One Line A Day: A Five Year Memory Book
Keeping a journal is a great way to improve your mental health, organize your thoughts, or record memories for later. However, starting a journal can seem daunting: What topics are important? How often? And how much time can you realistically make in your day to just sit down and write? There isn’t a wrong answer to these questions, but they make it harder for people to get started with a journal. One Line A Day answers these questions for you. Every day of the year has a specific question for you to answer with only a sentence or two. There are five entry spaces for each question, allowing you to answer the same question for five years and track how your response changes. This gift is perfect for your sentimental but overscheduled friend.
WNRS Card Game
If you have Instagram, chances are you have stumbled across content from @werenotreallystrangers at least once. However, this brand did not start as a social media account: it started as a card game designed to deepen the connection between other players.
The classic card game comes in a minimalist red box with three levels of questions inside (perception, connection and reflection). At the end of each game, players write notes to each other, to be read only after they have parted. The beauty of the game is that it can be played with family, friends, significant others and (like the name suggests) literal strangers. Gift this to the friend who is always ready for a deep conversation.
NASA Visions of the Future Posters
Drawing inspiration from vintage posters for National Parks, this series of 14 posters creatively depicts future extra-terrestrial travel destinations. From exoplanets to Jupiter’s moons to our very own Earth, each poster has a theme drawn from that celestial object’s unique characteristics. However, some assembly is required: The NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory offers free(!) downloads of these 20×30 inch posters, but you will have to print them yourself. For those fascinated by human exploration and expansion beyond Earth, these posters are the perfect gift.
Vivid Biology offers an assortment of brightly-colored posters and prints that make science into art. Poster subjects include neurons, chromatin, mitochondria and more. If you are shopping for someone in honors or elective science classes, there is a poster for them on this site. Vivid Biology offers an assortment of products, not just posters, so if you think your recipient would like a pair of bacteria leggings, a neuron necktie, or a protein structure phone case, check out the rest of the site.
The company is based in Great Britain, so prices are in GBP, and you should allow up to 17 business days for shipping. A2-sized posters are £9.99 GBP, while prints are £20.00- £30.00. Posters are printed with cheaper ink on lower-quality paper but will still last five to ten years. However, prints are of higher quality and will last for 100 years or more. The choice depends on your budget and your gift recipient’s preference.
Kurzgesagt Poster
Kurzgesagt, German for “In a Nutshell”, is a design and animation studio best known for its YouTube channel. Video topics include philosophy, psychology, technology, politics, biology, deep space and more, but the common theme is that they all explore fascinating ideas. These posters bring a similar sense of wonder, whether a detailed infographic or a glow-in-the-dark landscape of the stars. If you are looking for a gift for someone who always wants to learn more, take a look at this website.
Puzzle
While puzzles may seem slow and tedious, they are a great way to relax in today’s world of 15-second videos, especially completed with family or friends. If you are giving a puzzle, you need to make sure of two things: the puzzle is high quality, and the image is something your recipient likes. Cobble Hill and Ravensburger are two popular brands that offer high-quality products and countless images. If you know someone who likes to relax with slow-paced crafts (knitting, coloring), a puzzle may be a good idea.
National Geographic coffee table photo book
What use does a high schooler have for a coffee table book?, you may ask. Not many of us have a coffee table of our own, and if we did, it would probably be covered in homework, sports equipment and phone cords… not curated books with glossy pages of landscapes or travel destinations. However, the point of a photo book is not just to sit and look pretty. These books are filled with colorful, inspiring images of subjects like national parks, food, stars, ancient artifacts and endangered species. This is a great gift for someone who is captivated by the beauty of the natural world.
While National Geographic photo books focus mainly on animals and landscapes, you can find photo books for other topics, including architecture and art, fashion and entertainment and history.
Custom Print from Ideal Bookshelf
There are good books, there are great books, and then there are life-changing books. An Ideal Bookshelf Custom Print creatively celebrates the books that most influenced your life. You can choose from a variety of print sizes and framing styles, as well as the number of books you would like to include. This is a great gift for someone who doesn’t just read texts, but studies them.
Prices start at just over one hundred dollars and can reach well beyond that, depending on your design choices and requests for a book not already in the catalog. This makes a print more suited as a group gift rather than from an individual. You can also give a gift card rather than selecting the books for a print yourself, which is advisable unless you know the gift recipient extremely well. Ideal Bookshelf also offers other custom products, such as iPhone cases and mugs, that cost less than a print, as well as non-custom products like pins and charms.
