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The Capsule 98 Holiday Gift Guide!

WRITING: RANDI BERGMAN
@randibergman
When it came time to curate the first ever Capsule 98 Holiday Gift Guide, I dug deep into the caverns of my Hanukkah memories. There were the years when I got exactly what I wanted (Now & Then on VHS, trolls, that weird doll that grew hair when you raised its arm…), but then there was the time when I pined unrequitedly for Dream Phone, a game that came with a working phone that you’d use to call potential crushes. I still want it, which is why I included the game amongst the gift ideas for the ’90s gals and guys on your holiday shopping list. Peruse the dreamy ideas below, which I like to think are a good mix of unabashedly nostalgic and actually quite chic, which is incidentally how I describe myself…
Read on for The Capsule 98 Holiday Gift Guide!


Laser Kitten “Nostalgia Whore” Bracelet
Truth be told, I’d buy this just for the name as it encapsulates me perfectly. Laser Kitten is a Los Angeles label making the charm bracelets of your ’90s and Y2K dreams, with vintage magazine cutouts and tchotchkes. Buyer beware, they sell out pretty instantly, so if this exact bracelet isn’t available, wait for something similar.
Laser Kitten bracelet, $128, laserkitten.com.
Dream Phone, 1991 edition
Dream Phone is notoriously hard to get (I should know! I once booked a night at a boardgame bar exclusively to play it, only to find out that someone broke it the night before), so I included a list of potential options to cop the game on eBay. I asked for this every year and my mom never gave in. “Boardgames shouldn’t cost over $50!” she said. Now, you’ll be lucky if you get it for under $150.
Dream Phone, prices vary, eBay.com.


Siobhan Gallagher Dazed and Confused sticker
I love Sio’s style so much that I already asked her to illustrate our ode to celebrities wearing UGGs in the 2000s, but if you’re looking to take a piece of her home, I’d suggest this hilarious sticker, dedicated to the time Parker Posey hazed a bunch of “freshman sluts” in Dazed and Confused with pacifiers and condiments.
Siobhan Gallagher Dazed and Confused sticker, $4, siobhan-gallagher-shop.com.
Curves by Sean Brown Handmade CD Rug
Tell me you love with Lil Kim without telling me you love Lil Kim… Sean Brown’s collection of CD rugs includes Jay-Z and Outkast, but this one takes the cake aesthetically for me. It’s also an amazing reminder that despite how much you vibe to your Spotify Wrapped, nothing will hit quite like the feeling of popping your favourite new album into your 5-disc CD player.
Curves by Sean Brown Handmade CD Rug, $260, ssense.com.


Polaroid 600 Spice Cam
Another unrequited dream gift from the 1990s, the Spice Cam from 1997 is what I’d consider amongst the holy grail of Spice Girls memorabilia. There are a few working cameras floating around the Internet, so if you’re lucky enough to snag one, don’t think twice about hitting BUY! My inner Posh/Ginger (I flip flopped, okay?) begs you to.
Polaroid 600 Spice Cam, prices vary, etsy.com.
Rainbow Tamagotchi
As every Millennial gal will already know, Tamagotchis were most coveted game/accessories of the late ’90s, and they’ve been reissued in a delightfully low-fi model that still allows you to watch them take a poop, but with new fun colours.
Tamagotchi electric game in Rainbow, $59.99, amazon.ca.


Sticky Note Magnet Set
If you’re not already following @EveryOutfitOnSATC, you should because its fabulous and – humble brag – I made an appearance on the feed dressed up as Sarah Jessica Parker on the set of And Just Like That for Halloween, but also because founders Chelsea Fairless and Lauren Garroni make great Sex and the City merch, like this set of magnets replicating Jack Berger’s iconic sticky note-dumping of Carrie with the phrase, “I’m sorry I can’t, don’t hate me.”
Sticky Note Magnet Set, $12, everyoutfit.inc.
Vacation Classic SPF 30 Lotion
Vacation is a relatively new sunscreen brand with an aesthetic (and retro summer scent) that poses it as a peak 1980s yuppie taking buying stocks on his brick phone by the pool/hard-abbed California girl essential. Travel back in time with each SPF 30 slather.
Vacation Classic SPF 30 Lotion, $20, vacation.inc.


Retrokid YTV Uh Oh T-Shirt
This one goes out to all the Canadian kids who ever dreamed of going on Uh Oh, a YTV game show where kid contestants would get covered in slime by someone in BDSM named “The Punisher” if their teammates answered random questions incorrectly. Fun fact, longtime host Wink Yahoo (real name Scott Yaphe) is now a reiki healer, something I learned on @canada.gov.ca, but I digress… Retrokid has now rebooted the iconic contestant T-shirts and they are simply amazing.
Retrokid YTV Uh Oh T-Shirt, $40, retrokid.ca.
Slo-Toons Collectible Characters
Slo-Toons makes the most adorable and nostalgic wood cut out paintings, and has tributed everything from a Coffee Crisp chocolate bar to a Hilroy notebook. Each is one of a kind and super affordable. It’s the kind of account you’ll want notifications on for.
Slo-Toons Collectible Characters, $50, by DM at @slo_toons.


Reinvention and Restlessness: Fashion in the 1990s
I have 5000 coffee table books, but this one, published in tandem with an exhibition on now at The Museum at FIT in New York, would still make the cut. Covering everything from Clueless‘s effect on trends, to Tom Ford at Gucci, it’s a must-have for any fashion head.
Reinvention and Restlessness: Fashion in the 1990s, $67.50 at chapters.indigo.ca.
Louis Vuitton Monogram Multicolore Speedy HL
Yes, I realize $1,600 is a bit much for a BFF, but a girl can dream, can’t she? I pretended I didn’t want this bag in high school because many snobs who I perceived to have no personal style paraded them down the halls. But I did, and I still do! (I’m saying that like Ryan and Rachel in The Notebook, just so you know…) Marc Jacobs, who helmed Vuitton at the time, really changed the game of designer collabs when he enlisted Japanese pop artist, Takashi Murakami, to design the pattern for this bag. When you think about it, $1,600 is a small price to pay for a work of art…
Louis Vuitton Monogram Multicolore Speedy HL, $1,600, therealreal.com.
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