3 Best Gifts for 5 Year Old Girls

5 year old girl leaning against a tree
I just found out yesterday that my niece’s birthday is coming up in a month and I didn’t know about it. I feel a little silly to have lost track of that, but I’ve got a month and change to look for some gifts for 5 year old girls and pick one that she will like.

If you are looking for gift ideas for a 5 year old girl too hopefully my search will be helpful for you too. If you have any great ideas that I don’t get to in this guide please take a moment to let me know in the comments.

To Ask the Lady or the Parents

Usually the first thing I do when I am hunting for a gift idea is identify who my sources of information will be. For a two year old obviously you ask mom. For a ten year old you just ask the birthday girl herself. Picking a present for a 5 year old girl is a little funny because at this point she completely understands that she has a birthday coming up and she is going to get presents at it, but this little size S girl has a size XXL imagination and what will I do if she asks for a snow leopard.

(edit: I did ask her.  She wants a unicorn.  Until I find one I’ll keep working on this guide.)

I suppose the answer is to ask both parties and if she asks for something outlandish I will have to find a way to re-interpret the request in a form that is a good gift for her.

More Fun – Games for 5 Year Old Girls

One of my first inclinations is to find some sort of game to give her. She is constantly making up games so I would like to give her one too. Not that I am suggesting that she has the patience to play a board game, but if a five year old can make a computer game then certainly she can play one.

gift-for-5-year-old-girl-veterinarian
I was more thinking more along the lines of playing dress up, though. She already has a box of princess-y dress up clothes, but those are about dressing up to be pretty for her. Adding a play costume such as this veterinarian suggests many games (save the snow leopard, help the kitty, etc.) but it still requires her imagination and engagement.

It’s also possible that she has enough of an attention span to learn Checkers at this point. I would enjoy teaching her and playing with her, but I’m afraid that she probably won’t be too excited about board games yet. Better to just get my old checkerboard out and try to teach her outside of the context of her birthday.

Beginning to Read – Books

Of course 5 is a big milestone of a birthday (I know they all are at this point, but still…) because it marks the year she will go into kindergarten!  So exciting!  Your mileage may vary based on how shy your five year old is, but my niece has been in pre-school for two years now and is looking forward to going to ‘real school’. (her words, not mine, probably you can blame her dad)

gift ideas for 5 year old girl - Dr. Seuss
When I went looking at reading resources for five year olds I found many books that were designed with a kindergarten curriculum in mind and that were aimed at beginning readers. I also found that most of those books were deadly dull. Since this is going to be a gift I didn’t want to give her a book with only line-drawn pictures and a ‘see spot run’ story line. I hope to be helping her read these, uncle can’t be falling asleep while we work on them.

For a good marriage of being appropriate for beginning readers and yet also interesting enough that a 5 year old would want to go to the effort to read them I still haven’t found anything better than Dr. Seuss. She already has one of the books in this boxed set, I know, but I don’t imagine that it will be a problem to have two copies of Green Eggs and Ham lying around.

(If your gift girl has more than one or two from that boxed set there is also a Second Beginner Book Collection that has some less commonly found books that are still a lot of fun.  They are less likely to already be on her shelf.  As far as making reading sound fun I think I Can Read With My Eyes Wide Shut is worth picking up even if you get the other set.)

Toys She’ll Play With Until She’s 6: Best Toy for a 5 Year Old Girl

OF course not every gift has to be educational. I would think a birthday for a kid would be wasted unless there was a sizable contingent of gifts that were purely toys with no ulterior motives.

gifts-for-5-year-old-girls-unicorns

For example, since she said she wanted a real unicorn when I asked her what she wanted for her birthday I could instead get her this plush unicorn castle pictured at right.  If you looked at that link earlier to the 5-year old’s video game you know what a ponycorn is.  I could even claim that these unicorns are, in fact, ponycorns and I would get to be the coolest uncle ever for knowing how awesome they are (they are the best because they are ponies and they are unicorns, you see).

And… and.. hmm… actually I don’t know if I am going to do better than a white castle full of unicorns.  I think a craft kit could be a very good gift as well because she is really getting into doing art, but my niece already has a pretty well stocked craft kit.

If your five year old doesn’t have such a thing this can be either a really big gift or a pretty inexpensive gift but a plastic tote filled with crayons and washable markers and bits of felt and buttons is a really fun toy that encourages creativity but doesn’t come across as enforced learning.  A trip to Joann and ten or twenty dollars can be a really fun shopping trip for you and your kids as well.

But as I said her parents had the idea before I did so I’m thinking ponycorns.

