I found out about these a while ago, but I bought some for my sisters as Christmas presents, so I didn’t want to risk them finding out. Now that I’ve given them as gifts and they were very well received, I figured I’d share the greatness with the good people online.
These things do just what they say. It’s cool, you blow into the top of the candle just how you would to extinguish a flame, and it turns on! Then when you want to turn it off, do the same thing. It’s actually pretty satisfying to be able to turn it on or off with a quick puff of wind.
The light has a great flame-like flicker to it, and the colors are just as different and vivid as the image here shows they are. The yellow/orange looks just like a real flame and the blue is just cool. The candles are made out of something that really feels like wax. They’re a top notch product.
Save someone matches here.
This little clock is totally awesome. You know those pin frame things? I really don’t know what they’re called, but they have lots of little pins that will stay in place if the thing stands on its side. You start by putting your hand in it, then, as the imagination grows, it turns into finding inanimate objects around the room to push the pins onto, then it always ends up with a face being pressed on the pins. Yeah, that!
Well, this clock is one of those, except instead of hands, objects, and faces, the pins move to show what the current time is, hence the name Pin Clock.
With each passing minute, different pins will rearrange to show the new time. When that happens, you can hear the pins move, nothing loud, just a soothing little shuffle. It’s a pretty neat little desk clock, and of course, a great gift idea!
Keep the time with metal pins here.
Round and round and round the gift ideas go, where they stop nobody knows. Carousels are always happy times; even small ones like this.
I did a little bit (and I do mean a little bit) of research to try to find out why it’s called a World’s Fair Carousel. All I could find is that the 1964-65 World’s Fair had a good amount of carousels. Also fun to note is that this is most likely a US carousel, as it spins (and yes, it does spin) in a counter-clockwise direction. Apparently the UK carousels go the other way. Neat, huh?
So anyway, this is 8ΒΌ” in diameter, has 170 lights, and plays 15 Christmas carols and 15 all-time classics. It’s a cute little decoration for any home around the holidays.
Spin a horsey gift here.
Avocado and vanilla mint. Don’t ask me! All I can say is that it sounds totally super awesome.
The product site actually has no description, which is great, but this is such an interesting sounding set of candles that I figured I’d give it a go anyway. My guess is that the avocado part isn’t so much for the smell, but more for the construction of the candle. I know it’s one of those things (is it a fruit or vegetable?) that is really good for you in a number of ways. The vanilla mint part is obviously what the scent is. I love just about anything that’s vanilla mint. I had one of those huge 3-wick candles long ago that was vanilla mint, it smelled really good. Anyway, go check it out yo.
Put some vanilla mint in that avocado here.
Here’s another creation from the island of Murano. The process used to make these glass birds sounds pretty cool, I’d like to witness it in action.
They dip a long metal rod in molten glass, twisting it in just the right way to form the dove. Then while it’s still piping hot, 24 karat gold is applied to give the bird those streaks on the side. Pretty wild stuff. If I tried that out, it would probably end up as a glass earthworm or something. The doves are available in the two colors shown there; pink and blue. Oh wait, the pink is called rose, that sounds much nicer!
Scoop out a glass bird here.
These look pretty awesome. They’re push pin style magnets. Of course, you could use them on any surface that attracts to magnets, but really, the fridge is pretty much the only place most of us use magnets.
At first glance, I thought these things look cool, but probably aren’t very strong. Then I found their FAQ page that blew my doubts out of the water. They’re made of this stuff called Neodymium, which I guess can have crazy strong magnetism.
At that site I just linked to, you can order a “free” sample one, which actually costs a buck for shipping. You can also get more colors there than at ThinkGeek, which is where the other links in this post lead. The ones at ThinkGeek are cheaper though, since you don’t pick the colors. So, there are a couple options.
Stick it to the fridge here.
Now here is a weird one indeed. These guys are called hand hooks. Some are hookish in nature, all are very handish. There are five styles of hands to choose from, and I love the names. They are called C’mere, Grab, Offer, Bestow, and Om. Bestow and Om have pictures in the More Photos link over on the product page. Om is like an orchestra conductor’s hand; wand and all. Bestow costs a bit more because it comes with a candle stick and a flower vase.
These are apparently casts of the hands of the fellow who designed these products. The site gives great use suggestions like soap container and coat hanger. I’ll take the freedom to suggest a few more. Offer could be used for high-fiving practice. Om looks like it would be great for kids to use for sibling torment. C’mere could be used to scratch behind the ear. Another use for Offer could be a good solid facial slap.
Give somebody a third (or fourth) hand here.
Earlier I posted a gift idea that will bring the night sky inside. Here is another one that allows something from the outside world to come inside the house. A tree…kind of.
The Lumen Oil Lamp is just what it says it is, an oil lamp. What makes this one special is that it comes with a stainless steel tree shape as part of the lamp. What effect this creates, as you can see in that there picture, is the silhouette of a tree projected onto the a wall of a house. Of course, it could be projected onto anything else you choose, but I suppose the wall would get it to show up the clearest.
There are four different tree silhouettes to choose from: pine, cedar, magnolia, or one with birds in their nests. I think the pictures kind of make it look creepy. Maybe it’s just me, but it looks like a background out of some bizarre horror flick. Maybe if it’s accompanied by soothing music it will be more relaxing than scary.
Plant a tree on the wall here.
You’re outside in the cold, knocking on your friends’ door. They let you in, ahhh, that warmth feels nice. So you remove your coat. Now where to put it? If only it were as easy as looking around on the walls and seeing a big red arrow to show the way. Well, now that dream can become a reality!
Imagine a pair or threesome of arrows pointing to the wall, just being there on the wall. The arrows are designed in a way to where no hanging apparatus is visible. They are available in red, charcoal, and white. The angle of the Here Hook (which is very aptly named) is less than 90 degrees, so a hung coat will remain hung, instead of on the floor. Each comes with the necessary hanging hardware.
Hang that stuff right here.
I get the feeling we’ll be seeing plenty more of this BlueQ stuff. It’s hilarious! This time around we’ve got the Make Yourself at Home magnet set. It has five individual magnets with the classic American Mother character.
The sayings on each magnet are great. One says If you want breakfast in bed, sleep in the kitchen. The one that cracked me up is I child-proofed my house but they still get in.
I love a good kitchen magnet, and these are some very fine ones. They’re a great gift idea for any housewife out there. I’d even be happy to get these and I’m a bachelor.
Decorate a fridge here.
