Next week is Cyber Monday! We’re going to celebrate by 1) releasing a special holiday surprise and 2) avoiding the word cyber for 12 months thereafter. But back to that whole surprise thing: We can’t reveal too, too much, but we will go ahead and intro you to some of the super-cool brands involved. That way, on Monday, you can legitimately say, “Oh, I know you from the internet.” —erica The Company: Ursa Major The Founders: Oliver Sweatman and Emily Doyle The Story: Bet you learned in second grade that your skin in your body’s biggest organ. So, you should probably take care of that thing, and that’s what the duo behind Ursa Major want to help you do. They swapped their fancy NYC jobs for life in Stowe, Vermont, making men’s grooming products—there’s a face wash and a shave cream, and a toner and face balm are coming soon. But these aren’t your standard recipes: Ursa Major uses the sort of ingredients that come from plants, not the Springfield Nuclear Power Plant, and the reviews are what you’d call raves.

To celebrate Cyber Monday—what, it’s one of the most important retail holidays of the year!—we have put together a *special holiday surprise* that you can’t see until Monday. But! We’re going to give you a sneak peek at some of the brands we’re featuring in said bonus edition because we’re such a hype machine over here. Oh, and to that end: Make sure you don’t miss out on the release by getting on our email list. —erica The Company: Rifle Paper Co. The Founders: Anna and Nathan Bond The Story: There’s something about Rifle Paper Co.’s hand-painted designs—dogs in hats! fluffy flowers! retro telephones!—and swirly script that just works, no matter what your taste. Even cynics like us who are generally allergic to whimsy suddenly want to send out botanical thank-you notes by the dozen. And then there’s also something undeniably appealing about imagining the husband-wife team’s studio in Winter Park, Florida, where we’d like to think they have a sleek couple’s desk filled with a shit-ton of vases. Anna’s blog only feeds the mythology.

Let us be the 492nd to tell you: It’s Cyber Monday! And while we cringe every time we hear the word cyber, we do have a thing for internet shopping and want to celebrate its big day. We’ve put together some super-special holiday grab bags—look, Mom, non-denominational!—featuring beyond-cool brands like the one below. There are 30 bags for boys and 30 for girls, so get them while the getting’s good. And, read about one of the companies involved below. —erica The Company: Mast Brothers Chocolate The Founders: Michael and Rick Mast The Story: You know how people talk about a Brooklyn artisanal revolution? Well, the name “Mast Brothers” is dropped approximately every time. That’s because these guys are hardcore. They make their bars using single-origin beans that they roast themselves, and they give just as much attention to the add-ins—think almonds from a California family farm and Stumptown coffee—and the Italian-paper packaging. If you want to see all this TLC go down yourself, you can take a tour of their Williamsburg factory. Sweet, right? Read all about the featured brands here…And score one of the 60 grab bags here!

For the holidaze, we’ve put together grab bags filled with treats from up-and-coming lifestyle brands that we heart. Course, the bags are limited-edition—30 for boys, and 30 for girls—and will run you $45. More on all of that here. But we also wanted to give you more info on each of the brands and products we’re featuring—turn this thing into a full-blown lovefest because we’re damn psyched to have the opportunity to work with all of them. —erica The Company: Baggu The Founders: Emily and Joan Sugihara The Story: Gonna go ahead and guess that you have approximately 17 reusable bags—totes you use for lugging groceries and god knows what else, day-in and day-out. But I’m also willing to bet that not of them are as striking or utilitarian as Baggu’s. When dreaming up the line that they unveiled in 2007, the mother-daughter team had a lot of needs to meet: Joan lives in CA and does her hauling by car (requirement: lots of bags for little money), and Emily is in NY, doing her shopping last-minute by foot (requirement: a compact design she can toss in her purse). Oh, and both have design degrees, so giving their totes, rucksacks, and pouches a killer look was a non-negotiable. Right this way to scoop up the grab bags! And to keep up with all of the grab-bag brands, click here.