Enjoy Everything

Hopefully one of these ideas I mentioned above sounds appropriate for your five year old.  Any of the images link to Amazon, though some of the best gifts you could give (I am a big fan of those craft kits) do still require a trip to the store.

If you have a five year old or you remember what you loved as a five year old and you have a great idea for a gift for her please take a second to leave us a note in the comments for everyone else that is looking for ideas.  Thanks,

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Top Ten + One Best Ideas for Crazy Gifts

New Year's Balloons

I know what his family is getting for Christmas.

Normally I like to take time and craft a gift idea to be uniquely suited to its recipient. I wrap it carefully or creatively then I sit back smugly and watch as they marvel at what a wonderful person I am to have known that this one gift would make their lives better.

But some times, for some friends, I just want to be weird.

Having crazy gift ideas is fun. Giving crazy gifts is even more fun: preparing for this article I asked people at work (the Day Job) what the craziest gift they’d ever given or received was and overwhelmingly they told me about the crazy gifts they had given.

(As an aside this was a completely different side of my coworkers than I usually see. One guy bragged about ‘wrapping’ a gift card in dog poop. ewwww)

With a little thought I am convinced that crazy presents can be as fun to receive as to give, though. They key, as always, is to put enough thought into selecting the gift and matching it to the recipient: it just happens that some people have a crazy sense of humor….

Since the definition of ‘crazy’ differs from person to person I am going to do this gift guide a little differently. I am just going to hit the highlights of an approach for a sentence or two and move on. Hopefully you will find some inspiration here.

Crazy Gifts for Special Days

  • Crazy Christmas Gifts: Christmas is always more fun for kids than it is for adults so why not get in on the action?  Something that would be a perfectly reasonable gift for a ten year old is a crazy Christmas present for an adult.  Get that man a set of Hot Wheels, get that girl a Barbie, and extra karma points for you if you dig up some backstory to find out what they wanted as a kid but never got and get them that. Obviously the way that they play with their gift will be different as an adult than as a kid, but don’t overlook the simple truth that toys are fun.
  • Crazy Birthday Gifts:  ‘Over the hill’ gifts might have been funny and a little crazy back in the mists of time before Spencers, when dinosaurs roamed the earth, but they are just too common now.  Go with something a little more off the wall, like a boyfriend pillow that says, “Yes, I understand that I could get you a gift certificate to Macy’s, but insted isn’t this awesome?!“  Another idea, which is roughly equivalent in content is a gift certificate to go do an activity out of the blue.  Go go-kart racing with your grandmother for her 75th or make your nephews decade by taking him skeet shooting for his fifteenth. I like to see both a little bit of excitement when they open the envelope with the gift certificate and a little bit of puzzlement.
  • Crazy Valentines Day Gifts:
    Bouquet of Lillies Making a normal gift into a crazy gift just takes a shift of scale

    Serenade her with ‘O Sole Mio’ yourself or arrange to have a band serenade you at a restaurant that doesn’t ordinarily have such entertainment.  Instead of getting her a dozen roses get her a thousand lillies.  Yes, a thousand.  If there was ever a night for flagrantly romantic gestures it’s Valentine’s…. or you could always just propose, which leads us into:

  • Crazy Wedding Gifts:  Stay away from a crazy wedding gift if you are the bride of groom.  Seriously, you get one shot at doing this right.  If someone else is getting married, though…. I would still can the crazy gifts just this one time and put the energy into writing a better toast.  I am a big fan of fun gifts, but I’ve seen brides melt down over way less than a tackily-chosen wedding present and she will remember that forever.
  • Crazy Groomsmen Gifts: Since these are gifts given from guys to guys to celebrate a crazy time in his life you would think that all groomsmen gifts would be crazy but you would be wrong.  It’s all cufflinks and cigar cutters, yawn.  Why not give the men boxes of ammunition, nerf swords, or glow in the dark golf balls?  Crazy groomsmen gift ideas are easy to come up with if you just think about your relationship with these guys rather than being unduly influenced by what is traditional.

    Nerf Axe

    I'm aware this isn't a sword. I decided axes are crazier.

Gifts for Crazy People

  • Crazy Gifts for Guys: There is an easy rule of thumb for picking crazy gifts for men – think of something that you would find in a guy’s college dorm room and get it.  Lava lamp?  Stolen bathroom sign? 25 empty pizza boxes as decor?  Yes, yes, a hundred times yes.  If he is younger than college age he will aspire to it. If he’s older it can be funny to watch him negotiate with the wife as to where the stuffed boar’s head is going to live.  Either way you come across like a true friend and he gets to play with something he probably wouldn’t buy himself… unless he’s in college in which case this gift might not be so surprising.
  • Crazy Gifts for Women: I am going to take a stab at this, but if you are or have ever been a woman you might have better ideas in this category.  I would (will?) make a twist on the traditional and safe gift of beauty products and instead give a product that should never have been: Summer’s Eve (note that this is a 3-pack, that’s even better). Somehow escapted hearing about this product? Check this out: their ads as re-interpreted by Jeff Bridges.
  • Crazy Cat Lady Gifts: This one is just too much fun to think about.  Offer to install a cat ramp (set of wide shelves intended for cat use) or set Fluffy up with Cat diapers.  Yes, cat diapers.  I know what my mother-in-law is getting for Christmas this year.

