EDGE Holiday Gift Guide :: Stocking Stuffers
As we’ve learned from Tiffany’s, Cartier, Apple’s iPod and pocket gays, good things definitely do come in small packages. When it comes to stocking stuffers, this is especially important because it gives you an opportunity to shine; to show creativity; to prove yourself the resourceful, inventive, clever and fabulous Santa (or Daddy Dreidel) that you really are. Whether cheap and chic or over the top, stocking stuffers should be fun and fabulous.
Here are EDGE’s top picks for fantastic stocking stuffers.
Bount-chicka-bount-bount...
Harnessing the spirit of the ’70s, the new Y-Front Briefs from Jockey are practical, fun, fashionable, and may just inspire you to make a home video with your special someone (or the guy next door, the mailman, your trainer...)! Available exclusively at Urban Outfitters, the true classic Jockey Briefs (these were hot long before Calvin Kleins were making waves) come in a three-pack tube, hand-rolled for your pleasure. They low-rise briefs are 100% cotton and come in assorted bright colors with contrasting white accent trim.
Hot!
$24 for a tube of three at Urban Outfitters and www.UrbanOutfitters.com
Seriously?
At first we were in shock, then for a second we got that "oh, that’s so cute" feeling, and then some of us actually gagged a little bit. Dogs in wigs? Is that really necessary? Fun? Fashionable? I mean, I can’t even see Paris Hilton doing it...
Someone likes it though, so if you’ve got a friend who loves little Chanel or Princess as much as they love- well- crack, then this might be the perfect stocking stuffer. Wiggles Wigs for Dogs were designed by Hollywood artist Ruth Regina, a master wig maker who’s been involved in Hollywood productions in some capacity or other for more than 50 years. You might question her inspiration- and you’ll probably wonder why- but whatever you think or do, these things are guaranteed to be conversation starters. (And just picture them trying to write the thank-you card!)
Wiggles are available in an assortment of styles, colors and sizes at www.WigglesDogWigs.com
A bit of advice :: Although they may be the right size for your cat, I wouldn’t advise trying to get yours to wear one... not that I would ever try that, but just in case you were considering it....
Sushi?
Without a doubt one of the most creative and fantastic things we’ve come across this year, Suedy’s Koo-Ki Sushi shouldn’t actually go in a stocking (it might melt), but it makes the perfect treat for surprising that special someone, and the two of you can share it while you’re opening your stockings.
Although they look like they came straight from your local sushi bar, Suedy’s Koo-Ki Sushi isn’t real sushi; they’re actually "cookie confections" designed to resemble popular sushi pieces. Each one is made by hand with premium chocolate, crispy rice, cookies, and candies, rather than rice, seaweed and fish. They also use crazy flavors including pina colada, lemon, green tea and caramel, which make them taste as fabulous and incredible as they look!
Aside from the sushi pieces, Suedy’s Koo-Ki Sushi also makes hand-decorated Lucky Cats in Belgian chocolate, Kanpai, traditional sake cups- made of chocolate, which are perfect for serving liqueur, sorbet, or- yes- sake, and even chocolate chopsticks!
The resemblance to the real thing is incredible, the selection fabulous, and the taste- delish. You can order individual pieces of "sushi" on edible chocolate plates, but we recommend the stunning multi-piece bento or Washi boxes that come complete with an assortment of Maguro, Salmon Roe, Tamago, Octopus, Sushi Rolls, and the accompanying Wasabi, and Ginger garnishes- all of which are desserts!
If there’s a sushi or chocolate fan on your list- or if you really want to impress someone- Suedy’s Koo-Ki Sushi is definitely the way to go. Available at www.KooKiSushi.com
Big size, small package
Combining practical solutions with fabulous looks, the new WD Passport portable hard drives from Western Digital are the perfect stocking stuffer and holiday gift. A hair larger than the iPhone or Blackberry, the WD Passport offers up to 320GB of portable (and fashionable!) media storage, meaning you can take your photos, videos, TV shows and movies with you wherever you go- to the office, on vacation, or simply to your friend’s house to share.
The Passport is simple to use because there’s nothing to install- just plug it in and go. It’s available with storage from 120-320GB from about $75-230 in a range of colors, our favorite being the new 250GB model that’s the same color as Dorothy’s ruby red slippers- fabulous! (We also love the pink version, because a portion of the sales price helps to support the National Breast Cancer Foundation.)
