It's the most wonderful time of the year! Unless you have no idea what you're going to buy people, in which case it's the most not wonderful time of the year. The presents. It's always the presents. You want something the receiver will actually want, maybe something they wouldn't buy for themselves or even better something they didn't even know existed.
And yet somehow there's always someone who ends up getting a gift card. I happen to like getting an iTunes gift card because I'm too cheap to buy music and apps with my own money but for the most part a gift card isn't the best present. While a "real" present, no matter how bad, says "I like you, I tried, I schlepped to the store and bought you this thing". A gift card on the other hand says "For real, I have no clue what to buy you. You bug me. I hate you. But I picked up this piece of plastic because it was literally right in front of my face, at eye level while waiting to check out at the grocery store with my box of kitty litter and bag of discount mushrooms". ~ love karen.
I try really hard to get good presents for people but the odd time even I end up spitting into a cup and muttering a voodoo curse on the hard to buy for.
I know there are more of me out there. More people who have one or two REALLY hard to buy for people on their lists, so I came up with this Ultimate Christmas Gift Guide. Presents for just about everyone on your list.
I discovered the artist who makes these at Toronto's One of Kind Show.
Custom rolling pin for embossed cookies and pie dough. (have any design/wording you want)
Yup. It's a Bicycle Pizza Cutter.
Stainless Steel Soap! Removes garlic, onion, fish and other strong odours from hands.
The perfect pat of butter. This is both the stupidest and GREATEST thing I've ever seen.
Hedgehog toothpick holder
Himalayan salt, tequila shot glasses. No they don't melt, yes they're reusable, yes they're great.
Appropriately sized wine glass.
Whiskey on the rocks. Soapstone cubes chill drinks without diluting your drink PLUS they look really cool.
Whiskey is the new wine.
Boobies beer glass Ridiculous. I know.
A leather beer caddy for the beer drinkin', bicycle ridin' person in your life.
These delicate, you can barely see it, mini necklaces are the thing right now. The THING.
I noticed this one that Portia De Rossi wore on Ellen immediately and searched it out.
Crystal necklace. I think.
I'm not even sure what it is actually, but it's pretty spectacular.
The book that chronicles Barbara Kingsolver's year long adventure in eating only food from her neighbourhood or that she grew/raised/butchered herself.
I Dig Gardening t-shirt
But really …. what I use the MOST in the garden and love are surgical gloves.
Worried about the environment? Nitrile gloves do NOT decompose.
However, they are perfectly safe to burn believe it or not, and that's the best way to dispose of them.
Canvas & leather workshop/gardening apron
Wildflower Seedbombs and slingshot to "plant" them with.
The Nest Thermostat is the best looking, smartest thermostat out there.
The JumPack is a portable battery pack the size of an iPhone with enough power to charge your phone or jump start a car!
The Google Chrome HDMI streaming media player.
Plug this into the HDMI port of your regular television to stream Netflix, Youtube, movies, music, photos and more from your smartphone to your television.
Ringly. This Smart cocktail ring will vibrate when you get a call, text, tweet, have an appointment and myriad other things.
It also has a tiny discrete light on the side of it that will light up as an alert.
I WANT THIS I WANT THIS I WANT THIS I WANT THIS. Seriously. More than anything I want this.
This item won't ship by Christmas and is only available through pre-order so you'll have to just wrap up a picture of it for me.
Specialty Coffee Drinks illustration. $23.50
The Classic Bialetti stovetop espresso maker. Makes really, REALLY good coffee. I love mine.
Don't speak Coffee Mug. (true dat)
Even WITH the invention of things like Etsy it's still REALLY hard to browse through everything and find that certain something for someone, so I hope this list at least gets you started. (on your present buying that is … not on the inevitable Christamas voodoo curse).
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Tigersmom
While it is ridiculous, I can' t help but appreciate the realism of the nipples pointing slightly downward on the boobies beer mug.
I have about ten pairs of earrings from Oh Kuol on my wish list and I still love my ring from them which I believe is the one in the above picture, no? And in true me fashion, when I went to the Smart ring link, I immediately zoned in on the emerald one which, for some reason, is way more expensive than all the others.
