You won’t Fuhgeddaboud being good this Christmas.
You’ve heard of Elf on the Shelf, now there’s Guido on a Ledge — a plush doll decked out in a wife-beater tank, shades, slides, sporting facial — and chest — hair, and wearing a good-luck horn.
Creator Christine Fiscardi Lentinello, a Red Hook, Brooklyn native who now lives in Staten Island, said goombahs get a kick out of Guido.
“They’re so excited. They’re like, ‘Oh my gosh this is fantastic. This looks like my uncle. This is my neighbor. This is my father,’” Lentinello, 54, told The Post.
“Some people even rename it. They’ll say, ‘His new name is Vito,’ cause that’s after their uncle. One guy said, ‘I’m getting Luigi and Peppino.’”
Although it’s a play on Elf on a Shelf — the doll that parents put out each morning from the day after Thanksgiving to Christmas Eve so he can report their kids’ behavior to Santa — Lentinello says Guido on a Ledge “just wants to hang out and eat with you.”
Lentinello started selling the $30 plushies in 2023 to family and friends, through word of mouth and her Instagram and TikTok pages, and at holiday fairs.
She’s now sold over 600 to customers as far as Texas.
“Some people think it’s not real, which is hysterical for me,” she said.
Customers share photos of their Guido doing daily activities with them — including taking vacations around the world.
“He’s been to Italy, Spain, Monte Carlo. I’m like, ‘This plush is traveling more than me,’” Lentinello said, laughing.
The word “guido,” a slang term to describe overtly macho, appearance-conscious, urban-dwelling Italian-American men, could be looked upon as derogatory, but Lentinello, whose father hailed from Naples, considers it a term of endearment.
“My definition is someone who puts his family first, who’s genuine, who has pride in his Italian heritage and is hardworking,” she said.
Lentinello, a stay-at-home mom, said it was through the encouragement of her now-20-year-old son Joseph, who told her to “try small things” and watching “Shark Tank,” that she was inspired to think outside of the box.
“I’m a housewife and I don’t mind cooking, cleaning, baking. But as my son got older, I was like, ‘I want to do something different, but I didn’t know what,’” she said.
When the idea for Guido on a Ledge came to her, she ran to Joseph’s room and started going through his clothes.
“The outfit that he has on is my son’s clothes. I went in his drawers and said, ‘Hurry up, put this on and come downstairs.’ Then I got my husband’s watch and I took a picture,” she said.
“My husband was looking at me like I was insane.”
The newfound entrepreneur also gifted some to one of the most popular guidos on television — “Jersey Shore: Family Vacation” star Mike “The Situation” Sorrentino — who let her cut the line at his book signing at Barnes & Noble at the Staten Island Mall.
“I came in the store shouting, ‘I got your guidos!’ And he waved me over,” she recalled.
Lentinello’s future plans include expanding her line — which also includes a Birthday Guido holding an Italian flag cake — to include a girlfriend for Guido.
“He needs a Guidette,” she said. “Someone with big hair, holding hairspray.”
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