In this thread and this thread, people are giving suggestions for what to get someone whose tastes, likings, etc. you just don’t know.
So, I say we start a thread featuring gift ideas that’ll probably work for just about anyone.
I think that movie passes–where the movie they’re used for is left up to the holder of the passes–are a good idea. So are lots of homemade food things–with a variety of stuff that most people can eat–in a gift basket.
Anyone else have other ideas for gifts to give someone you don’t know much about?
Well, aroung this time of year, a lot of malls offer whole-mall gift certificates; IOW, buy one of these puppies (at the Customer Assistance desk for the mall, I would think), and the recipient can shop anywhere in the whole mall. Thre’s gotta be something there for everyone.
A few years ago, I did the popcorn and movie basket thing as a “family gift” for several people’s families. In each case, I got something for the individual that I was close to, but also wanted to do something that extended to their families. I got a decent large bowl, and filled it with microwave popcorn packages, “movie” candy, assorted hot cocoa mixes and a passbook to the local video store or a video/dvd. Wrapped it up in cellophane paper, kind of like an Easter Basket. Seemed to go over well.
I have a friend whose big on aviation, and trains pilots in the Coast Guard. One day I was walking through my neigbhorhood* and saw a garage sale that was selling many things still wrapped in it’s original package. One one table, there were a few air fresheners for cars, and they had a clip attatched to an adjustable arm so that you could attatch it to your AC. The clever bit was that the air fresheners were were in ther shape of airplanes, and the air from the AC caused the propeller on the plane to spin. My friend was delighted when I gave it to him as a gift, and he was visibly obsessed with the spinning propeller.
And he loved it untill it broke. since then I’ve looked for another one to buy for him, and myself since I now have my own vehicle. But alas, there doesn’t seem to be a store that sells them.
So if you can find any, it’s a cheap-o gift that I can’t imagine anyone disliking. Who could pass up a air freshener designed as a plane, complete with spinning propeller?
My favorite default gift, as I’ve mentioned in each of these threads, is a calendar. Most people need at least two (one for work, one for home), and a lot of people have more than two. There’s one for every possible niche interest, and plenty with generic pretty pix if you don’t even have a clue to the person’s interests.
Best of all, if your gift-giving budget is strained, calendars are recyclable! A 1994 calendar is ready for rebirth as a 2005, with some carefully placed stickers, or whatever.
I suggested this in a pervious gift thread, but perhaps it bears repeating.
Lap desks.
You’d probably never buy one for yourself (I never would have), but the hubby and I each got one (two different occasions, actually, from two different givers) and gosh darn if they aren’t handy.
You bet. There were times when I when we were close to getting into accidents because my friend couldn’t stop staring at the darn thing while driving, and I could never decide wether or be amused at this or wary.
Thanks for the link. I’m going to try and find one around town first before purchasing online. Buying things on the net usually turns into a huge hassle.
Heh. Well, if this ends up being the case, you can always do a little operation and pry the air freshener bit out; replace it with something healthier. No point in spoiling the suprise of the gift, even and esspecialy if it’s a cheap-o novel car air freshener.
I give gift certificates to book stores, music stores and movie stores depending on their personal interest. They seem to be well received. Everyone wants to be entertained or enlightened.
As a very late Christmas gift to my aunt and uncle, I ordered them a eggplant parmasean pizza from a new Italian resteraunt that opened up recently. I had eaten there recently, and instantly decided I would support them any way I could while sticking to my diet. Very friendly service, great food, and the operation is ran by about 5 people total. The same guy that cooks your food, serves it to you, fixes you drinks, runs the cash register, answers phones when they ring, and maintains everything else that requires maintaining in a resteraunt…and the food tastes great. Very impressive.
The idea works because pizza is something almost everybody loves, but rarely order for themselves. I could have bought them something else, but they’re well off enough they would probably buy anything in the $10-30 dollar range that they wanted. Anything small trinkets I would try and give to them would have just ended up as clutter. Of course no one throws away a pizza. Not a good one. Worst case senario, they give it to my Grandma who lives in the same neigbhorhood.
So I spent a good while writing a letter thanking my aunt and uncle for the gifts they gave me for Christmas, stuffed it into an envelope, gave it to the people making my pizza along with the address to my aunts/uncles house, paid the good people (including the delivery tip), and was on my way to run other errands. Not even five minutes after I got home, I got a call from my aunt, and recieved plenty of very warm "Thank you!"s and “That was very thoughtfull”, and much other praise.
Not a bad reception at all for what amounted to less than $15* .
*I’m including the price of the Christmas card that accompanied the pizza, as well as the tip here…
There’s always the Straight Dope books. The world is divided into two kinds of adults, those who know The Straight Dope and those who are in desperate need of TSD.
Slinkies, Silly Putty, pin art (those little frames with the blunt nails in them that you can make images of your hands or whatever), Pez dispensers, that kind of thing. Everyone loves them and they are great to play with.
Also, for Christmas this year I got a blanket. It’s more like a throw, really, but it’s down-filled and covered in a suede-like fabric. It’s exactly the right size and weight for lounging on the couch, with the added bonus of that it’s exactly the same color and texture as the couch (it’s an invisibility blanket.) It’s the best thing ever.
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