The 2024 Lauren Policy Gift Guide

I love gift guides.  I know, I know, this is a little bit off brand for me, but honestly - gift giving is great. So this is replacing your regular off-week link list.

I love getting a gift just right.  It’s like winning therapy, but achievable; you can delight someone you love with something they hadn’t come across.  A few past winners:

• A bag with a Taylor series centered around 1989 in 1989 (Taylor’s Version) colors, for a friend who is a Taylor Swift superfan and a high school math teacher

• A 1970s Equal Rights Amendment bracelet for a feminist friend

• A map of Virginia drawn in LOTR style, for my dad who is a native Virginian and also introduced me to LOTR.

So: some ideas!  

For The Urbanist In Your Life

• I think everyone has now seen the BART holiday sweater by now, but did you know SEPTA also has one ($44.95)?

• I love Blue Crow Media’s Brutalist Calendars ($39), but they inevitably sell out early.  What does not sell out is their equally delightful maps, such as Great Trees of New York ($13), London Alleyways ($13), or a map of the art and design of the Paris metro ($11).

• The Center for a New Liberalism has some really excellent stickers, such as Upzone the Gayborhood ($5) and this amazing Bono quote ($5).

Practical Gifts

• The single best item I purchased in 2023 was this power bank with integrated charging cables ($69).  I can mostly remember to bring a power bank; I cannot remember to also bring the appropriate cables.

  

• A travel power strip ($39).  OK, you can get a travel adapter off Amazon for half the price.  But frequently it’s useful to have more than one outlet.  This is also incredibly useful when one of your travel companions inevitably forgets their international adapter, and you can offer them space on yours.

• A good sleep mask.  I tried a bunch of models earlier this year, and this two-strap model was by far the best ($16).

• I know we all love the Coway Airmega ($159), but I’ve found sourcing replacement filters without off-the-charts offgassing surprisingly difficult.  So I actually prefer the Blueair filters - I have a 211 ($349) in the living room and a 511 ($99) in the bedroom.

Miscellaneous / Slightly Weird

• I perpetually have two problems:

1. I don’t apply for things I should because I’m scared of getting rejected.

2. I say yes to too many things.

Leah Pierson and Sophie Holland made punch cards for you to share with your friends ($8.50).  When you are rejected / say no to something ten times, your friends have to buy you ice cream.  It’s a good system.

• Do you work or someone you love work in public health?  Get them a plush version of their favorite - or least favorite - microbe.  I have a Black Death on my keys, because, well, I can ($25).

• Do you need a shrimp airplane pillow ($14.40)?  As noted by Bella Forristal, it is a cooked shrimp, though, so it may not be recommended for the shrimp welfare person in your life.

  

• Speaking of EAs and their interests, does your favorite vegan need a giant carrot body pillow ($63)?

• Buttons with vintage lesbianism slogans on them. I am particularly fond of “I’m One” ($6).

• Is there anyone in your life you wish to wildly confuse by mailing them a potato with your face on it?  Because the internet will provide that ($25).

• I don’t know what one would do with this R hex fabric ($14/yard), but surely there’s something.

• One of the best things to gift / get as a gift is delicious food that is slightly too expensive to eat normally.  Also, the half-life of these chocolate-covered cherries ($15) in my house is about 0.5 seconds.