Christmas gifts for scientists – my Santa list
I love science accessories - they are fun and a great way to proudly show off your geeky side! I often get asked where I find them so in this article I have included some of the amazing suppliers of unique science gifts that I have come across - offering everything from pins to skirts, dresses, necklaces with personalised data and even cookie cutters. I hope you’ll find present ideas for that special scientist in your life, or even to put on your own Christmas list. Enjoy!
For a scientist who loves baking...
For the scientist in your life that likes baking, let’s start with the amazing cookie cutters from Bakerlogy. My favourite as a neuroscientist is obviously their brain design but they have a huge range of sciences and subjects - DNA, cells, antibodies and tardigrades to name just a few.
I’ve tried my brain cookie cutter at home and can report great results!
For the proud scientist
Jewelry customised with your own data
Ontogenie has an original range of science jewelry, with some very beautiful and unique designs for pendant necklaces, bracelets but also cufflinks, tie bars and pins. But my favorite thing in this shop is the customized data jewelry. You can personalise pendants or tie bars with 3D-modeled scientific graphs that can illustrate your own, or a colleague's great results. Best present ever for a PhD defense or to celebrate a paper!
Pins and more:
At Science On a Postcard you can find enamel pins, stickers, notepads and notebooks. I love the fact that they have a big choice to match any speciality: biochemistry, immunology, microbiology, neuroscience and more. Of course I have asked Santa for the ‘Science Communicator’ pin this year.
For the scientist who likes to sew
If you know someone who likes to sew, Spoonflower is a fantastic fabric shop offering lots of science fabrics. You pick the print you like and you can order a wide range of different fabrics to create whatever you want, outfits, home decorations, bags... or masks!
For the scientist who likes to look smart
Shenova fashion has amazing science themed dresses, skirts and men’s ties. It’s hard to decide what pattern you should wear, they all look fabulous! Neurons, synapses, dark matter, brains, dopamine and more...
For the scientist who loves their jewelry
There are quite a few science jewelry shops online, but here are my favorites:
Science Inspired Jewelry has one of the widest range of science jewelry and very pretty products. They have necklaces, rings, bracelets and earrings. My favourite ones are the 3D molecules like this oxytocin one (pictured left). And for those that can’t quite run to a diamond necklace, why not get a necklace incorporating a 3D sculpture of a diamond crystal instead? The perfect way to wear a giant diamond, science style!
Another great jewelry shop is Two Photons Art, where they have beautiful earrings and necklaces and some original and unusual science enamel pins (even Drosophila!)
Independent sellers platform: Etsy
Etsy is a platform for independent sellers. Here you can find lots of different things like clothing, jewelry, stationery, accessories, kid’s stuff and more. There’s so much choice, so I recommend visiting this platform for yourself and just having a browse!
Turn your own data, images & designs into gifts: Redbubble
One of my favorite platforms is Redbubble, for two reasons. Firstly, you can find amazing science designs from independent artists for pretty much anything including clothing, baby clothing, home accessories, stationary, stickers, phone or laptop accessories and more. Secondly, you can easily upload your own artwork and print it on many different items. If you have a stunning microscope picture, an electrophys trace, a fun graph, photos or even graphic designs you can show them off and get them printed on virtually anything. I have bought lots of things from this shop and I love it. It’s also a very nice way to support designers too.
I hope you enjoyed this selection of Christmas science gifts. Good luck with finding the perfect gift for yourself or that special scientist in your life - happy shopping!
___________________________________________
A PhD neuroscientist, Elodie founded the Pint of Science festival in France and is a passionate science communicator.
- Follow Elodie on Twitter here: @EloScicomm
- Connect with Elodie on LinkedIn here
If you enjoyed this article, why not check out the other resources available on our blog. We are passionate about supporting life scientists, early career life scientists and PhD students - with really low- priced reagents and biochemicals, early career scientist grants, and resources to help with both personal and professional development. We know how tough it is - so we hope you find these helpful!
Advice & guidance for life scientists
Click below to view our essential guides and articles to support life scientists, PhD students & early career life scientists:
Wellbeing for scientists
Click below for our resources to help improve your wellbeing:
Technical resources
Try our Molarity Calculator: a quick and easy way to calculate the mass, volume or concentration required for making a solution.
Try our Dilution Calculator: an easy way to work out how to dilute stock solutions of known concentrations
And - when you get to the stage of planning your experiments, don't forget that we offer a range of agonists, antagonists, inhibitors, activators, antibodies and fluorescent tools at up to half the price of other suppliers - click below to see how we compare with other suppliers:
