I was recently in New York for the National Stationery Show/Gift It/Surtex show. There was a lot to see, but I have to admit that a lot of it blended together, and after a while my eyes started to glaze over. Some of the trends I noticed: hipster typefaces, woodland animals, $##@*ing expletives and retro campers. Yes, the end of civilization as we know it.

While I love paper, cards and stationery, my main purpose in going to the show was seeing if there were any unique items in the gift aisles – and I don’t mean the Korean bulgogi/hot dog mash-up concession stand next to the gifts. Again, not much stood out, and when vendors saw that I was a designer instead of a buyer, they either ignored me or glared mighty daggers of death at me.

But one product stood out and really got me excited – Prank Packs, from a company called 30 Watt. Plus, the guys in the booth were nice to me. Probably because they’re from Minnesota.

Prank Packs are fake gift boxes, so when people unwrap their gifts, they see a fake gift for something ridiculous like the Crib Dribbler feeding system. If you’ve ever had to sit through a baby shower where they open gifts and everyone says “how cute” after each gift, you will appreciate these Prank Packs. I can’t wait to give the Crib Dribbler box to someone and see how they react. Of course these are just gift boxes, so the real gift would be inside. But I have a feeling that people will like the box more than the actual gift. (One time at a baby shower I was assigned the task of writing down every gift giver’s name and what they gave. I just wrote “crap,” “crap,” “crap,” and “crap.”  Well, that’s what it looked like to me.)

Here are just a few of the fake boxes:

Particularly hilarious is the text on the boxes. As a former advertising copywriter, I really appreciated the absolutely preposterous body copy that was written with such conviction. For example, the Crib Dribbler is perfect for stew and cocoa! Stew! I love it.

Right now, they are available at Amazon and on their website, and they sell for about $7-$8.

I can’t wait for my next white elephant gift exchange. That gives me an idea: maybe they should sell a fake gift box of a White Elephant – a rare pygmy live white elephant inside each box!  Ahh, pranks for the memories.