Gifts nobody needs and everybody wants.

Brands built on the punchline: joke presents, prank-by-post services, sweary mugs and candles, novelty socks and the sort of thing that exists purely to be handed to someone across a table.

Gadget makers working at the strange end of hardware — levitating objects, Nixie tube clocks, split-flap displays, pocket hacking tools, miniature arcades and inventions that solve problems nobody has.

Things that sit on a desk and get picked up: fidget cubes and magnet spheres, spinning tops, yo-yos and kendama, speed cubes, kinetic sculptures, sand art and putty.

Party games, costumes, inflatables, glow gear and decorations — the manufacturers and publishers behind the card game on the table and the ridiculous thing in the pool.

Independent design studios, letterpress shops, art-toy labels and one-person brands making original funny things in small runs rather than licensing someone else's.

Boxes that turn up every month with something odd inside: snack crates from other countries, murder mysteries, science toys, brick kits, sock clubs and immersive mail adventures.

Gag Gifts & Prank Mail

Seattle's long-running purveyor of deliberately absurd novelties, from rubber chickens and tiny hands to bacon-scented everything and finger monsters. The catalogue leans hard on Bigfoot, crows, pickles, cats and axolotls, and much of it is designed in-house.

Indie Makers & Small Studios

Makes USA-produced button pins, stickers, magnets and cards using artwork licensed from illustrators including Gemma Correll and Lisa Congdon. It functions as a gift line and a wholesale platform for independent artists.

Party Novelties

Founded in 1900 and describing itself as the world's largest manufacturer of party goods, Beistle makes tissue decorations, cutouts, hats and banners for every occasion. Much of the range has barely changed in decades, which is the appeal.

Gag Gifts & Prank Mail

Designing and manufacturing what it calls life-improving, joy-bringing products since 1988, Blue Q is best known for socks and zip bags carrying blunt one-liners. Designs are made with independent artists from around the world.

Indie Makers & Small Studios

Founded by illustrator Emily McDowell, whose Empathy Cards rewrote what a get-well card could say. The women-owned line covers greeting cards, postcards, fill-in books and gifts aimed at real rather than greeting-card-shaped relationships.

Indie Makers & Small Studios

A premier creator and dealer of limited-edition art toys, sitting between sculpture and mass-market collectible. Its lines include blind boxes, Phunny plush and licensed collaborations with The Simpsons, Hello Kitty and McDonald's.

Desk Toys & Fidgets

A UK designer and wholesale manufacturer of metal and wooden puzzles, party games, escape-room games and trivia sets, including licensed ranges like Sherlock Holmes and Great Minds. It also distributes Metal Earth in some markets.

Desk Toys & Fidgets

A Santa Cruz juggling supplier making balls, rings and clubs and stocking contact juggling, diabolos, LED props, fire wicks, slacklines and unicycles. Everything is aimed at people who actually practise.

Indie Makers & Small Studios

Matt Adrian's studio, trading with The Frantic Meerkat, selling paintings of birds with menacing captions plus cards, magnets and books in the same deadpan register. It describes its output as pretty and funny.

Gag Gifts & Prank Mail

Seattle's long-running purveyor of deliberately absurd novelties, from rubber chickens and tiny hands to bacon-scented everything and finger monsters. The catalogue leans hard on Bigfoot, crows, pickles, cats and axolotls, and much of it is designed in-house.

Indie Makers & Small Studios

Makes USA-produced button pins, stickers, magnets and cards using artwork licensed from illustrators including Gemma Correll and Lisa Congdon. It functions as a gift line and a wholesale platform for independent artists.

Party Novelties

Founded in 1900 and describing itself as the world's largest manufacturer of party goods, Beistle makes tissue decorations, cutouts, hats and banners for every occasion. Much of the range has barely changed in decades, which is the appeal.

Gag Gifts & Prank Mail

Designing and manufacturing what it calls life-improving, joy-bringing products since 1988, Blue Q is best known for socks and zip bags carrying blunt one-liners. Designs are made with independent artists from around the world.

Indie Makers & Small Studios

Founded by illustrator Emily McDowell, whose Empathy Cards rewrote what a get-well card could say. The women-owned line covers greeting cards, postcards, fill-in books and gifts aimed at real rather than greeting-card-shaped relationships.

Indie Makers & Small Studios

A premier creator and dealer of limited-edition art toys, sitting between sculpture and mass-market collectible. Its lines include blind boxes, Phunny plush and licensed collaborations with The Simpsons, Hello Kitty and McDonald's.

Desk Toys & Fidgets

A UK designer and wholesale manufacturer of metal and wooden puzzles, party games, escape-room games and trivia sets, including licensed ranges like Sherlock Holmes and Great Minds. It also distributes Metal Earth in some markets.

Desk Toys & Fidgets

A Santa Cruz juggling supplier making balls, rings and clubs and stocking contact juggling, diabolos, LED props, fire wicks, slacklines and unicycles. Everything is aimed at people who actually practise.

Indie Makers & Small Studios

Matt Adrian's studio, trading with The Frantic Meerkat, selling paintings of birds with menacing captions plus cards, magnets and books in the same deadpan register. It describes its output as pretty and funny.