Crazy Cool Gifts

  • Crazy Funny Gifts: Remember if you are trying to give a gift that is both crazy and funny that it should be both of those things for your recipient as well.  No fair getting something that is only funny for you.  I think this is the perfect opportunity for a personalized gift.  You are probably thinking crazy gift because the giftee has a weird sense of humor.  Do you have any particular shared jokes?  Any funny stories or inside information that makes them laugh?  Get a blank t-shirt and have it printed with the punchline of your joke or a picture that will remind them of the story.
  • Crazy Gift Baskets:  
    You are going to have to do this one yourself.  Gift baskets are usually a soulless, bland affair.  I would think about getting a gift basket of ridiculous hot sauce, but even in the name of a crazy gift I would be sure to check that they are fans of hot sauce before passing this one on. You could always fill a basket with random items from the dollar store, but that is more an odd form of gift wrapping which leads into our next item.
  • Crazy Gift Wrapping Ideas: I discouraged you from wrapping a gift in feces earlier (again, eww) but I have to admit that I’ve done something similar.  I pledged to a friend once that I would present her enemies entrails to her in homage (I don’t remember why, maybe we had just watched 300?  This is kind of par for the course for this friendship, though). When her birthday came up I bought her a DVD and then wrapped it in a pound of pig intestines.  Then I wrapped the whole package in gift wrap (and a plastic bag, don’t worry).  It worked well because, of course, DVDs come shrink wrapped so once she removed the DVD from the wrapping (over the sink) the DVD inside was pig-free.  She still talks about that wrapping job today.

Crazied Out

What I love about crazy gifts is that more than even the best chosen thoughtful gifts people like to talk about the crazy presents that they’ve given or received.  Please take a second and leave a quick comment telling us about your favorite crazy gift that you’ve ever given or received.

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Cheap Gifts for Your Boyfriend He’ll Remember Forever

A couple holding hands walking down a tunnelShared special occasions with your boyfriend should be fun.  If money is tight and you need to find a cheap gift for a big day for your boyfriend then it can be nerve racking.  You’re not alone, though, and you’re definitely not the first girl to need to find cheap gift ideas for your boyfriend.

Even if he understands (And probably he doesn’t have a lot of money either so he does) you still can’t just do nothing for his birthday or ignore Christmas, you need to do something inexpensive, maybe a little cute, maybe a little meaningful.

Who knows, he may look back on this in six months or six years as one of the best gifts he’s ever received after he’s forgotten or used up his other presents.

Something to Do: Inexpensive Events

When you know that you can’t give a big expensive gift it is even more important to give him what you do have: your time and attention.

Set the theme of the day by taking charge of planning a day for the two of you that reflects the occasion.  You already know he enjoys spending time with you so make it extra special for the day.

  • Cheap Birthday Gifts: Choose one of his favorite activities and join in even if you don’t usually - play a video game or go watch a game, hike a mountain or tour the countryside on bike.  In any even make the day about him.
  • Cheap Valentines Day Gifts: Make it a special date night.  You’ve been together long enough to know what you enjoy doing together.  Celebrate that – watch a movie or just go on a walk.  Catch a concert in the park or catch the koalas at the zoo (yes, even in February I love the zoo in the winter: you don’t have to deal with huge crowds to see stuff).
  • Cheap Christmas Gifts: Go skating or sledding; better yet organizing a snowball fight with your friends doesn’t cost a dime.  If you really want to have something wrapped to go with the other presents you can pick several inexpensive Christmas gifts or candies and fill a stocking for him without breaking the bank.

    Snowball fight

    Of course, you know, this means war

Something to Give: Cute Cheap Gifts for your Boyfriend

Once you’ve established the theme of the day you’ve made it easy to come up with lots of cheap gift ideas for your boyfriend.  Generally thoughtfulness buy almost as much as, you know, money when it comes to picking gifts that he will treasure.

