11 Things That Delighted Us Last Week: From Ceramic Watermelons to Vanilla Gifts

John Derian believes the best gift is something that both you and the person you’re surprising will love. So, naturally, if he had to give the same present to everyone for the rest of his life, it would be one of these nearly $800 ceramic watermelons that two women in England have been making for 40 years. “Right now I have two in my apartment. Everyone that I give it to thinks it’s the coolest thing,” he says.

Now that it’s cold, all that Strategist weekend and holiday writer Martha Tuber wants to do is shuffle around her house in a robe. Not a bathrobe, though — “I’m talking about an L.L.Bean-catalogue-esque robe — the kind you wear with a pair of proper pajamas and fur-lined slippers while watching snow fall outside,” she says. As a bona fide robe enthusiast, she pulled together a few of her favorite and coziest pieces, including this waffle robe from Los Angeles–based slow-fashion brand Oddbird. “They’re unisex, incredibly soft, feel nice and floppy to wear,” she says.

“I’m nothing if not a philhellene, like Lord Byron before me,” says our writer Ambar Pardilla in last month’s “Strategist Haul.” So, it only feels fitting that her favorite purchase from November was this claw clip based on a water jar on display at the Met. “It makes a messy bun look quite Hellenistic, if I do say so myself,” she adds.

After her pregnancies, editor of The Cut’s “Sex Diaries” column Alyssa Shelasky became ultrasensitive to scents. “I avoided the basement of Bergdorf Goodman and literally could not walk past any Abercrombie & Fitch,” she writes. This all changed when she was riding in the elevator with a woman wearing vanilla perfume and found herself shocked at the inoffensiveness. And so, a year later she’s here with a gift guide for all nice things vanilla, including these vanilla-bean marshmallows that she says are “simply the ideal cheap and chic gift for a vanilla person.”

For the second iteration of her style column, Kim France answered an age-old question: “I’m in one of those very old uptown buildings with no temperature control, and I struggle with getting dressed. When it’s tropical inside and freezing outside, how does one put together an outfit?” Most important, she says, “You want whatever’s close to your skin to be made of natural fibers, like cotton, linen, or bamboo.” So, a washable silk top like this one will be a welcome addition to any confused wardrobe.

“You can’t throw a rock in the beauty world these days without hitting an LED mask,” says Strategist writer Dominique Pariso. The newest one on her radar is Shark’s CryoGlow Face Mask, which uses red, blue, and infrared light to tackle aging, blemishes, brightness, and under-eye problems. After testing it for a month, she says, “I noticed that I didn’t have any active acne breakouts during the testing period. Nor did I have any rosacea flare-ups.” Still, she wishes the mask, which is a hard shell, was more flexible.

“I’ve wanted red tights ever since New York Magazine features writer and friend of Secret Strategist Madeline Leung Coleman arrived at theSecret Strategist party we hosted in October in a stunning monochromatic outfit,” says our senior writer Lauren Ro. Once these Calzedonia tights arrive, she’s considering pairing them with the vintage Talbots red tartan pleated wool skirt she bought on eBay or this fluttery drop-waist dress with polka dots from Dôen.

Kim Hastreiter has a few words of wisdom when it comes to gift giving: “Give less random stuff” and wrap everything in “bright-colored, shiny Day-Glo and neon paper and neon ribbon.” As she says, “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.”

This week’s installment of “Don’t Dillydally” included artist CJ Hendry’s take on Labubus, which became available for preorder. “Similar to the hyped trinkets, these are a blind-box release, so you won’t know which plush you got until unboxing,” says Strategist writer Arielle Avila. They’re expected to ship out mid-January.

Six months after we named the one-block stretch of Broadway where matcha-sipping, Jansport-wearing middle- and high-school girls swarm to shop and socialize “Tween Row,” Strategist junior writer Bella Druckman checked in with the little shoppers about everything on their holiday wish lists. Among the sheer pink lip balms and silk accessories on their lists is this pair of starfish-studded pajamas from Pink Palm Puff, the teen-founded brand that has made a name for itself in middle-school hallways with its beach-themed hoodies.

Every time the writers and editors behind Secret Strategist put together a newsletter, they send questions out into the universe like “Which clogs are cool chefs wearing?” and “Is there a chic way to carry your bag while on a bicycle?” While some of those answers became part of that week’s issue, others were floating around in the ether until the team compiled them into this year’s Secret Strategist gift guide. Among the highlights is this Cawley-esque hat from senior editor Winnie Yang’s favorite source for sheepskin winter accessories.