Holiday shopping is always a chore. Coming up with an original gift idea takes a lot of work. After all, how many times can you give your dad a tie and your mom a set of earrings? You could spend hours scouring the web for interesting gift ideas, but let’s be honest here: you’ve got better things to do (like watch YouTube or catch up on Twitter). Well, fear not, because we’ve rounded up some innovative gift ideas so you don’t have to.Voice-Patterned Clothing
Trikoton is a clothing company that makes clothes using a voice knitter. That’s right, the knitting pattern that makes the clothes is determined by your voice, converting your sweet tones into binary codes for knitting patterns. Why use your voice to wish someone happy holidays when you can say it as a patterned scarf?Interactive T-Shirts
ThinkGeek have a whole range of different t-shirts that are interactive, from an electric guitar with buttons representing major chords (naturally, the volume goes to 11) to a drum kit to the synthesizer t-shirt below. Get one for all your friends and start a t-shirt band to serenade the guests at your next New Year’s Eve party! Totally zany.Primitive Gaming
Take gaming back to a time when it was little more than a flickering LCD screen that barely trumped a calculator for thrills, just like those Game & Watch Nintendo titles from 30 years ago. Choose from Mario’s Cement Factory, Donkey Kong Junior, and Super Mario Bros.
Pixellated Shades
Why should pixels just be confined to a computer screen? Doesn’t your aunt’s face deserve to be in on some of that 8-bit retro chic, too? Of course it does, buy her these and she’ll look like she’s just stepped out of an Atari ST.Mixtape Memory Stick
We all still call them mixtapes but they’re not really, are they? They’re just mixes, or more accurately, just playlists. But now you can relive those analogue days while still keeping it digital with a USB stick stored in a replica cassette tape, so you can make a 90 minute mix for that girl/guy/girl-guy you fancy and scribble the track list, and lots of hearts, on the back.Cinema Glasses
iPhone certified video eyewear for the discerning movie goer on the go. You’ll look like you’ve just stepped off the express train from Planet Future, as seen from 1993.
3D Printed Goods
You can buy all manner of 3D printed stuff from different designers, ranging from a Ctrl Alt Whelk (whatever that is, featured below) to Klein bottles to board games to jewelery to a printed shell light. Or design your own.Super Meat Boy
The hottest new indie game on the market from Edmund McMillen and Tommy Refenes. It’s a 2D platformer that sees the player as a de-skinned cube of meat battling a fetus in a top hat to get back his girlfriend (who is, incidentally, made of bandages). Makes perfect sense.Atari Wall Decals
Let someone turn their home into an Atari covered nostalgia wall with Asteroids, Centipede, or Pong vinyl transfers. Then just sit back and wait for those envious friends.Phonekerchief
Need to drop a polite hint to that smartphone addicted gentleman in your life? Hook him up with this Phonekerchief and sit across from him at dinner knowing that his eyes are totally focused on you, as the special cloth cuts off all signals due to a special embedded material.Pac-Man Moleskin
We have to bet that there’s a geek-chic writer on your list that enjoys a good old-fashioned game of Pac-Man. Available in either soft or hard cover, these limited-edition notebooks come with stickers and feature fruit and maze cover art. Not convinced? Watch this stop-motion video and stock up.And to wrap up all these fancy new gifts? Why, what else but interactive QRapping paper with a video behind every QR. In fact, you don’t even need to buy them a present. Just give them an empty box wrapped in this.
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Trikoton is a clothing company that makes clothes using a voice knitter. That’s right, the knitting pattern that makes the clothes is determined by your voice, converting your sweet tones into binary codes for knitting patterns. Why use your voice to wish someone happy holidays when you can say it as a patterned scarf?Interactive T-Shirts
ThinkGeek have a whole range of different t-shirts that are interactive, from an electric guitar with buttons representing major chords (naturally, the volume goes to 11) to a drum kit to the synthesizer t-shirt below. Get one for all your friends and start a t-shirt band to serenade the guests at your next New Year’s Eve party! Totally zany.Primitive Gaming
Take gaming back to a time when it was little more than a flickering LCD screen that barely trumped a calculator for thrills, just like those Game & Watch Nintendo titles from 30 years ago. Choose from Mario’s Cement Factory, Donkey Kong Junior, and Super Mario Bros.

Why should pixels just be confined to a computer screen? Doesn’t your aunt’s face deserve to be in on some of that 8-bit retro chic, too? Of course it does, buy her these and she’ll look like she’s just stepped out of an Atari ST.Mixtape Memory Stick
We all still call them mixtapes but they’re not really, are they? They’re just mixes, or more accurately, just playlists. But now you can relive those analogue days while still keeping it digital with a USB stick stored in a replica cassette tape, so you can make a 90 minute mix for that girl/guy/girl-guy you fancy and scribble the track list, and lots of hearts, on the back.
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iPhone certified video eyewear for the discerning movie goer on the go. You’ll look like you’ve just stepped off the express train from Planet Future, as seen from 1993.

You can buy all manner of 3D printed stuff from different designers, ranging from a Ctrl Alt Whelk (whatever that is, featured below) to Klein bottles to board games to jewelery to a printed shell light. Or design your own.Super Meat Boy
The hottest new indie game on the market from Edmund McMillen and Tommy Refenes. It’s a 2D platformer that sees the player as a de-skinned cube of meat battling a fetus in a top hat to get back his girlfriend (who is, incidentally, made of bandages). Makes perfect sense.Atari Wall Decals
Let someone turn their home into an Atari covered nostalgia wall with Asteroids, Centipede, or Pong vinyl transfers. Then just sit back and wait for those envious friends.Phonekerchief
Need to drop a polite hint to that smartphone addicted gentleman in your life? Hook him up with this Phonekerchief and sit across from him at dinner knowing that his eyes are totally focused on you, as the special cloth cuts off all signals due to a special embedded material.Pac-Man Moleskin
We have to bet that there’s a geek-chic writer on your list that enjoys a good old-fashioned game of Pac-Man. Available in either soft or hard cover, these limited-edition notebooks come with stickers and feature fruit and maze cover art. Not convinced? Watch this stop-motion video and stock up.And to wrap up all these fancy new gifts? Why, what else but interactive QRapping paper with a video behind every QR. In fact, you don’t even need to buy them a present. Just give them an empty box wrapped in this.