Since you can’t afford to get him a big gift, get him the right gift.  Look for an opportunity in this date that you are planning to get him a little something that will be the right gift at the right time

  • One of the most versatile forms of this I’ve seen is to personalize something for him.  Get a t-shirt and customize it with an iron-on transfer  of something appropriate to the day.  You can do his favorite sports team or his favorite video game character.  You can do a quote about one of his hobbies or a picture of the mountain you hiked together.
  • If you are going to a game at school get him a non-branded piece of clothing in your school colors.  This can be a very inexpensive gift for your boyfriend since most of the price tag for official team gear is for slapping a logo on the thing.
  • Get an accessory appropriate for whatever you are doing on the day.  A thick scarf if you are waging a snowball war or refills for his patch kit if you are going on a bike tour. To make it a great gift make it uniquely suited to the two of you and your day.

Something to Take Away: Picking Cheap Meaningful Gifts

souvenier cats

Anything is fair game if it will remind you both of your day together.

The whole point of this day is that the best gifts aren’t bought, let alone wrapped: memories, feelings, shared jokes and stories. Plan a little ahead of time for what you would like to capture of the occasion and you can end the day with a bang.

  • Frame it:  Get a frame ahead of time (these can be just a few dollars at a WalMart or a Target or even less on Amazon if you’ve got time to  wait for shipping) and turn anything into a souvenir of the day.  Frame the tickets that got you into the game or the zoo or the concert. Frame the note that you used to invite him out.  Frame anything that might remind both of you of the occasion.
  • Pictures: If you snap a few pictures of the two of you throughout the day you can surprise him by sending the pictures from your phone to a web album and enlisting a friend to print them out while you are still running around.  Bonus points for framing these, of course, which can run as little as a couple of bucks if you use a photo mat.
  • Found gifts:  Pick up a neat stone while you are out hiking or a shell found on the beach, a fifty cent toy from a street vendor or a handful of flowers (after pressing).  Look around your room, do you have favorite souvenirs that remind you of special occasions in your life?  How might you do something like that for him?

Wrapping Up

With a little forethought and an open pair of eyes you can give him a gift that no-one else can give.  Who cares that it’s cheap?  If it makes him happy, if it makes both of you happy you’ve given a great gift.

Couple kiss in a bar

Image courtesy of Sean Molin Photography

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Here’s a Quick Way to Find Great Duck Gifts

Street sign - watch for ducksWhether they want a mallard duck to hunt or a rubber duck to squeeze, knowing where to start your search will save you time and money.

With Christmas coming up I am doing a series of guides on picking great ‘theme’ gifts for people. Picking a theme for someone before picking a gift narrows down the whole world of gift ideas to a manageable quest. Obviously today I am looking at duck gifts.

I have two relatives in mind who might get duck gifts this year, but for very different reasons. My grandpa is a duck hunter of long experience. He doesn’t get out shooting as much as he used to, but that’s still part of how he identifies himself so I think a duck hunting gift might go over well.

I also have a cousin who just graduated from the University of Oregon who will be moving near me this fall. He into Oregon sports in a big way (he’s in a few of the UO marketing pictures because he’s always in those screaming groups of fans that colleges like to use to show school spirit) and he is definitely getting duck themed gifts.

Also, since this blog is called DuckDuckGift I get people accidentally stumbling onto this blog looking for rubber duck gifts so I’ll also help you folks out with a pointer to some rubbery duck gift ideas.

Duck Hunting Gifts Unlimited

I actually did the unthinkable for my grandpa and straight up asked him what a good duck hunting gift would be.

I know it’s shocking but forgive me, he’s hard to shop for.

I he had just given me a straight answer, though, then this post would not exist.  Instead he just pointed me at Ducks Unlimited,  which requires more thought.  DU has some duck t-shirts and other clothes with their logo, although you can get many Ducks Unlimited gifts from Amazon for up to half off.

What’s handy is that they also have a few “gifts for duck hunters” guides in their archive.  Most of the stuff in their gift guides requires you to know what hunting gear the duck hunter already has, though. I don’t live in state anymore so I don’t.  Among items that didn’t require an exact knowledge of what is in his kit, though, there is the idea of getting him a batch of decoys or getting him a humerous duck hunting book.

Flying Duck Decoy

The Original Angry Birds

For the decoys those seem like a good bet because when I searched the DU forums for gift ideas no one ever seemed to have enough.  Everyone wanted their gift of choice “and also some decoys”. Thus either this batch of decoys or great looking mallard duck on the wing like at right would both be good duck hunter gifts.

(For what it’s worth since I have a two year old I can’t help but think that he would be thrilled to death to have a few life-sized ducks.  Maybe he needs a bigger toybox.)

