, and shoppers are heading online to sites like eBay to find them. The most in-demand electronic holiday gifts may look similar to years' past, but they have been revamped with newer features. Also be on the lookout for cheaper toys this year. Here's a rundown of the hottest gifts this season.

Zhu Zhu Pets

These interactive hamster toys have been the bestselling toys this season and have sold out at virtually every store in the country. With names like Mr. Squiggles, PipSqueak, Patches, Num Nums, and Chunk, the battery-powered creatures act like live animals, with a "loving mode" in which they make squeaking noises and an "exploring mode" in which they zoom across the floor. Zhu Zhu Pets sell for about $8, and you can also buy accessories such as cars, houses, beds, slides, and wheels. Toy reviewers say the sales of Zhu Zhu pets may surpass Beanie Babies and Tickle Me Elmo. On Black Friday and Cyber-Monday, the toys sold out at large retailers including Toys "R" Us, Walmart, and Amazon.com. Shoppers then went to eBay to find them priced at as much as $42. In response to the demand, Walmart, Toys "R" Us, and Target have stocked hundreds of thousands this week for last-minute shoppers.

iPod Touch Third Generation

The third generation of the iPod Touch has all the Web-surfing, E-mail, music, and game features as the original iPod Touch, but it also comes with more memory—to load more apps—and a faster processor. Don't worry about these popular music devices selling out, as most retailers have plenty in stock. Check the Apple Store, Walmart, Best Buy, and Amazon.com. But since the iPod Touch is in strong demand, retailers aren't offering big discounts, says Dan de Grandpre, editor in chief of DealNews.com. The 8GB version is listed for $199, the 32GB for $299, the 64GB for $399. Some retailers are offering slight discounts, including Amazon.com, which is selling the 8GB for $183.99, the 32GB for $269.00, and the 64GB for $359.99. BestBuy.com is selling each model for its list price but includes a $30 Best Buy gift card with the purchase of the 32GB iPod Touch.

Wii

This will be the first holiday shopping season in which customers won't find the Nintendo Wii sold out, says de Grandpre. The popular game console has released Wii Fit Plus this year, an updated version of Wii Fit that offers more games and exercises—and a feature that allows family members to track their fitness goals. The Nintendo Wii makes a good gift for an entire family because games such as Wii Fit and Rock Band are appealing to both kids and adults, says Karen Bard, pop culture expert at eBay. Nintendo Wii is priced at $199 and the Wii Fit Plus at $19.99, but some sites are selling Nintendo Wii for as low as $180, says de Grandpre.

[Find last-minute tech gifts for under $100.]

E-Book Readers

E-book readers are a great gift for people who travel, commute, or just read a lot, says Bard. They are also nice gifts for college students, she says, because students can save money by downloading textbooks. The Amazon Kindle is listed for $259 and comes with free two-day shipping for a limited time. The Kindle sold out entirely last Christmas, but Amazon.com has stocked up this year in anticipation of swift sales, says de Grandpre. However, the Barnes and Noble Nook, which debuted this year and sells for $259, is sold out and will not be available again until February 1. Both the Kindle and the Nook are lighter than the average book, at less than a pound each, and allow users to download and store approximately 1,500 E-books using a wireless Internet connection.

Call of Duty Modern Warfare 2

This warfare simulation video game is on its way to being one of the top-selling video games in history. It broke the record for opening-day sales with 4.7 million games sold in the United States and the United Kingdom on November 10. This is the sixth installment of the Call of Duty series, and the sequel to Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare, the top-selling video game worldwide in 2007. Call of Duty Modern Warfare 2 takes place five years after the previous installment, pitting a multinational counterterrorist group against international terrorists. It is listed for $59.99 and available for the XBox 360 and Playstation 3—as well as PCs—at retailers including Game Stop, Best Buy, EB Games, and Walmart. Amazon.com is selling it for $50.

Canon Powershot SD1200 IS Digital Camera

Digital cameras remain a hot item this year because of their compact size and ease of use. The Canon Powershot SD1200 IS is a popular digital camera that sells for about $149. It produces high-quality photographs with a 10-megapixel sensor and a 3x optical zoom, and it has an easy-to-use interface for novice photographers. Since digital cameras have been on the market for more than a decade, de Grandpre says shoppers are beginning to see more high-quality digital cameras with a greater number of features from top camera name brands, selling for about $100 or less.

HP G71-329WM Laptop

This HP 17.3-inch laptop is a hit among shoppers who are looking for a computer at a low price with a large screen. According to De Grandpre, this is one of the cheapest big-screen laptops on the market and many people are buying it to replace their old desktop computers. This laptop comes with a fast Intel Celeron processor, plenty of storage space, and Windows 7 already installed. It recently began selling for $500 or less, down from roughly $700 earlier this year.

UGG Boots

These Australian-made sheepskin boots are still a hot item this year. Although they've been around for more than 25 years, they gained notoriety in the United States early this decade when celebrities like Kate Hudson and Oprah Winfrey began donning them. This year, expect to see more variety in colors and styles of the UGG boots for both men and women. While the company has diversified to produce other types of shoes, including slippers, clogs, flats, outerwear, and accessories, its warm and fuzzy boots are still a favorite. UGG Australia's women's "Classic Short" boot and the new "Bailey Button" boot are the most popular items this season. UGGs aren't cheap, though: Prices range from $140 to $170 for the short boots and $180 to $200 for the tall boots at department stores including Neiman Marcus and Lord and Taylor.

Garmin nüvi GPS

The GPS seems to be becoming a car necessity—especially for the road-trippers. The most popular GPS brand is Garmin, which offers more than 30 GPS models, says de Grandpre. The Garmin nüvi 260W 4.3-inch Widescreen Portable GPS Navigator, a top seller on Amazon.com, features a large touch-screen display and sells for about $120. This year, customers can find name-brand GPSs with big screens and new features such as text to speech and blue tooth for roughly $100 or less, de Grandpre says. Tom Tom and Magellan offer cheaper models of GPSs as well, de Grandpre says.

Bakugan 7 in 1 Maxus Dragonoid

The highly sought-after Bakugan 7 in 1 Maxus Dragonoid is actually seven toys in one that unite to form a formidable monster. It's currently selling for about $30 at Amazon.com and Walmart, and about $40 at Target and Toys "R" Us. This toy set ties into the Bakugan video-game series Bakugan Battle Brawlers, which is available for Xbox 360, Playstation 2 and 3, and Wii. The video-game series is based on the 2007 Japanese anime television series of the same name, which was brought to Cartoon Network in 2008 and was also turned into a card game called Bakugan.

Corrected on 12/21/09: An earlier version of this article misstated the total number of opening day sales of Call of Duty Modern Warfare 2. The video game sold 4.7 million games on its opening day. These sales took place in the United States and United Kingdom.