I put my gift under the tree and prayed. By nine, three friends were fighting over it.

The slim green box with the velvet bow was mine, and I'd carried it up Deb's front steps with one prayer: please let somebody keep this one.

Our book club's January swap turns nice women into pickpockets. You unwrap a new gift or steal an opened one, and the third steal freezes it.

Ellen opened my box on turn two, and Marcy stole it. My own sister stole it from Marcy, which I'll be bringing up at Thanksgiving for the rest of my life. Then Bonnie crossed the room in her wool socks and plucked it out of my sister's hands.

The whole room booed. I laughed so hard I snorted, because one year earlier, under that same tree, I'd been the joke of the night.

The night I won bingo and lost

Bonnie runs our swap like a casino. Every January she deals out bingo cards, and every square is a gift we all swore we loved: bath set, fuzzy socks, mug, candle.

That year I needed the candle square, and the box in my lap was exactly candle-shaped. I tore the paper, saw cedar and fig in a frosted jar, and thought, wow, whoever picked this has great taste. I threw both arms up and yelled “BINGO!” so loud Deb's husband came running in from the garage.

Nobody clapped. The room went so quiet you could hear the cheese ball sweat. Across the coffee table, Deb had both hands over her mouth.

I'd driven all over Portland for that jar. Ellen cracked up, and Bonnie already had her phone out.

In my driveway that night, engine off, I went down the list. Deb got my candle, Bonnie got my socks with little wine glasses on them, and my sister got my “We Read Books and Drink Wine” mug. Every single one was a square on Bonnie's card.

I thought I was the thoughtful friend. I was the supplier.

So for Marcy's birthday, I stood in the candle aisle at Target for twenty minutes, too scared to touch anything, then handed her a twenty-dollar bill. “Oh, cash! Fun!” she said, in the voice you use for a kid's drawing.

Your friends are lying to you too, and they're sweet about it

You get a thank-you text with three exclamation points, but your candle is still full at Easter. I only found out because my arms happened to be in the air, and I still had no idea why.

The woman who took the photo knew exactly why

Bonnie ran a gift shop on Hawthorne for nineteen years, so in March I bribed her with a coffee and asked for the ugly truth.

“Your candle was lovely,” she said. “That's the trouble. Everything on my card is lovely, and all of it could have come from anybody. Deb didn't see you. She saw a candle. She already has nine.”

“So what do people actually keep?”

“The thing they grab every week without thinking. Nobody has ever regifted a can opener, Lisa, because the first time they use it, it's theirs.” She stirred her coffee. “It's not your taste, hon. It's the square.”

My new rule killed almost every idea on my list

So right there, I gave every idea one test. Would they still be using it next January?

Cash never gets swapped, but Marcy spent my twenty on paper towels. A tumbler with Ellen's initials can't be regifted, but it's still in its box on top of her fridge. A nice bottle at least gets opened, but by Sunday it's in the recycling and nobody remembers who brought it.

Bonnie tapped her card. “What do we do every single month, Lisa?”

“Read half the book and drink Deb's white wine,” I said. “And complain that it's bathwater by chapter three.”

“So give them the thing they'll use every time they open a bottle. Then it can never end up on my card.”

The gift Bonnie threatened to put on her card

Most wine gadgets are a square too, because they die in the junk drawer. But the one I found lives in the freezer. It's a rod of 304 food-grade stainless steel that slides into the open bottle, and you pour straight through the clear spout on top. So it's a can opener for wine people, and nobody regifts a can opener.

A week later, Bonnie turned it over like she was pricing it for her old shop. “So it's a fancy ice cube?”

“It's steel, not ice, so nothing melts, and it keeps what you pour cold for up to three hours. Longer than we've ever discussed a book.”

“And a bottle that's been open at Deb's since seven?”

“It cools the wine from the inside out, so in 10 to 15 minutes Deb's bottle is back at serving temperature.”

“Prove it, or it goes on my card.”

So in April I hosted. The rod went into my freezer at six for about an hour, and at seven I opened a pinot grigio and slid it in. At a quarter past eight, Bonnie poured her own second glass through the spout without a drip, took a sip and stared at it like it had cheated at bingo.

“Huh. It's still cold.”

From Bonnie, that's a standing ovation.

It's made by Lindner & Co and comes as a pair. I kept one, and Deb took the other home that night, which I don't remember offering.

See how it works →

One January later, the room went quiet again

That's what was in the green box: a second pair, just for the swap. But when Ellen tore the paper, nobody said a word, and my stomach dropped, because I was sure I'd just handed Bonnie her next square.

Then Ellen looked at the coffee table, where Deb's pinot grigio stood with a clear spout sticking out.

“Oh, you're kidding,” she said. “It's Deb's thing!”

Nobody saw a gadget. They saw nine months of cold second glasses at Deb's.

“Don't look at me,” Deb said, and put her hand over the spout. “Mine stays right here.” She'd opened that bottle at seven, and at almost nine, the glass I poured was still cold.

That's when the stealing started. I'd prayed for somebody to keep it, and I forgot to pray for manners. Bonnie flipped her bingo card over, drew a brand-new square with a skinny bottle and a spout, and wrote NEVER under it. I didn't win bingo that year. I've never been happier to lose.

Mine wasn't the only one they fought over. 4.8/5 · 370 reviews:

People fought over the wine cooler at the Christmas gift game. Very popular 🥂

Birgitta P.

This wine chilling stick isn't just functional, it's also very stylish. It fits perfectly with my wine collection, and I use it every time I open a bottle. 5 stars!

Sarah Pedersen

Gave them away as Christmas presents and have been told they were great.

Marie K.

If you're the gift friend, here's what I'd do

Get the pair, keep one in your freezer so you know what you're giving, and wrap the other for the friend who always brings the wine. If it doesn't earn its spot, you have 30 days to get your money back.

Christmas is less than three months away, and swap season comes right after. Order now, so you can test yours on your own Bonnie before you wrap anything.

This year, put the box under the tree that everybody fights over.

Give the one they'll fight over →

Lisa

This is a dramatized story based on experiences customers have shared with us. Names and details are illustrative. The reviews above are real, unedited customer reviews.