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Gifts: Staple-free Stapler & Puzzle Stacker from ThinkGeek.Com

If you're looking for gifts for "smart masses" - ThinkGeek is the place for you!

Staple-free Stapler ($5.99 US) is a great stocking stuffer for teachers, professionals, parents, even kids! You'll never run out of staples with this nifty office tool because it doesn't use any. That's right, it is completely staple-free. Instead, it punches a small tab hole into the papers and then folds and tucks it through another small hole, fastening pages together without any waste or metal.

I couldn't wrap my head around how this would work until I tried it and it's pretty neat! I took the photo below so you would understand the size of the stapler as well as how it works. The bottom paper is purple on the front side (shown) and orange on the back side. When you press down on the papers with the stapler, it punches an oblong shaped hole (with one side uncut) through the papers and then pulls the paper punch shape through the hole and folds it through another slit - so it basically ends up tucking it in and securing it from coming apart easily. I pulled and dropped the papers, they remained fastened together.


There are a few differences you'll need to adjust to with the staple-free stapler, but we've found them to be do-able (especially since it is so much eco-friendlier and safer without metal staples). First, you cannot "staple" corners, you must do a flat edge of paper - if you put a corner it, it will tear up the corner (see corners in photo). Second, your papers must be at least a few inches long or they will get stuck in the stapler - it punches a hole 1/4" in from the edge. The manufacturer recommends no more than 4 pieces of paper being stapled at a time (though it is possible to do more against their advice).



The Wooden Puzzle Stacker ($24.99) provides a new twist on a traditional toy! Each of the 6 rings will fit together in numerous ways, helping kids to manipulate the pieces however they would like and allowing the toy to grow with them and their developmental stage. Made of eco-friendly rubberwood. Here is what the team over at ThinkGeek.com has to say:

"The typical stacker toy is a bunch of colored plastic doughnuts that go over a white post. Your wee geek does the following with it: attempts to eat it, throws pieces around the room, accidentally figures out how to stack the doughnuts, learns to reliably stack and unstack. After that, it's been there, done that. Sterilize it and hand it off to a friend with a baby. Done.

This Puzzle Stacker can live on longer and build your baby's motor development and spatial logic skills through age 3! Wee geeks are initially challenged to fine-tune motor skills by placing the easy to hold rings on the stacking pole. With that mastered the child begins to enhance spatial logic by interlocking any one puzzle piece to any other; in any order. At this point, there is no wrong answer! Finally, through "solving" the puzzle sequence the child learns color and size recognition."