Price Tag: $9.99 for Jelleez or $6.99 for ColorBuds.
Gift Type: Stocking Stuffer
Official URL: maxell.com
Age Range: All Ages
Where to Buy: Widely available wherever headphones are sold.

Maxell has two highly affordable and colorful headphone options that make great stocking stuffers this year. If your child is into music and able to control volume safely, but not yet sophisticated enough to require more expensive headphones, one of these two pairs of headphones would be a great low-cost gift.

REVIEW

Color buds have amazingly good sound for headphones in the under-$10 category. Worn casually in the ears these offer a great sound. And at $6.95 they are a steal. If you wear them stuffed down deep, say when you are going jogging or your child is dancing, the sounds will not be as good and you best turn off any bass-boosters. No small parts to lose, the padding on these headphones is built in and is made of something similar to silicone in texture and feeling. It’s just a thin layer so you don’t have to worry about it bulking up these headphones. Very comfortable for smaller ears.

Jelleez earbuds sell at a price that is 50% higher than the “Color Budsâ€? and one would expect some improvements in sound. All we found was a rather average sound that had little in the way of bass and a high end that was somewhat muffled. The colors of its plastic were kinda cool though. No small parts to lose, unfortunately the built-in padding isn’t very comfortable.

PACKAGING

The packaging of both of these sets of ear buds makes them great stocking stuffers. Kids can open ‘em themselves, no box cutters or pliers required. The oblong packaging of Jelleez is slightly easier to gift wrap than the half-an-egg shape of the Color Buds. Color buds are slightly easier to open.

COLORS

Color buds come in blue, gold, green, orange, pink, purple, red and silver. Jelleez come in Green apple, Caribbean blue, black licorice, and chili pepper red. The colors of Jelleez are a bit more vibrant and will appeal to a younger child whereas Color Buds have more sophisticated colors.

BOTTOM LINE

The colorful Jelleez make a cool gift if your child is simply interested in bright fun colors, otherwise our advice is Color Buds for everyone’s stocking!