Holiday Gift Ideas!

"Holiday Gift Ideas!", December 2007

‘Tis the season to be un-creative. Also, it may be the season to be broke. I’m not able to help you out with that one so much (lacking funds; although I will have some cheaper suggestions), but (I think) I’ve got some interesting ideas for gifts for the holiday season. Some I think may be a little bit more obvious than others. Some are downright weird, but, well, I’m a little bit odd. I hope these suggestions can help you out of the standard gift-giving conundrum. Let’s face it, gift certificates can be boring, and giving the same thing year after year must get dull too.

I was listening to Fuel 90.3 (a Calgary radio station) and they suggested a pair of concert tickets, because if the person you’re giving the tickets to really likes you perhaps they’ll take you along (the gift that keeps on giving…). A good suggestion is the Edge Electric Christmas; all of the proceeds to this series of tickets (of which there are several concerts) go to the Daily Bread Foodbank in Toronto.

Lots of non-profit organizations are either selling stuff that you can purchase on someone’s behalf, or you can donate money in their name and get a little keepsake gift. Some good examples are the World Wild Life Fund, Greenpeace, the David Suzuki Foundation and World Vision. You can also look up non-profit organizations based on specific criteria or values. A good list is available here: http://www.torontoplus.ca/feature/ch...day_giving.jsp

Have a parent or grandparent who is happy about the fact that you go to Mac? Get something with the McMaster name on it. Seriously, they love that kind of stuff. Titles has some stuff on sale right now. Are you in Social Science? They’ve got a sale with any three items (t-shirt, umbrella, water bottle) for five bucks.

Play the sentimental card, and get a picture of yourself framed as a small (and therefore cute) child with parents or grandparents. They love that sort of stuff too.

Check out booths (like the ones in MUSC) and smaller stores for interesting stuff. Harmony in Jackson Square sells various kinds of jewelry, pashminas, candles, incense, glassware, music, pottery etc. Sometimes you can find some really unique stuff to give.
T-shirts! Have you heard of a company called Threadless? Well go to www.threadless.com. Right now most of their t-shirts are $10 until December 16th. I absolutely LOVE Threadless stuff. Hilarious. Another company that I literally just stumbled on is Poison Apple Shirts, which you can find at www.poisonappleshirts.com

What about herpes, gonorrhea, mono or ebola? Not actually. Plush Microbes come in both STI forms, as well as various other communicable diseases. I would seriously laugh if I got one of these as a gift. Check out http://www.thinkgeek.com/geektoys/plush/6708/

There are tons more things I could think of, but I think you’ve gotten the idea. Think different. You can also do searches online for unique and creative ideas, and you could even make gifts yourself. My only plea is to please, PLEASE never give an animal as a gift.