Philadelphia-based Abby Ryan Design came up with this fun infographic of the most popular toys from 50 years of holiday shopping. If you were a child during any of that time, you’ll doubtless recognize something. Then you’ll scratch your head in bafflement at how damned expensive today’s most-requested gifts are.
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To a lot of people, drones are those scary things that kill people in Afghanistan. To others, though, they’re a super-fun hobby and even a valuable tool.
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These gifts will bring you and your devoted drooler a little closer together this holiday season.
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They put up with you for 18 years, made you into a functioning human, and sent you on your merry way out into the world. Yup, they’re your parents and you love them dearly. So they deserve some thoughtful gifts that show your appreciation. Here’s how to wow them.
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Every year, trash cans all around the world overflow with discarded gift wrap and packaging on Christmas morning. Some people take the time to unwrap their presents carefully on Christmas eve so the paper can be recycled, but the majority don’t have the patience (or simply don’t care enough) to do so. That’s where the plantable wrapping paper by Eden’s Paper comes in.
This unusual wrapping paper sports colorful designs that reflect what type of seeds are embedded in the paper itself. That means the entire paper is a giant seed packet that you can use to plant in your garden. How cool is that?
Naturally, it follows that the giftwrap is biodegradable, offering more eco-friendly options for its disposal.
Options for seeds include chili, tomato, broccoli, carrots, and onions. The plantable wrapping paper by Eden’s Paper is currently up for funding on Kickstarter, where a minimum pledge of £5 (~$8 USD) will get you one sheet of the paper.
[via FoodBeast]
Make it easy on your family this holiday season. Send them clean, shortened Amazon links, and remove any ambiguity from your gift requests.
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When it comes to gifts, it’s better to skip generic presents and find something that its intended recipient would really want and use. Otherwise, the entire thing is basically meaningless.
Now you can take things one step further by making the wrapping paper itself just as special, with PicPaperie’s customized wrapping paper.
PicPaperie is essentially a service that lets folks like you and me print custom gift wrap. The twist is that it uses images obtained from Instagram.
It’s a neat way of customizing gifts, since you can wrap up a gift for your friend that’s covered in images of her pets or her face, in case she’s really into selfies.
PicPaperie recently wrapped up a campaign on Indiegogo. You can find out more about the service by checking out their website.
[via Laughing Squid]
It’s set to be a holly jolly holiday season, especially if you’re keen to do your gift shopping online. Google’s browser-based Shopping tool just scored a pretty comprehensive refresh, complete with a handful of new features designed to make it easier to browse, search for and select a variety of items. A new preview pane lets you view colors, sizes and a product description, along with online and retail store availability, while an updated Shortlist tool gathers “maybe” items in a temporary cart that resides at the top of each page. You can also get a good look at everything from cameras to handbags to toys with the interactive 360-degree viewer, now available for select items. Google hopes that last tool will help deliver an “in-store feeling,” but to complete the experience, you might also want to climb aboard an RV and set up shop in a Walmart parking lot the night before Black Friday with a “free restrooms” sign on the door. Happy holidays!
Filed under: Household, Internet, Google
Via: The Next Web
Source: Google
Once you officially make the switch from child to parent, the holidays suddenly become a remarkably stressful time of year. There’s decorating, shopping, baking, socializing, and of course keeping a watchful eye on presents so your kids don’t figure out what’s under that wrapping paper—a task made considerably easier now that someone’s re-branded a simple siren-equipped motion sensor as a gift alarm.
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Technology has made it a whole lot easier to keep in touch with friends, family, and other loved ones. Unfortunately, it takes a little of the personal aspect away because this same technology lets people do stuff on their phones, instead of doing it in person. Take birthday greetings, well-wishes, or presents as examples. Instead of a phone call, an actual visit, or a creative present, what you get instead is a text, an email, or an e-gift card.
It’s not that those things are bad, but it would’ve been better if the person made more of an effort to connect with you on a personal basis. Even if they’re hundreds of miles away, it can be possible, with a little bit of effort and a whole lot of help. Eager to extend such help is Bond, which is a service that lets people send curated gifts with a few taps on their iPhone.
Founder and CEO Sonny Caberwal explains: “I always have great intentions to send a gift or write a heartfelt letter, but they tend to get lost in the craziness of my day. Most e-commerce is focused on selling me products, but I needed a place that would help me follow through on those good intentions. So I created BOND to do just that.”
Indeed, that’s what Bond does. It’s a step up from Amazon, since instead of generic gift cards, you’ll be sending presents with handwritten notes. Actually, they’re written by a robot named “Giles,” but he has excellent penmanship. It’s the next best thing to shopping for an actual present and mailing it out yourself.
You can check out what Bond has to offer by downloading their app from the iTunes App Store.
[via Laughing Squid]
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