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Valentine's Day Gift Guide


by Kevin Wierzbicki

It's that time of year again! February 14 is the time to celebrate the special love(s) in your life, Valentine's Day! Here we offer some ideas for cool Valentine's gifts to supplement what your main gift giving may involve; go ahead and get your sweetie a new set of golf clubs or a tennis bracelet but grab a couple of these items for them too. Of course, we begin with chocolate!

Sugar Plum Chocolates


Sugar Plum Chocolates

Candy is the good old standby for a Valentine's Day gift; if your honey likes chocolate then it is pretty much expected that they'll get some on this special day. But that doesn't mean you have to give one of the usual store bought collections when you can step up your game with an exceptional gift from Sugar Plum Chocolates! How about this for a sweet treat: A Chocolate Heart Smash with Mallet Handcrafted Milk Chocolate Gift Box. Sounds like fun because it is fun! This gift box contains a large milk chocolate heart that's topped with a mix of crushed pretzels, cookies, potato chips, candied gems and white chocolate drizzle. Your Valentine will take the included wooden mallet and give the piece a whack (talk about breaking hearts!), thereby turning the goodie into pieces that can be shared (or not!) Sugar Plum Chocolates also offers the Happy Valentine's Box that comes loaded with favorites: milk chocolate covered graham crackers with pink drizzle, milk chocolate covered pretzels with pink drizzle, milk chocolate covered pretzels with nonpareils, milk chocolate covered sandwich cookies with pink drizzle, milk chocolate nonpareils, heartbreaker crispy heart bark, midnight munch mix (caramel bites, cookie dough bites and brownie bites) and just to give a little break from chocolate, cherry sour balls. This gift box will last a long time, even for a Valentine with a real sweet tooth. Some other gift boxes that Sugar Plum has include Pistachio Souk Squares, a Valentine's Day Heart with two dozen truffles, a Movie Night collection (with chocolate drizzled caramel popcorn) and a Gourmet Chocolate Truffle Gift Box that comes in a box that's shaped like a wine bottle (hint, hint!) Costco has a special Sugar Plum Chocolates Valentine's Day Boo Box; otherwise you can see all that Sugar Plum Chocolates has to offer and order your Valentine's Day gifts here.

Weddell Water Duo Shower Filter


Weddell Water Duo Shower Filter

At Weddell Water they have an admirable mission statement: To improve the quality of water in your daily life. It's no wonder that they think of their Weddell Water Duo Shower Filter as "step zero of your self-care routine." Independently verified to reduce harmful PFAS and particulates (by 99%!) the filter delivers cleaner shower water without compromising on performance; put a little more simply that means that the unit's proprietary dual filtration technology is designed to support skin and hair health, every time you shower. Unfiltered shower water may contain harmful gunk like chlorine, lead, mercury, microplastics, the aforementioned PFAS and Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs) that can actually evaporate into the air you breathe. Weddell Water makes it so easy to tamp all these dangers down; the Duo Shower Filter installs quickly and no tools are needed to do so. All you do is unscrew your existing shower head and screw the filter on, then reinstall the shower head by attaching it to the filter. That's it! Instructions for this simple procedure are included in the package as is a small roll of plumber's tape that makes sure that there will be no leaks from the connections. When new filters are needed you can buy them directly from Weddell Water. And um, how do we put this, dear reader? You'll want to take your Valentine into the shower to show them just exactly how well the filter works, right? Of course you will! Order your Weddell Water Duo Shower Filter, in Arctic White, Midnight Black or Petal Pink here.

Lila 4-in-1 MellowMist Humidifier


Lila humidifier

Do you know someone who has just added or is about to add a new little Valentine to their family? Here's the perfect gift for new parents and expectant mothers, the Lila 4-in-1 MellowMist Humidifier. It can be used in any situation that calls for a humidifier but is especially made with maternity in mind as it provides soothing support during labor (small and easily transported, mom can take it to the hospital with her) and during postpartum too. As to the 4-in-1 designation that the Lila MellowMist Humidifier has, those four things are humidifier, diffuser (mom can add a bit of lavender or peppermint essential oil to enhance relaxation), sound machine (choose from several sounds including a unique womb sound that mimics the rhythmic pulsing of the umbilical cord) and warm night light, a setting that won't overwhelm the infant and that's perfect for lighting overnight feeds and diaper changes or that time to just gaze at the new Valentine. The sound machine function has three settings for "uterine noise" as well as three settings for white noise. Mom is going to go through some rough things during maternity and childbirth and the Lila 4-in-1 MellowMist Humidifier is a simple way to make some things much easier. Order your Lila 4-in-1 MellowMist Humidifier Valentine's Day gift here.

