Sonic Wallets scream, moo, hurl insults when opened

Wallets usually aren't the most exciting accessories. They hold your money and cards in place and pretty much stay quietly out of sight. If you have a Sonic Wallet, however, your wallet will be making a racket every time you open it.

Sonic Wallets come in eight flavors: American flag, baseball, Buddha, drum machine, Jesus, moolah, The Scream, and Shakespearean insults. A small sound device in the Tyvek wallet is triggered on opening. The American flag wallet plays "Stars and Stripes Forever" and "The Star Spangled Banner." The Jesus wallet gives you the sounds of harps and angelic choruses.

Some of these wallets are clearly geared for certain audiences. The Shakespearean insults wallet is ideal for English majors. The Jesus wallet is perfect for fans of "Life of Brian." The baseball game sounds wallet should be a home run for sports fans. The Scream version should be ideal for visual artists and Jamie Lee Curtis.

I can see several purposes for these $19.95 wallets. They're definitely attention-grabbers for class-clown types. They also have "gag gift" written all over them. They could even help you keep a handle on your spending. You'll think twice about pulling out your wallet to pay for something if you know it's going to break out into a cow saying "moooooolah."

The one feature that seems to be missing is an "off" switch. I use a Tyvek wallet already. I love its light weight and durability. After listening to all of these Sonic Wallets chiming, cheering, and wailing, I'm now starting to love how quiet it is, too.