Every January, I save a Word doc to my desktop that simply says “gift guide.” Over the next 12 months, I fill it up. What you’re about to read is the result of a full calendar year of gift scouring — from New York Comic Con to the Toy Fair, to random stumble-upons on etsy to something catching my eye in my friend’s liquor cabinet. This year I even found myself in a Toys R’ Us again. I send myself text reminders when I’m out to “put this in the gift guide list” (or, more accurately “put this on teh giftguide lsit”) It’s an obsession…and it benefits everyone. So please, enjoy this year’s crop of fun ideas, and hopefully it helps you fill a stocking, become a White Elephant “where did you get that??” hero, or maybe you just end up buying something for yourself.
Note — and it seems completely ridiculous to have to say this, but EVERY YEAR someone in the comment section accuses this beautiful eclectic collection of coolness of being “an ad,” an affiliate play, or a sponsored post. It’s not. I think it’s pretty obvious it’s not, but since it happens every year, here we are.
And now… away we go…
A very cool, unique trading card set and book — Grande Torino & Granata Heroes Limited Edition ($110)
If you have someone in your gift-giving universe who likes soccer or collects cards (it doesn’t have to be both!), they’ll love this. The Grande Torino collection is the brainchild of Paolo Battaglia, who learned the card trade from the legendary Giuseppe Panini (who founded Panini in 1961). The book-and-card set is an independent effort from Battaglia (who has designed cards for Panini and Topps-Merlin) and has all the elements you’d want in a premium set of cards — a beautiful design, fascinating relics thanks to a relationship with the Torino museum (wood from stadium benches from the 1920s, pins, etc), and a really nice “feel” when you hold them in your hand. Plus, you get the book on Torino, one of the more tragic teams in world soccer history.
File this under “just a really nice gift for someone” — the quality, the subject matter, the man behind it… they all add up to a unique and thoughtful tribute to Torino.
Funny pop culture prints (with a heartbreaking twist) — Super Emo Friends Framed Prints ($20)
When you attend New York Comic Con, you glide more than walk — you have to maneuver around all kinds of people there for different reasons. And when something catches your eye, you really have to be sure it’s worth the stop-lean back-backtrack move. This booth caught my eye and I even did that thing where, as I was paying for three of these, a fourth caught my eye and I made them run another transaction after paying. These are really funny, and I should have spent more time staring at their booth wall and trying to appreciate each reference, because I see more on the site now that I must’ve missed (and would’ve bought). Their online shop has some of the prints I bought; my hunch is they can run off copies of ones you see elsewhere on the site (but I’m really not sure, so don’t quote me on that).
The images you see below are still watermarked on purpose, too. We weren’t being lazy; we just want to make sure they stay protected!
A repeat from last year — a gigantic, warm scarf like no other: Googly Eye Cru Comforter Scarf ($50)
Last year, we featured the Googly Eye Cru comforter scarf as our lead gift — it’s a 7-foot long scarf made in the style of a bed comforter (technically, per the website: a “comforter quilted faux down filled padded scarf”); I’ve bought several of these as gifts and they were instantly loved. Apparently, everyone here felt the same way, as the owner of the store found us and said they had sold out of two colors the day the gift guide ran.
So we’re running it back this year. Maybe it’ll become an annual tradition. But if I had more women in my life to gift this to, they’d be getting it. It’s unique, it’s comfortable, and people who get it seem to enjoy it. The gift trifecta!
Retro action figures with a modern twist — Super7’s Sophia Smith and the Sesame Street Martians ($20)
Super7 has graced these pages before — but every year they force their way back in. They made USWNT figures in the style of old G.I. Joes this year. I’m not sure they’ll turn into any kind of collector’s item, but at some point it’s okay to buy a toy just for being a toy. I’m slowly coming to grips with that idea.
My children are a couple generations too young to appreciate the Martians from Sesame Street (outside of some “Number of the Day” cameos on the modern show), but this is an example of why Super7 might be the neatest company in the toy world — they could have just made the action figures and nostalgia-starved people like myself would have bought the Martians anyway. Instead, they added the little handle so you can move their mouths.
A unique bottle of alcohol — Montelobos Mezcal Pechuga ($115)
I am not a mezcal guy, but I’m at that stage of my drinking life where I have a liquor cabinet that needs to be culled and reborn — too many 3/4 full bottles of brands I don’t like taking up space; that kind of stuff.
