There are many avenues for patenting, and many posts on this forum regarding this. By now I guess you have done some searching so this are just the highlights:
 
(1) A patent is 90% of the time a bad idea (because 90% of the ideas are not worth the patent costs).
(2) Publishing at Quirky or anywhere else is a public disclosure.
(3) A Provisional Patent provides 1yr of international protection, so that a real patent can be filed, it costs ~$300, and you can do it yourself.
(4) Unless you are concerned about international patents, disclosure still gives you one year to file your patent.
(5) A real patent can cost upwards of $10000. The $2000 is probably just for initial filing. Unless the idea is novel enough and the initial claims are very well carved from the existing prior art, there can be a lot of back and forth costs after that, but it gives you an additional couple of years to change your mind.
(6) Stretch the use of nondisclosure agreements as much as you can.
 
And last but not least, never overlook the fact that every one else's great ideas are crap and you crap is a great idea (with hat tip to George Carlin).

If you have money to burn anyone can get a patent about anything, just narrow it down to avoid prior art. Here is the rub, a very narrow patent is usually worthless because anyone can work around it by changing at least one element. Even when you assume to have a patent with great scope (well drafted claims), etc... enforcing your rights against infringers will cost 1.5 million on the average, unless you find a contingency patent litigator (which is extremely rare). Most patents are worthless, nothing more than a patent version of vanity publishing. I have a couple of patents and I have been fighting with 2 multi-nationals for the past 10 years. They have lawyers to tie you in knots. I even had to litigate my patent in the Federal District Court and then the Court of Appeals because my ex-lawyer was incompetent. I won in the court of appeals. Does it mean something? Very little, it means I had to go back to the same a-hole of a trial judge to be screwed again.

So, file for a patent if you have money to burn and years of your life to litigate it. If you have money already then it is easier to intimidate the thieves into a settlement.

The patent law is a mess, idiot judges who know nothing about the patent field determine what things mean. Ignorant juries make factual comparisons of things they do not understand, etc...

The important thing to remember is it is all about the money. If you can make some money without a patent to build a "war chest" then your later ideas can be better defended.