Presenting the Alphabet: 16 Gifts that Start with Q

Look, Ma! One hand! The QuickShoeLace one-handed lacing system brings convenience to adults, and an alternative to Velcro straps that will inevitably get gunked up with dust and food and boogers to kids who can't tie their shoes yet (as well as the elderly who have trouble dealing with traditional shoelaces.) Rather than tying, each elastic QuickShoeLace threads through your eyelets and clips via a metal ring onto rounded or spiked metal studs screwed into the top two eyelets.

People who live in glass houses shouldn't throw stones, and people who live in marble towers should watch out because...bombs away! MindWare's Q-Ba-Maze 2.0 is an interlocking system of brightly-hued cubes that tinkerers small and large alike can use to build a functional marble maze/work of art in the shape of anything from a spired tower to a robot to a dinosaur to the face of Nicolas Cage. It's endless entertainment! Constant action! Physics in technicolor! Nicolas Cage!

QLOCKTWO may be the key to ending the millennia-long battle between numbers geeks and word nerds. It unites the two in timepieces that spell out, letter by letter, the hours and minutes of the day. German designers Biegert & Funk have been producing elegant, award-winning wall and desk clocks for the past few years, but this fall, they are introducing their first wrist watch based on the same bewitching aesthetic, the QLOCKTWO W.

The QLOCKTWO watch is a 1.4" x 1.4" square with a grid of 110 letters. When wearers call upon the time genie by pressing its stainless steel button, the appropriate words light up in ever-shifting locations to wax poetic on the dewy morn, lazy afternoon, or moonbathed night. Watches will have a slim profile at just over 1/4", and be available in natural brushed stainless steel and black casing colors, as well as black leather or natural rubber straps. Light features are LED-driven.

A little birdie told me...uh...that little birdies don't like to be stuffed with tea leaves and dunked in boiling water. Even when Qdo gives them their very own swing and nest to hang out to dry on when the steeping's done. Yes, the Qdo Birdie Swing Nest teacup with attached infuser and lid is a hoot to behold, and maybe even a special tweet to use, but even if you desperately need a gift for your girlfriend, delighting and supporting others' delight in this type of avian cruelty is shameful. Borderline sick. Almost-...

...mmmmmmm! What's that I smell? Succulent fat and savory herbs and...oh boy! Looks like my wife is roasting a duck for dinner tonight!

Here's your chance to jet across the water on an architectural insect. With the Quadrofoil you can do it quietly and without injecting carbon-based fuels into the subsurface ecosystem too. This personal watercraft operates with a silent motor and zero emissions electrical tech, making it not only a cleaner option for aquatic joyrides, but also one that can shoot along lakes, rivers, seas, and eco-zones where most motor boats and PWCs are prohibited.

It was Jimmy Quaffa's destiny to design the Quaffer double bubble layered shot glass. Because "Quaffer" isn't just a play on Jimmy's name, it's an actual, dictionary-defined noun. One that probably existed long before Papa Quaffa got Mama Quaffa all Quaffa-ed up. A quaffer is one who drinks his beverage "copiously and heartily." Especially when that beverage is an alcoholic one, such as a fine ale or a jagerbomb.

The Quaffer is basically a shot glass with a built-in chaser. Its patented hourglass shape keeps the booze on top and follow-up on the bottom, completely separate, until you throw them back in one smooth, Bond-like gesture. Physics makes the Quaffer's consolidated liquid storage and attractive visuals possible, since most liquor is less dense than sugar-based chasers.

QALO - Quality Athletics Love Outdoors - rings were born out of the frustration of trying to wear a metal band while maintaining an active lifestyle. Weightlifting, rock climbing, playing sports, even working on the car or building new kitchen cabinets aren't very compatible with rings of gold. They become uncomfortable when your hands need to move and swell, and are inflexible right up to the point that something heavy crushes them and they strangle your finger straight to the ER. Or they fall off, get scratched, or get lost/stolen because you had the "sense" to take them off before breaking a sweat.

QALO makes silicone wedding ring alternatives for athletes and the physically active. The bands are 100% hypoallergenic, non-conductive, non-porous, completely malleable silicone. They come in standard ring sizes, and fairly non-standard ring colors, ranging from black and gray to neon green and tie-dye.

Quiet Punch, a square of spring-mounted heavy bag that installs in a doorway, was designed for fighters looking to train outside the gym. But now that the punch buddy is available, I think it might set up real nice in the office too. As a design for bloggers looking to train outside their boss' face.

Haha, just kidding, boss. I only said that to be funny. Remember how you put me on a Being Funny Improvement Plan? Voila. Plan in action.

Illusion and trickery never get old. Even for those not involved in politics. Calen Morelli developed the Quantum magic trick for budding magicians, lifes of the party, and Instagram attention-seekers to use in dazzling onlookers with the visual splendor of a Sharpie melting through and moving around a playing card.

And then coming back out with both marker and card completely intact.

For every delicious thing that comes hot off the grill, there is a not-so-delicious thing that stays hot on the grill. Blackened, crusty, and caked to the grates. And that's the Q-Swiper BBQ Grill Cleaner's favorite part. There's always someone in the group who likes the burnt parts.

The Q-Swiper uses a moist but tough, abrasive but safe set of tools to absorb grease from grill surfaces and remove encrusted food particles. The grill cleaning wipes fold over the face of the cleaner and use omni-directional 3D cleaning nodules and food-safe, natural ingredients to suck up remnant grease and juices from the grates. They're disposable and ideal for use prior to cooking.

Quakehold!, according to my wife, is Museum Putty! we must use for our cat Zanzibarrrr! who keeps threatening to knock over the raku pottery vase her parents gave her for her birthday last week. Removable, reusable, non-toxic, and supposedly non-damaging to the furniture and collectibles it seeks to bind, Quakehold! Museum Putty secures items at risk of falling over and breaking. Due to earthquakes, bumps, and the bodies of cats who believe they should have free rein to walk over every surface of the house, and nuzzle or bat at any items resting on top of them.

Put a cork in it! ... Push harder...and maybe twist some while you're pushing...just jam it...yeah...oh...oops. We need some wet paper towels and Wine Away over here, stat!

And that's why you might need a QWIK-CORK Wine Cork Trimmer.

QWIK-CORK was designed to make recorking wine bottles, or any other corked bottles, significantly easier. "Effortless," if QWIK-CORK's own superlative is to be believed.

Instant benches for the kids, instant bleachers for their parents with QUICKPLAY's PRO Portable Folding Bench. Or, if you prefer, instant benches for the grown-ass players, instant bleachers for their significant others attending this adult soccer league game out of politeness, but covertly watching the latest episodes of Ted Lasso on their phones to make the time go by faster.

The QUICKPLAY PRO Portable Folding Bench range consists of easy set-up seating connected in 2, 4, 6, or 9-seat blocks. Benches come with or without backrests, and each 17" wide seat can hold players or fans weighing up to 250 pounds.

Quantum physics, is that what babies are into these days? Sheez, in that case, I'm even more relieved I decided not to have any. Last thing I need is to get intellectually dunked on by an infant. It was hard enough to resign myself to such a fate with my wife.