A Gift Guide of Random Things

One of the best things about a stationery shop is that we have interesting and surprising and mostly useful gifts for people. A lot of general goods and gift shops have candles and hand-made soaps and beard oil and tea tins and beer openers shaped like fish and key chains with Toronto neighbourhoods on them, but in general, stationery is such a niche market (and the world is orbiting so rapidly around our screens) that Stalogy notebooks or a Vista Safari fountain pen is still a little off the map.

If you’re a fountain pen person looking to gift fountain pens for your coworkers or your team or the people in your lives, you might already have some idea of what you’re looking for—and if you need some guidance, don’t hesitate to come into the shop or send us an email and we can make sure you have everything you need in one go.

Here are some ideas for gifts.

Japanese snack containers: Bring some trail mix to work or send your kids’ strawberries to school in style.  

A Mystery Pen Surprise is always exciting to open, especially to people new to the world of pens that just write really well. A small factor in why I’m always pushing these is that I love making them. I love the process of integrating both randomness and also cohesion within a pack.

It might be a fun outing to come to the shop and to make your own pen “surprises” for your children’s teachers, relatives, or anyone else, although our Mystery Pen Surprises are a little better value and sometimes you just need someone else to do the work for you.

Pencils are one of my favourite things to gift. I love pencils! And unlike fountain pens, which, if the recipient is not a stationery person, can be a little intimidating or esoteric, pencils are super accessible and easily shared. And a high quality pencil, like a Japanese one or a Blackwing, can be a fun luxury that might even inspire a little creativity. A box of of Blackwings makes a particularly excellent gift for music teachers.

I find it handy to have a few boxes of Blackwings on hand and to gift long envelopes of a small assortment of pencils as a little token of thanks as well, all throughout the year.

And to sharpen pencils, what could be more fun than this clear sharpener from Japan. For adults, children, families, teachers. The act of sharpening a pencil is a bit of a mental preparation as well. Plus this one is fun because it pops the pencil out once the lead is sharpened.

Another gift that has always been well-received is a set of Foglietto cards. Perfect for organizers, anyone keeping track of projects, or for your office boss. They are super high quality, and even without excessive packaging they look great. As a bonus, they’re easy to wrap. My kids love decorating them as tickets to their make-believe worlds (and also to their bedrooms for which they pay no rent but for some reason require paid admittance), I love using them to keep track of my reading, but their uses are endless.

A set of Pokemon stamps. They are reward stamps for life. Having answered a challenging email, I give myself a celebratory pikachu in my notebook and rest on my laurels for the rest of the afternoon.

And lastly, for tiny treasures, these lovely tins that close with a satisfying click and also slip nicely into various pockets. Fill them with candy before gifting! Or ink samples! Or rainbow paper clips!

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In any case, I hope your Christmas and holiday gifting operations are well under way. There seem to be an unusually high number of extremely organized people crossing my paths these days. I’m starting conversations with people around holiday plans, anticipating commiseration around looming deadlines the risky business of ordering things quite late, and people are telling me that they’re all ready for the big day, boxes wrapped and ready under the tree. I need to slowly wind down the conversation discreetly in order to return to my cave of procrastination and indecision.