Available at big box electronics stores and online at Amazon.com and www.WesternDigital.com
Everything’s better with bacon!
Being a Jewish vegetarian, the fact that I even considered Bacon Salt for EDGE’s Holiday Gift Guides was a bit of a surprise to the staff. To be honest, when I heard about it my first thoughts were: a) bacon salt? That’s the most random thing I’ve seen this week, and b) how anti-vegetarian and un-Kosher is that? I love it!
Well, it turns out that the rebel in me needn’t have gotten so excited. You see, not only is Bacon Salt fat- and calorie-free, it’s also vegetarian and kosher. How is that possible? Don’t ask, don’t tell. Aside from that, it’s crazy delicious! Having not eaten bacon for years (aside from that veggie stuff that makes your house smell like death for days, and makes my nephew dry heave if he comes over), once I got a hold of this stuff I went a little bit crazy. Perhaps buying it the day before Thanksgiving didn’t help; to say our big dinner was bacon-infused is a major understatement.
Luckily Bacon Salt comes in 3 flavors- Original, Hickory and Peppered- so at least we had variety! It’s fantastic in mashed potatoes, green vegetables, and (according to my boyfriend) on meat and fish. The founders- two guys who started the company in a garage with $5,000- think that "Everything should taste like bacon," which is now their tagline. And one I’m likely to agree with!
Bacon Salt is available at grocery stores and gourmet food stores nationwide, and at www.BaconSalt.com for about $5.
Your family in your pocket
We’ve found the perfect stocking stuffer for parents, grandparents, and those annoying suburbanite soccer moms and dads with "My kid’s a big dork at Lincoln High School" bumper stickers on their minivans: the Pocket Album from Digital Foci.
With a 1.5" color LCD screen, nine-hour battery life, and enough memory to hold up to 73 photos on its 8MG internal memory, this digital keychain photo viewer is the perfect blend of classic and modern. At just $40, it’s also a great deal for an adorable gift. If you can get your hands on your recipient’s hard drive (sounds naughty!), you can plug the Pocket Album in to their computer and transfer some photos so that they only need to attach their keys and go.
Of course, being the angels that we are we never would have thought of this, but someone mentioned that if you loaded the Pocket Album with a few R-rated photos of yourself, this might make the perfect gift for your significant other. Of course if you decide to do that, you might want to save this gift for a private opening, not in front of the parents on Christmas morning...
Whoomp- there it is!
We’re guessing that if you’re reading this gift guide, you’re familiar with one of the most fabulous inventions of the last century (man-bags and murses not included), the iPod. One of the best things that’s come from humankind since fire, the wheel, and Madonna, the iPod has changed lives and allowed people to more easily ignore strangers on buses, trains, planes and everywhere else you may encounter people you don’t wish to talk to.
Aside from the fact that you need to download and install a new version of iTunes every time you sync your iPod, and that there’s a new one coming out every other week (usually just after you bought your last one), and that the iPhone is missing two of the most basic and commonly-used programs and functions present on every PDA since the original Palm Pilot, the biggest suck-factor lies in the earphones that come with them. The sound quality leaves something to be desired, and let’s not even talk about the fit factor. No need to worry though- there’s a cheap and easy fix; our favorite kind!
The Whoomp! Earbud Enhancers by Hearing Components solve both of these problems through the use of high-tech memory foam and cochlear implant technology (which sounds dirty to us, but we love it!). What’s best is that they keep the sleek look of your iPod or iPhone intact, and run under $20 per pack (which includes two sizes that fit nearly every ear). Pick them up at www.ComplyInTheEar.com
While you’re online shopping for iPod accessories, pick up The Original earPod from CableOrganizer.com This simple little $10 plastic headphone organizer keeps wires untangled and protects earphones in its felt-lined chamber, which is music in the ears of OCD freaks (like me!).
Available at www.CableOrganizer.com
Dinner and a movie
How can you fit dinner and a movie into a standard-sized stocking? Simple: Restaurant.com and DVDs, my new Friday night friends!
For the food side of things, we love Restaurant.com because, well, we believe in being frugal (more left for you after the holidays) and Restaurant.com offers $25 gift certificates to more than for 8,000 restaurants nationwide for only $10. What?!? Is that possible? Of course it is, and it’s also easy as hell to order them and get them in your hands thanks to their free shipping.
