Kat Bubble Necklace ($50)

Bubbles in all of their forms are magical—delicate balancing acts between molecules pushing, pulling, and sandwiching one another to form micrometer-thick spherical enclosures that seem to defy gravity. A bubble’s appearance must be appreciated immediately, for any moment it can disappear back into the ether with the briefest “pop.” That is, unless you bequeath a special someone one of these glass and stainless steel chain necklaces, solidifying the ephemeral into perpetuity. This bubble bauble is best given to the special soul who floats through life with playful ease, grace, and beauty—a gift symbolic of the buoyancy of spirit they bring to your life.

Fortress Formicarium ($55)

As a child you’d think my nose was permanently affixed to a kimchi jar. The source of my fascination: the industrious activities of ants collected from our backyard and placed within the still pungent glass confines commandeered from the kitchen. As a 7-year-old David Attenborough in the making, the regimented ranks of workers, soldiers, drones, and queen were a fascinating society to behold, their pull irresistible. Today, I’m still apt to stop mid-stride to squat down to watch ants with the same wide-eyed, slack-jawed curiosity as my childhood self. These formicariums—aka ant farms, the entomological equivalent of an aquarium—are a much more elegant housing solution than those kimchi jars of my childhood … and a lot less malodorous, for both keeper and occupants. The Fortress Formicarium is a great gift for someone who believes one person’s pest is another person’s beloved pet.

Beans72 Organic Buckwheat Pillow ($60)

The best pillow I’ve ever used weighs 10 pounds and is full of polished buckwheat hulls. It’s far more comfortable than it sounds. Buy it for the side sleepers on your list, and you’ll change their lives. The buckwheat hulls are easy to form into the right shape and height to support your head, without trapping heat like foam does. And as Xeni Jardin points out in the Boing Boing gift guide (where I learned about it), it’s a heck of a thing to bring to a pillow fight.

Kozy Kitchens Sushi Ceramics ($70)

My friends Kozy and Dan are avid divers, passionate naturalists, two of my favorite dining companions, and also happen to be accomplished artists with a penchant for mixing the hilariously absurd with the secretly profound. Over the years the pair has gently attempted to steer me away from eating seafood, such is their concern for the welfare of marine life, a love developed over the span of many years investigating the depths of the ocean around the globe. They’ve succeeded … up to a point: I’ve stopped eating my favorite cut of fish, otoro, the most choice cut from the increasingly scarce blue fin tuna. Kozy recently offered me a more sustainable and artistic replacement for my sacrifice: her one-of-a-kind handmade ceramic sushi sculptures, fashioned in the likeness of many of the most popular nigiri and rolls, including the fatty tuna I so love. Embellished in golden and silver lustre, the 1:1 scale sculptures will delight the sushi connoisseur … and perhaps even satiate a former one. Order one and Kozy might even include some ginger and wasabi with your sculpture.

2nd Shift Design Co. Print Hanging Frame ($70)

The print-hanging frame from 2nd Shift Design Co. could make for a super charming gift. (I’m assuming you’ll also get some cool art for it as well; there’s a whole industry of poster reproductions if originals are beyond your reach). Inspired by vintage pull-down maps, the white oak frame comes in three different sizes to fit a variety of sizes of art. You could likely find something similar for much cheaper, but these are very nicely designed; the brass thumbscrews are just a smart touch. The frames also come in white.

Block Shop Hand Blocked Scarves ($75 to $120)

With names like Diamondback, Cricket, Sidewinder, and Soleri, the Block Shop’s collection of silk-blend scarves is clearly intended for those drawn to the arid allure of the Southwest—free spirits compelled to seek solace under the cosmos rather than among the cosmopolitan. The graphical eight-piece collection is hand blocked by a fifth-generation master printer in Bagru, India. The 25 percent silk, 75 percent cotton scarf is versatile enough to convert to a wrap and blanket with ease, and can be tossed into a backpack or purse even more easily. Pick one out for the person you most want to take a road trip with in 2017—the one who always puts together the best playlists for long drives and never balks at turning down the road less traveled. Greet them with this scarf in hand and tell them, “Let’s go find where the Arizona moon meets the Arizona sun.”

The Ultimate Fire Starter ($25) and The Skinth Catch All ($70)

Prometheus might have saved himself a great deal of suffering if he had just shared this inconspicuous pocket-sized fire starter instead of stealing Olympian flame. The backpack essential captures survivalist preparedness in an elegant and easy-to-use design: The ferrocerium rod and built-in scraper are a superior version of the traditional flint-and-steel, producing a spark so white hot (the manufacturer claims 5,000 °F) it can coax a flame from even damp tinder. An ingenious extending bellows design allows precise application of oxygen to fuel the flame from a safe distance if sticks, twigs, and leaves need additional help. Simply replace the rod every 1000 strikes.

Stash the Ultimate Fire Starter into one of the multiple compartments or loops offered by the Skinth Catch All, the lovechild of Batman’s utility belt and the distant cousin of the fanny pack (albeit, a notably more durable and much cooler looking hip-side accessory), and you’ve got an adventurer’s gift pack.

