It’s just over a month until Christmas, which means it’s time to start thinking about buying presents (and writing your own Christmas lists too). So, what are the best Christmas gifts for a table tennis player?
In this article, I’ll go through some of my favourite table tennis gift ideas and show you a few of the things that have made it onto my Christmas list. There’s a mixture of stocking fillers (small/cheap gifts) and more expensive presents.
This post was originally written in November 2012 but was revised in November 2020 to keep it up-to-date.
Contents
The Best Table Tennis Christmas Gifts
Here are my top ten Christmas gifts for a table tennis player…
- Power Pong 5000 Robot
- Joola Inside 25 Table
- Eastfield Offensive Bat
- Butterfly Tenergy 05 Rubbers
- Mizuno Wave Drive Shoes
- Palio Expert 3.0 Bat
- Butterfly Toka T-Shirt
- Eastfield Original Bat Case
- Expert in a Year Book
- Nittaku Premium 3-Star Balls
I’ve listed them roughly in order of price. The most expensive gifts are at the top, down to the least expensive at the bottom.
1. Power Pong 5000 Robot
- Price: $1949 / £1695
This is the ultimate table tennis robot! The Power Pong 5000 has every feature you would expect from a top-of-the-range robot – 8 individually programmable balls per drill, memory space for an unlimited number of saved drills, and three heads that can produce every type of spin and no-spin balls.
Best of all, it can be controlled wirelessly via a Bluetooth connection to the Power Pong app – which can be downloaded for free onto any Apple or Android device. The Power Pong app provides you with a “drag-and-drop” interface for creating your own drills and training exercises. You can also share/swap drills with other Power Pong app users!
The Power Pong 5000 is virtually identical to the Butterfly Amicus Prime. They are made by the same factory in Hungary.
2. Joola Inside 25 Table
- Price: $599.95 / £645
Provided you’ve got the space for it, a table tennis table is a brilliant Christmas gift. I recommend getting a tournament-ready table with a 25mm tabletop.
If you’re in the US, the Joola Inside 25 is definitely your best option. This is the cheapest 25mm table I’ve found for my American readers.
The Joola Inside 25 isn’t currently available in the UK. So, if you’re in the UK and want the best value 25mm table, the Butterfly National League 25 is the one for you at £645.
And if you’re feeling flush with cash, the Killerspin Revolution is the most beautiful table tennis table money can buy. It’s been referred to as ‘the Ferarri of table tennis tables’!
3. Eastfield Offensive Bat
- Price: $119.50 / £99.50
Your table tennis bat (or racket) is the most important piece of equipment you’ll buy. Don’t cheap out. You do get what you pay for!
The Eastfield Offensive is a professional-quality table tennis bat aimed at players with good basic technique looking to take their game to the next level. This is the bat that I’m currently using for all of my training, coaching and matches – and I love it!
If you’re new to table tennis, the Eastfield Offensive might be a bit too fast for you. Instead, you should check out the Eastfield Allround.
4. Butterfly Tenergy 05 Rubbers
- Price: $79.99 / £58.99
We all need to change our table tennis rubbers at least twice a year – so new rubbers can make a great Christmas gift.
Tenergy 05 is the most popular table tennis rubber of all time! It is used by most of the best players in the world. I used to use it myself too (before switching to the Eastfield Offensive bat). The only downside is the price. It’s not cheap…
5. Mizuno Wave Drive Shoes
- Price: $100 / £69.99
Most of the top Chinese table tennis players choose to wear Mizuno Wave Drive shoes. If they’re good enough for Ma Long and Zhang Jike, they’re good enough for me!
The Mizuno Wave Drive is low, lightweight, and grippy. It also has plenty of mesh – to allow your feet to breathe. Sam actually used these during his year of table tennis in 2014!
6. Palio Expert 3.0 Bat
- Price: $39.99 / £29.99
Released in 2019, the Expert 3.0 is the latest offering from Chinese brand Palio. It builds on the success of its predecessors (the original Palio Expert and the Palio Expert 2.0).
The Palio Expert 3.0 remains the perfect bat for those learning the game, enabling players to produce a high amount of spin, and execute the basic techniques & strokes with ease. It now includes a revamped blade, thicker protective edge tape, and a new-look cover.
7. Butterfly Toka T-Shirt
- Price: $39.99 / £28.99
I’m not usually very impressed by the quality or design of table tennis clothing. Most of the time, everything looks a bit dated – in my opinion.
I’m pleased to say, these new Toka t-shirts from Butterfly are a bit more up-to-date with current sportswear trends! They’ve also just released an ‘Olive’ version, which I think looks pretty cool.
8. Eastfield Original Bat Case
Price: $24.95 / £20
Are you fed up with ugly looking table tennis bat cases? I was, so I created my own! The Eastfield Original is a racket case that will protect your bat and look good doing it.
My favourite is the ‘black on black’, but it’s also available in grey and navy. The Eastfield Original is also available in single (one bat) or double (two bats) varieties.
9. Expert in a Year Book
- Price: $14.99 / £10
Expert in a Year: The Ultimate Table Tennis Challenge is the story of Sam Priestley’s journey from table tennis newbie to competitive player. It details all of his ridiculous training methods, unreachable goals, and the surprising lessons he learnt from playing table tennis every day for a year.
If you’re serious about improving at table tennis, especially if you started playing the sport as an adult, you need to read this book. You should also check out the accompanying video to the challenge on YouTube. It’s clocked up over 12 million views!
10. Nittaku Premium 3-Star Balls
- Price: $8.95 / £6.98
The perfect Christmas stocking filler! The Nittaku Premium 3-Star is my favourite 40+ table tennis ball.
They’re quite expensive (because they’re made in Japan, rather than China) but they’re worth the price. The Nittaku Premium is the roundest and hardest table tennis ball I’ve played with. And durability is great!
Need more table tennis gift ideas?
Online table tennis retailer Megaspin have been kind enough to create a specific ping-pong gift ideas page, full of great products and categorised based on ability level. Nice idea Megaspin!
Alternatively, check out the special offers currently available at Tabletennis11.com!
Disclaimer: Some of the links in this post are affiliate links, which means that if you click through them and buy something I receive a small commission. Just thought I’d let you know!