What’s the Best Thing (Under $200) You Bought Yourself This Year?

The Force is like my religion. This game helped me get through fundraising and dialing for dollars for my campaign. It’s one of the most incredible gaming experiences anyone could ever have. You travel from planet to planet as a Padawan on your path to becoming a Jedi. It’s awesome.

I am obsessed with karaoke, and I got the Bluetooth karaoke microphone so I could perform on the go. It has been one of our favorite family activities during quarantine.

A fabulous robe to slightly glam up my quarantine life. It’s from Laina Jane, a sexy mom store on Christopher Street.

This bright mix of citrus and white florals is the right amount of freshness for an everyday clean scent for the air (and upholstery) in my home. It far beats the noxious fumes of Khloé Kardashian’s favorite, Febreze.

I put one drop directly in my mouth at the beginning of a day. It calms me without making me groggy.

The perfect weight, a super-flattering fit, and the drawcord ankle cuff is really comfortable. I bit the bullet and bought two pairs — I already owned one — and now I have enough to wear in between laundry days.

The Ferrari of all pans. Named after Avalon, the mythical island where the sword of King Arthur was forged, it has a five-ply copper core and a hammered black finish that is much swankier than my everyday stainless-steel versions. It comes luxuriously packaged and includes, believe it or not, silk storage bags, making it feel a bit like expensive lingerie.

The color is bright and happy, and it comes with shorts, so I feel like I’m putting on an entire outfit.

I discovered Mark Thomas’s truly beautiful (and almost lighter-than-air) wineglasses at a favorite restaurant in 2019. Having them to pair with my dinners at home brought a bit of the magic of fine dining to my kitchen.

I spent all summer hunting for my obsession, faux fur, online, because I was anticipating eventually sitting at a lot of outdoor bars and restaurants surrounded by heating lamps. Fake is better in every way: the price, the colors, the durability. This poncho from Donna Salyers Fabulous Furs is like a portable blanket you can wear over jeans. You can wear it to bum a cigarette outside the new Delancey Street Popeyes or you can wear it to eat the chic caviar at my favorite restaurant, Le Crocodile. You know?

I just moved to Pennsylvania, and I have to say the wine selection in the state is not great. So I’ve been ordering cases of my favorite Pinot Noir from Flowers. It’s gorgeous, not absurdly expensive, and Pinot Noir has the most antioxidants of any red wine.

The cut and fun print helped me ease into my reintroduction to the outside world.

A super-functional incense burner with incredibly thoughtful packaging. I use mine multiple times a day.

When I received the package, I screamed, and when they touched my skin, I moaned. They are so soft and stretchy, and I never want to wear jeans again.

Tennis Warehouse listed this on its “best for beginners” list. The racquet, coupled with a MasterClass course from Serena Williams, has been so much fun. But I am still terrible.

I got the rug in May, three months into self-isolation. At that point, I was going a little stir-crazy, getting drunk on Zoom every other night, and maniacally “decluttering” my apartment. This was a perfect surprise: The rug just pulled the living room together. Rolling it out onto the floor was like taking a deep breath.

This mug (along with a whole lot of sweatpants) keeps me feeling cozy and warm in the colder months of the pandemic. It has a battery in the base and can heat my tea for close to two hours, so the mug has become my constant companion on work calls, everlasting home-school Zooms, and at impromptu tea parties with my daughters.

West Africans the world over know this versatile staple. Egunsi Foods’ obe ata is premade and fresh. My favorite preparation is as a sauce over rice, chicken, and spinach.

After my brother passed away this spring, I picked out this pewter frame to display a loose Kodak photograph of us when we were little and tea-partying topless in the house we grew up in. Given all the distance between people and those they love this year, frames are making a comeback.

Under normal circumstances, I might have thought twice before getting white sweats because of stains. But knowing I would be wearing these mostly at home or on quick errands made it seem like a practical enough acquisition. I’m not exaggerating when I say I’ve worn them almost every day since they arrived. Also, if something ends up getting stained, I’ll just tie-dye it.

I ended up getting a few: I have strawberries, salad greens, peppers, and all kinds of other things growing in them.

While spending $65 on soap is a bit over the top, the small amount of joy it brings while I wash my hands is worth it.

I can’t have hand wash without hand cream, so I splurged on this too. The cream really seals in the scent of the Suede Hand Wash. It stays with me for the next hour or so.

I’ve been using it to keep my Zoom outfits pressed. And I can’t wait to take the portable steamer on travels when borders open up.

It’s the most unstylish, ridiculous blanket-jumper thing to wear around the house. I have absolutely zero regrets. It’s far softer, fluffier, and more comfortable than I had imagined, and actually very well designed, with a giant front pocket (for snacks, AirPods, your phone) and cuffs around the wrists so it doesn’t drape over your hands.

Editor’s note: The Avocado Oodie is available to order now, but won’t ship until December 30, according to the retailer.

With some extra time on my hands, I picked up an old pastime of knitting. I set out to make some blankets for the baby I just had, but I ended up buying two sweater kits for myself, including this vest kit from Wool and the Gang.