The Best 3D-Printed Christmas Gifts for 2017

Here are my 5 favourite gifts that I've 3D printed for this Christmas. My criteria for choosing these was mostly based on the personal interests of the people I'm giving them to; however, I think they have a wide enough appeal that they might help someone else think of gifts they can 3D print. I used a Wanhao Duplicator I3 to print these and they came out perfectly. I do have an upgraded cooler duct that I think helped while printing the vase. Well let's get down to the list:

#5 Piston Key Chain

I have a friend who is in the middle of rebuilding three (yes three!) cars right now. I had to think of something small enough to mail and came across this great piston keychain from Tez_Gelmir. It needed very little cleanup after printing and I think its a unique piece that he can use for one of his many sets of keys once he's done rebuilding his cars.

#4 Assemble Yourself Fidget Gear

I send a lot of Christmas cards to old friends and colleagues. Not necessarily people I would normally buy a gift for, so when I saw this flat pack fidget gear from Y_Dascalu I thought that would be perfect to include with my Christmas cards. It adds a fun surprise that takes very little time to print and costs next to nothing. I printed 21 of these and put one in each card I was sending.

#3 Labyrinth Gift Box

These are very neat puzzle boxes from Anblan that spice up the gift of cash or any other small gift you might be giving. I chose the XXL version because it gives a few more possibilities for stuff you can fit in there. It takes a little bit of time to figure out how to open it your first time around but the more times you solve it the easier it gets.

#2 Digital Sundial

A sundial for the modern age! This clever design by Mojoptix uses an intricate matrix of dots to display the time from 1000 to 1600 updating ~every 20 minutes. I was amazed when I first set this up and I'm sure it is going to be a hit when I give it to my nephew who loves old school stuff. 

#1 Honeycomb Vase

I loved this vase from Eggnot the moment I saw it. I jumped to print it so quickly that I didn't realize it actually has small holes all the way up where the corners meet. I remedied this by spraying the inside with some flex seal (yes the stuff from the infomercial!) and it works great now. It goes very well with modern, industrial, and mid-century furniture. I actually liked it so much that I had to print a second one to give to my mother. 

That sums up all of the Christmas presents that I 3D printed for this year. I hope this list can help someone else with their gift-giving. All the items linked are licensed under the creative commons license. If you do choose to print any of the items I strongly encourage you to tip the designers on their respective thingiverse listing since I'm sure they all put a lot of work into the design.