Gift recommendations from an eclectic group of writers and editors
(Photograph by Joanna McClure for The Atlantic. Set design by Abby Walton for The Atlantic.)
Welcome to The Atlantic’s 2024 gift guide. With the help of an eclectic group of writers and editors, we offer 65 ideas for bringing more merriment, adventure, and wonder to the ones you love. Below is a preview of some gifts from the list. Read the full gift guide here.
Some items may be available at a holiday discount. Atlantic staff and contributors selected this list of products. If you use our links to buy these gifts, The Atlantic may receive a commission.
This holiday season my gift recommendation is the product known as Rogaine. Is this a gift? I believe it is a gift to the world, because it actually works. When I started taking it many years ago, I had a rapidly growing bald spot and receding hairline. Now I am proud to say that that bald spot is the exact same size. What product keeps its promises? I am just as bald as I was seven years ago. It’s a Christmas miracle that must be respected and honored.
— Judd Apatow, Writer, Comedian, and Director
In a world of junky wireless boom boxes with pointless flashing lights and walkie-talkie-level sound quality, this unassuming, palm-sized pellet is a quiet—but loud—miracle. For years, I’ve brought one along on beach trips, bike rides, and various other occasions that I suspected might suffer from a dearth of Charli XCX. Waterproof, sand-resistant, and capable of producing a rich roar of sound, the speaker has only one bit of filigree—a stretchy strap for fastening to tree branches. The durability is part of the fun: I love knowing that a potential party is always bumping around at the bottom of my backpack.
— Spencer Kornhaber, Staff Writer
I’ve been trying to incorporate more functional art and objects into my home recently, and one thing that has really made a world of difference in my home office is my new Akari light-sculpture fixture, which immediately transformed the space. These lamps and fixtures are originally designed by the artist and architect Isamu Noguchi using Japanese Gifu lanterns as inspiration.
— Vann R. Newkirk II, Senior Editor
Cold rain is unpleasant. Cold rain on vacation is more unpleasant. Cold rain on vacation when you don’t have rain gear: more unpleasant still. Under these conditions, I convinced myself that spending a few hundred dollars on a Stutterheim raincoat was actually rational. And, actually, I don’t regret my purchase. It’s designed by Swedes, who I suppose have no choice but to know a thing or two about dressing for the weather. In this raincoat, precipitation means nothing to me. It’s long; it’s actually waterproof rather than merely water resistant; it makes me look and feel like a fisherman. Does someone in your life want to look and feel like a fisherman? This coat’s for them.
— Juliet Lapidos, Deputy Editor
Field of Dreams—it’s a movie about fathers and sons, men and their heroes, seeing ghosts, plowing under your corn and freaking everyone out. Now a bunch of current and former baseball players are selling whiskey that is supposedly made from that very corn. (Presumably this just means corn from that general area of Iowa.) The fun part is that opening each bottle is kind of like opening a pack of baseball cards—the wooden cap has a famous baseball player carved into it and which player it is will be a little surprise. The other fun part is that it’s whiskey.
— Kaitlyn Tiffany, Staff Writer
