We’re getting some serious mileage from air plants this summer. We’ve given a group of them as housewarming and kid and adult birthday gifts. We’ve used them around the house to make our beach finds a little more interesting.  And, because they’re dirt-free, highly portable and sturdier than they look, they’ve made some rad cameos (giant octopus and alien spacecraft) in my children’s Lego games.

*Note from the editors: the link we have for the air plants is new as of January 2012. A reader let us know that she had bad luck with the first link–they didn’t send her the air plants, after she had paid…so we took it down.