A BWiS Gift Guide

Image by Vitaly Gariev, from Unsplash

Holiday season is here, and with it comes many gift-giving occasions! In this blog post you’ll find 12 gift ideas that are perfect for your fellow Black women in science. You could also use this guide to create your own wishlist!

Disclaimer: BWiS is not affiliated with any of the products or sellers listed. Prices and product availability are accurate at the time of publishing but these are subject to change.

1. Customisable publication mug (£12.07) - a great way to congratulate your loved ones for getting their papers published.

www.zazzle.co.uk

Personalised Publication Classic Mug | Zazzle

A personalised gift to celebrate your published paper! The perfect gift for co-authors, colleagues, and academics who published a scientific paper. Customise with the scientific journal, publication title, authors and abstract.

2. Desktop zen garden (£8) - when work environments become stressful, it’s important to take a breather and find a way to calm ourselves. Desktop zen gardens are perfectly sized for your workspace and they’re an excellent way to clear your mind.

www.menkind.co.uk

Build Your Own Zen Garden

Keep your mind calm with this Zen Garden. It includes everything you need to build your perfect sand garden and make patterns over and over again. Shop now!

3. Lab coat pocket protector (£2.75) - many of us know the frustration of a leaky pen damaging a pristine lab coat! Pocket protectors can help to keep your work clothes in great condition.

4. DIY terrarium kit (£26+) - whether you love all things plants or you need to add some greenery to your space, terrarium building is a fun activity that will put anyone's green thumb to the test.

5. Eau de Space (£37.31 for 100ml or £4.20 for 1ml) - in 2008, NASA commissioned a perfume that replicated the smell of outer space in order to prepare astronauts for their journeys. Warning - this is not an everyday fragrance: with some reviews describing notes of burning metal, raspberries and gunpowder, it's more of a collector's item or wearable art. Still, space scientists, chemists and cosmetic scientists are sure to appreciate the dedication in designing this scent!

eaudespace.com

Eau de Space - "The Smell of Space" Fragrance, 100ml

Decades ago, NASA designed a fragrance to train astronauts on how Outer Space actually smells. Now we're releasing it to the world. Your very own Eau de Space, "The Smell of Space", in a 100ml custom bottle with atomizer.

6. Plushies (£9.99+) - giantmicrobes.com has adorable plush toys for almost any pathogen, cell, tissue or organ you can think of! These are plushies of a white blood cell, antibody and muscle cell:

Image by Vanessa Ankude (author)

7. Productivity planner pad (£12.99) - a desk pad is a good way to jot down daily, weekly or monthly priorities and keep them in view.

busyb.co.uk

A3 Desk Pad - Large Desk Notepad

Make a list, make it happen

8. Subscription gifts:

   1. Bookishly (£15+/mo) - classic, crime/thriller or poetry books coupled with tea, coffee and/or a bar of chocolate. Perfect for bookworms or for those who need a break from work-related reading!

   2. Brilliant (£15.99/mo) - this platform offers guided interactive courses for maths, computer science, data analysis, engineering and programming.

   3. Flower deliveries - because we all deserve our flowers! There are a range of flower delivery services that offer monthly gift subscriptions, and this one also provides a guide on how to arrange your stems.

9. STEM pocket tools (£10) - these credit card-sized steel rulers are handy for quick referencing and field work, from unit conversions to the full geological time scale. There are multiple tools specific to palaeontology, chemistry, engineering, physics and general science.

geniuslabgear.com

The Pocket Physicist - Wallet Ruler and Unit Conversion Reference

A physicist's dream tool with 17 unit conversions, 24 equations, and 30 physical constants. A ruler and protractor, it's a perfect gift idea for physics lovers!

Bonus gift: Periodic table display (£137) - an amazing display of the periodic table of elements with 83 stable samples embedded in acrylic. Whilst this is the most expensive gift in this guide, it’s sure to be a prized possession for element enthusiasts.

engineeredlabs.com

Heritage Periodic Table - 83 Element Embedments

Introducing the world's first handheld Periodic Table with the actual elements in it! Over the last year, we have successfully collected each and every stable element. After considerable R&D, we have finally developed a method of embedding each element in acrylic and we have to say, the result is awesome! The Herit

We hope this gift guide gives you some inspiration, and above all we hope you have the happiest holidays, a Merry Christmas and a happy new year!

By Vanessa Ankude, Blog Writer