Awesome Gifts

Just because you’re away from your kitchen doesn’t mean you can’t serve up an amazing meal for your family and friends. Emma Frisch’s cookbook for the outdoors includes recipes and menus and shopping and equipment lists to help make dining under the stars a genuinely memorable experience.

Artist Eric Blackwell makes unique home decorations, mostly using upcycled scraps from a guitar factory. His collection includes these cool wooden clocks that incorporate mid-century modern aesthetics, including starbursts, satellites, and abstract shapes inspired by Googie architecture. In his Etsy Shop, you’ll find a mix of tabletop, mantel, and wall clocks.

Most kitchens are equipped with pots, pans, and basic utensils. We’ve assembled a baker’s dozen of the best kitchen gadgets and gifts to help take your food prep to the next level. Each of our selections is useful and clever in its approach, from unique measuring spoons to cake and pizza slicers to a tool that turns a lemon into a juice spritzer.

The Barbox makes a great gift for drink lovers, offering a complete home bar kit in a wall-mountable wood storage case. It comes with a 17-piece bartending kit, including commonly used steel bar tools, a portable bar stand, and a bar mat. It’s got a glass hanging rack on the bottom, and its front door doubles as a picture frame.

Blast off every time you sit down to doodle with this astronaut and rocket eraser set from Suck UK. The package includes a monochrome astronaut holding onto a silver pencil while on a spacewalk from their bright red rocketship — a great little gift for anyone into space exploration.

These artful ceramic cups are perfect for enjoying a small espresso or cappuccino drink. The conical cups each sit on a small stone base and hold 100 ml (appx. 3.4 oz.) of hot liquid. They come in a variety of colorful finishes for a mix-and-match palette. Kyoto Kitchenware also sells a larger 200 ml size.

C3’s remote-controlled coolers keep drinks chilled and look awesome doing it. They come in several body styles, including SUV, truck, and even a Zamboni, in numerous color schemes with stock or custom graphics. Each has a foam-insulated, 24-can cooler, Bluetooth sound, LED headlights, and can tow an add-on trailer.

Duke Cannon’s exfoliating scrub contains an invigorating mix of menthol, caffeine, and aloe vera that cools, hydrates, and refreshes. It lathers up thick and brings a bracing chill to even the steamiest shower. Can’t get enough of the cold? Check out their Power Play Bundle.

Bring Jurassic Park to your bathroom with this molded resin velociraptor toilet paper holder. The 3D raptor’s claws grip onto a roll of TP while its beady yellow eyeball stares mischievously at your butt like it’s about to take a bite. They also sell a T-Rex version.

Record fans, check out these nifty coasters from MoonStation Design. The acrylic drink coasters look like tiny vinyl records and stack atop a miniature wooden turntable when not in use. The tiny turntable comes in red, grey, or natural wood, and the records come with assorted labels. They also make a mini boombox with cassette tape coasters.

Heatonist double dares you to taste the hot sauces used in insane Hot Ones challenges. Recreate Season 21 of the spicy interview show at home with this ten-pack of bottles representing each heat level from 1-to-9 plus an 11 (one-better-than-ten) with a Scoville Heat Unit rating so intense it hasn’t been measured yet.

If Bob Ross and Dr. Zoidberg had a kid, it might look something like this Cthulhu Chia Pet. H.P. Lovecraft’s creepy creature is ready to drive you insane with its beady eyes and tentacled face. Simply coat its head with the chia seeds, and in two weeks or less, your nightmares will come true.

Get your groove on in the kitchen while you scrub pots and pans with Fred’s playful cassette tape dish sponges. The set includes four 3″ x 4.5″ sponges packaged in a cardboard boombox. Crank up your favorite retro playlist while doing your dishes with these.

Triangle Notebook’s writing pad defers to the objects commonly found on desks. Its L-shape lets it conveniently tuck into the corner of books, keyboards, and other rectangular or square-shaped items. It has 160 sheets of dot-gridded paper.

No self-respecting bartender mixes a mint julep, mojito, or stirred negroni without a strainer. Named for the head bartender at New Orleans’ Sazerac House, Cocktail Kingdom’s mixologist-approved, silver-plated Wilkinson Scalloped Julep Strainer was inspired by the collections of cocktail historian David Wondrich and Cocktail Kingdom owner Greg Boehm.

Tolkien fans know Gollum’s “precious” ring was made of precious metal. Enso Rings, however, makes a case for silicone with its Lord of the Rings collection. They’re flexible for comfort, with interior channels to keep fingers dry, and come in an array of designs inspired by peaceful life in the Shire and fierce battles against Sauron.

Steelman’s folding screwdriver is small enough to stash in your pocket, but its fold-out shaft provides much more leverage than other pocket tools. Its magnetic holder accepts standard 1/4″ hex bits, and the set includes eight bits that store inside its handle, which can also open bottles.

The StowCo Cooler is about the size of a laptop case, but its interior insulated compartment has enough space for 10 cans, six beer bottles, or three wine bottles. It keeps its contents cold for up to five hours without the need for ice and offers an inconspicuous way to carry beverages.

This generously-sized glass beer stein features a topographic impression of Oregon’s Mt. Hood at its bottom. Each stein holds 25 oz. and is handblown from borosilicate glass with a double-wall design to help keep your beer cool. Huckberry also sells Whiskey Peaks rocks glasses, and a decanter.

Usually, candles are supposed to smell pleasant. But The Stinky Candle Co. has carved out a niche by making candles that smell like strange, unexpected, and downright gross stuff. Fragrances include gasoline, garlic, exhaust, skunk, and dill pickles. They also make pleasant scents like chocolate cake and bubble gum.

Louisville, Kentucky-based The Wooden States creates precision-cut hardwood wall art based on state shapes. Each one is backed with four strong magnets which can hold onto key rings, pocket knives, jewelry, and other metal objects. In addition to individual states, there’s a version of the entire continental U.S.

We rarely need to print things these days. But for the first 40+ years of personal computing, printers were commonplace. And they were some of the most frustrating pieces of equipment ever. The book Shitty Printers catalogs and rips apart some of the worst offenders, from cheap home inkjets to menacing tractor-feed machines.

Mustard’s Instant Coasters look like blank Polaroid instant photos. Each tempered glass coaster has a slot where you can insert a 3.3″x 3.3″ photo, so you can personalize and change it up whenever you want. Sold in a set of four, they also come in gold.