Room Service Boxes

Like so many other businesses, Cafe Nordo in Seattle had to reinvent itself if it was to survive and what they did to pivot their business was sheer genius. They began offering what is now known as the Nordo Room Service box series where people can enjoy a dessert theatre experience right in their own living room. Each kit contains a dessert and beverages for two, keepsakes, puzzles and access to a dramatic, comedic video to guide you through your adventure.

Funko’s Grogu

Already a pop culture household name, Funko has released a new line of products based on the 2021 Macy Thanksgiving Day Parade’s Grogu balloon. More commonly referred to as “Baby Yoda” from The Mandalorian, these new products include the regular-sized Grogu – The Mandalorian Pop! bobblehead, a deluxe version, keychain with control knob, a Parade Pop! three Parade Pop! tees and two Hoodies. The limited-edition products are available exclusively on Funko.com.

The Best of Archie

Just about everyone has grown up with Archie in one way or another whether it be from Saturday morning cartoons or the Riverdale TV series. But the original Archie appeared on the pages of Pep Comics in 1941. New this year, Archie Comics has released the HUGE The Best of Archie Comics: Eighty Years, Eighty Stories that features 80 of the best Archie comics that have been printed in the last 80 years. The 700-page book goes backward starting with the most recent comics and finishes back at the beginning. “Whether it’s 1941 or 2021, when you crack open a new Archie comic, you get a moment of fun escape to a place where everything seems to go wrong but right itself again five pages later,” says the marketing team for Archie Comics.

Ugly Sweaters with a Twist

Just Geek offers the largest selection of ugly sweaters that we’ve ever seen. These are based on a variety of movie, TV and video game themes including Batman, Back to the Future, Suicide Squad, The Big Bang Theory, Boba Fett, Call of Duty, Sonic the Hedgehog, E.T., Elf, Friends, Ghostbusters, Gremlins, Halo, Harry Potter, He-Man, Jaws, Jurassic Park and plenty more. These sweaters are 100% knitted (instead of screen printing) and available in sizes from XS-4XL.

Harry Potter Bags

Harry Potter never looked so classy. Loungefly offers two great bags inspired by Diagon Alley. The Sequin Mini Backback is made with vegan Leather (aka polyurethane) with adjustable shoulder straps, sturdy metal hardware, and features foil, printed details and an inside lining with a coordinating pattern.

The Harry Potter Diagon Alley Crossbody Bag is an even more subtle design also made with vegan leather. This bag has an adjustable and detachable shoulder strap, sturdy metal hardware, and features foil, embroidered, debossed, printed details and an inside lining with a coordinating pattern.

Vinyl Post Record Club

Cratejoy offers thousands of monthly subscription boxes, but this one, the Vinyl Post Record Club caught our eyes and is one of the more unique offers on the site. Each month, the gift recipient receives new music from up-and-coming and indie artists – on a postcard! Each package contains a 5”x7” postcard-sized vinyl record, hard-written messages from the featured artist on the back of another postcard, lyrics, biography and a digital download of the music. You’ll also find subscription boxes for Disney fans, book readers, comic book lovers and a lot more.

Upgraded Movie Snacks

I can’t think of a better treat to enjoy while watching It’s a Wonderful Life for the umpteenth time. Seattle Chocolate’s Merry Little Care Package features three large candy bars with festive art (Candy Cane Crunch, Hot Buttered Rum and the Toffee Sea Salt bar. The special gift box also includes two mini bars from jcoco including Himalayan Salt + Toffee (coarse salt and butter toffee in Peruvian milk chocolate) and Orange Blossom Espresso (in Peruvian dark chocolate). Also included are eight truffles in Candy Cane and Milk Chocolate flavors. Other special gifts offered this year include jcoco’s Tasting Experience (with five large chocolate bars in more adventurous flavors) and the Sweater Weather Care Package (with three large truffle bars, a box of truffles and a sweater-shaped candy cane lollipop).

Mickey and Minnie

Oh, these two…they have been in love since 1928 and Fun.com offers some of the best Mickey and Minnie products out there including this 15.5” x 15.5” Mickey & Minnie Kiss canvas wall hanging, a pair of ceramic kissing mugs, a ceramic soup mug with a plastic lid that features the couple dancing and this 12” “Mice Time” clock featuring Mickey “hands”. The website also offers hundreds of other pop culture fun stuff to give.

The Curious Viewer

From Insight Editions, author Jennifer M. Wood (managing editor of Mental Floss) delves into the best television shows from the last 20 years offering little-known facts, lists of must-see shows and tons of trivia. The Curious Viewer is a 304-page, hardbound book includes interesting stories including how Law & Order came up with the iconic “dun-dun” sound effect, TV characters who were inspired by real people, how Battlestar Galactica was sued, the best cliff-hangers and more. Shows featured in the book include Game of Thrones, Friends, Breaking Bad, Black-ish, Mad Men, How to Curb Your Enthusiasm, Doctor Who and more.

Irreverent Tees

Ript Apparel is a great place to find irreverent and original pop culture ultra-cotton t-shirts with designs like the Famous Cars t-shirt (featuring illustrations of Scooby-Doo’s Mystery Machine, Herbie the Love Bug, two Batmobiles, the station wagon from National Lampoon’s Vacation and more), the Ghost Busted t-shirt (where one of the Pac-Man ghosts is caught in a Ghostbuster’s ghost trap) and my personal favorite, the Cookiegana Wave (featuring a particular monster from Sesame Street who has an attraction to cookies).

Adaptations of Favorite Themes

Three of the newer DVD and Blu-ray releases from Paramount and CBS Video are The Stand, Lower Decks and Clarice.

The Stand‘s two-series collection features both the 1994 miniseries and the 2020 remake of the famous Stephen King story so you can compare and argue on which is the better one. Special features include documentaries on the making of both series, audio commentary and a gag reel.

The animated Star Trek spoof, Lower Decks promises to take viewers to a place no one has ever gone before – the lower decks of Starfleet’s least important ship, the U.S.S. Cerritos. This release features two hours of special features including the crews’ backstories, hidden Easter eggs, “making-of stories”, interviews and more.

The first season Clarice takes place one year after the events from The Silence of the Lambs. Agent Clarice Starling has returned to the field tracking down serial murderers and sexual predators in the psychological thriller series. This package includes interviews with cast and crew, deleted scenes and a gag reel.