The humorous duck hunting book they recommend is Misery Loves Company.  That could be a great gift, he is a big Patrick McManus fan, but that will require a stealth call to grandma to make sure he doesn’t have it already.  Oh the perils of shopping for out-of-state relatives…

Rubber Duck Gifts, Novelties, and Collectibles

Rubber duckies are a thing now, I don’t know if you noticed.  Actually, if you found this article you probably did know that already.  Touché, dear reader, touché.

From devil ducks to nun ducks, hard rock ducks to disco ducks everyone has their own version of our bathroom friend.  Since they are fun and so personalizable I could see them making a good gift for someone with a sense of humor who likes knick-knacks.

I could see this working two ways:

  1. 25 Ducks in a BatchBox o’ Duck Novelties: Most rubber duckies don’t cost much on their own so if your giftee doesn’t already have a big collection of rubber ducks you can load up with 25+ novelty ducks and package them in bulk.  I love this idea because I love gifts that adults can play with right out of the box:  how will nun duck and devil duck get along? Who will win in a fight between ninja duck and pirate duck?  A gift you can play with immediately is more memorable and, for what it’s worth, more fun for you too.
  2. Duck Collectibles: If you are thinking rubber ducky gifts because your giftee already has a collection things get slightly harder, but you still have lots of options.  Fortunately (?) there is a wide range of novelty duck collectibles, limited edition ducks, and hard to find ducks.  Either Celebriducks or Bud Ducks might have something apropos. Look for a duck with something in common with your giftee, a job or a hobby.  That way you get bonus thoughtful-awesome-friend points for both contributing to their duck collection and also thinking about their interests.

Gifts for your Oregon Duck

If you have an Oregon Duck and gifts to find you are in a slightly different situation than the above two cases.  The University of Oregon puts its logo on lots of stuff which makes finding Oregon Ducks gifts pretty easy. It’s worth noting, though, that like usual Amazon has better prices on many Duck items than the official Duck Store itself so check both places.

A pretty safe gift would be a UO sweatshirt, but if your duck is an alum or just generally dresses up a UO polo might work too.

But promise me this, whatever you get them, you have to wrap it with Duck Tape.

Yay, we’re done

I personally can’t believe that I got through this post without making any puns about quack attacks or putting your duck presents on your bill. Aren’t you proud of me? Okay no, that’s fine. If one of these gifts looks like it might work for your giftee they are all linked to Amazon (or the appropriate website) from their picture. If you find better duck items for your giftee please let us know in the comments so we can share the knowledge with future gift hunters.

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3 Unique Fishing Gifts for His Birthday

Silhouette of a Fisherman Deep Sea FishingIf your boyfriend says he just wants a gift card for his birthday it can be a little depressing. he is going to go use that on his own and probably listen to the music on his own as well. Wouldn’t it be nicer to spend some time together on his birthday?

A fishing theme offers a great way to spend time together, though. If he loves to fish use his birthday as an opportunity to honor that. Show him that you know how important it is to him. Are you willing to go fishing with him or at least go hang out at one of his favorite fishing spots? Either one will make this birthday more memorable for him than his last generic birthday party.

For the cake (and hopefully lunch) you can pack a basket of assorted goodies to enjoy on the side of the stream. If you are going to fish with him it will make a great intermission in the morning or if the thought of fishing doesn’t appeal you could just do a picnic lunch at one of his favorite fishing spots. Most good fishing spots are also great for picnics. Ask one of his buddies if you need to about where his favorite places are

Doing a birthday picnic also gives you a memorable way to wrap the present: include your gift in the picnic basket and have him ‘unwrap’ the basket to find his present and cake and anything else you feel like packing. Seal the basket with a bow to complete the package. I love this idea because it makes the whole day together about his hobby, that you both know about and care about his interests.

Fishing Gear as a Gift

If you are a fisher yourself you can get him some piece of fishing gear that his tackle box is missing. That is advanced level gift-giving jujitsu, thought: you would have to know what is in his tackle box and also what kind of fishing he does to pick fishing gear. Would he enjoy a fly-tying pattern from http://www.tie-a-fly.com or is he more of a floating beer koozie kind of fisherman? You need to know, either by searching his gear or interrogating his fishing buddies to find something that he needs or has been wanting. That makes a great fishing gift.

Gifts for the Fisherman


Something that may have a broader appeal and also be easier to wrap might be a nice hand warmer to keep him warm on early morning trips. The fact is that when the fish are biting it is probably a nasty, wet and cold time to be standing around outside.

Not to be too sentimental, but he could think of you when it keeps him warm in the cold… bawwwww……

One or two of these make a very handsome gift: the Zippo shape is an icon that means manly and who doesn’t love that?

