my plan was to take a series of my family's facorite photographs and draw and frames them on some really nice paper i picked up. i've done this before, not the framing and giving part, just the drawing of existing pictures, quite well. (i've done a great picture of Nosferatu, the album cover of Bloody Kisses, and a bunch of other stuff from various magazines) the problem now is time left to finish what i've only just started. i've been working like a slave and there's a bunch of hammering and shit being done at the house right now and i can't concentrate. i fear i won't be able to finish. plus the pressure doesn't lend well to the undertaking.

having said all that, i believe i may have to buy many of the gifts i hadn't planned on. i don't really like xmas and it's a hump i have trouble getting over to think about good gift ideas. help me out won't you?

i'd love some ideas around the 100 dollar range or less. don't bother telling me you don't know my family so you can't give me an idea. just list them and i'll decide whether or not they're appropriate. so...list away all. i'd appreciate it muchly.

For the older well established family members:
Consumables. They've got all of the stuff they want, get them so that will disappear.

Good wine or beer or liquor.
Interesting cooking ingredients.
Perfume or Bath Items.

Things that they might already have but that you know are worn out.
If I notice that somebody has had the same potato peeler for 30 years, and it's not exactly sharp, I'd buy them a new one.

So if you've used tools over at their house that suck, buy them a decent one as a present. At least you'll have something decent to use the next time around.

If they live near you, give them an experience. Make them a gift cerficate for a trip to the movies, theater, concert, whatever.

For the others who might actually like to recieve *stuff*.

Don't get them electronics, chances are they wanted a different model anyway.

Don't buy them things for their home unless you're absolutely sure it fits their style. If they're disposable like paper napkins you don't need to worry that much.

For the tough ones, music or dvds or books are usually a good bet.

For those in cold weather climates. Buy them a pair of hand warmers (unless you know they already have them)

If there's a girl you'd like to get to know a *bit* better, give her a gift certificate for a massage provided by you. (That is if you know how, otherwise just wing it)

Hope that helps.

I hear this is the year of the gift certificate.

Beyond that, the only thing I can think of that is cool that people might not have yet is the RoboSapien. Fun for kids, and educational for adults. When the robots take over in 6 years you can point out your huge family collection of em as a reason not to exterminate your kind.

Artists always can use art supplies.

Batteries and/or flashlights. Very useful.

Socks. They wear out, so people always need new ones.

Love - don't cost a thing.

For men: things that catch on fire. Lighters, kitchen torches, fireworks....Or knives.

For women: things that smell good, sparkle, or are fuzzy.

But actually, I'm knitting socks for almost everyone this year.

I have to keep my gifts under $100, too, if I can...for all of them. That's the trouble with being 'responsible'; when I was in my 20s, I'd easily drop several hundred on Xmas; trouble is, I'm still paying for those presents...

Handmades rock, but they are time-consuming. We tried to do handmade anniversary/perpetual calendars one year; they were all (going to be) the same - hand-drawn images, color xeroxed & laminated. Even with two of us working on them, I don't think that we finished more than three.

Gift certificates for massage -- that sounds good. Or sex toys.
'course, they can be hard to return, sometimes.

nothing says "i love you" like ammo.

A Neti Jug


Great for anyone with sinus troubles.

-----------------
How would you like your salt?
In tepid water and through my nose please.

Small, inexpensive Hibachi barbeque, a large bag of REAL lump charcoal, and a big galvanized bucket from the hardware store or Ikea to use as a fire bucket and ashcan. Even apartment dwellers with porches will like this.

Good, offbeat, hard-to-find hooch. For example, get the Martini drinker you know a bottle of Plymouth gin and a bottle of Angostura bitters.

Thick, entertaining books. One of the best gifts I've ever gotten was a fat volume of the complete collection of Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes stories as published in The Strand.

A basic Silva or Suunto compass; most people who need one don't know they need one until it's too late. Anyone who ever leaves the road should have one.

A small, powerful, durable flashlight; small enough to carry 24/7 in one's bookbag or purse. Choose one that doesn't require exotic camera batteries.

Same descriptors as flashlight above, applied to "pocketknife". One-handed opening is de rigueur.

One-liter Nalgene water bottle; narrow-neck version.

Trangia .9 liter or 1.0 liter aluminium kettle. Brutal, functional, minimalist chic that one simply cannot kill. My favorite aluminium thing of all time.

All of these will go for well under a hundred dollars Canadian; the flashlights and kettles are especially good gift-punch for the money.

Wow, FP, I didn't know they had gotten those over the Indus mountains yet...No seriously, When I lived in India, I did that as a daily yoga Kriya. However, ours were always made of copper but it really does make sense to go plastic.

