Ah, the holidays (quickly) approacheth. By publishing time, you've got exactly one week before Festivus. What are you waiting for?!
What a time to be alive and rack up some credit card points and debt! These gift ideas are Higgins Plan Approved ™ and have been personally tested and used.
Air Hawk Pro. The best thing for inflating tires since sliced bread...er, bicycle pumps. Hate going to the gas station and paying $1.25 in quarters only to find out the pump doesn't work/sprays water(?!) into your tires/has no working gauge/looks like it was run over by the gas truck a few-too-many-times/hate being haggled by strangers (maybe just hate interacting with people in general at this time)/don't want to touch anything you haven't personally owned for more than 5 seconds/don't want to be put in compromising positions while at a seedy gas station in the middle of nowhere trying to make the hose fit your car? I could go on. Needless to say, if you drive a car, you want this. Yes, it has a silly/amazing name depending on what side you find yourself. Me, I think it's awesome - have you seen the infomercial yet? Go ahead, I'll wait. *screams in hawk sounds* It comes with a battery and a cigarette lighter adapter. It's so easy to use, I actually follow the recommendation of checking my tire pressure every two weeks and fill up my tires when they need it - especially with the change in weather. Higgins Plan Editorial Note: the Air Hawk Pro is not entirely accurate in displaying the PSI - it is consistent, however. Because of this, I recommend double checking your PSI with a nice tire gauge. I personally use a digital gauge (which is no longer available on ye olde Amazon). When in doubt, go with what Wirecutter recommends here: Tire Gauge As an aside, you are using Wirecutter for all of your reviews needs (besides The Higgins Plan of course), right?
Keeping with the bird theme - for the bird lover in all of us (really for the art lover in all of us): Do you have a loved one that is obsessed with birds and board games? I knew it! Well, you are in luck this year. You'll win their little bird hearts by dropping this in front of their binoculars: Wingspan, the board game! What better way to while away the long Winter hours than to play a board game that plays well and looks even better? This board game is Mom approved.
Blue light glasses. They're all the rage these days. All that blue light keeping us down and depressed - that's the real culprit behind Seasonal Affective Disorder, isn't it? Wait, what's that? No that's not why it's called Blue Light? Oh, well apparently, all of our staring at screens can be terrible for us, who knew?! The blue light waves emitted from our LED screens can affect our sleep cycles (particularly when we are getting ready for bed). While eye doctors will tell you that the best medicine is to stop looking at your screen before bed and that you don't need to buy Blue Light blocking glasses, have you ever tried this? I have, and it's lasted about 1 week. With how busy we are during the day and after work activities, there's often only a small fraction of time to try to catch up on reading your favorite collection of poetry or news or blog before bed. So for normal people like us, you need some sort of protection. During the day, I use the following. For bright days, I wear clear MVMT Everscroll glasses. I bought these only because I wanted clear lenses and was able to get a good price during a sale. They work great and look even better to boot. I would not pay full price for them, but if you are more fashion conscious, I would recommend these over my next pick.
Wearing them before they were cool, way back in 2011, are my first pick and top recommendation: Gunnar Optiks. You are not a true, 100% certified nerd until you A) visit this page B) buy them and wear them. True, these are not the most fashionable glasses out there, but they have come a long way in the past 10 years. With the yellow tint, they work flawlessly for those cloudy days when you can actually feel your monitor piercing your occipital lobe. I've worn the Shea Dogs for last ten years, and they have held up through countless hours of office work and gaming sessions. These were one of the first models they offered, and while they don't do me any favors (they would look better on someone who doesn't have the largest head in the Higgins family - yes, we all measured during my parent's 50th Wedding Anniversary - yes, weirdness is genetic), they do the job and are durable. These get The Higgins Plan Seal of Approval for sure. I would definitely feel OK buying any of their glasses at full price again.
Saving the best for last, the big guns, the I-need-to-read-this-entire-long-form-article-before-I-go-to-sleep glasses and the quickest ticket to certified Nerd are the Uvex Ultra-Spec 2000 (even the name is nerdy! Gotta love it!) These bad boys will block out 99.8% of blue light and are worn by both myself and my wife before bed. If you want the most protection for a better sleep before bed, I cannot recommend these enough. If you have a smaller head, or want something that is less bulky, but offers the same protection, the Uvex Skyper (available on the same linked page above) is equally as amazing and a bit sleeker.
Well that's a short list, but you have one week to get presents and you should've thought ahead instead of procrastinating. If you are truly stumped, always lean back on A) Amazon gift card B) Cold Hard American Cash. I am always available for more advice. Drop me on the Contact form at the bottom of my page here if you want me to tell you what to recommend or review and I'll write it up.