For the Space Case: Create Your Own Hologram Kit

“Help me, hologram kit; you’re my only hope.” OK, so it’s not quite Star Wars (or even CNN) technology, but this Create Your Own Hologram Kit will give the kids a chance to throw images on a much smaller scale. The kit includes a small model car — though the product page indicates that any number of similarly sized objects will do — that you place in front of a holographic film plate. Enter the laser diode, which illuminates your object and… well, suffice it to say I’m not entirely comfortable explaining the science in layperson’s terms, but the end result is a 3D image of your object, in spaaaaaace.

$99.95 (that’s recession-speak for holiday gift) from Hammacher Schlemmer.