2018 Holiday Gift Guide

We hope everyone had a Happy Thanksgiving!

Since the holidays are just around the corner, to help prepare you to find the perfect gift for those on your list, we’ve assembled our annual Holiday Gift Guide. A special thank you to those of who sent in your holiday gift ideas and suggestions for this season.

If you’re looking for a gift idea, our annual holiday gift guide features a wide variety of gift ideas in the categories below:

Screen Shot 2018 11 28 at 10.25.41 AMFor the Music Lovers

The JBL Playlist ($149.95) is a great gift this holiday season.

The JBL Playlist is Chromecast-enabled and has magnificent sound, so play your favorite tunes from your phone, cast it to the Playlist, and be a wonderful host during these holidays while everyone enjoys an awesome sound experience.

Popular music services like Spotify, Pandora and Google Play™ Music can be cast to the Playlist, making it a must-have these holidays.


Screen Shot 2018 11 28 at 10.26.24 AMFor the Organizers

This is the year your relatives put you in charge of the famous family recipe for stuffing.

Don’t risk ruining your beautiful side dish in the car ride over. Keep your hard work & effort in perfect condition with CleverMade’s TrunkCaddy. This collapsible, yet sturdy, trunk organizer will keep all of your precious holiday items in place for the long trip to grandma’s house.

 Soft-sided, yet sturdy, the TrunkCaddy is meant to fit our everyday needs. With the built-in patented SnapHinge™, collapse your TrunkCaddy when not in use. Velcro strips along the bottom keep the TrunkCaddy secure. Additional Velcro strips along the side of each unit allow users to connect multiple TrunkCaddy’s for the ultimate organization. Each TrunkCaddy featured two built-in handles, making it easy to carry from the car into the store or house.  


Screen Shot 2018 11 28 at 10.27.10 AMFor the Young Readers

Lady Lucy’s Laugh Giraffe Journey

How about a fun children’s joke book that also gives back! It’s also a perfect stocking stuffer since it’s tall and small (4×7) and would fit perfectly in a stocking!

Children’s book author, Karen Gross, recently released her latest animal-themed children’s book called, Lady Lucy’s Laugh Giraffe Journey.  The latest installment in the Lady Lucy Series, this children’s joke book adds meaning to the phrase Laugh to Learn – about joke telling, joke writing, as well as giraffes, art and conservation. Filled with laugh-out-loud giraffe humor, Lady Lucy’s Laugh Giraffe Journey also includes interesting facts about these majestic creatures. For example, did you know that giraffes drink water through mist in the air? Or like human fingerprints, no two giraffes have the same coat pattern?

The really cool thing is that in addition to your kids having fun while learning to write their own jokes,  a portion of net proceeds from the sale of this book will be donated to the Giraffe Conservation Foundation, who co-sponsored the book, to assist them in their efforts to prevent giraffe extinction. The reality is that giraffes face extinction, with only 100,000 giraffes at present in the wild, and their population has been declining in recent years.

The Enchanted Sonata

The Enchanted Sonata is a fresh, whimsical retelling of The Nutcracker Ballet with a dash of The Pied Piper, which will captivate readers of all ages. The Enchanted Sonata was written by Heather Dixon Wallwork, who has worked as a storyboard lead for Disney and is the author of two previous novels published by HarperCollins.

In The Enchanted Sonata, 15-year-old Clara Stahlbaum has her future perfectly planned: marry the handsome pianist, Johann Kahler (ah!), and settle down to a life full of music. But all that changes when Clara receives a mysterious and magical nutcracker. Whisked away to his world—an enchanted empire of beautiful palaces, fickle fairies, enormous rats, and a prince—Clara must face a magician who uses music as magic…and the future she thought she wanted.

Dixon Wallwork is a musician, animator and author. Working under Disney Interactive, she has illustrated for many popular franchises including Lucasfilm, Marvel and Pixar, and was the story lead for the Moana playset. She is the author of two novels published by Greenwillow Books – HarperCollins: Entwined and Illusionarium.

For more information visit Dixon Wallwork at www.story-monster.com.

Explorer Academy: The Nebula Secret

Inspire a kid to adopt the mindset of an explorer and expect a lifetime of adventure with National Geographic’s Explorer Academy: The Nebula Secretwhich brings together a diverse, multicultural cast of characters for a thrilling quest that combines science-based fact with futuristic fun. This uniquely interactive series invites readers to break codes and solve puzzles alongside Cruz and his friends as they travel the world aboard the ship Orion, immersing themselves in other cultures and learning about science and technology from real explorers in the field. 

