Decoder Ring Plus: A Guide to Gift Guides with Anne Helen Petersen

Starting right around Thanksgiving, host Willa Paskin started seeing gift guides, and then more gift guides: in magazines and newspapers and e-mail newsletters. Gift guides have been around for a long time, but this year felt different, and Willa wasn’t the only one who noticed; the deluge of gift guides was followed by a deluge of commentary about gift guides. One of those articles was written by Anne Helen Petersen for her newsletter A Culture Study, where she both commented on gift guides and wrote a gift guide herself. For this member-exclusive episode of Decoder Ring Plus, Anne and Willa talk about why gift guides are so popular, how she thinks about crafting her own gift guide, and whether we’ve reached a tipping point of gift guide saturation—or if this is only the beginning. This episode is member-exclusive. Listen to it now by subscribing to Slate Plus. By joining, not only will you unlock this episode—you’ll also access ad-free listening across all your favorite Slate podcasts. Visit slate.com/decoderplus to get access wherever you listen.