So even though they’re meant for cleaning up kitchen messes, when I saw these Stain By Number tea towels from Fred & Friends, I immediately thought of getting them and using them as placemats the next time my sister comes around for another visit.

As the name implies, you won’t be using any paint or coloring materials to fill in the colors to make the picture come to life. Instead, you’re expected to use various food items to stain the indicated area with the specified colors. This might encourage the kids to make an even bigger mess, but at least it’ll seem more like art this way.

The Stain By Number dish towels will be available this October over at Perpetual Kid, and will sell for $14.99 for a set of three.

[via Oh Gizmo!]

Luckily these little iPod Shuffle won’t break the bank and they’ll protect your little gizmo from damage. Each packet will contain two silicon cases and they come with 12 monster eye stickers. These cases will definitely make your iPod Shuffle pop from the crowd. They pretty cute, and kids will like them – especially because they remind me of Monsters, Inc.

You can choose from a green and orange set or a red and blue set of Mix Monsters over on Amazon for $8.95 (USD).

[via GeekAlerts]

This clever tabletop shaker has a simple “on-off” switch on the top, which either diverts salt or pepper to the appropriate opening on the side. No electricity required. It’s simple, geeky and fun. Expect the SWITCH to hit stores later this Spring.

[via OhGizmo! via Wired]

New from Fred & Friends, these Brain Freeze ice cube trays let you crank out four blobs of frozen cerebral matter to present to your party guests. And while they’re shown frozen with crystal clear water in the photo above, I think they’d be even better if you swirled some red and purple food coloring into your cubes for the optimal effect.

Even though it’s only February, I’m definitely ordering some of these for next Halloween. You can pre-order yours over at Perpetual Kid for $7.99 (USD) a tray. Drink up and have some grey matter with your Grey Goose.

[via 7Gadgets]

Now you can slice and dice cakes and other tender foods with the Table Saw, a serrated kitchen knife that looks just like a hand saw. Designed by Winnif Pang for Fred & Friends, you can pre-order one over at Amazon for $7.99 (USD).

Or you could just head down to your neighborhood Home Depot, and grab a real saw.

The Fill ‘Er Up savings bank looks just like the gas gauge on a car, but instead of keeping track of fuel, it keeps track of coins. And just like when your gas tank is on “E”, you’ll need to feed this with more money to keep it running. As simple and fun as the idea is, I think all piggy banks should have this feature. It’s part of Fred’s latest collection, so I don’t know how much it will cost or when it will hit stores, but for now, keep an eye on Perpetual Kid, since they’ve been known to stock lots of goodies from Fred & Friends.

Designed by Jason Amendolara for Fred & Friends, the »REW cord caddy looks like an old-school cassette tape (or more like a microcassette, IMHO), and lets you conceal all that unsightly extra wire inside.

No word yet on pricing or a release date yet, but if I were to make a bet, I’d check out Perpetual Kid to see when they start stocking ‘em, as they often carry products from Fred & Friends.

I give you the greatest kitchen accessory of 2009 – the Pac-Man Hothead oven mitt. New from Worldwide Fred.

[via Walyou]

You never know–those icy grins may be perfect for your next Halloween party, or any other time you want to break the ice with unusual cocktails.

Frozen Smiles are available at a number of novelty and gift specialists; a list of retailers is available on the Fred site, but there are no prices, alas.

[Fred via 7Gadgets]

Designed by Yuk Wang for Fred Worldwide, the SHAPE UP! alarm clock makes you flex your arm for at least 30 reps before the alarm shuts off.

Just order two and set them go off at the same time, and you’ll actually be able to work out BOTH of your arms. There’s no price or release date yet, but I’d expect to see these turn up over at Perpetual Kid at some point in the near future, since they’ve been known to carry stuff from Fred before.

Created by German industrial designers Ding3000 for Fred, the delete key flyswatter will keep your typing hands clear of that sticky goo from smashing flies with your bare mitts. And of course, it’s much better for you than inhaling DDT.

The swatter comes in both charcoal grey and ivory to match your computer keyboard color, and can be found over on Amazon for $8 bucks a pop.

Now if only they produced an Insert key version too, I could finally release a plague of flies on the guys in the accounting department down the hall.