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Brian Lehrer: Brian Lehrer on WNYC. All during the Fall Pledge Drive, we've been talking to some of our favorite professional advice-givers on thorny issues like parenting, finances, and workplace politics. Today, it's a very early edition of holiday gift advice. Yes, you heard that right. Before Halloween, before the leaves, or even off the trees in most places, we're dispatching a gift guide.

That's because experts are saying because of the pandemic supply chain issues, you might want to get an early jump on gift shopping, to avoid late deliveries to your home and in stores. With me now to inspire you with some specific ideas and to answer your questions about holiday shopping 2021 style is editor-in-chief of The Strategist from New York Magazine, Maxine Builder. Thanks for doing this, Maxine, welcome to WNYC.

Maxine Builder: Thanks so much for how having me, Brian. I am also in disbelief that we're talking about holiday gifting so early, but yes, to your point, it is the season.

Brian Lehrer: Listeners, we can take two kinds of calls for this, questions asking for gift shopping advice and your own advice. If you want to give some for gifts that avoid the supply chain problems, 646-435-7280, 646- 435-7280. Maxine, as calls are coming in, are you guys at The Strategist hearing about supply chain issues? Is it something that you are taking into consideration when making shopping recommendations?

Maxine Builder: Yes, definitely. We've already seen. Every year we do a roundup of the best gifts to buy before they sell out highlighting the hottest gifts. We've seen that some of our picks for the hottest toys are already selling out and are available only on secondhand markets like eBay. It's something we've been thinking about a lot and it's something that everyone seems to be really concerned about.

Our goal is to provide the best service possible to our readers. If people are looking for more virtual gifts or actually, nice gift cards, we're also here to help, give advice on that too.

Brian Lehrer: I guess gift cards is the perennial thing that the supply chain won't affect. Some people think gift cards are a cop-out and some people think that they're really nice to give because they're flexible and the recipient can use it however they want.

Maxine Builder: Yes, I think we really believe the latter that gift cards are really nice. I think one thing that's also nice about gift cards is that you're able to support small businesses in a way. The supply chain issues are a problem for big retailers like Amazon and Target, but they're also a problem for smaller retailers and locally owned businesses, and buying a gift card is a really great way to be able to support those businesses too even if their stock is maybe not what they would hope it would be during this really busy time.

Brian Lehrer: You make a great point which I wasn't thinking about before you said it, so let's repeat it, which is that gift cards don't have to just be from the big chains, which might be the first thing that people think about, "Oh, I can just go online and get a gift card from," I won't mention any particular behemoth shopping site that might mean behemoth.

The local stores have gift cards too in very many cases, right? You can go into a place, shop local, support a mom-and-pop store in your neighborhood, and still do it with a gift card.

Maxine Builder: Yes, absolutely and on The Strategist, we have a roundup of the best gift cards you can actually even buy online for dozens of New York City businesses. It's a really incredible list. There's Black Market, which is a black vintage collectible store in [unintelligible 00:03:52], there's Pearl River Mart in Chinatown, Books Are Magic, or Sister's Uptown, which is a black-owned bookstore in Washington Heights, and even restaurants like DNH Dairy have gift cards.

It really is, I think, a super flexible gift and also one you don't have to deal with shipping, you don't have to worry about package thieves. You can make it really personal to what you think the recipient is really going to like and use and enjoy.

Brian Lehrer: I'll throw one in that was on the strategist recently that I think is really fun because you do categories and one of your categories is best gifts for new dads. You declared the absolute best gift for new dads or one of them is an old but new-looking Polaroid camera. Why that?

Maxine Builder: Yes, I think it's something that has actually been so presently become really popular with the teens of all things, whereas everything has become more digital and more pushed by the algorithm, I think there is really this hunger for something that is just superphysical and analog, and I think a Polaroid camera really scratches that itch. I know a while back, there was all this talk about how Polaroid film is disappearing and we'll never have it again.

It's been really wonderful to see how this old-school technology is coming back in a big way. A super fun gift for parents to take really great photos of your kids or of anything else and maybe even hand it over to the kids so they can take a photo or two.

Brian Lehrer: All right, let's see who needs some early holiday shopping disrupted supply chain advice from Maxine from The Strategist. Marshall on Park Slope, you're on WNYC. Hi, Marshall.

Marshall: Hi, Brian, I love you so much. Thanks for doing what you do.

Brain Lehrer: Thank you.

Marshall: My question is about client gifts. I have to typically get, last year was very stressful, 50 of the same gift shipped with the custom card. I did really nice olive oil for my clients last year. Something that's easily repeatable, high quantity. I'm wondering if there's any suggestions there. It's always very stressful for me.

Brian Lehrer: Maxine?

Maxine Builder: That's a great question. One gift that we've been recommending since 2016 is the Zojirushi Thermos. It's a stainless steel thermos. I actually gave it to some of our employees last year and it's really just a nice solid thermos that just keeps your hot drinks scalding hot and your cold drinks very cold. It's also leakproof and lightweight, so really good for commuting, so I think you're getting some of that work energy in there. It just looks really nice and feels very professional. That is, I think, something you can buy in bulk and a lot of as well.

