175: A dozen-ish gifts I can't take credit for

Steal this gift guide.

I’ve decided that the best way to write a gift guide is to rip off a bunch of people who’ve already done the labor and sell their stolen ideas.

Emilia Petrarca

published a gift guide this year, but what she doesn’t know is that I screenshotted her Instagram Story months ago, which contained one of the best gift ideas I’ve seen: a bottle of gin autographed by Stanley Tucci. (Perfect celebrity, perfect vehicle.) Emilia, if you’re reading this, I want context on that. Reader, replicate that energy with this Tucci-penned Devil Wears Prada script, or by finding something signed from

Liana Satenstein

’s Chloe Sevigny sale—maybe this girl will sell you her clog.

Emily

Sundberg posted about a Crane Grater that she uses to grate ginger and wasabi. It’s elegant, useful, and not expensive.

Last year, I sent a friend gold foil-wrapped pears from Harry & David via Kaitlin Phillips’ 2022 gift guide—I don’t remember who originally recommended it to her, but some details are meant to be lost to time, I feel. Also, you’ll be hearing more from KP very soon…watch this space.

Lily Sullivan

shared a pic of some glass tube coasters, woven together like a bamboo sushi mat, from her trip to Japan just now, and I can’t find them anywhere. Glass subway bricks are not at all the same, but excellent as far as coasters and small snack presentation go.

Yolanda Edwards

suggests branded hotel swag in her gift guide (this Pellicano ashtray!), which feels right to me. If anyone has seen my La Banchina t-shirt, or maybe wants to get me a new one, I’d say it falls under this category.

Further back in my screenshot archive, stylist Caitlin Burke posted about French Presse Linens, which, according to her and h/t

Juliana Salazar

, are behind the Olsen Twins’ favorite bedding.

Similarly, Nick Poe recommends the Tala dim to warm lightbulb, intel he credits to Alex Tieghi-Walker. Lighting is the most important factor in any space, never forget that.

I have several screenshots of glassware packaged in paper, from both Chris Black who influenced me toward the Chez Panisse water glasses and Quinton Mulvey who found a darling set of vintage Brændevinsglas (brandy glasses) in Palm Springs that I have yet to properly source.

A screenshot so old it itself is practically vintage from vintage dealer Sean Viola reminded me of the leather donkey footstool my parents had in our house when I was growing up (his was a rhino). This hippo is a good price, all things considered. These things feel kind of “old money whimsy,” but they somehow haven’t flooded the feeds despite that being the obvious trend.

I also got the PR email about the David Mallett x Suzanne Syz Epinge A Cheveux hair pin that then made its way into

Laurel Pantin

and Airmail’s gift guides, rightfully so.

If I were to knock off my own ideas, I’d start with my suggestion to send a friend 1,500 live ladybugs, as originally recommended in the esoteric Magasin x Byline gift guide. It’s a real gift idea, by the way. A good one, too.

The most important gift I gave this year was this Thule Shine stroller, an off-registry upgrade sent to my expectant sister who I thought might appreciate some of that bougie Park Slope mom ease and comfort for baby number-one who just arrived over in Oakland.

I already spoiled my good gift idea for Nir by telling him what it is: a beautifully worn and weathered butcher block from Facebook Marketplace (here’s a great one from 1stDibs if you’re crazy enough to have it shipped). I had to ruin the surprise because I would have needed him to be the one to drive me to the seller, load it into the car, and bring it up two flights of stairs to our apartment. So, on second thought, maybe I’ll just get him a smaller one, a wooden side table—from SSENSE!—or an old cutting board.

A very safe and earnest and widely appreciated gift is a designy blanket (they are jewelry for your home during the winter months), and this year’s It Binky is a three-way tie between Jermaine Gallacher’s JD Bed Blanket, Colin King x Cultiver’s Heavyweight Bedcover, and DAE New York’s quilt that you have to physically go to the cafe to buy.

And don’t write off a George Santos Cameo. It’s memish, but also historically massive and low-brow brilliant. Relatedly, my sister used to work in porn (behind cam), and every year for my birthday she’d send a fully nude, sometimes penetrative (!!!) video card from the actors on set wishing me a happy birthday. Some things can’t be topped.

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