A long time ago, I realized that I needed to have a calendar is plain sight or I would never be able to keep track of the days. Sure, I also use it to write down appointments or birthdays, but it’s mostly there for a quick reference. I find it a lot easier to zero in on the correct date when I’ve marked off all the days gone by. However, I can’t stand doing this to a normal calendar because then it just looks messy and sad.
Instead of defacing your important calendar, why not get one for the express purpose of fun? The Bubble Wrap Calendar (Generate Design, $29.00) joins practicality with an innocent pastime: popping bubble wrap. Seriously, who didn’t love to pop bubble wrap? Now you can actually have an excuse to pop one bubble every day to mark the passage of time. The calendar lays out all twelve months of the year and their respective days on one sheet. Each bubble includes the date and day of the week as well as any applicable holidays, with weekends bolded for quick reference.
Please try to restrain yourself and not pop all the bubbles at once. I know, it is really hard.
4 out of 5 stars.
Specs:
-Dimensions: 48″ x 17.5″
-Pop a bubble for every day
-Weekends bolded for quick reference
-Type set in Helvetica Neue
-Keep calendar out of sunlight and heat
-Made of thick paper and plastic
My kitchen utensils are so boring. I mean, I have more than enough gadgets to get by, but they’re just not any fun. Wouldn’t you rather use a peeler that looks like a beehive hairdo than that generic one you got from the dollar store? My thoughts exactly.
Sure, I could buy a trillion basic toothpicks, but where’s the fun in that? Also, they’re disposable so you’re pretty much committing yourself to killing the Earth. If you’re a friend of Mother Nature’s and/or a geek, then you’ll appreciate the Foodfighters Party Picks (ThinkGeek, $9.99) as an exciting alternative to banal kitchen accessories. The set comes with twelve army men, six green and six grey, in a variety of poses with two toothpick feet attached to the bottom of each one. You don’t have to be a kid to enjoy concocting elaborate battle scenes with your food!
May the best man win!
5 out of 5 stars.
Specs:
- -Set of 12 army men toothpicks
- -Includes 6 green and 6 grey
- -Handwash recommended
- -Made of plastic
With all this Harry Potter hoopla going on, I’ve got to admit that I’ve thought about how cool it would be to have wizardly abilities. I mean, with the flick of a wrist and a carefully worded phase, I could totally make magic happen. My favorite of all the Harry Potter spells has got to be “Wingardium Leviosa” because while it might not be the most practical of spells, it’s certainly the awesomest. Who wouldn’t want to able to levitate objects on a whim?
Now you can harness the power of levitation without the knowledge of wizardry with the Levitron Revolution (Vat19, $99.95). Before you get too carried away, you should know that you can only levitate objects weighing 12 ounces or less. That being said, how freaking cool! The device uses EZ Float Technology, which basically means that you place your object du jour on the small floating disc and it’ll float. What’s more is that it’ll even compensate for additional weight, as long the total weight doesn’t exceed the 12 ounce maximum. The floating disc itself is magnetized so that once it aligns itself with the four LED lights in the base station, the constant magnetism will allow the disc (and any object placed atop it) to float.
Ron, who cares if you’re not as good at spells as Hermione – now you can levitate objects all on your own!
5 out of 5 stars.
Specs:
-Dimensions: 4″ x 4″ x 0.75″ (base station); 2″ diameter (floating disc)
-Levitate and slowly rotate collectibles
-EX Float Technology
-Levitates objects weighing up to 12 ounces
-4 LED lights guide alignment
-Base station compensates for weight changes
-Ages 14+
Are you bummed that the holiday season has come to a close? Good news, you can still enjoy the winter season and all the lovely frozen precipitation it brings. What? You say there’s no snow left because global warming has essentially turned our planet into a microwave? Hmm, that could be a problem.
Unlike most cold weather companions, the Year ‘Round Sled (Hammacher Schlemmer, $89.95) knows no bounds. Sure, you could use it like a normal sled, blissfully gliding down a snow-covered hill with ease while your friends frown in disappointment due to their inferior sledding devices. But what if I told you that you could have the same experience, only in the summer? Wouldn’t that just blow your mind? Grab a mop because that’s exactly what I’m saying. Using removable ice mold technology, you simply fill the molds with water, freeze, and then reattach. As the ice melts, it creates a slick surface on the bottom of the sled that interacts with outdoor elements like dirt to create a friction-free ride.
Snow? Where we’re going, we don’t need snow. We do need ice though.
4 out of 5 stars.
Specs:
-Dimensions: 38″ x 20.5″ 6″
-Weight: 10.5 lbs
-Year ’round sledding
-Removable ice molds provide half hour of sledding
-Best when used on short grass
-For riders up to 200 lbs
-Made of durable high density polyethylene
They say there’s nothing quite like the bond between a child and a parent. I mean, for those first few years of his life, a parent’s main purpose is keeping a child alive. But it’s more than just survival that ties these two together, it’s a kinship. Unfortunately even though most parents would love to never leave their child for a moment, it’s pretty much impossible to be with them 24/7. There are business trips, appointments, and basically everyday life that will get in the way of that. The key is to find a way to be present when you can’t be, well, present.
When you can’t physically be with your child, why not at least lend your voice? The In Your Own Voice Storyteller (Hammacher Schlemmer, $79.95) lets you tuck your child in using just a pen and a book. The pen-shaped voice recorder allows you to record your child’s favorite book for him to listen to later. How it works that each voice recording stored within the pen corresponds to a uniquely coded sticker that when pressed plays that recording. The recorder comes with 600 stickers, 40 of which are preloaded with generic sound effects like a ringing phone, meowing cat, and ticking clock. What’s so great about this recorder is that you can “read” a multitude of your child’s favorite bedtime stories with just the touch of a sticker, even if you’re miles away.
Obviously, you could read to your child over the phone, but that’s clearly not as awesome as this. I mean, you’d both have to have a copy of the book (like he’s not gonna want to see the pictures while you read). And what if you’re traveling to another time zone? It’s a lot easier for everyone this way, trust me.
5 out of 5 stars.
Specs:
-Dimensions: 6.5″ x 1.5″
-Pen shaped voice recorder
-Attach easy peel stickers to any book’s pages
-Built in memory
-600 uniquely encoded stickers
-40 prerecord sounds stickers
-Uses 2 AAA batteries (not included)
-Ages 3 and up
