Christmas Time Blog: What to get the derby person in your life.

I try to do one of these every year around this time because I think it's fun and hey, shopping for derby people can be kind of a challenge at best. Sometimes it's easy, your friend breaks laces right and left?  Get her some good, waxed laces. But, if a derby person has been playing for a while, she's either stocked up on the gear she needs, or she's incredibly fussy about the gear she'll use.  Ah, sometimes I long for the days when people were just getting into the sport and wanted to "TRY ALL OF THE THINGS!!!!!!" So....what gifts do I suggest?  I have my own special likes and dislikes in and out of derby, don't we all? If you don't like my choices, you can just ignore them, or pass them along to someone else, but what doesn't float your derby canoe just might be the perfect gift for your derby wife. Most of these shops are owned by derby peeps, so support the derby community, yo!

Hygiene products
Derby peeps stink. Face it, you smell really really bad, even when you take a shower, you can probably still smell the nasty wrist guard STANK still ground into your skin.  STINK!  People should not stink this much, so I suggest a couple of gifts to help your fellow leaguemates out.

1.  Get them Notorious RED  spray.  Yes, you've heard the ads at D1s, D2s and Champs, so go to their site and pick up your friends some spray for your teammates.  This is one of those gifts that secretly is a gift to yourself!  I mean, especially if you have an extremely smelly friend, and you know that there's always one.....gah. I've actually stood next to people on the track that smelled like they died in a hot car a week ago.  Please help those people out! Nobody should smell like hot death. 

2.  Get them some soap!  Soap?  What's that?  Check out WitchBabySoaps for some awesome scrubs, bath salts (not the drug) body butters and soaps. She has a lot of soaps that are based on holiday scents and can do custom orders so that you can get your team logo on bars of soap.  That's kind of cool if you think about it! I think soaps make a great stocking stuffer, and hell, even if they never take the bar out of their skate bag, it might help deodorize all of that nasty ass gear.  Win win.

3.  New mouth guard. Wait, what?  How is a mouth guard hygiene?  Um, look at your teammates' mouth guards...can you say gross and old? Yeah, they're gross and old. I change mine every six months, and it still looks pretty disgusting after month five. Derbylicious has the Sisu mouth guards in all of the millions of colors that are available, and they are offering free delivery until the end of the year.  WHOOT! Give the gift of a clean and bacteria film free mouth guard this year! Hell, get yourself one too...have you really looked at your mouth guard????

Pretty stuff
Who doesn't like pretty stuff that's made by derby peeps, about derby, and for derby peeps?  Grinches...that's who.

1.  Aw, look at these fun earrings!  Check out Derbyholique and these jammer and pivot earrings.  They would make an awesome stocking stuffer or that special gift for your derby crush.  Also, check out the really really cute mustache NSO pendants.  Give those hard working NSOs some Christmas cheer too!  If you order from Derbyholique, she's offering a ten percent coupon for my readers. The code is "derbyblog."

2.  Skulls are always cool in my book.  Rivet Jewelery is owned and

operated by my teammate Eva Lye, and she makes beautiful and fun jewelery. Check out the skullee gusto for that special derby guy in your life. Not into the silver stuff?  Check out Eva's Toi jewelery for some fun ideas related to Lego, mustaches and fun, acrylic shapes!

3.  Not exactly derby stuff, but still interesting. Inblue was one of the vendors at D1s in Asheville this year.  People loved their flask covers done in leather, sketch books and wallets.  Who doesn't like leather?  No need to answer that out loud please.

4. Live across the pond?  Want jammer panties and armbands? Try FrocknRollers.  Not only do you not have to pay for overseas shipping, but they also have a gift certificate available for that hard to choose for derby person!

5. Live in the US? Try Katakillzem's etsy shop for jammer inspired knitted hats, custom water bottle koozies and custom reversible armbands. I have one of her hats in my team's colors, and I love it. My teammate Beth Row has one of her custom water bottle koozies and it's really held up to all of the abuse she gives it.

6.  Want toe covers for your skates?  Yes, you really do. I have some that were made by Derby Vixen and they are freakin' amazing.  She can do just about any design, any font or any color combination you've thought of. She even has a Star Wars line.  Squee!  My covers have lasted for three years, and I couldn't be happier with them.

Gear. It's what's for Christmas.

1.  Live on the east coast? Head on over to The Department of Skate on Facebook. Owned and operated by the inimitable Velocityraptor and the incomparable Helena Handbag, Department of Skate is DC's one and only roller derby skate shop. Helena is a friend, and she described her store as "Our focus is on knowing our customers really well. Building them the best skates for them. Working within derby girls budgets. Teaching the girls about their skates so they can take care of them. (We do free maintenance classes) we lend our personal wheels etc out all the time to make sure they find the right gear. We've won 2 best of DC awards and I've done an interview with 5 on5. We are smaller than the big guys but growing slowly." Their phone number is 202.642.iSk8. Tell them Q sent you!

2.  Who wants a great skate bag?  I actually saw the ads for the Red Reed bags on the WFTDA feed this year, and pretty much half of our team decided to get them. They're making them for us now, and I cannot WAIT to get mine. Of course, they're pricey, but so are every other kind of skate bag in the world. I've had mine for three years, and it's finally giving up the ghost. I'm so excited about this bag!

3. Custom helmets are the hot new thing for both leagues and individual skaters.  Both Rose City and Charm City pretty much have forged the path for league helmets, but Bay Area and Denver have really stepped up the glittery aspects of team expression.  Looking to grab some of that sparkly goodness yourself? Check out Star Pass helmets. Many of my teammates have gotten their helmets customized by this skater owned company, and they look great. Makes me jealous because I have a hockey helmet and I want to keep it adjustable. :(  If you're hanging out on the West Coast, this company might be closer to you and more convenient Custom Helmets by Tyger Bomb.

Cool T-shirts
I'm not going to lie, but most of my damned wardrobe is derby shirts, but I always manage to see more shirts that I want.

1.  Derbyology has some of the funniest meme t-shirts available in the derby world. That one about

the combination of committees and violence is a perfect example of one that I need to acquire this year. Of course I design for them, so check out my derby witch shirt.  Hey, I have to pimp myself out too, right?

2.  Laid Out Clothing has one of the funniest t-shirts that I really kind of want, but don't know when and where I could wear it on a regular basis. Curious?  Tough. You'll have to click on the link.

Whew. That's a lot of options! I'm going to stop now, because I could literally go on and on and on for hours supporting derby run shops! We need to support our brothers and sisters who offer our community different goods and services. I remember back in 2009, when you could barely find anything specifically designed and marketed for the sport of derby! Change is good!