Gift Guide 2025
I have to admit: I love stuff. Strangely specific, beautiful to look at, and satisfying objects bring me a lot of joy. And I'm also one who loves a good gift guide. But I've never made one. Until now. Feast your eyes on a wildly spastic collection of things I love and continue to love that you might too.
Canary Cardboard Cutter
$8I get this for everybody and it's become a meme amongst friends it's so good. Did you know you could derive an incredible amount of pleasure out of opening boxes with an $8 serrated knife? This thing blows through cardboard and tape like it's butter. And it won't cut you 'cause you use the serration in a sawing motion. Nobody hates this. Everybody loves this.
Small Measuring Tapes (3-pack)
$9In addition to death and taxes, the only for sure thing is that I'm never able to find my measuring tape. So I got a pack of 3 of these tiny guys and have them hidden around the house. Always Be Measuring, guys.
Maximum Henry Braided Belt
$120I don't know how I found these belts but I'm glad I did. They're definitely on the pricier side (for belts), but they're handmade in NYC and honestly, I end up wearing pretty much the same belt over and over and over for years. This will be that one for me.
Bob Baker Marionette Theater Membership
From $100Bob Baker Marionettes puts on incredible marionette shows on the East Side of LA. They have a beautiful theater, completely handmade puppets (made in the same theater!), and live performers that get on stage and bring them to life. A city isn't a city without esoteric performances and this one is my favorite.
Anker 67W USB-C Charger
$50Two USB-C ports. A fair amount of wattage. Half the size of Apple's adapter. What more could you want? (Read: even more power and even more ports)
Needoh Cube
$10I got a bunch of these for stocking stuffers last year. I still have mine on my desk and they've really nailed the correct density for a long lasting and very satisfying fidget blob.
Arpenteur Lux P Pants
$320It was Rising Star Laundry in SF that introduced me to Arpenteur. Sometimes I'll find myself head-to-toe in the pieces I got at RSL, but I maybe love their Lux P pants the most. They have a really nice not-too-wide-not-too-narrow cut that feels modern but not like I'm trying to pretend to be a zoomer.
Brain Dead Waffle Shirt
$190I don't have a single piece of clothing that I've gotten more compliments on than this guy. When I bought it, orange was their active color— it seems to shift every season. Right now it's dark green and I went and grabbed another one.
Soft Surprise Night Lights
From $16Joanna Lin is a polymath designer who seems to be able to make hilarious gold out of anything she touches. One of those things is beautiful little nightlights.
Scent Split
From $5After getting yanked into the cologne algo on TikTok, I wanted to try some scents but didn't want to go to a store and try it in passing (you can't try it over time or on your own skin!) nor did I want to buy a whole bottle ($$). Enter Scent Split: they break down bottles of cologne and send 'em out to you. It's a "duh" idea but executed well. I've been wearing Basso.
Voidfill Ångstrom Ring
From $210When I met Sebastian of Voidfill Studio, he was wearing his ring and I knew I wanted one. It's solid silver, hefty, and forms to your finger quite nicely. A statement and a good one at that.
All Blues Standard Necklace Thin
$620I don't know how I found All Blues but I love their Swedish simplicity. All silver. Simple, beautiful, symmetric design. Gorgeous packaging. YUM.
Claude Max
$200/moAI sucks a lot. And it can't do everything. But damn, it can get a dumb idea from idea to good enough literally 100X faster than I used to. This is the greatest impact per dollar out of anything I've bought… maybe ever?
Everybody.world Boxier Trash Tee
$40These t-shirts have basically become my uniform. No shirt seems to have the cut and shape as good as they have it. They aren't especially soft or plush but they just fit perfectly. I've been buying them in packs of 5-10.
Seiko 5 Sports Watch
$350I got one of these on vacation in Japan this year, so I got a great deal on it. But even at $350, this thing is an absolutely beautiful beast and even fits nicely on my miniscule wrist. I couldn't recommend it enough.
CW&T Snatch
$52I'm obsessed with everything that CW&T makes. I pulled the pin on a Time Since Launch the moment my daughter was born and our OBGYN roasted me on the spot. They just released this new object called Snatch, which is a "non-destructive" attachment for any bag that lets it interface with a strap. I don't know how they always do this, but they do.
Penco Carry-Tite Case
$31I keep all of my travel cables (see: Anker power adapter) in one bag that I bring everywhere with me. This one feels like it was designed to fit everything I need to stay charged.
Aer Travel Kit 2 X-Pac
$69I wore my old toiletries bag down to the thread over 10 years. This one feels like it'll last another 25. I love the high contrast orange on the interior.
Vibram Card Holder
$105Designer Samuel Falzone revamps classic sneakers and gives them new lives as really killer new designs. But he also makes these wallets out of bright green Vibram rubber. I love pops of color and I was in need of a new wallet. Bingo.
Sanebox
From $7/moI've had a Sanebox membership for over 10 years now. Nobody comes close to the level of spam filtering that Sanebox does and I've used it so long that I cannot imagine a world without it.
Western Acoustics Type 2.1 Speakers
$4,000/pairThis is the only thing on the list that I don't own but want very badly. They had a listening event out here in LA the other week and I went and was pretty blown away listening them in person. Makes the room feel like there's a live band right in front of you. I'm no audiophile but I had to look a room over to make sure there wasn't an additional speaker I couldn't see. I'm also sucker for beautiful utility.
Cul de Sac Gear
From $24Colin Smight is a very talented designer. But as he says in his equally amazing newsletter, he also makes merch that serves as a portfolio of his work in and of itself. Brilliant. And worth buying.
Combustion Inc Predictive Thermometer
$183I got this as a holiday gift a year ago and I love it. Stick it into a piece of meat or fish and it has 6 thermometers inside of one probe, finding the true core of your food and stops you from ever overcooking your dish. Plus, it uses science to calculate when meat is safe to eat (i.e. 165º is instant kill for everything but makes for dry meat— cook it a little lower but for longer and you'll have the same impact with a juicier result).
Dinner: Changing the Game by Melissa Clark
$25Something about these dishes turn out great every time. They're approachable, don't use rare ingredients that require their own trips to specialty markets, and are consistently delicious.
Cook This Book by Molly Baz
$30Ok, I'm sorry, but I can't with all the infantile clipping in the book ("sandos," "mol's balls", "cae sal") but her recipes are fantastic and these all come out great. I also love the design of the book. A keeper.
Cindy Lee - Diamond Jubilee
$49This one came out of total left field to me. This is just such a complete and phenomenal album and it's so long it spans 3 LPs. Not a bad track on it. It's not on Spotify.
YouTube Premium
$14/moI never really thought I'd actually pay for YouTube until I did. It's only when I'm on someone else's account when I realize how annoying ads were and how nice it is without. That being said, they just permanently banned my personal account I've had for 10 years because of nonexistent "sex and nudity" content. Moving my porn to Vimeo!
That's Pretty Clever!
$20I'm unfortunately a big board game guy. But I tend to like the ones that can convert board game haters. This is one of those. An easy to learn dice rolling and paper marking game. Imagine Yahtzee on steroids.
Eternal Family
$10/moA streaming service with a collection of some really weird, cool, and classic media, introduced to me by my friend Al Lupovich. I need to watch Teddy Bears and Little Friends like it's nobody's business.
Overclocked: An Archive of Graphics Card Box Art
£20Overclocked is a book of the insane art that used to adorn video card boxes back when you could buy them in the mall at Babbage's.