Brian Lehrer: That's an interesting one. I guess the thing about thermos is size. They come in so many different sizes like I keep a big 40-ounce stainless steel thermos by my side while I'm doing the show because I sip water throughout the show, but they come in all kinds of sizes, right?

Maxine Builder: Yes, these come in 12 ounces and 16 ounces, I believe, and they also come in a bunch of really nice colors as well. One of my favorites is this really nice cobalt navy blue, but they also have a pale pink. I feel like you could even a standard black as well, so maybe you could match it to your company's logo colors as well.

Brian Lehrer: Nathaniel in Chelsea, you're on WNYC with Maxine Builder from New York Magazine's shopping site The Strategist. Hi, Nathaniel.

Nathaniel: Hey, Brian. Hey, Maxine. How are you?

Maxine Builder: Hey, good, I'm good.

Brain Lehrer: What you got?

Nathaniel: I'm calling to recommend that shop at your local hardware store for gifts. They are just endless resources for all sorts of small to large, just useful things. I'm a hardware store owner myself and I find that every holiday season, especially towards the end, we do a lot of helping out people buying gifts. We get phone calls from people way outside the state looking to buy gift cards for their friends or family that live locally.

My understanding is that it always goes over really well. If you know that there's a place nearby, someone you're gifting for, it's just a great thing to look up who their nearest walkable hardware store is. It's like a treasure trove of housewares and tools and just useful stuff that people never seem to be disappointed to receive.

Brian Lehrer: That's a good one. You're talking about gift cards, are there any things that you find as a hardware store owner that people buy off the shelves to give as gifts? A lot of people are not giving screwdrivers and wrenches for Christmas, but is there anything that they are from your store?

Nathaniel: Sometimes we have just some odd esoteric toys and things like that that we'll bring in over the holidays, but you'd be surprised, people do buy tools as gifts, especially if they find that these are things that they are always reaching for and can't find when they need. Sure, screwdrivers and wrenches, flashlights, even this year, maybe some disposable PPE seems like a weird gift, but look, we've all had the experience of having gifts at the end of the holiday season and no one likes to waste.

Things that are going to get put to use are almost always appreciated, especially emergency-related stuff for blackouts or masks, things like that.

Brian Lehrer: Nice one, Nathaniel, thank you very much. Jane in Chelsea, you're on WNYC. Hi, Jane.

Jane: Hi. I would like to say hello to Maxine because I was the very first employee at New York Magazine back in 1967 and April 1968.

Brian Lehrer: Whoa.

Maxine Builder: Whoa, incredible.

Brain Lehrer: What did you do there, Jane?

Jane: I worked with Clay Felker, head of his department while he was raising the money for it and started out as an assistant to the editor, and then when he bought The Village Voice, I went down there as the general manager of The Village Voice.

Brain Lehrer: How about that and you've got a gift suggestion too, right?

Jane: I certainly do. What I am doing this year is I am asking all of my relatives and/or anybody I'm going to be giving a gift to give me the name and address of their favorite charity and I will be making a donation in their name.

Brain Lehrer: I really, really, really liked that, Jane. Thank you very much. I'm going to go for time, but I'm so glad you checked in with us, and that's fascinating history that you have as well in the field. You know what I like about Jane's suggestion, Maxine? I think that many times people have made a donation in the name of somebody and done that as a gift if they think that the recipient is the kind of person who would appreciate that rather than a physical thing, but to my ear, Jane took it to the next level and asked the person what charity they would like to donate to.

Maxine Builder: Yes, I love that. That's really sweet. I think one thing that we really believe at The Strategist and even thinking about the gifts from the hardware store is that there's not one perfect gift for everyone on your list. That it's something that is personal and that you do want to take time and care about.

I think it's something, particularly when you're making a donation, you also don't want to make assumptions either, and so it is really nice to be able to say, "Hey, this is what I want to do and this is how I would like to spend my money on you. What would you like and what are you going to feel good about?" I think that is, in some ways, the perfect gift where you are being thoughtful and considerate and considering what that person would really want.

Brain Lehrer: You want to finish with any one of your choice from a recent Strategist article or Strategist category?

Maxine Builder: Oh, gosh, that's a very tough question. I think one thing that we could all use a little bit of this holiday season is some relaxation, and so one thing that I've been having my eye on is this weighted blanket from Bearaby. It's a deceptively heavy-looking blanket. It's knit, you can get it in cotton or velvet. It just looks very nice and not like your regular weighted blanket and also just very relaxing and comfortable. I think if you're in doubt, maybe try that. I don't think anyone is going to say no to a little bit of relaxation.

Brain Lehrer: The Strategist from New York Magazine is edited by Maxine Builder who has been our guest. Thanks for the advice.

Maxine Builder: Thanks for having me.

Brain Lehrer: Brian Lehrer on WNYC, more to come.

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