Gift Idea Mish Mash

I've noticed about a billion gift idea posts when I've buzzed quickly through my Google reader, so I don't feel toooooo guilty about not doing more gift idea posts. Surely we are all feeding off of each other, right? I thought I'd collect some of the gift idea comments that were left here (I agree with those of you who suggested we shouldn't let good ideas 'die' in the comment box), however, along with some sites and ideas I thought were neat. PLUS a few ideas I've had, and some other posts I've seen that I liked about gift ideas. Maybe if you're still struggling to find a gift for someone, we can fill in the gaps.

Gift Idea Mish Mash!

On the photo gift idea post, we had these comments:

"Another idea we're doing (that we started on my daughter's first birthday but have now migrated it to Christmas gifts) is a photo montage on a DVD for all of our family members. We do it so that each year of each of the kids is broken into a "chapter" on the DVD, and it's just a bunch of photos set in motion to a bunch of songs we've picked out. You can download free photo montage software online and you just plug in the pictures you want to use and wha-la! Everybody loves getting these...especially now that we live long distance. And our kids of course, love to watch themselves on TV as we look back over the years!" --Heather

"We're burning DVDs of our home movies from the year, for the grandparents and great-aunts. Easy as pie. Good idea, Heather, to make it all fancy with music (and free software)!"-- el-e-e

"Thanks to MO Mommy's posting about this, on her site as well as here, I have been inspired to create a book for my (year old) nephew for Christmas. I got my brother to secretly burn me a copy of their photos on DVD and I've sorted through them to find pictures of his grandparents and aunts, uncles and cousins on both sides (we have a small family). On one page is a picture of the relative (either with him or alone) with a caption like "Here's Auntie Chraycee" then on the next page a pic of him doing something (like sitting with a book, or in his highchair with food all over his face) and a positive caption like "Auntie Chraycee loves reading books with Max" or "Auntie Chraycee know that Max will grow up big and strong because he eats his vegetables."

You know, I'm trying to reinforce good behaviors. Only trouble is that I don't have a one year old myself, so am a little short for positive messages........I went with what they have pictures for...

1. helps do chores around the house
2. is kind to animals
3. eats all his dinner/eat veggies
4. enjoys taking his bath
5. knows the value of a good nap
6. is an excellent snuggler
7. loves reading books
8. uses his imagination to invent fun games
9. is brave and ready for adventure
10. plays well with others
11. is always making new friends
12. is a good friend"--Chraycee

Reader Jennifer sent in this fun idea for themed stockings/gifts: "Every year I try to fill my son’s Christmas stockings using some sort of a theme, for example last year was school/office supplies (tape, markers, highlighters, post-it notes, pens, pencils, etc. – and dude, they loved the tape!). They are now seven and nine years old and I was having a hard time thinking of something this year. I’ve finally decided to do gift cards for them. One thing they love to do is shop so I’m collecting five and ten dollar gift cards from places they love to go (McDonald’s, Dairy Queen, Borders, Meijer, Gamestop, etc.) and that will be their stocking stuffers for this year. I may also throw a few dollar lottery scratch off cards in there for kicks.

I was trying to think of how to apply this to adults since we always have those difficult-to-buy-for folks. For my brother-in-law and his wife who recently closed on the purchase of their first home, I’m going to buy some sort of drawer organizer (which I highly recommend for all junk drawers across America) and fill some of those spaces with gift cards from homey type stores (Lowe’s, Bed Bath & Beyond, Target). Gift cards may not be that creative an idea, but I thought this was a creative way to present them."

I liked this list by Princess Nebraska.

SundryBuzz reviews products, and there are some great gift ideas there. Another of Sundry's blogs contains various posts of ideas, as well.

Swistle recently posted a list of reader shops, along with lists of ideas here.

I know I'm leaving about sixty trillion gift idea posts out, so if you have one you want to share, do it! Now!

Now I'm going to list some things that I've thought would be nice gifts for someone, as I've stumbled in and out of stores over the last few weeks. Some of these are things I would love to get myself, but am always too embarrassed to ask for. Or I forget that I would like them until it is too late.

--Magazine subscriptions (I always love getting magazine subscriptions, because I am too cheap/forgetful to buy them for myself--especially the nice arty ones.)

--Tea (I drink a lot of tea. I love good tea. I imagine providing any caffeine addict with a basket of their favorite coffees/teas is NEVER a gifting failure.)

--Digital photo frames

--A gift card to a pet supply store (but only for the way-too-pet-obsessed, like me)

--Art, if you know what sort of art the recipient likes. Including but not limited to: originals, prints, photos, vintage labels, antique postcards or photos, and so on.

--Gift subscription to Netflix

Okay! That was a mish mash, wasn't it? What am I leaving out? What do you have to share with us?