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.
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.
Further back in my screenshot archive, stylist Caitlin Burke posted about French Presse Linens, which, according to her and h/t
, 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
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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Wow, suggesting giving George Santos--noted fraudster, white supremacist, homophobe, trumpist and 2020 election denier--money for a cameo is a LOW. Do you support this guy? Cause otherwise....why pay him?
I am dismayed to see a suggestion to give live creatures (ladybugs) as a gift. Sentient creatures are not playthings to live and die at the whim of a well-intentioned person looking for a unique and quirky gift. Ladybugs cannot survive cold winters without protection--and what choice would the recipient of 1,500 lady bugs have but to release them outside?