I’m terrible at picking gifts for people. So when I find presents that work, I never let go. Here are five terrific items — all costing no more than $25 and all available online.

1. ARTIFICIAL TURF COASTERS
For the baseball fan in your life, get these four drink coasters fashioned from artificial turf. Trust me. Every guest to our house wants to know where we found these things. ($12.95 fromĀ Bergino Baseball Clubhouse.)

2. FIELD NOTES
These are my favorite pocket notebooks — by far. I can’t live without them. Lots of groovy designs. Ā And for the nerd in your life, you can even choose graph paper pages. ($9.95 for a three-pack fromĀ Field Notes.)

3. A KIVA CARD
Transform your friend or relative from an ordinary schmoe into an international microlender with a gift card from Kiva. The recipient can lend the money you give to a small entrepreneur in the developing world. ($25 fromĀ Kiva.)

4. ONE STORY
A literary magazine with a twist. Every three weeks or so,Ā One StoryĀ sends you — wait for it — one short story published in an elegant, pocket-sized format. Great reading for airport security lines.Ā ($21 for a year’s subscription fromĀ One Story.)

5. TABLE TOPICS
This is one of those products I wish I’d thought of. It’s a cube containing 135 cards, each with a question meant to spark a conversation. I’m partial to the family set — a fixture at the Pink dinner table — but other varieties are also cool. ($25 fromĀ many retailers.)

*****

BTW, if you’d been a subscriber to our irregular, irreverent (and free!) email newsletter, you’d have heard about this list much sooner.

4 Responses to “5 cool holiday gifts for $25 or less”

  1. Justin Brady says:

    Those field notes look a lot like the Moleskine books I use. I LOVE my Moleskine notebooks!

  2. A “question card to spark a conversation”…how cool is that…how about taking a pin to the daily newspaper?
    A question for you dear Daniel…how much do you get from all this product endorsement?
    My free gift to you and all the little Pinks is another Leunig calendar, that is, if I can find it in my office move to 193 Macquarie St Sydney 2000, when Telstra finally do me the honour of connecting me to Broadband.
    As for a nice Xmas gift, how about a pot of home-made jam, always appreciated by your local garbage collector, postman, neighbours etc.
    Love as ever
    Jenny
    CREATIVITY INK PTY LTD

  3. Avatar photo Dan Pink says:

    @Jenny —

    How much do I get for all this product endorsement?

    Nothing. Nada. Zilch.

    None of the 5 companies I mentioned paid me a cent or even gave me the item for free. All I paid for out of my pocket.

  4. Table Topics says:

    I played Table Topics with my in-laws earlier this year, it really is a brilliant game to get conversation going. Sorry I didn’t think of it, I’d be rich:)