gift guides

No matter how much they're begging for one, your kid probably doesn’t need a smartphone. The official advice of the American Academy of Pediatrics is that young children need hands-on social interaction and exploration with peers and…

I love babies (especially my babies!), and I love gear, but I don't particularly like Baby Gear (TM). Especially if your friend is a first-time parent, a lot of baby gear is specifically designed to trip the paranoia trigger in their lizard…

Speaking as a mom myself, I know that the best gift you can give your mother is you. Vaccines, effective N95 masks, and at-home Covid-19 tests are now widely available, so traveling to see your parents and loved ones in person is feasible…

Systemic injustices are at the forefront of contemporary society, due to countless conspicuous instances of police brutality and other harms. Racism and racial injustice are nothing new—but the murder of George Floyd in 2020 and xenophobia…

With the weather growing colder, trawling through busy retail stores seeking gifts is a daunting task. Shopping online can be just as time-consuming, and you may run into delivery delays. Even if you successfully secure a haul of presents,…

As a certified Halloween girlie, I have always spent the stressful days leading up to Christmas mourning the loss of the spooky spirit. But I have found one thing that helps ease me into the jolly holly season: an Advent calendar. When I…

There are very few tools most people think less about than pens. They seem to spring logoed and logoless from a kind of inexhaustible reserve in cups, drawers, and backpacks. Any of these pens—or most, given a bit of saliva—will do the job…

If you’re out to raise the next generation of great thinkers, problem solvers and innovators, so-called “STEM” toys — a genre of toys and games that has risen in popularity over the past several years — might just provide the foundation to…

Like most New York City apartments, mine has outdated parquet floors. It’s easy to spot scuff marks and stains, but dust feels almost impossible. Before a Dyson vacuum entered my arsenal, I relied on a Swiffer Sweeper. (The clunky Dirt…

What defines luxury? For years, the world looked to Coco Chanel for florid descriptions of what is or is not luxurious. That would seem most unwise today, considering it has been recently reported that she was a Nazi intelligence operative…