Ideas for · 2 min read · updated

Gift ideas for a group chat

The best gift for a group chat is the group chat. Specifically, the night it went off the rails.

The short answer

Make something out of the chat itself: its most chaotic moment woven as a tapestry, painted on a Greek vase or written up by a monk, or one infamous text cut as a pillow. If the whole group wants in, use a design with one shared link where everyone gets their own.

The picks

  1. An embroidered wall tapestry on a rod showing friends laughing at a gazebo on fire, made with Group Chat Tapestry
    Walls & mugs

    Group Chat Tapestry

    The worst moment in the chat, woven in the style of the Bayeux Tapestry with a Latin caption and a chaos score out of 100. The big one is 62 x 50 in, so it can hang over the couch.

    Makes: Wall tapestry

  2. A mug with a Greek black-figure band of men laughing at a burning barbecue, made with The Frieze
    Walls & mugs

    The Frieze

    Everyone in the argument becomes a black figure on a Greek vase, with their names spelled out in Greek letters. On a mug it comes out every morning.

    Makes: Mug, tumbler, tee or wrapping paper

  3. An illuminated manuscript poster with a blue and gold border, blackletter text and a knight fighting a snail, made with The Illuminated Manuscript
    Walls & mugs

    The Illuminated Manuscript

    The same story written up by a monk, with snails in the margins. The scribe drafts it in Latin, Olde English and plain English, and you pick the one that goes on the poster.

    Makes: Poster or canvas

  4. A blue text bubble pillow that says "you up?" with a read receipt, made with Left On Read
    Pillows

    Left On Read

    The one text that started everything, as a pillow cut in the shape of the bubble, read receipt and reaction included.

    Makes: Shaped pillow, stickers, magnets

  5. A fanny pack in a lime all-over print of flames, skulls and inside-joke slogans, made with Inside Joke Fanny Pack
    Things to wear

    Inside Joke Fanny Pack

    The inside joke as a loud 90s pattern. The design lives in its link, so post the link in the chat and anyone can make the same one.

    Makes: Fanny pack

  6. An all-over print tee repeating a woman's face in a cowboy hat, made with The Bachelor(ette) Collection
    Things to wear

    The Bachelor(ette) Collection

    One face on tees, fanny packs, socks, a flag and a poster, with one link where everyone orders for themselves. Good for a trip the chat has been planning for a year.

    Makes: Tee, fanny pack, socks, flag, poster

Find the night first

Every chat has one night everybody still brings up. Scroll back to it and copy the stretch where it went wrong, from the first bad idea to the last apology.

Three of the sites below read a pasted chat and find the most chaotic moment for you. Before the AI sees the chat, they scrub phone numbers, emails, links, @handles, card numbers and addresses, and cut full names in speaker labels down to first names. The chat isn't stored. Group Chat Tapestry also shows the runners-up, in case it picked the wrong fight.

If the whole chat wants one

The Bachelor(ette) Collection was built for this. One person makes the design, the chat gets one link, and each person picks their own piece and size and pays for it. The organizer sees who ordered by first name and nothing else about them. It's made for a party, but any trip or reunion with a guest of honor works.

Questions people ask

Is it safe to paste our group chat into a site?

Phone numbers, emails, links, handles, card numbers and addresses are scrubbed before the AI sees the chat, and the chat isn't stored. A surname typed inside a message isn't caught, so trim those lines first.

Can everyone in the chat get their own?

With The Bachelor(ette) Collection's shared link, each person picks and pays for their own. Inside Joke Fanny Pack keeps the design in its link, so anyone with the link can make the same one.

What if it picks the wrong moment?

Group Chat Tapestry shows the runners-up, and every word that prints can be edited. Or paste a shorter stretch that only covers the night you mean.