Dangerous Waters…


If you know how to fillet fish you could get him a fillet knife and offer to fillet your catch from your birthday trip. This is one piece of gear that he probably has, but if he is like most guys (like me) the fillet knife he bought in ’99 barely counts as a knife any more. These need to be sharp to do their job, but knives lose their edge over time, especially if they are banged around in a tackle box.

Make sure he knows this is a one-time offer, unless you want to be stuck with it though!

If any of these sound like a good gift idea to you the pictures are linked to their Amazon pages, but the thing that will make or break this birthday idea is that you want to spend time with him.  Show him you care, maybe that you are even interested (not as much as him, but some) and this will be a birthday party for the two of you that he will never forget.

 

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Crazy Gift Ideas for your White Elephant Gift Exchange

A white stone elephant

How did he get blamed for this?

More a game than a real gift giving opportunity, I think finding good  white elephant gift exchange ideas  presents an interesting challenge  By definition you don’t know who is going to get your gift so you can’t pick it with any one person in mind.

(I’m assuming if you got here you know what a white elephant is, it’s one of the most popular Christmas gift exchange games.  You can read more here)

You can always bring some terrible gag gift, but you run the risk of having the gag backfire.  I once brought a Hello Kitty backpack to a white elephant exchange thinking that it would be funny to inflict on my coworkers.  Of course I was the one stuck with it at the end of the night.

So how can you go about finding good gift exchange ideas?  Well, I think first you have to decide how you are going to play the game.

A good, no a great, no, the greatest white elephant gift idea ever!

If you want to play the game ‘straight’ and bring a gift that everyone wants to steal there are a few good choices.

  • Chocolate:  Not necessarily exciting, but you can guarantee that it will be stolen two or three times and no one is going to be miffed to be stuck with the chocolate.  You can make things more exciting by bringing something out of the ordinary like bacon chocolate, spicy Aztec hot chocolate, or a confection or two from a local chocolatier.
Nerf Vortex Vigilon

This leads to a very different game after the exchange is over.

  • Toys: if you have the ‘right’ work environment this can be a blast.  One Christmas my coworkers (almost all male, I worked at a men’s suit shop) conspired to bring a selection of nerf pistols (two Mavericks and a ring pistol that I think has been replaced by this fearsome monster at right).The competition was especially fierce for these because everyone knew that someone without a weapon would be at a disadvantage on the sales floor for the next few weeks while we did inventory.
  • Souvenirs:  No links for this one, but if you have the right item around the house this can lead to a fun evening.  I’ve never done this one, but I’ve seen people bring souvenirs from vacations or hobbies in as gifts and include a note explaining what the item is.  Fair warning: No one is going to try to steal a rock from the campground you stayed at last summer, but you might get a couple of people excited about a stone from Arthur’s Seat or an out-of-print Deutsche mark picked up ten years ago.

Generally if your group has interests in common you come up with lots of white elephant ideas related to the shared interest.

You can also increase the fun factor by creating a label for your gift based on who you intend the gift for.  Labeling a gift “To: The Die-Hard Chocolate Fiend” “For the manliest man in the room” gives players an idea of what is inside so no one gets stuck with something they don’t want at the end of the night.

Or you can always turn to the dark side of the white elephant game and re-gift something ridiculous that you have received recently.  Chose, but chose wisely.

Gag Gifts for your Exchange

A "Business Listening" CD
Yeah, that is going to be popular.

For some people (and you know who you are) a white elephant is an excuse to find the wierdest gag gift you can.

Corporate swag? Check!  Three mismatched ferret sweaters?  How did I live without these?  An Esperanto dictionary?  There might be an actual fight over who goes home with that one!

I’ve never been a huge fan of bringing gag gifts to white elephant exchanges.  I’ve only done it once (the abovementioned backpack) and I wound up hoisted by my own petard. (What is a petard? Oh)  I regret that I didn’t keep that backpack, actually, but I think I’ve thrown away fully half of the white elephant gifts that I’ve ever won.

Remember that even if a gift gets a laugh when it’s opened someone is going to keep it for more than the evening.  And that means that they don’t get to take home a box of chocolate.

So here’s the deal: if you are going to bring a taxidermied squirrel or a random box from Archie McPhee to my gift exchange please also slip a gift card or a tenner in the box as well.  That way if I get stuck with Slappy I can still come out ahead after he’s been dumped into the trash.

I’m trying to find an article I once saw on the Huffington Post or somewhere about White Elephant gifts where they essentially say “Don’t bother, bring cash”.  I remember thinking that the article was hilarious and also that it was probably written the morning someone got stuck with a Shake Weight.

(Yes, that deserved an embed.  Search your heart, you know this to be true).