Great list. Truly cool stuff. Thanks for all the leg work. Or should we call it butt work as it is performed while sitting on one's ass in front of the computer? Either way, it's still work.
Cathy
I want the shot glasses - but the link in broken!
Karen
Here's the link Cathy, but I"m not sure if they're available in Canada. :( I couldn't get them to come up on the Canadian Amazon site. ~ karen
Scott
Great Ideas, Thanks!
maarilyn
This is best list of unusual gifts I've seen and gonna buy that blue tooth speaker!
Jamie H.
WOW! This was really a great gift idea post! A lot of times you see gift ideas and Blah... but not this one! Yea!
Karen
Thanks Jamie H. It took a day and a half to search everything out and put it together so I'm very happy you liked it. :) ~ karen!
Merrilee
My life will not be complete until I have the hedgehog toothpick holder. To me, from me.
lisa
I think nitrile gloves can be incinerated, because they are commonly medical waste, but I don't think you can just throw them into your fireplace to burn. Don't they off gas something?
I use them a lot for staining furniture!
Karen
Hi Lisa. Nope, they don't off gas! At least as far as I researched them. They basically are made of water and give off water vapour and some carbon dioxide but nothing out of the ordinary. ~ karen!
Kathy
I like gift cards...
Linda J Howes
The Google Chrome HDMI streaming media player would have to be the Canadian version, correct??? I wouldn't want to get the wrong one.
Karen
Yes! Get the Canada compatible one Linda. ~ karen!
calliek
We have a Chromecast and it's the best thing ever!
Ellen
If I don't get that for Christmas I might run away from home.
Heather
I need that coffee mug but the link doesn't work. :(
Karen
Hi Heather. I've fixed the link in the plus, here it is for you … coffee mug link … ~ karen!
Heather
:) Thanks
Kim S
You're right the gift giving part of Christmas is SO stressful. I did order the coffee pot...for my most difficult person, I thank you greatly for that! There is a super customer review of this product on Amazon. I LOVE the hedgehog....so cute and practical. And I will totally vouch for the pack of similar gloves. I have these and they are SUPER...LOVE,LOVE,LOVE!
Jenny W
At the risk of sounding like a 15 year old girl ~ O.M.G.!!
Between this post of awesome stuff, that I did not know I needed, and your giveaway gifts, I have decided that you need your own web talk show!
Then you can be like Oprah, and Ellen and give ALL of your viewing audience ALL of your Favourite Things, just for tuning in :)
theresa
I am digging this idea--and it gets you back to a person with a straw holding your coffee.
Abby
My sister and I bought the Lee Valley grow light kit for our mom a couple of years ago and she loves it! I'm pretty sure it's one of the most-used gifts that either of us has ever given her.
mia pratt
Himalayan salt shot glasses...gotta love that!
Edith
Hi Karen,
The last few Christmases have been so relaxing and stress free for us because we decided to put a stop to the entire gift giving stress. As middle aged adults with no children in the family we have everything we need and more. Instead of buying each other stuff just for the sake of buying stuff we decided to support a charity. We love our new tradition.
DanniS
Omg i want that nest thermometer...then i saw the price, good lord! So i bought the shower speaker instead lol. I also went on cubits and bought a ton of seeds for my dad :)
Mary Werner
You missed the yodeling bacon strip from The Onion Store! I ordered 2 the minute I saw them and thanks to your suggestion 2 years ago, I find something each year for our pickle prize on Christmas morning.
Jan In Waterdown
OK so right now, you can get a little pouch of those whisky rocks FREE with a purchase of Glen Fiddich from the LCBO. I checked out that little gold pouch (gotta love the word pouch) purse thingie cuz it is so sweeeeet looking and it's made out of "vegan leather"??? what the hell is vegan leather?! good grief . . . does that mean the leather while it was still on the hoof was fed only veggies? lol and we have that "nest" thermostat . . . very cool . . . and the combined smoke and CO2 alarms which have a night light that comes on in the middle of the night when I get up to pee and it scares the crap outta me every time! gotta get to bed and stop running off at the mouth, night night.
sandra
Great gift ideas. Thanks