Here they are, on the busiest shopping day of the year (I just made that up), all of the Stickers & Donuts Gift Guides in one nifty place. A big theme in this years gift guides seems to be immaturity. I’m okay with that.

You can use these guides for all the birthdays, Christmases, and Hanukkahs to come (also, good for stocking up during after xmas sales, you just never know when you’re going to need to catapult a baby*). Until the internet explodes, we’re your own personal shoppers.

So, click on each image to be joyously swept away to the appropriate gift guide. If all of this linking bothers you, just visit the Gift Guide 2008 tag and scroll away.

*See Gift Guide for the one with the maturity level of Michael Scott for more information.

We’re not sure when we’ll return, but we imagine we could have a few more posts pre-2009, so check back! Otherwise, we’ll see you in January! Enjoy the holidays! xoxo

My name is Tricia, and I think Britney Spears is superb.  Perhaps I am biased (B and I are birthday twins), but Britney rarely fails at executing handsomely exhilarating pop songs.  “Toxic“?  Glorious.  This gift guide is full of exceptional things for the pretentious Britney Spears hater, the Britney Spears supporter, and anyone else who obsesses over iTunes genre classification (like me!).  Hopefully, you’ll find something here that will make your wee music lover’s heart flutter.  Remember!  You can go straight to the appropriate vendor by clicking on the products above!

1.  What distinguishes Newbury Comics from other music retailers is its impressive selection of autographed CDs.  Incredibly affordable, these CDs are dosed with exclusiveness, and are perfect for the music collector.

2. One of the best movies I have seen recently is Control.  Based on the life of Ian Curtis, this film masterfully captures the turbulent, charred life of the Joy Division-frontman.  Sam Riley is an impeccable Ian- he timidly swaggers at the right moments, and illustrates both Ian’s mental discord and ceaseless struggle between youth and adulthood.

3. I used to be a headphone killer.  Well, I might still be a headphone killer…I’m not sure.  Prior to getting a quality set of headphones, the maximum lifespan of any headphones I owned was THREE months.  As always anticipated, the sound would only come out of one ear, which beckoned a final era of complete silence.  I’ve had my current headphones for two years, and am now convinced that headphones are worth investing in.  Especially noise canceling ones.

4.  What is a stylophone?  A magical pocket-sized synthesizer!  The extraterrestrial pings in David Bowie’s “Space Oddity”?! STYLOPHONE!  If I haven’t convinced you yet, please watch the video below of a stylophone medly.  (For the last ten minutes, I have been joyously giggling in response to this kid’s YouTube videos.)

5. SCENARIO!

Friend: I want to listen to Lil’ Mama “Lip Gloss”!
Me: I want to listen to MIA “Paper Planes”!  But we don’t own DJ Million Dollar Snake Babies’ Lipgloss + Paper Planes mix!
Friend: Well, thank goodness you gave me this tight iPod DJ Mixer.

END SCENE.

6. Music sharing, FIVE ways!

7. Devoted S&D readers already know that I am a huge fan of silkscreened music posters.  An additional reminder!  S&D previously featured artists, The Bubble Process, is still having their poster sale.  $10 for every poster!  They’re going quick, so buy now for the best selection! Go!

8. My headphones cord is excessively long.  *So* long, that I always get caught in the door.  If only I had this cute monster to gobble up the cord.

9. In high school, I loved Phantom Planet (RIP).  Fourteen year old me (past Tricia) spent A LOT of time sifting through the band’s website pictures.  Pictures which frequently featured the band and their lovely Orange amp.  As a result, my teenage behavior has trained me (present Tricia) to associate Orange amps with Phantom Planet.  These miniature Orange amps are perfect for the traveling entertainer.

10. This little Volkswagon bus is a RECORD PLAYER in disguise.  Underneath the bus is a needle, which helps guide the bus around the record.  The speaker is built into the bus!  The sound quality may be tepid, but the whole set-up is incredibly adorable.  Kitties.

11.  Perfect for the music and design lover, Cover Art By: New Music Graphics explores the CD/album art industry.

(Remember, you can click on the different knick knacks to learn about each item.)

Shop all the Gift Guides: Shop for Woody Allen, Michael Scott, the domestically disabled, and more!

Everyone thinks I’m younger than I actually am. I don’t know if it’s my dashing good looks (ha!), the bright colors I wear, the ridiculous accessories (bright blue and pink heart necklaces, pink paisley rainboots, two colored stockings), or the toys I own. Probably, it’s the toys.

I enjoy toys a lot, all the better if they serve some other adult function, like erasing or holding cotton swabs. Of course, good vs. evil unicorns may serve no extra purpose, but they are ironic in a +10 kind of way. For those who enjoy them, toys also make great stocking stuffers!