The key is to breathe through your mouth while pouring the water through one nostril. Otherwise you begin to take water into your lungs and gag.

Oh, and it must be sea salt (mixed as FP says in tepid water, I prefer warm bordering on hot personally), kosher salt won't cut it for this...

quote:

---

Originally posted by DisinfoRedux:
The key is to breathe through your mouth while pouring the water though one nostril. Otherwise you begin to take water into your lungs and gag.

---

Yeah but you have to promise if you actually buy this for somebody I want you to post a picture of their face when they open it and of when you force them to use it for the first time Christmas morning, (with Christmas morning hair) just to make sure they do it right.

I am told that I am hard to buy for and my wife says I take too much pride in that. Even so am I the only person that LIKES getting gift cards to useful places??? Walmart, target, the auto part store and the granddaddy of them all, Home Depot?

On a completely different note, my parents have been visiting me here in the East Bay Area until over Indian buffet lunch this afternoon, I told my father what I thought of him (honestly). They are now changing their plane reservations for the first flight back east.

On the brighter side, I got a sweet leather jacket for Hanukkah. And my parents met my girlfriend last night before all this bullshit went down today, we had a nice dinner here last night.

Hopefully, I won't be written out of the will.

Ahhh... the uniting force of christmas.

I don't know your circumstances, but hopefully things work out for the best.

OK, I'll bite.

What the heck did you say to your dad?

My parents came in Friday night after first flying into Vegas and then driving up the coast for a visit with me.

Pauline, I don't remember *exactly* what I said (because I was frankly in an emotional tisy) but it was along the lines of "Dad, you are an unemotional, stiff, uptight prick." There was alot more and frankly, I'm just digesting the ramification now as I write this. Needless to say there is a LONG back story to all this. Emotions, mostly negative, have run deep between us for many years. I think, actually, I'm going to start a thread either later today or tomorrow to discuss how people deal with their own parents and parents deal with their children when negative emotions run deep. Also I will give a more fleshed out account of my own experience.

Till then, thank you for biting Pauline. It is good, because I really need to see this much more objectively and hear about what other people who don't personally know me and are not emotionally tied into the situation to (hopefully) give advice. And no this NOT some bullshit story.

quote:

---

Originally posted by boogerhead:
nothing says "i love you" like ammo.
http://www.army-technology.com/contractor_images/delta/ammo.jpg

---

That's cool, boogerhead. But the cat lives in Canada. I think he's probably only going to be buying for people who need rifle ammo.

A coffee grinder, and a bag of coffee beans. Caffine is almost always apropriate.

One of my most useful presents ever (because I prefer tea):

Makes 2 mugs worth of tea. Not very expensive, but very cool.

gift ideas, it's usually you want yourself that comes to mind...

if you like electronic music and/or graphic design/video art:

a book + dvd with images/videos inspired by funkstörung's music.

other than that, it's mostly books. check the december reading thread for inspiration.

If you have any young, male relatives of sufficient age and maturity to handle it, a pocket knife (especially if it is their first) will secure you unassailable cool credentials. You may want to ask the parents first, however.

A model airplane/truck/boat, glue, a brush and some small pots of paint works for boys of a certain age. You may want to go for a snap-tight kit if he is too young.

Depending on where you live, warm gloves can make people happy.

And, of course, books.

I often give my parents stuff they'd never
purchase like computer software or music. Most
of my friends don't receive music because it's the
sort of thing they'd buy for themselves.

Alternately, I usually keep a mental list from
the previous year's discussions when friends and
family say "I could really use (a new) x".
Then, I get that person that thing and they're
usually really surprised and/or touched. Even if
it's something small.

I also don't worry about any sort of deadline,
it's the thought that counts and I'd rather have
a cool gift late, then a crappy gift on time.
Most of my friends work the same way. Besides,
you have until 6 January to give them something.

This year, I've given away three copies of
Janice Kim and Jeong Soo-hyun's Learn to Play
Go (vol 1). It's been pretty well received
by all.

Another big tactic within my family is chipping
in and getting something large for a person.

Oh! and antique stores. There's nothing like
finding a cool gift at an antique store. You can
sometimes find some really pretty estate jewelry
for a really decent price. That's a really good
gift for that certain someone in your life.

quote:

---

Originally posted by Fashionpolice:
_A Neti Jug_

Great for anyone with sinus troubles.

---

Great. Now I'm having flashbacks from when I had
that septoplasty done. Two weeks of sheer hell.

Marshdrifter, do you play GO?
If so, do you know of any good online go sites? I only play with my friends now.