8 gifts we can’t stop thinking about

By Brittney Ho

Brittney is a newsletters editor at Wirecutter.

• How lovely are these marbled pouches? Upon spotting them in a local boutique, writer Samantha Schoech immediately fell in love, but couldn’t justify adding to her “collection of 1,000 pouches,” so she surprised a friend with them instead. (Call it vicarious gifting.) Sam appreciates their handmade look and that they are pretty enough to carry as a handbag.
• Also on Sam’s radar: this drapey bow necklace with a weighty roped chain, which is somehow simultaneously elegant, understated, and whimsical. “My Gen Z daughter recently told me that bows are all the rage, and I have been seeing them everywhere,” she says. “I think of bows as being a little too young and girly for me at this point, but this necklace I can definitely do.”
• Gifts editor Hannah Morrill recently returned from a trip to her friend’s Hamptons rental (NBD), where she dazzled her host with this Vermont-made herbal popcorn loaded up with dill and nutritional yeast. “My pal was truly unimpressed at first. And then did a double take on the bag after he started munching, like: ‘Wait, what the hell is this? What did you bring me? This is incredible!’” Hannah is also seriously considering snagging herself these comically expensive marbled napkins her friend had — which are made of linen and come in four stunning colors. A fitting memento for a trip to the priciest, prettiest summer hub.
• Newsletters editor Haley Jo Lewis celebrated one of the last weekends of summer with a camping trip to Morro Bay, California. She treated herself (and her camping mates) to Wirecutter’s top-pick cooler, and it was the hit of the trip. The rope handles made it quite easy to lug around, even on uneven campground gravel; it was easy to open and close; and it kept their eggs, bacon, and brews crisp and cool. But maybe most important? It looked quite chic fireside. “The light green and cream colorway is cute and vintage-inspired,” Haley says. (Speaking of camping chic: Haley sported her new Keen hiking sandals the entire weekend. And she can confirm that they are indeed, as style expert Hannah Frye writes, waterproof, comfortable, and sort of ugly … but in kind of a cool way?)
• Some quintessential dad-gifting behavior from my father: After I complained about my hand being sore from long weeks of click-clacking (at this very job), he all but forced his favorite mouse into my backpack during my next visit home. The exact mouse, which is the older version of one of our expert’s favorites, is great — and sadly, no longer available. But it has the same size and shape of the newer one we recommend: a compact dome that lets me rest my hand and lift my fingers without strain.
• Blame it on the sweat and stress of moving, but head of social Julia Bush was recently brought to tears by a friend’s “congratulations-on-buying-your-first-apartment!” gift: a framed archival photograph of the building in 1939. “I was touched looking at the black-and-white picture and thinking about all the lives lived in this little one-and-a-half bedroom before us,” she says. If you’re feeling inspired to level-up your photo-gift-giving: Our experts recommend these online framing services for easily turning photos into wall-worthy art.