December 12, 2011
By Janet Farley
Holiday gift ideas? Hounding relatives for their must-haves is old hat when the Web is positively full of sites offering you lists created by blurry-eyed columnists, bloggers, and freelancers. To save you hours and hours of zombie-like searching and clicking across the Internet, here’s a succinct roundup of the best of the best gift guides.
Just what do you buy the fashionista, music fan, theatergoer, lover of luxury, trendsetter, pet-lover, chef, world traveler, sports fan, or oenophile in your life? USA Today offers you 24 neat ideas.
Best of the bunch: The World Grand Tour box of travel guides featuring 12 backpack-friendly pocket guides to Bangkok, Dubai, Hong Kong, London, Los Angeles, New York, Paris, Rome, Shanghai, Singapore, Sydney, and Tokyo. What family on a permanent change of station abroad or dreaming about future vacations wouldn’t appreciate such a treat? It will only set you back $110.
When the site’s usual price range links are followed by one that says “Fantasy Gifts," you know you’re in for a treat, if only a mental one. Neiman Marcus, famous for offering the ultimate in holiday gifts, doesn’t fail to disappoint this year.
For a measly $1 million, Water Entertainment Technologies will create a customized water fountain just for you. Highlighted in the design will be “two of its amazing underwater robotic nozzles dancing as a couple.” If it seems like a frivolous purchase, Neiman Marcus will ease the guilt by donating $10,000 to Water.org, a U.S.-based nonprofit whose mission is to provide safe drinking water and sanitation to people in developing countries.
Other interesting finds on the site include a Hacker-Craft speedboat for $250,000 and a 2012 Ferrari FF for only $395,000 (cute dog pictured not included).
Esquire chimes in as well this year with a number of lists to include Gifts Under $25 That Don’t Suck. Included on the list: a take-out menu organizer ($20), a coffee mug warmer ($8) and a bike beer holder ($22). (Give the latter for its chuckle value; you can be charged with DUI on a bicycle.)
If your budget can handle a tad more than $25 a gift, then Red Envelope offers some unique ideas. Consider giving your special someone a set of personalized golf club links ($59.95), a personalized wine cellar sign ($149.95), a giant gummy bear ($29.95), a year-of-wishes candle set ($79.95), or a pouch of “Reasons I Love You” stones ($29.95).
Closer to the military home front (pun intended), Terri Barnes, Spouse Calls columnist for Stars and Stripes, suggests we pick gifts that give more, including the USO Wishbook, a site full of ideas benefiting troops, families, and wounded warriors and their families.
You’ll find items such as a phone call home ($25), a comfort-food package ($15), bracelets of honor made of parachute cord ($25), and a memory box to remember a fallen hero ($50).
Not mentioned on any specific sites but worthy and applicable are the following:
The gift of time. Between school, work, and deployments, who has time to clean the house? Name one military family who wouldn’t appreciate a coupon for a freebie house cleaning from a local cleaning service.
The gift of privacy. With troops returning home en masse this holiday season, you can bet a little alone time will be hard to find. Offer to take the kids of a returning servicemember out for an evening, giving the two reunited parents some quality time to watch television together. Or whatever.
The gift of making a difference. Devote one or two hours of your own time volunteering for a worthy cause in your community — on or off the military installation. Fill up bowls at the local soup kitchen, visit a retirement home, or spend some time at the local animal shelter. Buy a toy for the community angel or Toys for Tots.
Double or triple the benefit and drag your kids along with you so they can see firsthand how to make a difference. Ensure a vicious cycle of giving is created for future generations.
The gift of advocacy. You know it as your trusted go-to resource and others should too. Give someone a yearlong MOAA membership so others also can enjoy the valuable benefits offered by the country’s most influential military officer’s association. Check out the cover wraps of the November and December issues of Military Officer for more information on free gift memberships.
There you have it … a perfect gift, for any budget.
Happy holidays.
About the author: Janet Farley is author of two new forthcoming books, The Military Spouse’s Employment Guide: Smart Job Choices for Mobile Lifestyles (Impact Publications, 2011) and Quick Job Search for Transitioning Service Members: Seven Steps to Landing a Good Job Fast (Jist Publishing, 2012). Visit her website at www.janetfarley.com. Follow her @SmartJobChoices and @mil2civguide on Twitter.
Copyright Janet Farley and Military Officers Association of America. All rights reserved.