Special occasion

3 guides in Gifts

Gifts / Buying guide

Special Occasion Gifts: Four Makers Print "Lifetime" and Mean Four Different Things

Socks, a bottle, a daypack and a second daypack all carry the word lifetime or for life. Read past the word and it covers anything at all, any damage, defects only, or a lifetime the maker decides. Match the version to the occasion.

7 min read

Gifts / Buying guide

Milestone Gifts: Buy the One With a Parts List

A chair, a rice cooker and a suitcase each have one component the maker expects to wear out, and each maker prices or repairs that component in public. The share of the gift price that the second life costs is the number to compare.

6 min read

Gifts / Gift guide

Special Occasion Gifts: Buy the Warranty, Not the Box

A milestone gift is judged in five years, not five minutes. For three gifts, the maker publishes repair or warranty terms, and those terms say what happens when something breaks.

4 min read