A friend of mine introduced me to this mezcal, and it’s fantastic. It’s just the right price for gifting on that kind of upper-tier $100-ish level and it’s a little more thoughtful than just a bottle of vodka — the turkey, spices, and fruits all hit nicely together and I don’t know… it’s just good. Several years ago I got into Benedictine because Dudley the angel orders it in “The Bishop’s Wife” and I wanted to try an old-timey drink like that. I feel like this mezcal, at least until the bottle is done, will be my new “hey you should try this” obsession.
For the golfer in your life — The Perfect Putting Mat ($99-150)
Since everyone in my family found out I caught the golf bug, there have been a handful of terrible golf gifts. No, I don’t want to practice putting while using the toilet. I really don’t need another golf coffee table book. If you’re looking to get the golfer in your life a gift they MIGHT actually use, this Perfect Practice Putting mat is the best I’ve used by far. The markings for how long each putt makes it easy to replicate practice and the ball return is just perfect. It works on carpet, but is best used on a hard surface. If you’re tight on space or don’t want a putting mat hanging around the house, it easily rolls up and can be stored in a closet.
That being said, if you don’t know what to get the golfer in your life, please just opt for a box of ProV1s instead of getting them a cheesy golf gift. Balls might not be the most exciting gift, but I promise they’ll actually use (and lose) them.
Drinkware for the sophisticated consumer — Genesee beer pint glasses ($5 each)
This will begin our “this guy is very obviously from upstate New York” portion of the gift guide…
I’ve been drinking my liquids from Genny beer pint glasses for years. I don’t know if it just reminds me of home or if the glasses are objectively awesome, but I love it. The design hasn’t faded after what I estimate to be over 100 trips through the dishwasher, and I keep buying more, so we do that thing now where they’re all double-stacked in the glasses cupboard.
You may come from an area where Genesee beer isn’t prevalent (I assume outside of upstate NY and parts of Canada?) but everyone can learn to love this little captain guy holding a pineapple, right? A set of four plus a sticker is $25 — perfect White Elephant material, people! And if you happen to have someone in your swap who went to school upstate or maybe lived there for a little while? Bonus.
Salt from “The Salt City” — Syracuse Salt Company Starter Collection ($48)
I was born and raised in Syracuse, known locally (and, one would assume, everywhere else) as “the Salt City” for owning most of America’s salt production centuries ago. We have salt on roads, we have salt potatoes…and now we have a gourmet salt production company.
I’ve given this set to people not from Syracuse — some not even remotely close to Syracuse — as gifts, and they all seem to like it. The little wooden spoon is a nice touch, too. Why would one need six little jars of flavored salt? Pasta dishes, popcorn — there are uses! But you’re giving this as a gift, so not your problem. It’s just a nice little box to hand to someone and say “I read about this on the site where I get my Chicago Bears news.”
A universe created by Gary Vee — Vee Friends ($15 – $200)
Gary Vee can be a polarizing figure to collectors, but one cannot dispute that he seems to be having genuine fun while doing… whatever it is he’s doing at the moment. The “Vee Friends” collection comprises a card game, collectibles, Squiahmallows, vinyl figurines, and a collaboration with Chuck E. Cheese, all under one banner.
The cards are hard to find — Fanatics Live has auctions or you can get them on ebay for about $200. They come in a colorful big neon box and feel like they’re “something.” The Squishmallows, though, can be found at Toys R’ Us (which has a section in all the Macy’s stores I’ve been to the last few months) and are found fairly easily online.
A totally different scarf — Cloverpuff Wolf scarf ($25)
This is another NYCC find — the Cloverpuff stand was this bright, colorful burst of fun-looking stuff; I ended up buying two scarves and then finding them on etsy later that day because this blue wolf one kept pulling at my brain. I don’t know if I’m going to hang it or just let my kid wear it yet — it can go either way — but for $25 it’s another perfect White Elephant opportunity and their designs are really whimsical and eye-catching.
