It was Christmas of 2004, and Arik Nordby was watching his nephew open a present. His family had gotten the boy a Nintendo, but since they had also bought a game and thought it might be easier to consolidate both gifts, decided to wrap the console and disc in a larger box that once belonged to a breadmaker. “You got a breadmaker!” they said as the crestfallen boy unwrapped his gift. “Pretty nice!”
In that moment of comic gold, Nordby had the germ of an idea that would later hit stores nationwide, with a little help from the folks at The Onion. Nordby makes fake gift boxes, and his newly independent company 30Watt is releasing three new “Prank Packs” in a few weeks. The idea: buy your loved one something they actually want, put it in the fake box, and savor the moment of awkwardness under the Christmas tree. For example the iArm, above, should particularly puzzle your gadget geek who really wanted an iPad. Check out the back of the box: [read]
