With supply-chain issues impacting companies around the world, the early bird gets the gifts this holiday season.
Gift-giving was already hard enough and it has only been made more difficult by the Covid-19 pandemic. Shopping continues to shift increasingly virtual and celebrations will be smaller for the second consecutive year.
To help you cross the names off of your shopping list, we’ve compiled a gift-giving guide made up exclusively of products from Colorado startups. From aperitifs to fitness gear, games, hardware and a new CBD line, we’ve got a gift for everyone; we promise.
And if this roundup leaves a name or two on your list, check out last year's guide here. Now, check out 19 gifts from companies across Colorado below, in alphabetical order.
Editor's Note: Colorado Inno independently selects gift guide recommendations based on its continuous reporting on the Colorado startup ecosystem and other research. It doesn't receive any affiliate link compensation or other considerations.
Cheers to the holiday season! Aperitif drink brand Atost, created by Kyle and Cindy Pressman in 2020, offers a lighter, fresher spirit offering. Atost is meant to taste somewhere between a wine and a spirit. The company has launched a line of its products and opened a tasting room in Golden in the last year.
Want to make beer, but don’t want the mess that comes with it? With BEERMKR, users are guided through every step of the brewing process by an application, from adding ingredients to fermentation and then alerted when it’s ready to pour.
Finding the right travel-sized products ahead of a trip can be challenging. Launched by Orion Brown in 2018, Black Travel Box offers a line of travel-sized skin, lip and body care products for Black travelers. The company also recently took part in the inaugural BIPOC Pitch Competition at Denver Startup Week, winning that and the main competition a day later.
Looking to spice up the holidays? Denver-based buffalo sauce company Blonde Beard's makes its sauces with real butter and natural ingredients, unlike most companies that use an oil-based sauce. In addition to a traditional sauce, Blonde Beard’s has unique flavors like Chicken & Waffles sauce and an IPA Buffalo version developed with Colorado’s Upslope Brewing.
Denver-based Buderflys has created earbuds made of a malleable material that allow for better earbud fit and comfort. The seal improves audio quality and comfort, as Buderflys' target customers will be those who are listening mainly to spoken content like podcasts and audiobooks.
Connected fitness startup CLMBR has exploded onto the scene with its efficient, full-body, low-impact climbing workout. CLMBR said its workouts burn up to 60% more calories than cycling, rowing and running. It's also the first vertical climber to feature a large-format touch display with on-demand, instructor-led classes.
Chocolate goes hand-in-hand with the holiday season, and local brand Little Secrets is mimicking the classics with a natural ingredient list. Boulder-based Little Secrets offers a variety of natural chocolates, from an M&M alternative to a Kit Kat lookalike.
Carbondale-based MountainFlow Eco-Wax started making wax in 2016, largely focused on the backcountry, and launched a line of nontoxic products last fall. Instead of traditional petroleum-based waxes, MountainFlow has developed a nontoxic, biodegradable product made with plants.
Change the way you way you wake up with minimalist alarm clock startup OneClock. The company made waves earlier this year on Kickstarter and the product is now available to the masses. The analog device is designed to gently wake you from sleep. OneClock worked with Grammy-award winning musician Jon Natchez. The clock’s AI music generator edits songs stored on its memory so users hear different tunes each time they wake up.
Ready to up your movie night? Opopop has a microwave popcorn line called Flavor Wrapped Popcorn Kernels. As opposed to traditional popcorn, Opopop said each kernel is individually wrapped in flavor prior to popping. The company’s popcorn comes in a variety of flavors including Fancy Butter, Salted Umami and Vanilla Cake Pop. Opopop also recently launched holiday-themed flavors.
Traditional deodorants don’t work for everybody. In search of a non-toxic and effective deodorant, Erica and Jason Feucht launched Pit Liquor out of their house nearly five years ago. After much research and development, Colorado-based Pit Liquor now offers a line of natural deodorants made from edible ingredients in whiskey and vodka.
As pandemic stressors have caused Americans to turn to wellness practices and products more than ever, it's hard to stand out in the increasingly crowded CBD space. But Planetarie, founded by a former ICU nurse and anesthesiology nurse practitioner who witnessed firsthand the tragedy of the opioid crisis, is working with a chemical precursor to CBD that's found in the raw hemp plant. Planetarie's just-launched product line includes salves, body butter, softgels, drink additives and even an infusion meant for your dog that contain CBDa — a cannabinoid that's shown promise in reducing inflammation, pain, nausea, sleep and depression.
Looking for some backyard fun? Created this year, Popongo combines a couple of games: think skee-ball crossed with cornhole. In Popongo, players take turns tossing foam balls into cups, on a platform, which have different point values. There are nine cups with values from six to one point and 10 balls split between two teams.
Can’t travel, but want to experience the tastes of other cultures? Snack Voyage, an Aurora-based subscription-box company, delivers international snacks to your doorstep. With a variety of subscription choices, Snack Voyage offers monthly boxes that contain 12 snacks either from one country or a variety of countries.
You don’t need to have a green thumb to have a green lawn. Sunday uses machine learning, property-level data and aerial imagery to create custom lawn care plans for its customers. Each product seeks to address the unique climate and other challenges that impact a homeowner’s ZIP code. And the company uses formulas with safe ingredients, like organic compost food waste, molasses and seaweed.
Since launching in January 2019, The Last Gameboard has been building a portable, 3D touch tabletop game product for gaming fanatics. The 16-by-16-inch Gameboard’s internal technology can bring your favorite board games to life.
While it’s grown out of the startup stage, century-old turntable company Victrola moved its headquarters to Denver recently. And, as it sees its customers getting younger, the company is doubling down on product-development to improve the sound and ease-of-use of its turntables.
Nobody likes tangled sheets in the washer or dryer. With Wad-Free, users are instructed to place each of the corners of their sheets into the small tabs. From there, founder Cyndi Bray — who just made a deal on ABC's "Shark Tank" — says the product cleans sheets better, dries them quicker and eliminates the possibility of bunching or twisting.
As we enter the second holiday season overshadowed by Covid-19, we could all use some additional personal hygiene products. Denver-based Wipeys has developed a line of nontoxic wipes for all travel and cleanliness needs.
