Cailey Lindberg, Katarina Avendaño |
We named this the best overall throw blanket for its luxury feel — the low price is a huge bonus! “The throw blanket feels quite substantial for just $25, and I’m impressed by how warm and cozy it is,” says Monique Valeris, home design director for Good Housekeeping. It’s available in five sizes and 26 colors.
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Help them keep track of everyone’s birthday using this cute wooden sign. “Great item, we all look at it every day to see whose birthday is next,” one Amazon reviewer writes. It comes with 50 circles and 50 hearts. Your loved one will use their own permanent marker (like a Sharpie) to list and hang up to 100 names with dates.
This features an electric, flameless heater, so they can roast marshmallows indoors whenever a craving hits. In a review from our Lab experts, we noted that the spacious grill surface and four roasting forks makes this ideal for groups.
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We like this set for a family to build together. It can make any of three different scenes — a traditional American main street, an Art Deco skyscraper or an arched marketplace. It can’t build all three, just any one of them, so it can be fun to build one, take it apart, then build another! Six minifigures are included.
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When our Appliance Lab Experts named this the best overall ice cream machine, they noted that it whips up two quarts of ice cream or sorbet in as little as 25 minutes. There’s little work required — an integrated motor spins the mixing paddle inside the double-insulated freezer bowl to create a frozen treat.
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There are 100 films listed on this poster, and the family can scratch a square to reveal a movie icon once they’ve viewed it. Films include a good mix of Disney classics, action movies and feel-good coming-of-age stories like Forrest Gump.
Inside this guide they’ll find 50 easy but hilarious challenges to scratch off and complete together as a family. The 30-page book also includes blank spaces to fill with photos of each challenge in action. Think: a marshmallow war, an obstacle course, etc. It’s best for kids ages 4 to 15, and for families of four up to families of eight.
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A family can watch their favorite movies in the backyard or on vacation with this mini outdoor projector that’s the size of a Coke can. It includes built-in speakers and a remote, and every full charge of the rechargeable battery gives four hours of playing time.
Give them the useful gift of more counter space with this super slim two-slice toaster, just wide enough for sliced bagels. Both our Lab analysts and home testers gave perfect marks to this affordable award winner, which can toast on any of six settings.
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Jason and Ana Willenbrock National Park Chocolate Bar Collection
For the family that loves chocolate, these bars come in interesting and unique flavors — think horchata hazelnut, or chai with almonds and smoked salt — wrapped in gorgeous images of our USA National Parks. You get a set of four, either the milk chocolate set or the dark chocolate set, made in Missoula, Montana.
Personalize this sign with their family name — it’s got more than 5,500 five-star Amazon reviews. Made of steel with a weather-resistant coating, the 12″ version is just $18, but you can upgrade to larger versions too. The extra-large 36″-inch version, shown costs over $100.
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You can put up to three family or pet faces on these socks sold in kid and adult sizes. The price shown is for one pair of kid socks; and adult pair costs only a couple of dollars more. There are other versions for moms, for dads and for Christmas.
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These 135 cards are a fun way to get quiet teens or new guests talking with questions like, “what music reminds you of childhood?” or “What’s the biggest risk you’ve every taken?” Either the person who draws the card answers, or you go around the table and each say something — there are zero rules, it’s just meant to foster pleasant conversation.
Ideal for outdoor entertaining, our product testers in the Good Housekeeping Institute say this gas-powered tabletop pizza oven helps you cook nicely charred, homemade 12-inch personal pizzas.
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This card game delivers hours of giggles, with 600 question and answer cards. A question is put down, then players pick an answer from their hand — whatever they can argue is the best. The winning answer is then voted on by all, with the silliest usually prevailing. four or more players, ages 10+
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You can’t go wrong with a classic gift basket! This one from Harry & David comes packed with sweet pears (honestly, they taste like candy), apples, artisan cheeses, mixed nuts and dried meat. They can make a charcuterie board out of it all, or just eat straight from the basket. FYI: It ships for free.
Cailey Lindberg (she/her) is a writer and editor with over a decade of experience covering products, lifestyle, entertainment and food. Before joining Good Housekeeping in 2022, she was a staff writer at USA Today’s shopping network, Reviewed.com.
Katarina Avendaño (she/her) is the senior SEO editor for Good Housekeeping, where she writes and edits lifestyle content and contributes to SEO strategy. Before joining GH in 2021, she was the digital editor at New York Family, where she was responsible for the website’s content and strategy. Katarina received her bachelor’s degree in communications and Spanish from the University of Washington.
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