It’s that time of year again, when everyone is thinking towards holiday cheer and, of course, holiday gift giving. Fencers tend to go all in for their sport, and every fencer appreciates thoughtful holidays gifts that come from the heart (but is also related to fencing!).
This year is a little special because it is an Olympic year. We’ve got Tokyo 2020 to look forward to! We know that we’re extremely excited for the coming games and all that international fencing that’ll be at the heart of the whole thing. That’s why we’ve put together a list of fencing gifts for the holidays that are perfect for the Olympic fencing fan in your life! They range from the very practical to the lots of fun, but they all have one thing in common – Tokyo 2020!
The other thing that we’re celebrating this year is the big new Star Wars movie that’s got everyone excited about picking up those lightsabers again. It’s no secret that lightsaber fights and fencing are tactitly connected, and we love to see the enthusiasm for swordsmanship.
Whatever the answer is, we do know that the holidays and fencing go hand in hand. Check out these holiday gifts that will have everyone in your fencing life ready to shout for joy this season.
Fun Tokyo Olympic Gear
Let’s start off with some gear that everyone can get behind.
This is a big, cuddly, oversized hoodie that’s great for snuggling up on the couch to watch all of the qualifying rounds leading up to fencing in the Olympics this summer. Winter break is a perfect time to snuggle in and relive past Olympic glories like the 2016 Bronze Medal match between the U.S. and Italy.
Everyone likes to cuddle up on the couch and enjoy fencing, and this blanket is a pretty cuddly way to do it. It features the logo for the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo, and it’s plush and warm. It’s great that it’s washable too, because you might get some Olympic snack crumbs on it.
Fencers ALWAYS need to have their water bottle at the ready! Here’s a super cool water bottle that’s insulated and that features the logo of the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo. Although your fencer might not make it to the Games this year, they can still be inspired by the Olympics when they’re practicing their fencing. Every little bit of inspiration helps!
Show some fencing spirit for the Olympics with this Team USA fencing pin! It’s small enough to wear just about anywhere, and it features the official fencing logo of the Olympic Games.
The road to the Olympics in Tokyo is winding and tough, but this t-shirt is bright and exciting! As you watch your favorite American fencers make their way through the qualifying rounds on the way to the Olympics, you can rock out in this t-shirt that celebrates the journey.
Sometimes the road to the Olympics is paved with cool hats. Maybe? In any case, this really cool baseball hat is sure to have you feeling great about Team USA! When you’re sitting on the couch, cheering your favorite fencers from Team USA, what could be better? Hopefully Team USA doing even better in 2020 in Tokyo than they did in 2016 in Rio!
This pin is totally different, and features the Tokyo logo from the Olympics this year. It’s professional looking and easy to clip onto just about anything.
In case you haven’t heard, the mascot for this Olympics is Miraitowa Someity is the mascot for the Paralympics. Miraitowa is a creature with supernatural powers who can teleport, and it’s meant to embody justice and athleticism. You’ll see the two together often, and you’ll see them both all over merchandise. Every Olympic Games has a mascot, and so here are some gifts inspired by them for Christmas!
Here’s the wonderful mascot of the Olympic Games in Tokyo, Miraitowa, doing some fencing on a keychain! How totally awesome is this little gem? We totally love the fierce face this mascot is making and how focused it is on getting that point. This is one of those perfect stocking stuffer gifts for kids or adults!
This little stuffed mascot is so cute and cuddly! Note that a lot of the Miraitowa merchandise is hard to come by unless you’re in Japan, which is the way that it usually is with these kinds of products around the Olympics. There are always vendors who will ship to the United States and other parts of the world, however. This particular plush is great for kids to hang on their backpack or fencing bag.
When you’re traveling for fencing to competitions, there’s always a need for a little case to carry various things in. It might be for holding your toiletries while you’re traveling, or it might be just perfect for creating a fencing repair kit. Whatever you use it for, this is an adorable case for fencers who want to get excited about the 2020 Olympics!
Every fencer can use an extra little bag to carry their stuff around with them. This backpack features the mascots of the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo, Miraitowa and Someity. It’s a perfect way to get into the spirit of the Olympics! You can stash your fencing journal in here, or maybe carry it to school to show your excitement about the Olympics coming up this summer.
One last piece of gear with the adorable mascots of the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo. This shirt would be great to wear underneath the fencing jacket during practice.
Finally, we’ve got one more fencing t-shirt featuring the mascot of the Olympics in Tokyo – this one with Miraitowa fencing! How cool is this? Honestly, I think that if I get this t-shirt for the holidays, I just might wear it all the time. What a great fencing shirt!
Star Wars Fencing Holiday Gifts
Though we’ve stayed on theme with our post about the Olympics so far, we couldn’t resist just a couple of pop culture fencing items. Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker is the big movie this holiday season, and we all know that fencers tend to love some Star Wars thanks to all of those lightsaber battles.
This shirt is fun because it’s a twist – real swords with stormtroopers inside. We can only wonder if one of these is Finn?
Cool fencing socks can go a long way towards the mood of a fencer during practice or competition. We really like these Star Wars BB8 socks! There are lots of kinds of Star Wars socks out there right now, which makes it a great time to stock up on something a little fun and different for fencing.
We considered hard whether to include this in our list of holiday gifts, but decided that it was interesting enough to throw in as it might really be interesting for our readers. This book is actually based on medieval fighting techniques and stunt fighting, not fencing per se. It’s full of illustrations and facts, and it’s of course all about a fictional weapon. Fun for advanced fencers, but maybe don’t try these moves on the strip unless you talk about it to your coach first!
Wait, before you Trekkie and Wookie fans come for us, we know that Star Wars and Star Trek are different things. But we had to find somewhere to include this really cool figure of Captain Picard from Star Trek with his fencing sword! He’s even got “Real fencing action!” How could any fencer and Trek fan resist that?
This really, really cool fencing night lite looks just like the projections that they use in Star Wars! It’s so futuristic and totally cool. Can you imagine being a kid fencer (or an adult fencer, let’s be honest) and having this in you room? It would definitely mean easy dreams.
This poster has got some way cool detail about the imaginary Jedi Fencing Academy, and I kind of want to go check this place out! It’s a fun way to show your love of fencing and of all things Jedi.
Fair enough, we’ve never seen anything like this! Check out this incredibly cool Star Wars thumb wrestling kit when you think about holiday gifts this season! This little gem would be a ton of fun to have while traveling, almost like being able to practice fencing in the backseat of the car on the way to that competition. Except with tiny plastic lightsabers.
Fencing Reading for Christmas
There’s one more thing that fencers can put on their list for this Christmas – our book! From Cool Runnings to World Superpower: The Rise of American Fencing details how American fencing came to be what it is today, which happened through a winding history that is closely tied to world history.
The American story is one of immigration and tenacity.
For most of the last century, Americans were the absolute underdog in fencing on the international stage. In the last two decades, that totally changed. Right now, ahead of this next Olympics in Tokyo, the United States stands at the ready to take on the most prominent fencing superpowers and to win. We’ve seen so many wins in the last year even, across weapons and across genders.
Noticing the change is one thing; understanding why it happened is another. That’s what this book does, is to help you walk through how the change happened and why. It’s fascinating and informative.
What’s great is that you can find this book in paperback, but you can also get it on Audible! That means that you can listen anywhere you go.
We hope that you have a wonderful holiday season, one that’s full of family and connection. While it’s not always about holiday gifts, the right gift can help things to feel even more special. You can’t go wrong with these great fencing presents!
Happy Holidays!
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