18 Gifts Under $50 to Satisfy Everyone on Your List
I say these 18 gifts under $50 will satisfy everyone on your list because I've tried to include gifts for all ages and types of people. Some of these products are even individually appealing to the kiddos and the grandparentos alike. The Sling Puck game. The Cluebox. The wall-projected Ninja who fights you.
Come on, Grampy! Show us that left hook you're always bragging about!
And if $50 and under is still too steep for your budget this year, check out my thriftier post on 2020's 20 best gifts for $20 or less.
Note: Gift prices are marked as they were at printing. Prices are subject to change.
Extendable Chinese Tai Chi Sword
The usual rule might be no sword fighting in the house, but these are not your usual times, and this extendable Chinese tai chi sword is not your usual weapon. Telescoping with the flick of a wrist from an 8.5" hilt to a 35.5" fully extended stainless steel sword, the tai chi training tool has a blunt edge, and is made for practitioners of the martial art - especially beginners - to develop their skills without adding a patient to the world's overwhelmed ERs.
ICEBREAKER POP Pull & Serve Ice Cube Tray
Need an icebreaker that pops! for your next party? Forget lines like "Aside from being sexy, what do you do for a living?" and "You have the nicest teeth I bet I'll ever come across," and go with the ICEBREAKER POP pull & serve ice cube tray. It's just as cute 'n' clever, and way less likely to result in a drink in your face.
The ICEBREAKER POP freezes 18 1" x 1" x 1" slow-melting ice cubes in an airtight and space-saving container you can store upright or on its side. For outdoor drinking excursions, the sealed, thermo-effective ICEBREAKER POP also keeps cubes frozen for longer.
Screwpop Hit Kit
The Screwpop Hit Kit is designed to hold a standard BIC lighter, which you can still access and light when it's Screwpopped in place, plus 4 stash compartments. The compartment include a bowl, an upper cache, and 2 internal caches. The 2-piece tool magnetically assembles with alignment pins for easy cleaning, and comes with screens.
Draft Top Beer Can Opener
Cups. I thumb my nose at thee. No, make that my Draft Top. The Draft Top is a beer can opener that removes the entire top of aluminum beverage cans (sodie cans too). Because maybe you'd rather sip your brew than slurp it through that tiny tab hole. Maybe you want a Jack & Coke, and you have the Jack and you have the Coke, but no cup to mix them in. Or maybe your environmentally conscious self doesn't want to waste a cup. Or maybe your lazy self doesn't want to venture away from the couch and Sobro Cooler Coffee Table to get one.
So many complex reasons to use a Draft Top!
Sling Puck
Sling Puck can teach us a life lesson about compromise, kids. Maybe Mama and Pop told you no firing slingshots in the house. And then when you put down your pellets and Pocket Shot and picked up your puck and stick, they told you no indoor hockey either. But combine the two, and then condense them into a tabletop game that won't shatter flat screens and family heirlooms, and you've got compromise. Sling Puck.
Sling Puck is a retro-style game made of a solid wood frame and a pair of elastic bands on either end. Ten wooden pucks are divided between two players, who go head-to-head with hand-eye coordination, and shoot simultaneously to be the first to get all of their pucks through the center slot, into their opponent's territory.
Trufflin Sriracha & Ranch VIP Set
The Trufflin Sriracha & Ranch duo are a hot sauce and dressing infused with black truffle, and dubbed the "VIP Set." Because while Trufflin sauce itself may not be the boss - certainly not by Sweet Baby Ray's trademark rights, anyway - any recipient of this luxe food gift has got to be a VIP boss, since there's no way I'd spend $50 on 2 bottles of condiments for anyone I wasn't trying to impress, suck up to, or get something in return from.
iceScreen Magnetic Ice Shield
Now that Star Wars Sunshade season is over, it's time to haul out the Wampa Ice Mitt. Or take iceScreen's advice and chuck the scraper in dumpster. iceScreen creators Dan Miller and Andy Wright have developed a magnetic windshield cover they say will eliminate the need to scrape a snowy or crystallized front window ever again. And if you find yourself at odds with the Millennium Falcon crew next June, you can also flip the iceScreen over to reflect the sun and keep your car's innards cool in the summer.
Just Text Us Doormat
"Just text us when you're here. No need to get the dogs involved." Whether you're a pet owner or not, this doormat sends a relatable message. And since anyone who comes over is certainly on their phone right up to the point you open the door anyway, it's probably easier for them to send a text notification of their arrival than to lift a hand to the doorbell or knocker.
I mean, unless it's your mother-in-law, who doesn't text at all, or ever tell you when she's coming over, in which case you should go with this door knocker instead of the mat.
Shadow Fighter - Fight Against a Wall-Projected Ninja
Time to shadow box a real live shadow! The Shadow Fighter Game from Fotorama projects a Shadow Ninja onto your wall, so you...er, your kiddos ages 4 and up can practice their martial arts moves, and enjoy some friendly competition. And, ahem, burn off some of their perpetual, pent-up, stuck-at-home 2020 energy.