Why Gift It:

For parents hard-pressed to find a gift for their tweens, Explorer Academy provides adventure, danger, and mystery, while modeling explorer attitudes of curiosity, responsibility, and empowerment. The first title in a seven-book middle grade series inspired by the real-life science, exploration and mission of the National Geographic Society, kids will tune into skills that range from observation and collaboration to communication and problem-solving – abilities they will develop and utilize throughout their life.  

Ages: 8–12 

Cost: Jacketed Hardcover: $16.99 | 978-1-42633-159-6


For the Techie

When you’re thinking about holiday gifts, it probably doesn’t cross your mind to search “Shark Tank Rejects” to find the perfect present. This year—maybe it should.

When founder Joe Lamay presented the first Rocketbook product to the Sharks none of them were on board. But by 2016, it was Amazon’s best selling notebook. The best part? It never runs out of pages.

The Everlast notebook by Rocketbook provides a classic pen and paper experience that is built for the digital age. Although it feels like a traditional notebook, the Everlast works with any pen from the Pilot Frixion line and is endlessly reusable and connected to all of your favorite cloud services. It works with any pen from the Pilot Frixion line and with Optical Character Recognition (OCR) features, the Rocketbook allows users to transcribe and search handwritten notes right in the Rocketbook App. If you’re interested in testing one out, I’d be happy to send you a sample.

Rocketbook brings everyone on your holiday list into the digital era and helps them stay organized and efficient without wasting paper.


Screen Shot 2019 04 11 at 5.06.17 AMFor Older Readers

Get It Done: The 21-Day Mind Hack System to Double Your Productivity and Finish What You Start.

Get It Done is a proven system for getting your most important work in life done. You’ll learn how to get clear on what you want to achieve in life, put in place a realistic plan to make it happen, and then actually get it done without getting stuck in distractions, procrastination, and self-sabotage.

Bringing your most important ideas to life isn’t easy. If you find yourself procrastinating, too busy to get your most important work done, or not sure how to get started, something needs to change before it’s too late.

You’re only going to live for a set number of years, and once your time is up you won’t be able to check off your bucket list, accomplish that important goal, or achieve your dreams. So how can you possibly be too busy to get the most important things in life done?

If you’re honest with yourself, you probably have a seemingly endless list of excuses—too busy, too tired, too… But deep down, there is a nagging feeling that something’s wrong, and you know you could be further along in your work than you are now—if only you just did what you knew you needed to do.

The truth is life is complex, there will always be more work to do, and nothing you can do will change that. What you can do is learn a better system for dealing with life’s complexity so you can handle it well.

That means you’ll finally be able to get your most important work done faster and easier than ever before.

Learn more.

Mr. Food Test Kitchen’s Guilt-Free Comfort Favorites

The team at Mr. Food Test Kitchen proudly presents Mr. Food Test Kitchen’s Guilt-Free Comfort Favorites (American Diabetes Association, September 2018, ISBN: 978-1-580-40690-1, $22.95). Celebrating more than 40 years of helping America get dinner on the table, the Mr. Food Test Kitchen produces a daily nationally syndicated television segment with an audience of more than four million. Beyond that, you can find their quick & easy recipes on MrFood.com and EasyDiabeticRecipes.com. The Mr. Food Test Kitchen has published more than 60 best-selling cookbooks, including five with the American Diabetes Association. Recently their licensing division has partnered with several national companies to create an extensive line of Mr. Food Test Kitchen-branded kitchen products. For more information, please visit www.mrfood.com.Mr. Food Test Kitchen’s Guilt-Free Comfort Favorites (American Diabetes Association, September 2018, ISBN: 978-1-580-40690-1, $22.95) is available at bookstores nationwide and from major online booksellers.

The Best Seven Years of My LifeThe Story of an Unlikely Caregiver

Pittsburgh authors George Shannon and his son Chad Patrick Shannon together wrote the touching new book, The Best Seven Years of My LifeThe Story of an Unlikely Caregiver (December 2018).

With retirement approaching and his marriage on cruise control, George left for a much-needed vacation with his wife Carol. Their lives changed forever on their final night in Cabo San Lucas, when George awoke to find that Carol had suffered a debilitating stroke. During the next seven years, George and Carol would face a series of medical and personal challenges that would relentlessly test their resolve. The Best Seven Years of My Life is the tale of an unlikely caregiver, a journey to rediscovering humility, and the story of a man blessed with the amazing chance to fall in love all over again.


Screen Shot 2018 11 28 at 10.28.12 AMFor the Traveler 

The frequent travelers in your family may be interested in the newest bag collection by Solo New York.

