Perhaps you know some Swistley people. Perhaps you ARE a Swistley people. If so, perhaps there are some ideas from my own wish list that would work as ideas for people you know or for your own wish list.
(image from Amazon.com)
Going Into Town: A Love Letter to New York, by Roz Chast.
(image from Amazon.com)
50 Postcards for All Occasions, by Roz Chast. I love everything Roz Chast does.
(image from Amazon.com)
Kikkerland toucan kitchen shears. (I have a similar toucan can-opener and bird vegetable-peeler. Those are great and have worked well for years now, but they’re a different brand.)
(image from Amazon.com)
French Bull graphic mini bowls. I have these in floral and I love them so much and they’re the perfect size and I use them constantly. I like the floral ones better but I don’t want a second set of the same bowls so I have the graphic ones on my list. (If you are buying a first set for a Swistley person, I recommend the floral ones instead.)
(image from Amazon.com)
Euro Graphics 1000-piece tea cups jigsaw puzzle. I would normally consider my maximum preferred puzzle size to be 500 pieces, but I have worked on two of these Euro Graphics puzzles (cupcakes and doughnuts), and they are very cleverly designed to be much easier than you’d expect for a 1000-piece puzzle: the background color gives you hints, and the pictured items are a nice helpful assortment of colors/textures, so that it’s easy to find the pieces and it’s more like a bunch of smaller puzzles. I should warn you: in ONE of the puzzles I bought previously, there were a couple of pieces that had not been well-cut, so that they were still attached and I had to cut them apart in an unsatisfactory way—and when I looked at reviews, I saw similar complaints. I liked the puzzle so much that I forgave it. But barely. Like, it seems like that is sort of the minimum requirement of a puzzle, that the pieces be separate.
(image from Amazon.com)
Olive, Again, by Elizabeth Strout. I had this on my list because Olive Kitteridge is one of my favorite books I’ve ever read, and this is the sequel. But I took it off my list again for two reasons: (1) What if it’s disappointing, after how much I loved the first one? and (2) It’s been made an Oprah’s Book Club selection, and I believe I have disliked every single Oprah’s Book Club selection I’ve tried, because it seems like they are ALWAYS miserable suffery torment books of agony abuse sorrow.
(image from Amazon.com)
Nicole Miller Rainbow Olive suitcase. It’s understandable if when you think of me, you think of a sort of muted off-blue color. But my actual favorite colors are green and pink. (I do also like blue.)
(image from Amazon.com)
TeeHee women’s no-show cotton socks in multi-pattern. My mom and Elizabeth both really like this brand’s crew socks, and I could use some cuter short socks for summer, so I added these to my list to try.
(image from Amazon.com)
John Mulaney, The Comeback Kid. I love him. I love him.
(image from Amazon.com)
(image from Amazon.com)
Library card check-out t-shirt.
(image from Amazon.com)
(image from hrc.org)
Everyone long-sleeved t-shirt. I have the short-sleeved version in light blue and I love it, and now it’s fall/winter and I’m chilly.
(image from Amazon.com)
Kikkerland retro alarm clock. It comes in other colors if green isn’t your thing.
(image from Target.com)
Chrissy Teigan pan set. I want this set for two reasons: (1) color and (2) love of Chrissy Teigan.
(image from EmilyMcDowell.com)
Like just a whole bunch of stuff from EmilyMcDowell.com. The patriarchy tote. The patriarchy magnet. The patriarchy sticker. The feminist postcard book.
(image from Amazon.com)
More acrylic hoop earrings. Elizabeth and I bought this set (she wears the largest hoops, I wear the medium ones, and so far neither of us wear the smallest ones) and they have quickly jumped to the top of my earring pyramid and I wear them at least several times a week. They’re so light I don’t even feel them, and I love the way they look especially with solid-colored shirts that might otherwise feel a little boring, or with polo shirts where I want to tone down the preppiness.
(image from westelm.com)
Dapper Animal salad plates. DAPPER. ANIMALS.
Ooh, I am a Swistley people! I’m adding the HRC shirt to my list right now, along with a bunch of the Emily McDowell stuff!
“Going into Town” is SO GOOD. We own it and F re-reads it regularly. Roz Chast is just the best.
Those are all awesome. I loved Olive Kitteridge too, and had no idea there was a second book.
Just here to say—-read Olive, Again. It will not disappoint. Superb writing and wonderful story. I read the first book and loved it. Watched the tv adaptation and felt it was so-so. I fell in love with Olive, again!
This is a great list! I was just thinking about Roz Chast this weekend, because I am reading Save me the Plums, a memoir of Ruth Reichl when she was the editor of Gourmet magazine and she reminds me a lot of Roz Chast.
I’m just SO HAPPY you’ve started posting gifting posts, so I wanted to give some positive feedback.
Thanks!
Also- ALL of those bowls are adorable, do you have any of the bigger ones?
I did buy some of the bigger ones—but I ended up never using them, and gave them to someone else. They never felt like the right size, when I was looking for a bowl. But they were so pretty, I almost kept them just to decorate the inside of the cabinet!
I love your gift ideas posts! SO fun!
I started reading this post wondering if I was a Swistley person. Turns out yes, yes I am. :)
I have a 12 year old son. Not sporty, clothes are a disappointment. Is there any hope? I have faith in your shopping powers Swistle! He plays outside, has tons of Nerf guns, likes Legos.
Okay, I don’t think of myself as particularly Swistley in terms of taste, but those toucan shears went right on my wish list, and I’m loving the Pep Talk Postcard Book from Emily McDowell. I also really want a couple of her mugs (I Have No Ideas And I Hate Everything Mug and Everything Will Be Okay Mug), but I feel like my husband would freak out if I brought yet another mug into the house, and my work already holds too many of my overflow mugs.
I WANT THE PUZZLE! AND THE SUITCASE! AND THE SOCKS! AND FOR CHRISSY TEIGAN TO LIKE ME! I have a library stamp shirt from Out of Print and I love it. I usually wait until after Christmas to by a calendar at Indigo at fifty percent off, but I’ve been annoyed that I can’t put stuff for January on the calendar so yesterday I Swistled and ordered one from Amazon and I am so proud (I even checked that it’s the proper size! Double proud!)
Also, when I was going to university I bought myself a cute retro Mickey Mouse alarm clock. I had to get rid of it after two week because the ticking was driving me bonkers.