Presenting the Alphabet: 16 Gifts that Start with A

Atlas Obscura has a glowing endorsement from Neil Gaiman on its front cover, which can only mean this Explorer's Guide to the World's Hidden Wonders is my Door to London Below. Or maybe Red, White, and Black Londons. Or, fine, maybe just somewhere really cool no one knows about (or knew about until they all read Atlas Obscura) in plain old Gray London.

If Atlas Obscura does its job as intended, readers of this quirky non-tourist attraction guidebook are going to walk away (hopefully to the nearest plane) with a much longer Bucket List than they started out with. Possibly over 700 line items longer, if you dig every one of Atlas Obscura's picks for the "strangest and most curious places in the world."

The Assled is a new wearable snow sled from Snowfeet, a Czech company in the business of making unique recreational snow products, and naming them exactly what they are. (See their namesake Snowfeet, and Skiskates.)

Assleds strap to - you guessed it - your ass to provide a minimalist, frictionless surface for gliding down snowy hills, and then a lightweight, hands-free way to schlep your sled back to the top. Unlike pretty much any other snow sled that doesn't require inflation, and isn't a garbage bag, Assleds also roll up like a yoga mat, so you can attach one to your backpack / gear bag and carry it around with little trouble even when you're not actively Assledding.

Aqua Training Bags bring punching and kicking to the masses. The pros too. Whether you're in MMA training or just looking to add boxing to your gym or home fitness routine, this water-filled bag is kind of a genius piece of equipment to buddy up with during your workout. I've actually used an Aqua Training Bag myself, and can attest to maker New York Fitness and Boxing's promises that it elevates the experience in H2SO many ways.

The Air Fort, in addition to creating a private place for me to hide sleep when my future in-laws visit and take over my bedroom next month, gives me an excuse to haul out my old college box fan. The one She-Ra: Princess of Power told me to throw away when we got a Vornado, but I just stuffed it in our storage unit instead. Velcroed to its open end, a standard box fan can take the Air Fort from a limp polyester sheath to a spacious, igloo-shaped indoor tent in 30 seconds or less.

The Air Fort fits several kids - or cozy adults - who enter and exit along its bottom perimeter. The fact the tent has no floor makes that part a little easier. There is also a viewing window on the side of the Air Fort so parents can see when Child #1 has Child #2 in a headlock, and Child #1 can see when parents walk into the room to release Child #2 real quick and warn him to keep his stinkin' mouth shut about it.

It's a scorching summer day. You're lounging on the patio. Jamming to some tunes. Sipping a cold brew. Gazing at the lawn. But something's missing. What's missing?

Hose, hose, hose.

And a water outlet pimped out with an Aquor House Hydrant. Because the grass meeting your gaze is brown, and the marigolds are bent over dying.

Aquor's House Hydrant overhauls the water spigot with its flush-mounted outdoor faucet system. The hydrant allows users to instantly plug into - and out of - the faucet with a hose connector attachment, eliminating scraping knuckles and struggling with heavy hoses and worn threads on old brass spigots. Better, plugging into the House Hydrant automatically activates your water flow, and unplugging automatically shuts it off. The system then self-drains, so down to temperatures of minus 30 degrees F, Aquor says you'll won't have to winterize it.

"Alexa! Purify my air!" The Airmega is a smart air purifier, app-enabled and compatible with the Amazon Echo. In your home or office, the 4-legged cabinet filters out 99.97% of particulate matter from the air you'd presumably prefer to breathe particulate matter-free. Then on its accompanying iOS / Android mobile app, the Airmega sends progress reports and air quality readings you can monitor and manage from anywhere.

I've got an ace up my mattress for all the bed hogs, parents and pet owners, tossers and turners, spread-eagle sleepers, and rambunctious rollers in the hay out there: the Ace Collection. The Ace Collection is a line of jumbo mattresses - and I mean jumbo mattresses - that will put even your California king bed to shame.

The Ace Collection's "standard" mattress, what they call Ace Size is a girthy 108" wide. By comparison, a king mattress is 76" wide. For ye tall drinks of water Ace also makes a Player Size mattress that turns its width 90 degrees - this slumber buddy is a stretch-ready 108" long x 80" wide.

The Ace Collection's royal flush, though, comes courtesy of its Family Size Mattress, the 144" wide by 80" long sleeping beauty you see in the images above.

Aculief does not have glowing reviews across the board, but it does have a loyal following and is a relatively inexpensive, and drug-free, option that might work for you if you suffer from migraines or chronic headaches. The placement of the Aculief wearable clip between your thumb and forefinger targets your body's LI4 acupressure point.

The Add-A-Lock does one better than the portable intruder alarm: it won't just alert you when your one night stand tries to sneak back into your bedroom to sucker you into a committed, long-term relationship during which she will move into your house, replace your Pac-Man blinds with ruffly curtains, alienate your friends, and spend all of your money, it will physically block her from opening the door at all.

O peon, go! Collecteth mine AERIAL A1 Tree Tent and wrapeth its high tensile webbing straps 'round twin trees so I may slumber like the sloth!

The Opeongo AERIAL A1 Tree Tent is neither the first tree tent, nor the first tent-hammock hybrid we've seen - Tentsile has been sleeping in the trees for years, just last fall there was the Haven Tent, and before that the Tammock. But that's not to say there's no room for more. Plus, Opeongo believes they have refined the shelter into "an intuitive design made for real campers," and one that lets them call the AERIAL A1 the first of its kind.

Care for a nip of mint to cleanse your palate? ... And dirty your mind? After Dinner Nipples are mint chocolate boobie treats made in the spirit of After Eight Mints, and molded in homage to mankind's other favorite after dinner treat.