An Accept Cookies Gift Guide 🎁

I love giving gifts, and I love giving advice, so this holiday season, please let me give you some unsolicited gift advice. I have compiled some gifts that I’ve given to others, some gifts I’ve received myself, and some things that I hope to someday get (or get again) this year. Much like this newsletter, it’s a mix of food, music, feelings, and pretentiousness! 

Before I get to the other gifts, if anyone would like to get me a gift this year, you can buy any of the music I’ve released this year. Just this week, I released a new remix of my song “Still Dreaming” by the incredibly talented, two-time Grammy-winning vocalist/songwriter/producer Kimbra. You can download that, or the EP I released this spring, on my Bandcamp page. And if physical goods are more your thing, you can also get some handsome t-shirts or lapel pins here.

Okay. Most of the gifts below are in the Big Gift category, but there are a few high-value smaller items, too. They range in price from about $15 to $200. 

U-Turn Orbit Basic Turntable
Record players can get very, very expensive. There are also some cheap ones out there that break easily, which I experienced this myself—three times! — when I was first trying to get a turntable, and I was trying to spend as little as possible. I found that you have to be ready to spend over $150 to get to the level of turntable that will sound good and last for years. The U-Turn Orbit Basic ($199) is the perfect record player for someone who wants to listen to vinyl but maybe isn’t yet ready to become a hardcore audiophile. 

A membership to a botanical garden
This is the sort of thing that one might not get for oneself, because you start to do the math of ‘how often will I actually go’ divided by the number of weeks in the year, and maybe it feels impractical. But impracticality is at the core of so many good gifts. There are often special seasonal events at botanical gardens, but you don’t need an excuse to take a walk around beautiful plants, flowers, and trees. If there’s someone you like spending time with, and want to go on walks with, this is a great gift for them, because then you can go together.

Blackwing Pencils
If you know about pencils, you know about Blackwings already. But if you don’t know, Blackwings are just great, sexy pencils. Yes, I called them sexy, and if you click on that link and look at a dozen of these black matte pencils in their beautiful box, you’ll think they’re sexy, too. They sharpen easily, glide across the page, and when you write or draw with them, your confidence increases by at least 20%. 

Postalco Notebook
My favorite thing to take notes in is a spiral-bound 1mm x 1mm graph paper notebook from Japan. I have three of them. I warned you this list was going to get pretentious. But these are fantastic. They have a pressed cotton cover, which feels luxurious in your hand.

Panetonne From Roy
One of the most holiday decadent gifts I ever received was a panettone from the bakery From Roy. I was a little skeptical at first, because panettone makes me think of a store-bought, very dry bread that’s trying to act like it's a cake, with candied fruit that are too chewy. But this Panettone From Roy was something else entirely. Even though it was sent in the mail, it was perfectly moist, and so full of chocolate, I lost my mind for a moment and ate about a third of it before I even got it out of the box. A high-end luxury item for sure, but if you want to throw down, this is the way to go. 

A simple gold bangle
I got Lindsey a gold bangle to wear for our wedding, over a decade ago, and she still wears it regularly. It’s the kind of thing that someone can easily add to an otherwise everyday outfit, and suddenly it feels thought out and considered, or wear in a fancier context as a minimal statement. I like this one from Mejuri and this very delicate one from Hiro Taka, but there are a lot of great options out there if you like this idea.

BjornQorn Holiday Tin
BjornQorn was the one of the first snacks in SnackClub, and I have eaten so much of it since then. If you wanna take things to the next level, check out this special holiday tin with three different flavors of their vegan, sun-popped popcorn.

Criterion Channel membership
I know, we’re all subscribed to too many streaming services! Somehow cord-cutting became more expensive than the cable subscription I was avoiding. And networks keep launching new ones with new shows that are exclusive to them, but somehow, they feel more and more fungible. But, for the cinephile in your life, I think nothing can beat a Criterion Channel subscription. Their curation is impeccable. You could get a comprehensive film education just by randomly choosing a different title to watch each night. And you can choose how long of a subscription you want to give, so it’s pretty adjustable to fit any budget. If any of my family members are reading this newsletter, I’m dropping a hint with this one.

Some book ideas for the creatively inclined people in your life:

Bird by Bird by Anne LaMott. I wrote earlier this year about how much it meant to me to receive this book about writing as a gift from my friend Jenny Owen Youngs. If you missed it, you can read that newsletter here. A beautiful gift for anyone—not just writers— who is feeling stuck as they try to pursue their creative dreams.

Salt Fat Acid Heat by Samin Nosrat, illustrated by Wendy MacNaughton. I sometimes use food as a metaphor when trying to explain Song Exploder, something like, “a show that lets you taste the different ingredients of a song on their own to understand what goes into the final dish.” Well, this book lets you understand just why those ingredients work together. With over a million copies sold, it’s getting harder to give this to people because so many already have it, but it remains the best ‘cookbook’ for people who want to explore their own creativity in the kitchen. 

The Conversations by Michael Ondaatje [also in paperback]. Michael Ondaatje, perhaps my favorite author, had a series of conversations with Oscar-winning editor and sound designer Walter Murch, and put them all into this book. Walter Murch is someone I’ve been fascinated by. He edited the Godfather movies and Apocalypse Now, and directed my wife’s favorite film, the deeply strange Return to Oz. In this book, the two of them talk about editing, and craft, and process, and it was one of the initial inspirations for Song Exploder. I’ve given this as a gift several times. 

How to Write One Song by Jeff Tweedy. I’ve interviewed Jeff Tweedy twice (for a Song Exploder episode and for a Partners episode), and he was wise, and kind, and funny. I haven't read this book yet myself, but this is another thing on my own wish list!

If you have more questions, or want some advice from me about gifts I haven’t covered, or if you want to tell other Accept Cookies readers about the best stuff you’ve gotten or given, please leave a note in the comments section. I’d love to see some lively chatter to break in this brand new Substack. 

Happy holidays, and happy hunting. I hope you give and get some great gifts this year.

Hrishikesh