We here at Watson Adventures love museums. Natural history museums, art museums, medical oddities museums—they’re our absolute jam. Nothing quite compares to experiencing a museum, for the first time or the fiftieth, which is why we love sharing the gift of adventure with (shameless plug alert!) a Watson Adventures gift certificate. Even so, we can’t resist the siren song of a great gift shop. This being the season of consumerism, we scoured the stores at some of our favorite museums throughout the country to bring you 11 fun, cute, and unbelievable gift ideas (looking at you, #7).
1. ColoRevolution Watch
You know what they say: Time flies when it’s made of colors. (Do people not say that?) Either way, this hue-tastic timepiece at the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston features three rotating wedges of color that blend continuously all day, so it’s like you’re wearing a new watch every second! Well, not really, but it’s still way rad.
2. Art Socks
Art socks! We need these on our feet immediately, and so do you. Atlanta’s High Museum of Art offers a whole sock drawer worth of the things, emblazoned with classics like Starry Night and The Scream.
3. The Vexed Man
“Vexed” is one word for this guy’s expression. Some of us think “constipated” might be closer to the mark. This reproduction mirrors Messerschmidt’s memorable bust at L.A.’s Getty Center, and this is your chance to snag your very own grumpy old man statue.
4. Nick Cave: Epitome
If that bizarre technicolor butterfly monster doesn’t give you nightmares, then this is the coffee table art book for you! Epitome, available at the de Young Museum in San Francisco, erupts with the trippy, eye-bending imagery of Nick Cave and his famous Soundsuits. (Yeah, don’t worry, we Googled Soundsuits for you.)
5. Drip Horses
Despite their singularly unimaginative name, Drip Horses make really cool, colorful souvenirs from the Art Institute of Chicago. Plus, each one is unique—someone somewhere (hey, we don’t make the things) drips different assortments of paint on each little white pony, guaranteeing a distinct pattern each time.
6. Warhol Salt & Pepper Shakers
How better to showcase Andy Warhol’s famous Campbell’s Soup cans than with, er, salt and pepper shakers? Hm. Well, we guess you could make soup…and then add salt and pepper? Whatever, they look nifty (and in pink, too). Pick yours up after a scavenger hunt at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art!
7. Capucci Dress Replicas
Have you got $4,000 and a thing for miniature handmade Italian dresses? Then you’re in luck, friend! For what we can only imagine is an extremely limited time, the Philadelphia Museum of Art will take your thousands upon thousands of dollars in exchange for two-foot-tall replicas of the work of famed gown maker Roberto Capucci. The museum offers five different dresses (the cheapest of which runs $4,100), so order yours now before you blow that cash on something silly, like college tuition or a down payment on a car.
8. Foot Bowl
It’s a bowl. With feet. A foot bowl! This is why museum gift shops exist, you guys! Well played, Metropolitan Museum of Art.
9. Fart Proudly
“Fart for freedom, fart for liberty—and fart proudly!” We couldn’t have said it better ourselves, Ben. You can find your copy of Fart Proudly, (in)appropriately enough, during a scavenger hunt at The Franklin Institute.
10. Jackie O and JFK Sunglasses
Camelot’s a bright place, and so is the National Museum of American History in Washington, D.C. Shield your eyes like a Kennedy—Jackie O. or John F.—with these dazzling replica sunglasses.
11. Dinosaur Slippers
Human things like pumpkin spice lattes and cable television are great and all, but deep down, we still kinda wish we were dinosaurs. Unleash your inner thunder lizard with dino slippers from the American Museum of Natural History in New York—they come in adult and child sizes and in green!