Aside from tons of restaurants, you’ll also find gift certificates for Mrs. Fields, LobsterGram, and other online retailers- all for sale at a decent discount from the face value, meaning you spend less and they get more. Hey- it works out for everyone, and after all, they say that charity starts at home!
To check out what restaurants are available in your (or your gift recipient’s) city and get shopping, go to www.Restaurant.com
As for entertainment, you can’t go wrong with DVDs, and wrapping up a couple discs with a gift certificate from Restaurant.com is the perfect solution for the person who has everything, the impossible-to-shop-for relative, or anyone you just want to quickly cross off your list.
Our favorite recent releases include Fantastic 4: Rise of the Silver Surfer (Chris Evans in a skintight uniform? Come on!), and for fans of indie, foreign, or Parker Posey films, Broken English, which Style Editor Jason Salzenstein saw at Sundance last year and fell in love with.
For teens, tweens, and drama queens, the Angel Collectors Set ($140) makes a perfect- if slightly large- stocking stuffer, and includes a bit of beefcake in its main star as "the vampire cursed with a human soul" fights demons in all five seasons of the mega-hit supernatural drama that was seemingly created for young women and gay men. With 110 episodes, this is definitely a gift that keeps on giving- at least for a few weeks... DVDs are available wherever DVDs are sold; if you need our help finding them, well, then frankly you need more help than we can give you.
The earth in their stocking
You may have noticed that a "green revolution" has been taking place recently, bringing attention to the fact that we’re blatantly destroying our planet and essentially killing ourselves in the process. Of course going green is good for the earth, but it’s also good for you- not least of all in the fashion arena!
For 2008, the EDGE Style Team has made a vow not to use paper or plastic bags when we’re shopping, saving a lot of resources and keeping a lot of waste out of landfills. Instead, we’ve scooped-up a bunch of Mini Maxi Shopper bags from Reisenthel, and now we’re not just green, we’re fabulous! Available in a few sizes and dozens of colors and styles, these little totes are all kinds of cute, handy, and "green." They roll-up into a tiny little pouch, with a clip to stick them anywhere, and frankly, we love ’em!
Save a tree, a landfill, and your conscious; go to www.reisenthel.com
Cute AND handy- what a concept!
It was love at first sight when we first saw the Toastit 7-in-1 memory card reader from Boynq, and since then our love has only grown. This handiest of techno gadgets looks like a petite toaster, but functions as an uber-handy mode of data transfer for nearly any memory card you could have. Simply plug it in to your computer- Mac or PC, of course- and stick a memory card in the proper slot. In no time at all your photos- whether they’re from Aunt Esther’s 80th or the last White Party- are on your hard drive, and ready to share!
The Boynq Toastit is available for about $20 at www.Amazon.com and www.Target.com
Perfect for office parties, New Years Eve, every Friday night...
While we’re never big on encouraging vices, if you or someone you know is going to drink- and who isn’t during the holidays?- you might as well be smart about it. If you’d like to avoid the drowned-rat/cracked-out-gigolo look the next morning (think Britney Spears), you might think about drinking a glass of water between each cocktail, washing the makeup and/or bronzer off of your face before going to bed, and as an added boost, bringing along Hangover Buster on those late nights spent partying.
An effervescent tablet specially formulated to prevent the symptoms of hangover (nausea, headache, fatigue, thirst, muscle ache... as if we have to tell you!), Hangover Buster tablets come three to a pack, and contain a blend of vitamins A, C, B12, ginseng, and other FDA-approved goodies. Simply dissolve a tablet in a glass of water a few times throughout the evening, and help your body help itself- helping yourself to not look like death’s doormat the next morning.
Hangover Buster is available at select drug and convenience stores nationwide and online at www.HangoverBuster.com
Find something you love? What if we told you that you could win it for yourself? It’s true- check the EDGE Reader Giveaway pages from now through the end of December and enter to win the gifts you see in our guides. We’ve tested them, but they’re yours to keep- it’s just one more way for us to show you our love!
Jason Salzenstein is a writer and editor; design, image, and marketing consultant; and professional shopper. His work has appeared in numerous national and international publications and he has clients around the world. For more information :: www.JasonSalzenstein.com
This article is part of our "2007 Holiday Gift Guide" series. Want to read more?
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