I’m starting my Christmas shopping early and trying to do a lot of it on-line. Most of the things I want to find are ethnic, moderately priced, small items either hand made or unique. So far, I’ve visited Hay House, NPR, KangaUSA, and Chronicle Books. So what are your fav sites that may be hard to find but worth the effort?
I know that Amazon has just about anything you could possibly want, so that’s my fall back. But I’m really looking for those special items that you buy for someone but want to keep for yourself. Thanks, beckwall
I’ve bought things that I wanted to keep for myself from www.redenvelope.com. Not all that exotic, but stuff that’s not in stores – at least it’s not in stores around here.
They ship really fast, and they have a nice print catalog too. I like their jewelry.
Design Toscano–I drool over their catalogues, and everything I’ve bought from them has been top-notch quality.
For quirky stuff, I always head to Think Geek.
That’s what I was going to say.
I like the T-shirt that says, “You are stupid” in binary.
If “unusual” means inexpensive then check out ABC Distributing
They have some unusual items, and you don’t have to buy three like they suggest.
Good luck!
Not hand-made or unique, but Archie McPhee is definitely a one stop shop for the cheap and unusual.
Ok, it’s deeply, deeply uncool.
But they have some really nice edible and decorative things, and it’s good for card making and minor craft supplies. They’ll deliver outside the UK too, and are renowned for their great customer sevice.
The site you seek is novica.
Oh, it took me about five minutes after I clicked that link to realize it was ABC distributing, not disturbing.
That makes a lot more sense now.
I second Novica. Wonderful service, great items and a genuine “good dead”.
Would you believe a “Good Deed” instead!
Man, that Archie McPhee Cubes stuff is oddly compelling. I think I would like working in a cube farm, unless the cubes were really small, or my co-workers were annoying…
Ahem. As you were!
Thanks for the link! This site has “me” all over it…and I simply have to get 0url=http://www.thinkgeek.com/gadgets/electronic/7830/] this!
Oops…I meant this.
Got that for a friend’s b’day when we went out to dinner at a small restaurant. Was a very big hit – the yuppies at the other table behind me kept goggling, one of them twisting around in his seat to stare as my friend tested the thing to make sure it worked. 
Oh, and I forgot to list one of my favorites: www.techbargains.com
They provide links to all sorts of places, and have the best deals of the day on 1000’s of items. Also, for those who know what Black Friday is (day after Thanksgiving sales), this site usually has a link to all the sales the day before Thanksgiving.
But the best thing is that they update the site regularly, so you can see what deals there are on any given day/week. Check in regularly to get those clearance items and discount coupons!
You want geeky? I got geeky (with a big dose of kid- and layman-friendliness):
Got my nephew a gift certificate from the place. He loved it.