How Kim Hastreiter Gifts
“Give less stuff, period. Give less random stuff. Only have meaningful intent.”
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We asked 20 notable people about their gifting philosophies, gifting nightmares, the best gifts under $25, and much more. We’ll be publishing each of their questionnaires now through December 23 in this new series, “How I Gift.” Today,Papermagazine co-founder Kim Hastreiter on stainless-steel bowls, Ted Muehling earrings, and her affordable present pick.
What is your gift-giving philosophy?
For God’s sake, nobody needs or wants more random stuff. We all have too much stuff. Gifts should be sweet, meaningful, personal thoughts. Not more tchotchkes. For the receiver, the worst thing on earth is to be given a stupid gift, a gift that has no understanding of who you are. Gift-giving takes thoughtfulness about and often love of the person who is receiving little treasures. It’s a challenge, but I think it’s fun.
What gift have you received that you’re most surprised about still using regularly?
My friend Christina Topsøe gives me the best gifts, but she thinks she’s a horrible gift-giver. She gives me gifts all the time, but they’re not necessarily for occasions, and I’m the same way — I don’t believe you have to stay with occasions. She observes me. She observes things that she thinks I need, that would make my life better or easier. And then she’ll give me them, and it’s just like,Oh my God.Like, we cook together and do dinner parties a lot together. And she’s a fantastic cook. She owns a couple of restaurants. And when we cook, she’s like, “Do you havethose bowls that chefs use?” I’m not a chef, but I cook a lot. They’re metal bowls that are nested, and you use them to put, like, garbage in as you cook, or you use ’em for peels in one and then you put the good stuff in the other. I don’t have anything like that, so my table was always a mess. Now I cannot live without these bowls.
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You have to give the same present to everyone for the rest of your life. What is it?
Ted Muehling’s tiny gold melon earrings. They are perfection. And no matter who you are, they are loved by everyone. I call them a Ted Muehling starter kit. He calls them punctuation for a woman’s face. I’ve given so many pairs of these to folks over the years. For new babies or dogs, Ialwayshave photo blankets made of the baby or dog. Isaac Mizrahi once gave me one of my late dog Romeo many years ago, and I’ve given these as gifts ever since.
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Ted Muehling Melons Earrings
What was the most heartfelt, smart, so you present you’ve ever received?
It was a present my parents gave me for Christmas when I was very, very young — maybe, like, 5 or 6 years old — and I’ll never forget it. Believe it or not, it was in the 1950s. In those days, kids didn’t have tons of toys. I had one stuffed monkey called Flop Ears, and my parents had given me a doll that I loved very, very dearly and clung on to always. It was pre-Barbie, what used to be called a Ginny doll. One day, our mischievous dachshund named Fritz got ahold of my Ginny doll and ate all her hair off her head until she was bald. I was devastated. I cried and cried and cried for days on end, as I’d anthropomorphized my Ginny as the love of my life and now she was maimed and wrecked. Months later was Christmas. I got one present that year from my mom, and it was the best present of my whole life. Guess what it was? A Ginny doll wig!
My mom had got the phone book and she called the company that manufactured the Ginny doll. And that’s what she gave me for Christmas. And then as I got older, I realized, like, you know, my mom didn’t buy me a new Ginny doll; she bought me a wig for my Ginny doll. She understood the difference, you know? And I had such a great mother — it just makes me sentimental thinking about that. That’s the kind of mother I had. It wasn’t about buying a new Ginny doll; it was about my Ginny doll.
Here’s $10 to get a gift for someone at Walgreens. What are you buying?
I always love a trashy newspaper like theNational Enquirer. One Christmas years ago when I hadPaper, I actually gave subscriptions to theNational Enquirerto all my friends and clients.
My father always bought Lifesavers, but he would buy, like, cartons of Lifesavers, and he would give them as gifts. He would always carry them around. He had a car, and he lived on 12th Street, and he would always give them to any of the parking attendants. He would give them to the doorman. He would go to the farmers’ market and give ’em to the tomato man.
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What’s the best gift under $25?
Someone recently bought me these amazing cockroach clips for food bags in your kitchen. I got them as a present. I forget who gave them to me, but someone gave them to me at a dinner party or something.
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What’s the last thing you impulse bought for someone else?
I always buy the Rick Rubin book for people. If I think they’re interesting people and they haven’t read it or never heard of it, I’ll buy it for them. I’ll just buy it right away on Amazon and have it sent to them. I’m like, “You have to read this book.” I do that a lot — I’m meeting someone, I’m like, “You have to read this book.”
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How can all bad gift-givers get better? In five words or less.
Give less stuff, period. Give less random stuff. Only have meaningful intent. And if it’s a person that you know, try and be thoughtful about it, and don’t impose something on them that maybe you like but they would hate.
You just got someone you have truly never met for Secret Santa. What are you buying them?
Subscription toTheWhitney Review of New Writing. I like to find a young friend who’s doing something interesting to turn people on to. Whitney Mallett is my young friend who wrote one of the forwards to my book. I love her. She’s an amazing young writer who’s very hot right now, coming up. She has this newspaper calledThe Whitney Review of New Writing.She’s very sizzling hot right now. So I love to do that — find a young person that needs support and give gifts of their stuff, so it would be twofold. So you give gifts to someone and buy it from someone who’s young and starting out and needs help.
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What is your dream gift? Is there any chance you actually get it?
If I could have my dream gift, I would have someone clean my apartment every week. I would be in heaven. That would be such a luxury. That would be the best gift you could ever give me. Right now, I can only afford to have it done, like, every two weeks. I’m privileged to be able to have that every two weeks. But if I could have someone every week, I would be in heaven.
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Merry Maids Gift Card
What’s the best gift wrap?
Bright-colored, shiny Day-Glo and neon paper and neon ribbon. I love neon. Neon is my favorite. Neon anything — neon socks, neon T-shirts.
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The Strategistis designed to surface useful, expert recommendations for things to buy across the vast e-commerce landscape. Every product is independently selected by our team of editors, whom you can read abouthere. We update links when possible, but note that deals can expire and all prices are subject to change.
