Holiday Gift Guide
First up: yes, candidly, this guide is an excuse to hawk my game Person Do Thing (the absolute no 1 most desirable gift this Christmas), but for the sake of all of our dignities I will leave that to the end. Except for PDT, I have no connections to anything on this list and will make no money from you buying them.
In accordance with my life-philosophy I am focusing on gift recommendations that I think would have the highest counterfactual impact; that is, you don't need me to recommend things that everybody already knows about, so I'll try to recommend things you'd be less-likely to buy otherwise.
- Semi Circular Foam Roller, ~$10-15
For hamstring stretches. I don't understand why this is so satisfying to stretch on but it's so great. Product-wise the price feels high at $15, even though I get far more value from it; I bet there's a way to get one cheaply from a building supply store but I don't know how.
- Yoga Headstand Bench, ~$80-100
Did you know that it's very easy to do headstands once you have something supporting your shoulders? I didn't either, and it's wild, and very fun.
- Custom Photo Bracelet, ~$2-10
You upload a photo and they somehow carve it into a bead on a bracelet; when you shine a light through that bead it projects that image. It's like a locket for a favourite memory and I find it really beautiful; there are $100+ versions on American websites but I got mine for $4 on Temu and am delighted with the quality.
Just a very sweet gift for children (or eccentric adults). This is basically a Where's Waldo clone where you can customize the name and image of the person being searched for; rightly or wrongly, finding out that a company can profitably print completely customized Waldo books with your name and face in them was one of my most visceral "isn't modern technology amazing?" moments.
- The London Jungle Book, ~$20
A tribal artist from India comes to London, encounters planes, trains and cities for the first time, and draws his experience. A wondrous book.
- Oral B iO series toothbrush, ~$50-100
Look, I'm sorry: I think it's outrageous that they're charging this much for a toothbrush, and even more outrageous that they charge $10 for replacement heads. I do not want it to be true that it's the best toothbrush I've ever used, and so much better than the last generation of electric toothbrushes. But sometimes we must face the t(r)ooth, and if you can afford this ridiculousness it's just objectively great. (H/t excellentfriend-of-the-blog N.)
Love this battery pack so much. Has saved me from many battery deaths. (I am told this Haribo Battery Pack is even better, and it's certainly funnier, but it's constantly sold out so I've yet to try one: EDIT: it got taken off Amazon for a "potential safety issue", which has me even more intrigued).
Of all the dumb cheap things in my house that bring me joy, this one brings me the most disproportionate joy.
- Wobble Board, ~$20
I'm sorry I'm sorry I just love standing on things and balancing.
I guess you'd have to be pretty close to give someone an $800 gift but this extendable table is so brilliant, it's a phenomenal variable-length dining table that folds up into almost-nothing. If you're in Europe you can buy it from the manufacturer for cheaper with slow shipping, which is nice.
- Person Do Thing, ~$24
You knew this was coming: Person Do Thing, my party game for lovers of Taboo, Charades and Monikers. If you are fun (or just a fan of fun) you will like it, I really think it's the perfect high-upside, low-downside gift for the widest possible range of friends and family.