CLICK on this gift guide to see more about each product!
(Pages open in new window.)

Writers use everything from paper to pens to keyboards to typewriters, which is why it’s so much fun to get them gifts: there’s so much to choose from. They usually love irony and sarcastic humor, which makes them prime targets for gifts like shot glasses containing the faces and quotes of alcoholic writers. They’re usually quirky and unique, so it’s not weird to get them a USB drive or pencil sharpener with a face on it.

What are some of my favorites from the above list?

I love the NaNoWriMo Merit Badges (if you don’t know about National Novel Writing Month, check out the web-site! it’s a super-fun way to spend the month of November, and at the end you can proudly say: I wrote a novel!).

I also love the story wallet, a collaboration between Poketo and McSweeney’s 826 writing centers for kids. (The kids made the stories, Poketo made the wallets.)

If you want to get the writer in your life actual books, especially if they are an artsily-inclined writer, try Penguin’s Book Sets or McSweeney’s literary magazine subscription.

(clickity click on the products in the picture below for more info)

A gift guide for the friend who is trying to be domestic, but can’t quite seem to grow up. Pirate toast, cupcake sandwich bags, paper doll plates that can go right on your world map placemat.

I actually own the Amy Sedaris cookbook, which is half humor-filled and half-actual-recipe-filled — the book would make a great pair with a smaller item on this page like the sandwich bags.

Every Thursday night, I almost always watch The Office. It is almost a necessity- on most Fridays, my co-workers and I discuss the previous night’s episode. AT the Office. Har har. Although this season has been kind of a bore, I thought Michael Scott would be the perfect model for a gift guide. Everyone has a friend who is (occasionally) immature, to the level of lameness. Here is a collection of oddities that might please your immature friend.  FYI- I am currently quite embarrassed by my Firefox browser history.  THE THINGS I DO FOR YOU, MY FRIENDS.

1. Baby Catapult.  Perfect for Tobey attacks.  Catapults from Fred Flare, $10

2. In Michael Scott’s mind, the only way to keep Stanley away from Utica involves mustache disguises.  Self-adhesive Mustaches from Fred Flare, $10

3. My favorite Michael Scott + alcohol moment is when Michael parties with Ryan in NYC.  “Ryan told me to always tell women you work in finance.”  The Beer Belt from UO, $18

4. COCK MAGNETS.  Big Cocks Magnet Set from Perpetual Kid, $11.99

5.  According to the vendor of this boob pan, you can also use this pan to make boob jello.  I only hope the boobs are large enough to encase a mini stapler.  Boob Cake Pan from bachelorette, $11.99

6. In season two, Michael discovers a mysterious piece of poop in his office.  This calendar is filled with turds.  Literally.  A turd a month.  Monthly Doos 2009 Calendar from Perpetual Kid, $12.99

7. Without liquor, these shot glasses are simply tiny miniature glasses (a description one of my camp kids once used).  Fill it with a little jose cuervo ESPECIAL, and naughty pictures appear.  Peepshow Shot Glasses from Perpetual Kid, $19.99

8. This is, hands down, the lamest towel I have ever seen.  I think Michael Scott would get a giggle out of this towel.  Furthermore, the couple’s faces are just too goofy.  Butt Face Towel from Prank Place, $14.89

9. “Dickweed” is such a silly word.  Slang Pint Glasses from UO, $8

I have to give credit to Tricia for thinking of this one, and for making me feel, for a moment, as if I could be both as smart as Rory Gilmore and unemployed!

Rory Gilmore was the star of the now-defunct series Gilmore Girls. Rory lived with her young mother Lorelai, and they bantered back and forth for seven seasons. Rory was smart, witty, and had great journalistic-inspirations. She just happened to be almost exactly the same age as me, so I followed her through high school and college, and in her final season when she graduated (from Yale), I graduated college, too. (And also BAWLED for the entire episode because Rory was graduating, and I was graduating, and it was the end the series.) Anyway, Tricia & I love Rory, and so did my college roommate (who I think would like nearly everything on this list).

The point of this list is TWO FOLD. FIRST FOLD: Rory is smart, fun, and classy. SECOND FOLD: Because I am unemployed, and I am like Rory, we are now pretending Rory is unemployed, and would like to get gifts for use during her new-found free time. Is that too complicated? Tricia and I are complicated people.

