‘Tis the season of the digital photo frame. Whether you’re shopping at Bed Bath & Beyond or Linens ‘n Things or at specialty sites like digiframes.com, these nifty gadgets are all the rage and make perfect gifts, especially if you load them up with photos before wrapping. The concept is simple: Each frame can store as few as 20 or as many as 60 digital photos. The photos can appear in a ”slideshow” mode or can be displayed one at a time for however long you choose. For example, a 7-inch digital frame from Philips ($154.99) stores 50 pictures and has a built-in memory card reader. The brightness is adjustable, and photos can be rotated 90, 180, or 270 degrees. At Bed Bath & Beyond, for example, they have 7 styles of frames, from a pricey 15″ one with a remote control and MP3 playing capability (you can give your family photos a theme song) for $300 to a small travel alarm clock that holds 60 pictures, for $30. Sharper Image has 13 styles, and they’ve cut the prices on four of them, including $90 off an 8″ one with 512 MB of memory that holds 100 pictures and has a calendar function (schedule the days you want to look at certain pictures), speakers for music or movies and an alarm clock function. It costs $230. At Brookstone they offer 9 styles of digital frames, including an interesting man’s wallet that has a digital photo viewer that holds 50 images, for $50. unusual looking Grandparents don’t have to stash photos of the grandkids in their wallets anymore, thanks to the Royal Digital Picture Key Chain ($19.99). With its 1.1-inch display and rechargeable battery, it holds up to 56 photos. The credit-card-size Wallet Pix Digital Photo Album ($29.99) functions in a similar way and can be tucked into a wallet or purse. It comes in black and white and has its own stand and USB cable. Showing off cute pictures of those kiddos has never been easier.

If you’re heading for the hills for the holidays with your tent, sleeping bag and favorite companions, be sure to take along one of these tiny, hands-free light sources to brighten up the night. You can make like a miner with Cabela’s Cyclops Orion Clip Light ($12.99; pictured here), a lightweight, waterproof LED lamp that clips to your favorite cap and shines a light on tasks like staking a tent, cleaning fish or even repairing a flat tire. G2’s all-in-one cotton twill cap ($19.95 at Amazon.com) has a built-in LED light source that’s visible from up to one mile away and ready with the click of an on/off switch. Not into lighted caps? Consider the ultra-compact, no-frills Petzl Zipka Headlamp ($32.95) from altrec.com. Weighing less than 3 ounces even with its AAA batteries, it has a strong retractable cord for attaching to the head, wrist or backpack and when not in use it can be tucked into a pocket. Other useful gear include Cabela’s Mini-Multi Tool ($9.99) with a bright LED light and six quality tools that will come in handing for camping or backpacking; it also includes a belt sheath, a keychain, and button batteries. For navigating through rugged terrain, the two-in-one Highgear LZed compass and LED light ($9.95 from altrec.com) has a freeze-resistant floating dial compass and a detachable battery-powered light; the tiny unit can hook onto a zipper or keychain. Happy trails of light!

The visual patterns found in nature, especially on the coats of animals, have a relaxing effect upon the human eye. That’s why so many designers incorporate them into everything from fashion to housewares to computers. Yes, computers. Sony wants to indulge your craving for something wild this holiday season with the Spotted Life laptop, part of their Graphic Splash Eco Edition line-up. Made with recyclable materials and “packaged with the planet in mind,” this laptop provides you with another incentive to make it yours: Sony will give 1 percent of the purchase price to organizations worldwide that work to preserve the environment. Available for $1,398. You can use it while sitting in an office chair upholstered with faux bobcat or palomino fur. Or if you prefer to wrap yourself or someone you love in animal patterns, there’s no shortage of options. Sleep on zebra print sheets, stomp around in giraffe print shoes, slip your hands into leopard print gloves, or carry a handsome giraffe print handbag. Getting back to the environment, we’d love to see 2008 be the year you give up plastic shopping bags and switch to a sturdy, reusable tote — with leopard pattern, of course. And for the home, snuggle up with a realistically plush, faux ocelot throw. Matching pillow cover available. Or mix up a round of martinis in your zebra patterned shaker and glasses set. And for travelers tired of trying to distinguish their luggage at baggage claim, we recommend a set of leopard print luggage.