(If anyone knows the article I am referring to let me know in the comments will you?  Something about picking White Elephant gifts that would get you fired?)

 Screw Playing the Game, It’s Whether You Win or Lose

So there are a few great ideas for white elephant gifts.  If you need more ideas go check out my article on picking unisex christmas gifts.  Some of the difficulties of picking a unisex christmas gift: not knowing who will open it, not knowing the interests of the recipient, also apply.

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7 Ways to Pick Ridiculously Thoughtful Gifts (Part 1)

Pondering what to get.

Hmmm.... what would she really want.......

I’ve been looking forward to writing more gift guides.  I enjoyed writing about picking out toys for my two year old immensely, it was all of the fun parts about shopping without having to hassle with people or actually spend money.

It occurred to me, though, that a gift guide usually skips the hardest part of picking a gift: the inspiration.  If you are looking for a gift guide like “Gifts for Fishermen” you have already put some thought (hopefully) into what you are going to get him.

If you want to have people ‘ooh’ and ‘ahh’ when they receive your gift you have to put an uncommon amount of thought into the gift-giving process.  Can someone get better at picking thoughtful gifts?  I think so, I have tried to cultivate that skill in myself and here are my top 7 ways to pick ridiculously thoughtful gifts

The Non-Gift Gift

A non-gift is the thoughtful without the gift.  Remember someone.  That’s pretty much it.  Take a few minutes to send a note or a card to someone who isn’t expecting it.  Write two or three sentences about something you appreciate about them.

Unless it’s your significant other (S.O.) and you have that kind of relationship don’t go too long – you want to be thoughtful, not stalkerish.

A thoughtful note: Happy Anniversary

How long did that take? How much impact do you think it had?

The best example of this that I can think of was a trick my college roommate used to do.  He would slip one sentence notes into his girlfriend’s purse without telling her.  Probably a few were thrown away by accident, but I was around when she found one once.

Just a couple of sentences about how he loved her, probably something he had said a hundred times already, but she teared up because he had taken the time to leave her that little surprise.  Of course they are married with kids now, so, you know, be careful with this kind of thing.

This is super easy so you have no excuse not to play along at home.  Do this: find a piece of paper right now and write two sentences about someone close to you.  Then either mail it to them or take a page from my roommates’ book and sneak it into their things. (The sneaky insertion works best with close family, don’t freak out your girlfriend with this if you just met last week)

Are you still reading?  Have you at least written the note yet?  I’ll wait.  Here, I’ll go do one for my wife right now, I’ll see you later.

A Thoughtful Gift Given on an Unique Day

Okay, we’re back.  The bonus points for unexpected consideration that we racked up with the non-gift also count if there is a reason for a gift, but it’s not a traditional gift-giving day.

It’s an unfortunate fact that giving a gift to someone on their birthday doesn’t count for much on their own.  It’s their birthday, they expect gifts.

Very few people expect gifts on the one-year anniversary of starting their job, though, or their half-birthday, or the day that they gave birth to one of their children (birthing day).

Unusual/Nontraditional Gifts

Another way of breaking from expectations and showing thoughtfulness is by giving a non-traditional gift.  That sounds really vague but you have probably done this.  Baking someone a batch of cookies is a kind of nontraditional gift if they are given as a gift.  To up the ante I once baked my girlfriend a box of baklava.  It was different enough from the expected range of courtship gifts that it got her attention.  Now we are marred and have two babies. Coincidence?  I think not!.

I feel like this is a rich mine of thoughtful gifts but I am having a hard time coming up with more examples.  I will probably come back and add more to this post as I come up with more examples.

A word of warning, though, you should probably tread carefully when doing this for Christmas or birthdays or other major gift-giving occasions.  The line between ‘thoughtful’ and ‘cheap’ is in the eye of the beholder and it is really easy to inspire a bad case of Present Face with this tactic.

Are you familiar? This is exactly the opposite of what we are going for. (I realize that was a little forced, but I love Garfunkel and Oates so I apologize for nothing.)

I wonder if enough people could capture their present faces on camera that it would be worth having a gallery or even a contest on the page here….

That’s it for now. This is already a long post and I don’t want to ramble too badly. I am also venturing into territory where I am writing from theory rather than experience. I think I have some neat ideas for how to choose more thoughtful gifts, but some of them I haven’t tested.

Rather than lecture about how I think it should be done I am going to go out and try to pick the most thoughtful gifts possible for upcoming birthdays and Christmas and then I will report back here.

Now it is your turn, let me know in the comments what you think the best time to give someone a gift is.  Don’t say Christmas, Birthday, or anniversary, but other than that be free!

