Forecast Teller

The weather is an ongoing source of fascination for just about everyone, but especially for children. What to wear in the morning, whether they'll be able to play outside at school or camp, these are huge happenings in the life of a child (even in maddeningly predictable L.A.). And with the spectre of global warming looming over our kids, weather forecasts are even more intriguing.

So, gift your favorite kid their very own weather station. This nice, neat, horizontal model looks unobtrusive with any decor, and gives burgeoning weathermen (and women) a glimpse into their meteorological future. It clearly displays the immediate temperature, the barometric pressure, humidity, and even boasts a cute graphic of sun, clouds, rain or snow. There'll be no more guesswork on the daily outfits (you know: long sleeves and heavy leggings on a 90 degree scorcher). And they'll learn the basics of just how the weather works.

Locate this teachable moment at www.bedolwhatsnext.com. The forecast is clear.

Major Lip Service

Ever try a product purely by chance, and then lose track of it? When I was in Europe last year, I stocked up on (much more reasonably priced on the Continent) La Roche-Posay products. This simple lip "treatment" was among them. It was a miracle worker, and now that I've found it again, it makes a perfect little gift for your favorite product junkie.

Some balms are sticky. Some are slick. Some taste nasty. Some stink. La Roche-Posay's Nutritic lip treatment possesses none of these aforementioned qualities. Odorless, tasteless, and almost textureless, Nutritic goes on smoothly, like the thinnest coating of moisture. There's absolutely no glop. Chapped lips vanish and your pucker returns to its youthful bee-stung glory. It contains no sunscreen (probably the reason why it doesn't stink or taste foul), so it's more of a night treatment or as a lipstick base. It's also ideal, I discovered, for a long, dehydrating flight.

I finally found it online at the site: www.laroche-posay.com. One Nutritic will also last for months and months, so for $12.50 US dollars, there's no reason to be tight-lipped (or tight-fisted) about purchasing a bunch and handing them out like the helpful Little Lip Fairy you are.

A Pen with Personality for Pesky Notes

Letter writers are, alas, a dying breed. With the advance of email, evites, texts and all other technological communications, the art of the letter (indeed, even the art of good handwriting) is as rare as finding a brontosaurus sampling your hydrangeas in your backyard.

But everyone still has to write thank you notes (we haven't become that uncivilized, not yet). And this beautifully designed pen helps to do it with style. It may look like a nicely shaped red ballpoint, but the novelty is on the end: hanko. Hanko, for those not in the know, is a Japanese stamp used to imprint important documents and communications. You can choose for your thank you note writer (really, a perfect gift for the bride) between an asterisk, a heart, or a pointing hand. This pen is really cool and reasonably priced, especially compared to fancy pens from other companies (we all know what those are).

Locate the hanko pen at www.cooperhewitt.org. Then let your letter writer make her mark, all over the place.

Nail Art Snob

You might be wandering around with ragged cuticles and trailer trash chipping on your toes, but I guarantee you your mani/pedi obsessed friend isn't. You know the one: she always has the latest, greatest shade (first to sport OPI's I'm Not Really a Waitress), and even if she dresses in rags, her nails are picture perfect.

May I suggest these nail color sets. The lacquer company StrangeBeautiful bases their shades more on artwork and architecture rather than on locale and silliness. These two collections aren't ordinary colors. They're colors nabbed from Warhol prints and Albers tones. And all the colors are just slightly off, transforming them into true nail art. Plus, there's no snotty labeling or cutesy names, just lovely little bottles in a lucite box (so nice displayed on a vanity).

Thus far, the only place to purchase the StrangeBeautiful libraries is at www.bergdorfgoodman.com. And that fact doesn't surprise me one bit.

Sweet Tea that Packs a Punch

The dog days of summer aren't here yet, but they're approaching. Soon, you'll be beset with barbeque invites and swimming parties. and it's always good to bring a gift. Especially if the gift can be consumed.

Sweet tea is a summer southern tradition. It's delicious and thirst-quenching. But sometimes, when the kids are screaming around the pool and the lighter fluid's exploding, you need something stiffer. Meet Jeremiah Weed Sweet Tea Vodka. I recently had a martini made from this stuff (had a bit of sweet and sour mix shaken into it, in a sugar-rimmed martini glass), and it was a mind blower. So yummy. Such a perfect southern drink that suits just about anyplace across America.

Naturally, something this good is hard to find. You can't order from the site, but they'll helpfully answer your queries via email. Go to www.jeremiahweed.com and ask for availability in your state. And then settle back and sip away.

Camp Prep for the Gifted

This is a product I truly wish I'd heard about, say, two weeks ago. It would have saved much time, steamy ironing and ink stains. Oh, well. My loss is your gain. If, that is, you're preparing to send your child off to sleepaway camp.

Honestly, the prep involved in readying your kid for three weeks of independent fun defies belief. Everything needs to be labeled with your progeny's name. But every item appears to require a different type of label. And after wrestling with the iron for an afternoon, I can honestly say that those iron-on labels are a failure. 

Enter Stikins. These super-adhesive stickers come in different sizes and stickiness for different uses. There's no ironing necessary (thank god, because if you thought slaving over a hot stove was the pits, try a hot iron on an early summer's afternoon). And all you have to do is order your assortment of sizes and types with the child's name. It's so easy, it's criminal.

This being said, you'll still have to pack the trunk, mail it off, and undergo the maternal stress of sending your kid off into the blue yonder solo. At least you won't be crying about the labeling job anymore. Find the stickers at www.LabelLighthouse.com.

Making a Croc of Cocktails.

This entry isn't a gushy recommendation. This is more of a revenge hostess gift, perfect for the party held by people you don't like, who'd you'd just as soon never see again. This gift just might ensure a complete party ban for you, but at least you'll be laughing.

You know about Crocs. God, who doesn't? The hideous shoes simply meant for waddling to the beach and back (thus offending only sea gulls, and they're already so offensive that it really doesn't matter) have somehow become a part of popular culture. Crocs are everywhere, in every blinding bright color, displaying their plastic awfulness in a shameless fashion. And with these cocktail coasters, Crocs have invaded cocktail hour, too. I barely have words for how tasteless these things are. Not only because they are Crocs, but because in using them, you're resting something you're going to place in your mouth inside a sweaty little shoe. Gross.

Not only will these Croc coasters guarantee party ineligibility (at least where that hostess is concerned), they're also on sale. Why pay a lot for bad taste? Order at www.surlatable.com.