For this Christmas, a very hot item for older children and teens is the Ripstik Caster Board, which looks like the love child of a skateboard and a snowboard. Meant for children 8 and older (and parents are advised to supervise kids under 10), this inventive skateboard is divided into two traction pads, connected by a bar, with wheels underneath. The deck pivots, which allows the rider to “carve” (swoop or turn) in a way similar to snowboarders carving their way down a snowy hill. Learn all about Ripstiks, including viewing a YouTube video on how to ride them, at Ripstik Caster Board. The Ripstik comes in blue, green, pink, silver or red, and can be purchased online from $99 to $129. Onlinefitness.com sells them for $109.99. You can also find them at Sharper Image and Toys “R” Us. (Word of advice: Ripstik warns that the wheels can wear out fairly quickly, especially for beginners.) If your child isn’t quite ready to shred the street on a Ripstik, the classsic silver Razor scooter has been updated for this holiday season, as the Razor Cruiser Scooter. Instead of the slim platform of a regular scooter, this one has a wider, skateboard-like base. These run $49.98 at Sports Authority. A slower but still popular way to roll around (although kids aren’t allowed to wear them to school) are Heelys, those rolling sneakers with wheels set into them. Zappos.com has a huge selection of these, for boys, girls, men and women, in a variety of colors and designs. Any of these presents will help keep your kids occupied all the way through winter break, although not perhaps without some grumbling - the Ripstik site insists that users wear all the appropriate safety gear, including helmets and kneepads.

Glass has never looked better as a gift option, thanks to the ingenuity and artistry of designers like Andrew Simpson at Vert Design. We were blown away by this Aussie’s ergonomically surprising cup and jug ($500). It is simple to use, elegantly conceived and expensive enough to keep with your fine art objects. No less stupendous is the Revolution vase, by Adam Goodrum ($160). Made from lead crystal glass, it rests on its edge in a tipped position. Want to give something bubbly? We recommend Karel Malivanek’s Matte Bubble Vase ($309). The vivid pockets of air are forced into the form and produce magical effects with surrounding light. ‘Tis the season for holiday parties and host/hostess gifts. You’ll make a favorable impression (and be invited back) with a glass-tipped bottle stopper (various designs, $35-$60). Resembling a fancy eye dropper, the stopper portion is a sleek chrome. Or bring a set of fused glass Lattice Coasters from Handmadeheaven.com (4 for $62 at current exchange rate). They come in a variety of color combinations and make great coffee table eye candy. The company will gladly work with you to get the color combination you want or reproduce a sold-out product.

Attention, holiday air-travelers: While you plot how to cram maximum gifts into minimum baggage this season, take a moment to consider the difficulties posed by a full-to-bursting crowd at the baggage carousel. Might be wise to add something distinctive to that generic black suitcase, don’t you think? We’ve never seen luggage tags that stand out as much as these sturdy little numbers, which are made from meticulously cleaned garbage. Part of the huge array of goods sold by Bazura Bags, the tags recycle used juice containers that would otherwise have gone into landfills. They, like the assorted purses and market bags that match them, are made by a women’s cooperative in the Philippines; the raw materials come from local schoolchildren who, instead of tossing their lunch waste in the street, sell it to the women. The resulting bags are tough as nails, though perhaps a hair less durable than those made of Vietnamese beer cans. The strangest item from the Vietnamese contingent, though (and the most aesthetically pleasing), has to be a yoga mat bag made of old PVC advertising banners. If those were just about four times as big, they could almost be an eco-friendly replacement for Santa’s sack of gifts.

Looking for that truly unique gift that will make them grin and marvel? You’ll find it at Klockwerks. Intended for “anybody with a sense of humor and a bit of visual sophistication,” each fully functional, battery-operated timepiece is guaranteed one-of-a-kind by prize-winning creator Roger Wood. The old-timey Exploding Alarm Clock looks as though it could have leapt from a cartoon. The Clock With Spoons just about crows to be placed in a country kitchen. Available from the artist and select retailers, these sculptural assemblages contain myriad odds and ends from bygone times. The Electro Table Clock will become an instant conversation piece, and so will the Big Wall Clock, all of whose numbers have slipped down to join the 6. Notice anything similar about all of the clocks? Yep, that’s a feather attached to every second hand, to keep time flying. Price range: a few hundred dollars to a few thousand.

Among the most retail-friendly imports from Africa in recent years are Zulu baskets made from telephone wire. Eye-catching, less fragile than many other African imports, and available in an astonishing variety of patterns, they’re crowd pleasers and a natural gift choice. But they aren’t as environmentally friendly as buyers might assume. While the tradition may have started with castoff or recycled wire, Cael Chappell of Baskets of Africa confirms that they’re “not from recycled wire any more. There is a rare bit of recycled wire used sometimes, but very, very rarely these days.” Those that do use recycled wire, Chappell says, don’t approach the quality of the psychedelic goodies he stocks, which use wire made specifically for weaving. Happily, color-hungry collectors have other, more environmentally sustainable options. The weavers of Swaziland use hand-gathered fibers from weeds and grass to make baskets that, though less attention-grabbing than the wire versions, are more boldly patterned than most other traditional styles. Chappell offers an ever-changing selection of rough-textured Lutindzi baskets and more tightly-woven ones of Sisal, at prices that are pretty modest for American shoppers but mean a lot in a nation where, according to the site, “70 percent of the population lives on about one dollar a day.”