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Owl Gifts too Cute to Hoot

A barn owl staring you down.

I am thinking ahead to my Son’s birthday party next month and thinking what we are going to get him for his birthday. Compared to shopping for adults, kids are easy. My son’s eyes light up with delight whenever he sees a truck… or a bus… or a bird or a squirrel or mommy or daddy or a cow or a monkey or Elmo or a dog or a cat or a plane or a train or even green eggs and ham.

It’s easy to shop for someone who isn’t jaded yet.

I’m not going to get him one of everything, though, so we have to pick one obsession to cater to with his birthday party and I think we are going to go with an owl theme. My wife, who knows these things, tells me that owls are trendy right now. I think that anyone could love those eyes.

But what to get?

Owl Gifts for Kids

Wall decal of a tree, owls, and squirrels

Busy tree

Option 1: Owl Decor Thinking through how my son interacts with owls there are a couple of options that occur to me. He likes to look at pictures of owls and talk about how they live in trees.

He already has one wall of his room given over to vinyl wall decals of a springtime scene showing cherry blossoms and sparrows, I think he might very well like a similar scene with squirrels and owls.

Mom and I get to feel sophisticated for the Spring/Autumn dualism and I think he might like the clear black/white images.  My boy might like trucks and dozers, but cute gifts still have an advantage with mom and me.

Going for this gift is the price – $2.95 is a steal, Amazon has great prices on vinyl wall decals (click through the image to see the set on Amazon).  Going against this option is the setup factor.

My little boy is turning two so his attention span is about 2.5 second long. It will be difficult to connect the opening of the present with the new owl decor on his wall.  He might not care at this point, but for mommy and daddy it would be anticlimactic to have him open his present and then wander off uninterested.

Hug and Hide stuffed Owl

The baby owl is so cozy!

Option 2: Stuffed Owl It might seem like a stuffed animal is an obvious choice for a two year old, but not for my guy, stuffed animals give him the willies so a stuffed animal owl is not guaranteed love.

This stuffed owl from Skip Hop caught my  eye, though.

It is not strictly a stuffed owl, it is designed as an all-inclusive baby distractor for a younger child.

I think it has potential for older children though.  I made this picture bigger so you could see a little better, but there are actually two owls, and the baby owl hides in a pouch in front of daddy owl. (Well, mommy owl I am sure, but allow a dad to pretend)

My guy is just getting big enough to notice other smaller babies around and he is very interested in them.  He is already interested in owls, so perhaps the two of them together will catch his eye.

Going for this present is the adorableness of your kid cuddling stuffed owls.  Going against it is the fact that it is obviously made for a six month old, but that is more likely to bother his parents than to bother the birthday boy.

Unusual/Unique Owl Gifts for Adults

Looking around at owl stuff for my son I stumbled across a few neat owl gifts that are more appropriate for the older set.  I try to always be thinking about gifts for people so I made note of some owl stuff that might come in handy around Christmastime.

Owl Cufflinks For Him – Or, really, for me. I absolutely love the look of these. Cufflinks are such a fun accessory for men and we get to wear so few acessories in the normal course of daily life. As it is I almost never wear cufflinks but they are something I aspire too and something that I could get for some of my male friends. Also I have some friends who went to Reed (their mascot is the owl) so this might be very appropriate if I decide to get them a gift.

I can’t help but think these would be adorable with formalwear too.

Owl Earrings For Her – Who doesn’t enjoy an owl nesting in their hair? I think these, like the cufflinks, are a great example of how to do a ‘theme’ present without getting too cutesy. I think it’s really easy when selecting a theme gift like an owl gift to stray into trinket land because, hey, it’s owl stuff right? Wrong, you’re better than that.

I like these because they are beautiful in their own right in addition to being an owl gift My wife keeps threatening to re-pierce her ears so that she can wear earrings again, I am keeping these in mind for if she does.

Owl Themed Gift Wrap and Gift Bags

The last thing after picking the gift is, of course, to wrap it. I kind of think that if you are going to give a ‘theme’ gift like an owl then it makes it more fun if you see the theme through to the end and I think it shows that the gift is more thoughtful if you put together a complete package. No half-measures!

Plus it is pretty easy to find owl-themed gift wrap or gift bags if you go looking. I usually go to a dollar store for gift bags and gift wrap since they usually have a good variety of gift supplies at low prices (at least in the Northwest, YMMV). For inspiration, though, here are some gift wraps from Amazon.

Good Luck!

So I’ll come back and edit this after I buy and give my son his owl-themed birthday gift in about a month. Until then leave a note in the comments and tell us if you have ever given a particularly successful owl gift or if you are hatching a similar scheme for the near future.

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