If you have kids, you probably know Reggie and Zach — Pancake Manor dolls ($45/set)
There’s a lot of YouTube being played in my house. A lot. And it’s usually the same recycled Cocomelon songs. But every once in a while, the algorithm will serve up something from Pancake Manor — a Canadian group that veers beyond “tolerable” into “oh, they’re pretty good!” Two of their recurring characters are the puppets Zach and Reggie. I don’t know if my kids will love and hold these dolls forever just yet because they’re already wrapped as part of this year’s gifts, but I do feel good about supporting Pancake Manor beyond just subscribing and giving them about 100 views a week for their various songs — they’re at least attempting to do something original in an otherwise very annoying kids YouTube space.
A cross-universe card game — Upper Deck’s “Vs. System” series ($35)
Here’s the fun thing I recently4e learned about the Vs. System series — you can crossover the “battles” you have. So if you buy the AEW deck, you can mix in cards from The Boys and have wrestlers go up against morally questionable supes.
If you just want to stay within the AEW universe, it’s still an interesting game, where you go head-to-head to defeat your opponent’s main wrestler. And for the wrestling fan in your life (or The Boys fan in your life), this is a totally different gift to give than…uh… whatever the usual gifts are that you give to a wrestling fan.
The Annual RotoWear Suggestion ($30-ish)
We’re going to keep doing this every year, because not only is RotoWear comfy — the necks stay tight and don’t sag after years of washing — they’ve also done this:
We just sent another check to @ProjectALS, bringing the total amount we’ve donated so far to $130,697.88!
BASEBALL IS THE BEST
🔥👕 available only at:https://t.co/ktQe3HRrm1 pic.twitter.com/HmuOXzroJa
— RotoWear (@RotoWear) November 1, 2023
They have more than the “Baseball is the Best” shirt — and I will be the first to admit that if you take a week off from baseball Twitter/X or reading stories, you will go through their collection and wonder what some of the shirts mean, or refer to. But even if you don’t get the “ghost fork” reference, does it matter? It’s still a cool shirt. And that, first and foremost, is why Rotowear keeps showing up here.
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This is a weird one, but just stick with us here — Mini sofa bed ($140)
I bought one of these while looking for that seat thing you can fold out to a sleeper/nap bed. Those $60 ones at Target or Wal-Mart just didn’t seem right and the reviews were pretty bad. I somehow made a series of clicks and searches and ended up here — a mini couch made in Poland with a really great design. And it’s great in real life — the kids love it, it’s comfortable, and it looks nice. Plus you get these two cute mini-pillows.
An adult will destroy this, but if you have a few kids, it’s great — super-light and easy to move, too. Just be aware that the back is also foam, so you may want to prop this against something (like the normal couch) if you want any support from the back.
Big dumb fun — Mr. DNA Funko POP ($13)
If you’ve seen Jurassic Park, you remember Mr. DNA from the tour the group went on as they were introduced to the park’s concept. And now he has his own Funko POP. There’s no other reason for this here in the gift guide except the reference is so obscure, and the guy is just so happy to be here… it’s so random and funny. Perfect stocking stuffer! (assuming you can jam it in)
A unique holiday liquor gift set — Grand Margarita Holiday Cocktail Kit ($105 plus shipping)
You know when you go to the liquor store and you see all those holiday bottles that come with free glasses? This is one of the more unique twists on that. Grand Marnier collaborated with Teezo Touchdown to produce a margarita kit that includes wrapping paper, “nail” cocktail picks, and garnishes. It seems like a fitting gift to send now and say “this is your gift. Enjoy getting a holiday season buzz on.” Doing that also ensures it won’t sell out — the nail picks don’t look like they have any special markings to make them collectible, but the wrapping paper is a nice touch and might convince someone to buy the kit.
Support a rookie fantasy writer — The Ryan George Shop ($30-ish)
You may know Ryan George for his “Pitch Meeting” videos — but he also contributed to our 2023 fantasy football draft kit, offering up fantasy team name suggestions. What better way to say thank you for “Herbert and Ernie” than to buy a shirt from his official shop? Or, you know, if you’re just a fan of his videos… that could work, too!
A show gone too soon gets an ending — The Final Space Graphic Novel ($125)
You’re going to have to wait until “late 2024” to actually get this, but the creator of Final Space finally got the right to finish his story — with a graphic novel. This is one of Jake Ciely’s favorite shows, ever. So if you’ve taken his advice on who to start, why not peel back another layer of Jakey and enjoy the animated series that he loves so much.
Special Jake note: If you’re into series creator Olan Rogers, his YouTube page can be found here.
Our previous gift guides
