Everyone loves giving and receiving gifts, especially around the holidays. Showing someone you know them well, and them loving the gift you chose for them is a great feeling. It’s equally great when you receive a gift that someone put time into choosing for you.
What’s maybe not so great is the part where you actually have to find a gift. We’re spoiled for choice between what we can find in stores, nevermind the wonderful world of online shopping. So, we asked our team to help out and offer some recommendations based on their own holiday wishlists.
Today’s wishlist comes from Aaron Crowder.
Aaron is a Staff Engineer at Govalo, writing code and leading other engineers. He lives in Salt Lake City, but spent the first half of his childhood in Ventura County CA and still considers it his first home. His hobbies include tinkering - be it with code, new gadgets, or 3D printing - and scotch drinking. One of Aaron's favorite parts of the Holidays is spending time with his wife and two daughters and seeing the magic of giving through their eyes.
#1 - Stands - Fandom merch for a cause
Founded in 2015, Stands is an online merchandise portal with a charitable twist. They bring together actors beloved by their fandoms and artists to collaborate and design merchandise. Anything from hoodies to pins to mugs and more, Stands takes care of production and a portion of the sales goes towards a charity of the actor’s choosing. The perfect gift for anyone you know who’s big into a particular fandom or a fan of a particular actor like Wil Wheaton, Jared Padelecki, Katee Sackhoff and more.
#2 - Pit Viper - Durable stylish sport eyewear
After years of skiing, partying, and living it up, Pit Viper founder Chuck Mumford became frustrated with the lack of high-end sport sunglasses able to keep up with his fun-loving lifestyle. Flimsy materials, poor build quality, they’d fall apart pretty quickly. He teamed up with friend Chris Garcin to design a range of sunglasses that were functional, stylish, and extremely durable. Their goal is to create eyewear that can endure any of the activities the wearer loves, as well as being able to take a beating from everyday wear and tear whether that’s being shoved into a bag or even run over by a truck.
Click here to shop - Pit Viper
#3 - Beardbrand - High quality beard grooming products
Beardbrand started out as a small community in 2012 with a blog, Tumblr, and YouTube channel. Eric wanted to have a platform to build a community of bearded men - or beardsmen - to share beard care knowledge and style inspiration, changing the perception of beards meaning a man was “unkempt”. With the help of a small team, Beardbrand launched their own line of products and the rest is history. They work with only high quality products, believing that beard care deserves the same high standards as any other grooming products. From beard brushes to fragrances, kits and more, you’ll find the ideal gift for the bearded guys in your life to keep their facial fuzz looking great.
Click here to shop - Beardbrand
#4 - Quad Lock - Easy to use smartphone mounts
These days, we use our smartphones for everything. We track our fitness, listen to music, watch tv shows, navigate with maps, and so much more beyond just phone calls and messaging. That means it’s so important that we can be flexible with how we use our smartphones, and mounts make that possible. However, there are many on the market that are either flimsy, not secure enough, or poorly designed. That’s where Quad Lock comes in to save the day with their patented dual-stage locking mechanism that securely fixes your phone to the mount so you can use it wherever you need it. In the car, at your desk, on a bike, wherever you need it you can guarantee that phone isn’t going anywhere.
Click here to shop - Quad Lock
#5 - Helm Boots - Timelessly stylish men’s boots
Helm has been designing and perfecting the modern men’s boot in Austin, Texas, since 2009. Their concept is simple - versatile, timeless, functional men’s boots made to the highest standards of quality and a respect for craftsmanship. In fact there are over 153 steps and 14 different craftsmen involved in making a single pair of Helm boots. Their boots are designed to be worn anywhere, whether you’re wearing them with a suit to an important meeting, or just even in a workshop working on your hobby. Their classic style and durability mean they’re made to last - both when it comes to outlasting trends, and everyday wear-and-tear.