1. I love these little Great Ideas Books (6 from amazon.com, $40) from Penguin. They’re small, beautifully designed, and each contains a single essay that you feel like you should’ve read at one point or another. Rory would definitely use some of her unemployment time to educate herself.
2. Although Rory is more of J Crew or Banana Republic kind of girl, we want you to be able to afford these gifts, so this classy Swing Jacket from Old Navy ($35) is just the thing. I figure Rory will need something to wear to all of her interviews.
3. SNACKS. You can get these anywhere (including a vending machine) and put them in a fun movie box, maybe with a gift card for netflix. Rory & Lorelai ate lots of snack food, including popcorn, and the classic tub of ice cream when depressed. In stressful situations, they were always snacking (and never gained a single pound.)
4. Rory was never a morning person and loved her coffee, so on unemployment she’ll certainly need a way to get up in the morning. Her and her mom had lots of kitchy things, and I can imagine one of them might be this Van Gogh Coffee Mug with the Disappearing Ear (Unemployed Philosophers Guild, $13).
5. Rory’s witt and journalistic-aspirations lead me to believe that she would love Sarah Vowell, the This American Life super-star, history-geek, and humorous essayist (also, Violet in The Incredibles!). Her most recent book is The Wordy Shipmate (amazon.com, $20).
6. Tricia tells me that Rory loves Elvis Costello, and I believe her because Tricia has superb-musical memory and I do not. Elvis Costello’s Momofuku (amazon.com, $13).
7. Lorelai, at the very least, enjoyed random, bad movies. In unemployment, I think Rory might try to take a crack at classic Ed Wood, who is known for being one of the worst movie directors of all time. This movie collection Ed Wood: A Salute to Incompetence (amazon.com, $9) includes two discs and SIX movies, like Glen or Glenda? and, possibly the worst movie of all time, Plan 9 From Outerspace.
8. More classy apparel. Also interview worthy. Jeweled Satin Ballet Flats (Old Navy, $10).
9. Rory probably wouldn’t WATCH the complete series of her life, but if you are unemployed you certainly have the time to sit in bed and watch seven years worth of re-runs. Gilmore Girls: The Complete Series Collection (amazon.com, $145).
10. Finally, I think Rory would appreciate a simple, black satin dress. Since she’s not employed, she doesn’t have the money to get a brand new J Crew dress, but this Satin Rossetta Belt is a simple detail from J Crew, and it’s on sale for only $20.

I am almost always cold from October through February, even if the apartment or house temperature is set at 68.

(Clickity-click and shoppity-shop! It’s an image map, so you can click on this picture and shop your heart out!)

Because of my perpetual fall/winter chill, I own several ridiculous items to help keep me warm: a hot water bottle with a rainbow water-bottle-cozy, microwavable herbal mittens, down slippers, several pairs of slipper socks, bright rainbow flannel PJs, and (perhaps my favorite) an adult sleep sack, which I couldn’t find anywhere on the internet (instead, I found several “baby sleep sacks” and lots of sleeping bags). My sleep sack is several years old, and is basically a big fleece bag with little holes for your hands and feet to come out. I am shameless, and will wear my sleep sack with my flannel PJs, robe, slipper socks, and microwavable mittens. TRUE STORY.

MORAL: I know a lot of ways to keep warm. One might say I’m an expert I also know that there are other people out there who are like me: cold of body, warm of heart. And, you probably have to buy one of these people a gift. HENCE, The Official Stickers & Donuts Gift Guide for the One Who is Always Cold.

For more info on all of the products listed above, click on the image or read more below!

(more…)

I will fully admit that I’m neurotic, and possibly as paranoid as Woody Allen. That mole? Cancer. Pain in the tooth? An infection about to go straight to the heart. Out running? Probably going to get stabbed. It’s exhausting being me. I was also 50% psychology major, so psych and therapy jokes tickle my funny bone.

PS THIS GIFT GUIDE IS CLICKABLE! Click on the images, and get shopping.

Want to hear more about these products? Read on! (more…)

Tricia & I are now ready to introduce our Official Stickers & Donuts Gift Guides! Starting today, we’ll be posting multiple gift guides each week until xmas. Hopefully, these guides will help you shop for those “special” (ie “unique”) people on your list. (Tricia and I ourselves are rather “special”.)

We also have some ALL NEW Special Features on some of our gift guides. These include:

• The Stickers & Donuts Triple Star (***) Stocking Stuffer Seal of Approval. This is our way of saying the gift is tiny, and will likely fit in a stocking.
• IMAGE MAPS! YESSS… finally Stickers & Donuts is playing with image maps. Some of our Gift Guides will be fully CLICKABLE. Yes, that means that you can click on each product in the gift guide image, and you’ll be taken directly to that product’s web-page.

So enjoy! The first Gift Guide is coming today!