Saturday Gift Post--The Last of the Outdoorsy Stuff Arrives, and I Wonder What Every Gift Buyer Eventually Ponders, "When Did I Buy This and What Exactly Was I Thinking?"

I have a totally unhard and slippery rule that I stop restocking outdoor stuff for the store on June 30. There's plenty of time to sell through what we have (there's still snowless playtime through October, right?), but by July, we start taking away from display space for calendars, and other themed areas (like gardening and outdoor play) start to feel a little stale.

We decided that we liked the kites and rocket balloons enough to give them one more chance.  In addition, we should be getting yoyos in about a week.  These, however, are certainly not limited to outdoors, and are quite special.  They are getting their own post.

Oh, and I (with the enthusiasm of several other booksellers) decided to switch out our traditional kaleidoscopes to these Bug Eyes, which are outdoorsy in theme but universal in application.  For a special mind-bending treat, try looking through two different Bug Eyes, one through each of your own eyes.

This week also saw the appearance of several unthemed items that I had placed on backorder a long time ago.  If I had an idea for them, I can't remember what it was now.  One of them were the Good Luck Kitty tin toys.  I think my rep Mary suggested this.  You can see the kitty sort of wave his/.her tin arm.  However, there is also a battery option for continuous waving.

Apparently there is Peace Kitty, Friendship Kitty, Dream Kitty, Happiness Kitty, Love Kitty, and Serenity Kitty.  Sharon looked at me a bit oddly (not unusual) and said, while she thought they were cute, she liked her goofy purchases to have some practicality.  Then Alex said she might have to get one.  That's always a good sign.  It seems to me that the palette for these kitties is overwhelmingly pink, which indicates who the market might be for them.  That said, it wouldn't have been a bad idea to make at least one of the kitties purple.  My prediction?  We will sell out of blue Dream Kitty first.

The same week we received Birds on a Wire, a set of bird-like paperclips and a wire, from which you hang photos.  This vendor, Fred, is very high concept, such that the pun sort of determines the design.  I'm sort of at a loss as to where to put these now that I see them, being that they are meant to be displayed on slatwall, which we don't have.  And now the drumroll...what was I thinking?  And I'm not even going to start on the mousetrap cheese board.

I'm going to work on a good display idea and get back to you. If you're interested in any of these items, we haven't set up custom skus for our website, but I can tell you that everything here except the Good Luck Kitty is under $10, and the Bug Eyes are under $5.