Inspired by the NYC hustle, the Nomad Collection has two bags in the line with a new TSA approved design– a full unzip so the bag lays flat to avoid having to remove laptops in most airport screening areas – allowing for an easier flow through airport security lines.

The following four bags make up Solo New York’s all new Nomad Collection, each with a name influenced by world travel.
Unbound Backpack
Travel is smoother than ever with this lightweight, TSA checkpoint friendly backpack. The
Unbound Backpack offers a full zip, opening to lay flat so there is no need to take your laptop out for most airport screening.
$86.99
Navigate Backpack
Kick up your morning meeting style with this lightweight, tech-savvy pack. Stay organized with pockets for your laptop, tablet, and more; stay comfortable with a padded back and straps.
$64.99
Voyage Briefcase
This everyday briefcase travels easily from your desk to the plane. With its TSA checkpoint friendly design, breeze through airport security without having to remove your laptop.
$64.99
Route Slim Briefcase
Ditch your bulky bag, for this slim, grey briefcase. Despite its size, this lightweight brief has precise organization with e separate
compartments stash your laptop, tablet, notebook and gear.
$54.99
The Nomad Collection is available online at https://www.solony.com/nomadcollection and in select retailers.

Colour Pencils 2For the Artist

Derwent Academy has been created for aspiring artists and hobbyists wishing to develop and improve their drawing skills.
Academy Sketching Pencils are ideal for drawing and illustration, are easy to use and retain the high quality expected from Derwent products. The Derwent Academy range covers a wide portfolio of products including coloured, watercolour and sketching, oil pastels, sketch pads and gift sets.
The Derwent Academy Wooden Gift Box makes a perfect gift for an aspiring artist in the family.
Ideal for art students 14+, hobbyists and aspiring artists of all ages to help their creativity flow.

Screen Shot 2018 11 28 at 10.31.33 AMFor the Men

This holiday season, Gillette is introducing their limited edition gift packs, the ultimate grooming gift for the man in your life who values both form and function. Gillette’s new premium offering is the perfect option for those who want to elevate their shaving experience and bathroom décor. Why not upgrade his side of the sink, with a gift he can feel good about using and proudly displaying? 

For just $19.99, the gift packs are offered with two different cartridge options, MACH3 Turbo and Fusion ProShield. Each pack includes:

    • Premium matte black razor handle – a first of its kind offered by Gillette
    • Matte black and chrome razor stand
    • Fusion ProShield includes an all-black FlexBall feature – another first, making for an even sleeker monochromatic look
  • MACH3 Turbo comes with three cartridges; Fusion5 ProShield comes with one 5-bladed cartridge

For the Cord-Cutters

Mohu, the Cord Cutting Company, offers devices that are sure to please your favorite TV-lover as cord cutting grows increasingly prevalent in and cost-effective for American households. In fact, 1 in 8 U.S. households who cut the cord save an average of $103.10 per month.

Here are a few of Mohu’s newest high-quality, easy-to-install and cost-effective HDTV antennas and cord cutting products:

    • AirWave: is a first-of-its kind wireless device that allows viewers to combine live, local broadcast TV with free streaming channels in a familiar, easy-to-use programming guide. AirWave is available in two affordable options: the AirWave Premium Edition comes included with a 70-mile range outdoor antenna and all AirWave components. For those with an existing strong antenna, the AirWave Basic Edition includes the Mohu AirWave device as well as access to the free Mohu TV app, allowing customers to set up AirWave on any compatible streaming device, including Fire TV, Android OS, Apple iOS (iPhone, iPad), Apple tvOS, and Roku devices.
    • Blade: is a departure from Mohu’s previous HDTV antennas in aesthetic only. The antenna offers  a sleek and modern design resembling a sound bar, while delivering the same quality picture and vast reception range that is representative of the Mohu brand. Blade come with a 10-foot coaxial cable that gives customers the ultimate flexibility to place it almost anywhere: mounted on a wall, perched atop a shelf, even placed outside. Further, amplified with new FirstStage technology, the amplifier is located right next to the antenna, setting the noise floor of the digital system and mitigating the loss created by the coaxial cable, resulting in less pixelation and crystal-clear picture.
  • Striker: is an outdoor antenna with an impressive 75-mile reception range. Its unique design makes it easily placeable and ideal for almost any location and can even be used on-the-go. Beyond offering indoor and outdoor compatibility, this antenna gives consumers completely free access to the most popular network shows they care about, including ABC, NBC, CBS, FOX, PBS, The CW, Univision, and more. Because over-the-air broadcasts are uncompressed, Striker is capable of delivering the clearest high-definition picture possible, noticeably better than cable and satellite providers.
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