Joke Shop Launched with a Little Help from Norwalk River Rowers

What’s Thanksgiving without an inflatable turkey and a side of pumpkin and cranberry bubblegum? Mirthless.

And that’s the last thing Gay Gasser, founder of the Fairfield-based online joke shop Mirth in a Box, would wish upon anyone.

The business allows customers can send gifts to friends, family and associates based on a theme, like Special Occasions, Camp or College Care Packages, Get Well, Corporate, Puzzles and Games, or just plain Fun Boxes.

Customers can even choose their own novelties to include, based on a theme they come up with for someone they know.

Gasser rows out of the in East Norwalk. There she’s joined by rowers are from Wilton, Weston, Westport, Stamford, Norwalk and New Canaan. Because of that, she spends many an early morning in Norwalk.

“These people are part of a group that have really helped me get Mirth off the ground,” she said. In two weeks, Gasser will compete in Boston’s Head of the Charles for the first time.

The Mirth in a Box offices shelves are lined with crates, each one filled with a novelty, prank, or treat. There are caffeinated lollipops, brain-shaped Jell-O molds, whoopee cushions and fake vomit. The boxes range in price from $39.95 to $89.95.

Right now there is a Halloween box, a Thanksgiving box with pumpkin pie and cranberry flavored gumballs, and—for those in search of stocking stuffers—there is an instant, just-add-water Christmas tree.

And there’s the All-Nighter box with popcorn and caffeinated lip balm for college students.

The idea for a Rowing box is in the works, as is a Book Lover’s box. Indeed Gasser has endless ideas and has even found inspiration from her college major, Art History, with a concentration in Hellenic studies; hence the Alexander the Great action figures found in Mirth.

Gasser launched Mirth in a Box after 24 years in the realty business. It wasn’t that she didn’t like real estate; it was that she liked making people laugh and smile even more. The online retailer offers personal gifts that cover nearly every occasion and circumstance, from birthdays to boo-boos.

“I came in to this business because that's what I was meant to do," Gasser said. "Had this dream since I can remember of a one-stop shopping retail outlet where you could buy the perfect gift for anyone—and make them laugh or smile."

Several years ago, Gasser attended a weeklong intensive course at New York University on how to start your own business. However, Gasser didn’t realize she was actually supposed to have a business in mind. And so she drew on what she knew best, her homemade "Tower of Tricks."

“It was sort of a running joke in the family,” Gasser said. “We’d get these fruit boxes, or treat towers around Christmas. They were nice. But how much fruit can you eat?”

So Gasser saved the boxes and tins and would re-gift them to her three children. But she’d add her own twist, like a fake bug in an ice cube. She took the idea and her retirement savings and started Mirth in a Box last August.

Gasser searches through one crate in search of a Razzer -- a noisemaker.

“Every office needs one,” Gasser said, before blowing the Razzer.