The problem with summer gift lists is that most of them are just normal gift lists with a beach photo on top. A summer gift should do something about the specific problems of summer: it is too hot, the car is unbearable by 2 pm, you are in the car more than usual, and food goes off faster.
These seven are all under €25 and every one of them earns its place between June and September.
Seven summer gifts worth giving
1. Best cooling gift
InstaChill
Mini evaporative cooler — a 6-inch fan with five mist nozzles.
Regular fans do not cool, they just move air. InstaChill uses evaporative cooling — five mist nozzles firing through a 6-inch fan — so the air arriving at you is measurably cooler. Ice water in the tank makes the difference obvious within a minute.
- Five mist nozzles
- Runs on a desk or bedside table
- Black or white
2. Best gift for a hot car
CarFace
Windshield sun shade printed with a face, so your car has an expression.
A windscreen shade is a boring gift right up until the recipient gets into a car that is not 55 degrees inside. CarFace makes it not boring: a face across the whole 70 × 130 cm shade, mirror cut-out, two heavy-duty suction cups, and a strap to fold it into.
- 70 × 130 cm
- Two suction cups
- Four colours
3. Best gift for summer nights
DriveGlow
Wireless RGB ambient light modules that stick anywhere in the cabin.
Summer evenings are when a car interior actually gets looked at. DriveGlow drops eight colours of ambient light into the cabin with adhesive modules and a remote — no wiring, no app, nothing to unclip when you sell the car.
- Eight colours plus effects
- Stick-on modules
- Remote included
4. Best gift for the road trip
ReelCord
Retractable dual charging cable that plugs into the 12 V socket.
Two phones, one 12 V socket, six hours of driving. ReelCord solves it with two retractable cables that pull out to the length you need and wind back when you are done, so nothing coils around the gearstick.
- Charges two devices
- Fully retractable
- No installation
5. Best gift for summer navigation
ZoomPhone
Motorsport-style vent phone mount with a carbon-look finish and seatbelt strap detail.
Heat kills suction mounts. ZoomPhone clips onto a vent, grips the phone one-handed and passes the charging cable through a cut-out underneath. The carbon look and seatbelt strap are the reason people notice it.
- Vent mount
- Cable passthrough
- Black or red strap
6. Best gift for the kitchen in summer
EasySeal
Rechargeable heat sealer that closes a snack bag properly in a couple of seconds.
Heat and half-closed bags do not mix. EasySeal heat-seals a bag shut in a couple of seconds, has a timer, lives on the fridge door on its magnet and charges over USB-C.
- Seals in seconds
- Timer
- Magnetic and USB-C
7. Best gift for summer traffic jams
BackHand
LED hand-gesture sign for your rear window, with a remote.
Everyone is on the road in July and August, and about a third of them should not be. BackHand puts three LED gestures in the rear window on a remote so the message gets across without the window coming down.
- Middle finger, thank you, rock sign
- Adhesive strips
- 3× AAA
What is the best cheap summer gift?
InstaChill at around €10. It is the only one on the list that does something about the actual temperature.
Which of these are useful outside of summer?
DriveGlow, ReelCord, ZoomPhone, BackHand and EasySeal are all year-round. CarFace and InstaChill are the seasonal two.