The Shadow Ninja pulls no punches in battle - he only delivers them. But the Shadow Fighter Game has a punchin' 'n' kickin' training mode that will help prepare budding opponents for matchups. A great gift for kids that Mama and Pop will probably enjoy taking a few swings at too.
Glow Rhino Tritium EDC Gear
Glow Rhino's dealings in everyone's favorite radioactive isotope of hydrogen aren't just equals or betters to all the other tritium products we've seen around here, but they've likely been around much longer too. Based in Detroit, Glow Rhino has been working with tritium for over 30 years. Legally even! The company's shop offerings - at printing, a Glow Fob and Pry Bar, with more to come - reflect as much, with EDC pieces boasting solid construction, elegant industrial aesthetics, and striking integrations of tritium vials and lamps. And I'm not just blowing radioluminescence here; I have both the Glow Fob and the Pry Bar, and give them 1 proton and 2 neutrons up.
Meal Socks Box
Why do my burger & fries taste like cardboard? Actually, it's more like...poly-cotton yarn. Better wash it away with my beer - ugh! My beer tastes like sweaty feet! What is this, Heineken?
Nope, this beer, along with the hamburger and french fries, is part of the Meal Socks Box, a 5-pack of socks printed and packaged to look like lunch. I would have called it Sock Lunch.
The Tubby Short & Wide Pint Glass
Wook at the wittle chubby Tubby Pint glass. It's so cute. I just want to smack it. I just want to pinch its cheeks. I just want to pour a cold pilsner in it and suck it right down even though it's only lunchtime.
Not that I don't always want to suck down a cold pilsner at lunchtime.
Short and wide with pride, the Tubby is a pint glass made for enhanced enjoyment of your beer. Tubby creators say their wide mouth increases your brew's aromatics as you drink, plus the rim has been blown with a patent pending rolled profile to make sipping more comfortable and pleasing to your lips. The wider Tubby base also gives it more stability when set down, and glass' squat stature makes it easier and safer to stack.
Cluebox - 60-Minute Escape Room in a Box
Escaping a box sounds like about the worst task ever to me. I can't even watch David Blaine do that shit without needing a Xanax. Luckily, Cluebox doesn't require one to crawl inside its 4.7" cubed birchwood walls to make their escape. This escape room in a box is a handheld brain teaser, a puzzle completed from the outside rather than the confines of an uncomfortably small space within.
Handmade by the crafty cats at iDventure Games, Cluebox consists of various puzzles whose successful, and successive, completion leads to the unlocking of the box. In other words, solve one puzzle, and you'll gain access to the next, with the last puzzle revealing the center of the box, a small empty space suitable for hiding small valuables, or turning the Cluebox into a devious gift a la the Puzzle Pod your recipient will have to work to collect.
Sketchcase - Whiteboard Skin for Laptops
Cat stickers and sloth skins for your laptop are great and all, but only with a Sketchcase whiteboard skin do you become the true master of your artistic expression domain. The laptop whiteboard adhesive functions just like a dry (or wet) erase board, so with a set of suitable markers, you can doodle and create any number of different cats and sloths for the world (i.e., the other campers in the coffee shop) to see. And then swap them out for sketches of Puffie the Mashed Potato Chow and Paningning the Back Flopping Shih Tzu the next day.
Pure White Hell Jigsaw Puzzle
Despite its angelic hue, I think Satan would indeed be a proud papa to the Pure White Hell Jigsaw Puzzle, a 1,000-piece beast whose nature is clearly purely demonic. Facing the jigsaw looks like a fate equal to facing Jigsaw John Kramer himself.
Definitely gifting this one to my father-in-law.
Real Miniature Steel Sword
This steel sword may be forged in miniature, but it's still honed to a super sharp edge, and eager to be wielded during all the little battles you'll fight in your life. Loose threads. Plastic clamshell packaging. That damn hunk of hair that won't stay the H-E-double-lock out of your eyes now that you haven't had a haircut in 5 months.
The miniature broadsword has a handle length of 4cm (1.6") and a blade length of 2cm (0.8"). You can get it from Etsy shop Real Mini World, along with a couple of other cute 'n' keychain-ready knives, plus a whole bunch of other kitchen items and accessories shrunken down to a size suitable for Rick Moranis' kids.
Fully Sealed Stainless Steel Piggy Bank
Ain't no getting out of a New Year's resolution to save money when you have a fully sealed stainless steel piggy bank from LUSEN keeping you in check. There's no "back door" on this 6-sided vault of financial responsibility. No combination lock. No hidden release. No sweet spot that collapses the walls when you knock 3 times.
Nope. The only way to unseal this fully sealed piggy bank is to grab the Acme sledgehammer and go all-out medieval CrossFit on its ass.
Prepara Tastemaker Liquor Infuser
Prepara's Tastemaker Craft Liquor Infuser knows it takes you mere seconds to pour a shot of vodka, a minute to mix a vodka tonic, and a couple more to shake up the perfect Lemon Drop or Bloody Mary. But. If you're willing to give this booze booster 15 minutes of your pre-drinking prep time, you could have next-level shots and cocktails infused with classic, experimental, and favorite natural flavors in less time than it takes to flag down the bartender on a busy Saturday night.