Charms from The Ends


The Ends

Oh there are so many ways you can have a little extra fun with your Valentine when you give them a gift of charms from The Ends. "It's because my life is charmed since I met you, sweetie." Or to play on the company's name, "Because you are the living end!" The Ends offers a variety of cool charms that are meant to attach to the ends (of course!) of drawstrings, like on hoodies and such, or on zipper pulls, or wherever you'd like. It's a simple way to add pizazz to an outfit and make it totally stand out from everyone else, all of whom will of course be quizzing your Valentine as to where they got the bling. Among the designs available are the very popular Silver Key to Your Heart Charm that has a heart-shaped stone of cinnamon quartz, rose quartz or marble set atop a skeleton key type key, and lots of other heart-shaped charms including the colorful Gold Rainbow heart charm, the Gold Pure Heart charm and the Silver Zircon Locket Heart charm. These awesome pieces are not expensive so you can get your Valentine a whole handful of them so they can change them out. There are Silver Flower Petals charms, a Silver Fish charm, Orange and Gold Letter charms (from A to Z), or choose a smiley face, peace symbol or lightning bolt. Among the dozens of designs is, wait for it, a super cute Zircon & Silver Teddy Bear charm (aw!) The Ends has all the accoutrements that your Valentine might need to work with the charms too, the "ends" that attach to the drawstring and hold a charm, drawstrings if a new one is needed and even threading tools to install a new drawstring in a garment. Did we mention that charms from The Ends look fabulous on shoes, too? You'll be a shoe-in for Valentine of the year when you give a gift of charms from The Ends! Check out the selection and order here.

Talking Hearts Games from Cozie Games


Talking Hearts Game

Meant to spark fun and meaningful conversation, Talking Hearts Games from Cozie are a great way to break the ice with a new Valentine or to learn more about a long time partner. Talking Hearts Couples Edition is a set of 200 cards, each holding a question. Half of them are "playful" questions while the other 100 are thoughtful. With the cards separated into two stacks, each person can select from either category, with playful cards posing questions like "if you could pick a tattoo for me, what would it be?" and "if you were offered a free trip to space, would you take it?" The thoughtful deck has cards that ask things like "what's a big risk you've taken in the past?" and "what have you learned about yourself through romantic relationships?" Somewhere in the decks are two wild cards so players can make up their own question when they draw one of those. There is no keeping of score, no winner or loser, and no minimum number of questions to answer. It's just informative fun! For those looking to spice things up a bit there's the Talking Hearts After Dark edition with 100 sexy questions, some flirty, some nostalgic and some that'll make players say "oh wow!" There's a Talking Hearts game suitable for the whole family too; that edition has 200 cards meant to deepen family connections through lighthearted questions for kids, teens and parents. Since all of the Talking Hearts games have no rules there's really no end to the ways you can improvise with them and get the party started. Order your Valentine gift of Talking Hearts Games from Cozie Games here.

Crazy Aaron's Thinking Putty


Crazy Aaron's

You didn't think we'd forget the kiddies, did you? Yes adults can have fun with these items from Crazy Aaron's (and they undoubtedly will!) but mostly Crazy Aaron's Thinking Putty is geared to children ages three and up. Just what is Thinking Putty? It is putty that you can stretch, bounce, pop, tear and sculpt into your own piece of art (or not quite art!) Made from Crazy Aaron's secret ingredients and packaged in a metal tin about the size of a hamburger (or hockey puck?), Thinking Putty is made to last and last while the user has endless fun experimenting with it (that's the "thinking" part in Thinking Putty.) And Crazy Aaron is, of course, crazy! So that means Thinking Putty comes in oddball varieties like Mac N Cheese, Better Butter, Over Easy (yep, like an egg), Lily Pond, Flowing Lava, Pirate's Gold, Honey Drop and many others, all in the color you would expect from the item's description. Some, like the Mac N Cheese Thinking Putty even have add-ins to mix into the putty to give it a realistic (maybe surrealistic!) appearance. Another fun item from Crazy Aaron's is the Pinchies Fidget Game. This is a simple but very amusing game where players "launch" their Pinchies onto a small game board, trying to wrangle the other Pinchies (three included per game) into the board's center. The Pinchies game can be played alone or with another player. And here's something really awesome that goes beyond the playing of the game: Pinchies are called that because you can pinch them and they'll squish down (listen for the click) to flatness before popping back into shape when you want them to. Fidget away! Pinchies come in different series; the Barnyard Bash edition, for example, comes with a squishy pig, cow and chicken. Pinchies are also for kids three and up. Order your Crazy Aaron's Thinking Putty and Pinchies games (and yes, go crazy!) here.

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