This pairing is for friends who do not believe it’s an adventure until you’ve hiked out of cell phone reception—the ever-prepared hiker, camper, and outdoors person whose tales embody the TV show I Shouldn’t Be Alive.

Scythe ($100)

5,000 years ago, somewhere in what is now southeast Turkey, a group of players surround a collection of roughly hewn pieces made from stone, wood, and shell, each fashioned into the recognizable shapes of board game pieces. These Bronze Age participants huddle close, thoughtfully stroking their beards in eager anticipation, waiting to see chance smiles or smirks upon player one as he throws a die accompanied by a collection of wooden sticks (their meaning since lost to time). The assortment of stone and wood lands in staccato. Arms are raised, shouts echo—one in glee, three in groans. Winner takes all.

Fast-forward to today and you’ll note that board games have made a heroic return in the form of Jamey Stegmaier’s board game opus, Scythe. Set in an alternate 1920s dominated by the towering threat of robotic authorities, this epic hybrid card/board game is for the geekiest of friends with whom you hope to spend more time—a lot more time—in the name of friendly competition.

Scythe isn’t for one-hour social nights (when it might be better to look to Uno or Cards Against Humanity), but for participants willing to navigate a dizzying array of strategic options, organize a plethora of detailed game pieces across an expansive board, and likely to appreciate the most fully realized imaginary realm this side of Westworld. Throw in a bottle of Anatolian wine to toast those early Bronze Age players and you’ve got the makings of history repeating itself 5,000 years later.

Concrete Cat Polypore Shelf ($120)

What is this? You lean closer to inspect the earthen-hued growth bulging from the base of the tree, a molten form frozen into the shape of a natural shelf. You expect your touch to be met with a spongy give. Instead, it’s hard and unyielding, like dried, hardened leather. Peer closer underneath and minute perforations are evident across the fruiting body’s lighter-hued underside, the pores—whence this fruiting body sends out a near endless supply of reproductive spores—providing a microhabitat for all varieties of insects. You’ve come face to face with a polypore: specifically, a bracket or shelf fungus, one of the toughest and long-lived of fungi you’ll discover walking underneath a hardwood forest. It’s survivor, provider, and destroyer in one. Canadian atelier Concrete Cat has cast the semblance of this hardy fungus into an even hardier sculpture intended for a domestic purpose: shelving. As a gift, it will remind its recipient that the world is a lot more weird and wonderful if a closer look is taken, a nature-inspired example of beautiful decay captured forever more.

Panorella 360 Custom Umbrella ($135)

You can’t beat our umbrella picks when it comes to value and performance, but they aren’t particularly fun to use. If your recipient (or, perhaps, you) already owns a 360° camera, they’re fortunate to have such a well-rounded means to capture a view, and they’ll undoubtedly be pleased with the opportunity of turning one of their panoramic photos into an immersive rainy-day view with an umbrella printed with a high-resolution image interior: the Panorella 360 Custom Umbrella is “a rainy day Oculus.” It’s perfect for a tech-industry friend in gloomy San Francisco or Seattle, or anyone with a penchant for whistling a tune to accessorize their rainy-day love affairs. But make sure your recipient isn’t superstitious and Chinese: “umbrella” in Chinese sounds like the word for “breaking up”!

The Torqbar ($140)

I credit my friend and talented photographer Tom Medvedich for introducing me to the world of EDC (everyday carry), a subculture of enthusiasts committed to the proverbial notion that one should “hope for the best, but prepare for the worst.” The first time he emptied his pockets I was amazed that he’d hidden away the entirety of a toolbox, the deluge of accessories reflective of his pack-rat preparedness as a professional who has learned to always make do. Perhaps no surprise, EDC types also tend to be fidgeters, personalities prone to twirling pencils, tapping their feet, and rapping their fingers across surfaces—not so much in boredom, but in relief of excess energy and thought. This pocket-size device will soothe and satiate this incessant urge with the tactile and visual pleasures of a spinning mechanism that operates like the steampunk equivalent of Two Face’s coin flip.

Secret Wood Ring ($145)

Stare into these ring-shaped microcosms meticulously crafted from wood, resin, and beeswax by Vancouver-based jeweler Secret Wood and you’re peering into the physical manifestation of Waldeinsamkeit, the German word describing the ineffable feeling of communing with nature. Each moment in miniature is unique, poetic, and a little melancholic: the deafening quiet of a snow-covered forest, the towering dark silhouettes of pinnacles against a starlit night, the dreamy solitude of an underwater abyss. I’d give one of these rings to the friend who subscribes to miniature food cooking channels and who is not only unafraid of being alone with their thoughts.

MOVA Space Collection Globes ($145)

A friend of mine has a MOVA Globe; I’m obsessed with it, and desperately want one of my own. There is something charming, retro, and whimsical about a globe that enchanted me as a child and still fascinates me now. Enclosed in a clear outer shell is a floating inner sphere that perpetually rotates and is powered by ambient light. The detailed designs on the inner sphere are beautifully rendered. Personally, I am partial to their world maps and planet designs, but they have fine artwork and sports globes as well. Choose a globe design and a base design that fits your recipient’s aesthetic, and maybe a card about how they mean the world to you.