By Andrew Liszewski

Next to the kitchen and living room, the bathroom is probably the most frequented room in your house during the holidays. And with guests coming and going all day long are you willing to risk using a shoddy plastic toilet seat? I didn’t think so. If you want something that will stand up to the rigors and abuse of post-holiday feasting then carbon fiber is the only way to go. Some might say that $279 is a ridiculous amount of money to spend on a toilet seat, but I suspect they’ve never experienced a seat failure firsthand. Trust me when I say that this carbon fiber alternative is money well spent.

[ Carbon Fiber Toilet Seat ] VIA [ Jalopnik & JYX ]

By Andrew Liszewski

For a mere $7.95 from Archie McPhee you can fool your less intellectually-gifted Christmas guests into thinking you’ve got a top-of-the-line icebox in the kitchen. This magnet is made to look like one of those built-in water & ice dispensers, though if your guests try and use it they’ll be rather upset to learn that not only is it not real, but they won’t be able to enjoy a glass of gravy, nacho cheese or even fries at the push of a button. Worst-dinner party-ever!

[ Refrigerator Upgrade Magnet ] VIA [ 7Gadgets ]

By Andrew Liszewski

As part of a promotion for their new RF510 “boosted” notebook, Samsung will let you buy a roll of custom wrapping paper featuring a holiday-appropriate pattern of your choice adorned with tweets pulled from either a specific hashtag or username. Well originally they gave out 3,000 rolls for free, but that ship has already long sailed. Now a 19×76-inch roll of the custom wrap is $6.95 which isn’t that expensive actually. Arguably it’s not as cool as the QRapping Paper we brought you last week, but it’s the perfect choice if your giftee is a Twitter fanatic.

[ Samsung Boosted Tweetwrap ] VIA [ PSFK ]

By Andrew Liszewski

Can’t say I’ve ever thought about using the favored weapon of feudal Japan to pick my teeth, but I guess if it’s good enough to eviscerate one’s enemies, it has to be good enough to dislodge an annoying popcorn husk. But since the art of samurai sword making is almost dead, you’ll have to settle for these novelty toothpick holders instead.

The scabbard can store up to 3 toothpicks (3?! wow!) which can be inserted into the handle making it easier to dislodge a piece of meat, or procure a chunk of cheese from a platter. Available in a set of 2, which includes white and black handles, the swords are made from Cyprus wood and can be found at the Japan Trend Shop for $84. And even at that price you have to provide your own toothpicks.

[ Samurai Sword Toothpick Holder ]

By Andrew Liszewsi

Of all the novelty shaped ice cubes made possible by recent innovations in silicone molding technology, I think this miscellaneous collection of ice swords has the most potential. You can use the mold by itself to make pure ice swords for dropping in drinks, or use the included plastic hilts which facilitate the act of swizzling. They also make the ice swords far more stable, allowing you to host a medieval sword fighting tournament where the victor claims turkey carving duties while the loser dies… Or does dishes, however you want to set the rules. $14.99 from ThinkGeek.

[ Swords Ice Tray ]

By Andrew Liszewski

2001: A Space Odyssey predates Star Wars by almost 10 years, which means at the time the movie studios hadn’t gotten a real taste of how they could profit from merchandising. And it’s too bad because it meant there were no Dave Bowman, Frank Poole or even HAL 9000 action figures ever released. Don’t feel too sad though because the real stars of that movie, the monoliths, have finally been immortalized in action figure form.

I’m assuming the company behind this figure went to great lengths to digitally scan the original props from the movie, since it features the exact 1:4:9 dimensions of the monoliths, and the same zero points of articulation as well! This is McFarlane Toys-level detail here people. It’s available from ThinkGeek for $12.99, though you’ll have to find your own Playmobil astronaut to go through a trippy slit-scan sequence because the one pictured above is not included.

[ Space Monolith Action Figure ]

By Andrew Liszewski

There’s an endless number of gadgets and gizmos in the Star Wars universe, so you’d think that a Star Wars-themed hand warmer has the potential to be really cool. It could be shaped like a thermal detonator, made from a plush Tauntaun or even crammed into the old lightsaber standby. We’re not tired of those yet!

But unfortunately this USB powered hand warmer from Takara Tomy is as lame as it gets. It looks like a screen-less version of the iPod Nano from a few generations ago, while the Star Wars bits look like nothing more than a silk-screened image of Vader or R2D2 on one side, with the SW logo on the other. On a 2-hour charge you can expect to get 4 hours of 104°F (40?) warmth, so it’s not entirely craperrific, but I don’t even think Star Wars completists will be chomping at the bit to add these to their collections.

[ Takara Tomy - Star Wars 'Themed' USB Hand Warmers ] VIA [ Geek Alerts ]

By Andrew Liszewski

There’s an endless number of gadgets and gizmos in the Star Wars universe, so you’d think that a Star Wars-themed hand warmer has the potential to be really cool. It could be shaped like a thermal detonator, made from a plush Tauntaun or even crammed into the old lightsaber standby. We’re not tired of those yet!

But unfortunately this USB powered hand warmer from Takara Tomy is as lame as it gets. It looks like a screen-less version of the iPod Nano from a few generations ago, while the Star Wars bits look like nothing more than a silk-screened image of Vader or R2D2 on one side, with the SW logo on the other. On a 2-hour charge you can expect to get 4 hours of 104°F (40?) warmth, so it’s not entirely craperrific, but I don’t even think Star Wars completists will be chomping at the bit to add these to their collections.

[ Takara Tomy - Star Wars 'Themed' USB Hand Warmers ] VIA [ Geek Alerts ]

By Andrew Liszewski

Nothing cuts costs this time of year like shutting off the heat in your office, but dealing with your employees’ moaning and complaining about the cold, turn-of-the-century working conditions almost negates all those savings. So to shut them up might we recommend these warming mice from Thanko that basically gives every employee their own personal heater for ~$35 (¥2,900) a head. I’d like to see Google or Microsoft’s recruiting departments make that claim! Each mouse includes an inline remote providing 2 different heating settings, and since they draw power from the USB port there’s no need for batteries or anything like that. And if $35 per employee isn’t in the budget, just make it a required part of the uniform they have to purchase when they start.

[ Thanko Warming Mouse ] VIA [ 7Gadgets ]

By Andrew Liszewski

Besides making even a gifted box of hand towels look techno-cool, this QRapping Paper (pronounced crapping?) is covered in a grid of QR codes that actually work. On each 20×30 inch sheet there are over 50 of the codes that link to festive videos like drunken carolers, car vs. fruitcake and ornament smoothie. Now obviously the giftee will need to have a camera-equipped smartphone with a QR code reading app installed, so it might not be the perfect gift wrap for all of your friends and family. But since 2 sheets of the stuff will cost you $19.99, you’d probably want to be really selective with it anyways.

[ QRapping Paper ] VIA [ Josh Spear ]