Gifts for the tech person, with nothing electronic in the box
I do not sell electronics. Nothing on this page plugs in, charges, pairs or has a firmware update waiting for it, and buying a gadget for somebody who reads the reviews before the thing ships is a game you lose anyway. What I have is the surface the gear sits on and the hours it gets used in, which nobody ever buys them. I pack every box myself here in Canada and write your message onto the card by hand before the lid goes on.
Nothing here plugs in. It is the desk around the gear, which nobody buys them. I pack every box by hand here in Canada.
Six boxes for the desk rather than the gear, at $99 and $119, and five of the six come in two sizes.
They have already bought whatever gadget you were thinking of. Probably twice.
Omar. Nothing in here has firmware. You are welcome.
Love, Bel
The boxes I would send a tech person
These are filed under new jobs and promotions in my catalogue, which tells you what they are: the things that go on a desk. Not one of them has a battery in it.
The Desk Organization Box
From$99A mesh tray, gel pens, a case to keep them in and dark chocolate. Aimed squarely at a desk.
The Desk Upgrade Box
From$99A leather mat for the desk, a metal pen and dark chocolate. The mat is the whole idea.
The Desk Hydration Box
From$99A glass bottle, loose leaf and the thing to steep it in, for the hours between builds.
The Premium Fuel Box
From$99Whole beans and an insulated cup, for somebody with views about their grinder as well.
The Coffee & Appreciation Box
From$99Ground coffee, a travel cup, dark chocolate and almonds. The desk version of the same thing.The Premium Executive Box
Good desk pieces to keep, something to write with and something sweet to finish.
Which one, then
Everything here is either the desk itself or what gets consumed at it. That is the whole map, and it is short because the catalogue is honest about what it has. If the question is really about the amount rather than the box, how much to spend on a gift in Canada is where I have written about that.
The desk itself
Three boxes from $99 to $119: the Desk Upgrade Box, the Desk Organization Box and the Premium Executive Box. A mat, a tray and a set of good pens are the three things on a desk that nobody buys for themselves and everybody notices when they arrive. The last of these is the fullest one on the page.
What gets drunk at it
Three boxes from $99 to $119: the Premium Fuel Box, the Coffee & Appreciation Box and the Desk Hydration Box. Two coffee boxes and a bottle with loose leaf and something to steep it in. People who work at a screen all day drink constantly and almost never drink water, which is what the last of those is for.
If you actually wanted a gadget
Then I have nothing for you and you should buy the gadget. I would rather say that than sell you a box of stationery with a clever name on it. If you want to look properly, every box on the site is in one grid, and none of it plugs in either.
Two sizes on a box, and where the bigger ones are
The boxes on this page run $99 and $119, and five of the six come in two sizes. The larger size of a box is everything in the smaller one and about two more things, picked the way the rest of it was picked. On this page the larger size means one more thing on the desk. No size of any of these has anything electronic in it.
Eight boxes on the site run a ladder of three sizes instead, and the luxury boxes at the top of it are the fullest things I pack. If you came here meaning to spend more than this page asks for, the links under this are the shortest way there.
The card is the one part they cannot get a better version of.
You type the message when you order, up to 280 characters, and I write it out in pen on a real card. Somebody who buys their own gadgets can out-specify anything you send them. What they cannot buy is your handwriting turning up in a box, and that is the part this shelf is actually competing on.
If you are stuck, people write things like:
"Nothing in here has firmware.""For the desk, not the rig.""No setup required."
The card, the tissue, the tape and the rest of what happens to a box before it leaves.
I am not competing with your shopping. This is for the desk it all sits on.
Love, Bel
Other things they might be into
This is the thinnest shelf on the site and I would rather point you somewhere better than pad it out.
Most of what is on this page is really a coffee box with a desk around it, and the coffee shelf has more of them and better ones.
If they work away from home a lot, the insulated cups and the sleep mask are on the page for somebody who travels.
And if what they need is to close the laptop, the boxes about sleep and water say that more directly than a desk mat does.
Questions people ask me
Are there any actual gadgets in these boxes?
No. Nothing on this page is electronic. No charger, no cable, no speaker, no light, nothing with a battery. If you came here for a gadget, buy the gadget somewhere else and come back for the card, because I would rather lose the order than describe a pen case as tech.
So what is on this page?
The desk and the hours at it. A leather mat, a tray and a case for pens, good pens, an insulated cup and coffee to go in it, a bottle and loose leaf. Every one of these is a thing people who work at a screen use daily and never buy themselves. Each box has its own page, and that page says what is in it, so you can check that it really is what this one claims.
Is this a good gift for somebody who already owns everything?
It is the honest version of one. They own the gear and they will own the next one before you have heard of it, so the only ground left is the stuff around the gear and the card. That is a smaller gift than a gadget and it is also the one that does not get quietly returned.
What are the two sizes?
The larger size of a box is everything in the smaller one and about two more things, picked the way the rest of it was picked. The boxes here run $99 and $119, and five of the six come in two sizes. No price on anything inside the box, so it opens as a gift rather than as a number.
How does shipping work?
Shipping is free anywhere in Canada and a box is 1 to 7 days in transit. There is no same-day option and no arrival date on this page. There is a field at checkout where you pick the delivery date you would prefer. All sales are final, so check the address before you order.
Why I do not sell gadgets, and what to do about it
Two reasons, and neither is interesting. I pack these by hand in one country and electronics have warranties, firmware, regional plugs and a failure rate that a one-person operation has no business taking on. And the person you are buying for has already read four reviews of whatever I could stock, decided against it for a reason they could explain at length, and bought a different one.
What survives that is the desk. Nobody who is deep into their setup has ever bought themselves a leather mat, a tray for the small things or a pen that feels like anything, because those are not upgrades and there is no thread arguing about them. They are exactly the sort of thing that only arrives as a gift, which is what makes them one.
Every box here is packed by hand in Canada and sent with a card written out by hand. Shipping is free anywhere in Canada and a box is 1 to 7 days in transit. If you want to see everything instead, every box on the site sits in one grid sorted by price.
While you are here
- Gifts for the Person Who Has Everything (and Returns the Rest)Written for exactly this problem.
- Gifts for Someone Starting a New JobWhere most of these boxes come from.
- All the boxesThe whole catalogue in one grid, by price.
If you are not sure which box to send a tech person, tell me who it is for and roughly what you want to spend and I will tell you what I would pack. I read every message myself, at team@swipegifts.com.