General Gift Ideas

Have a tendency to forget upcoming birthdays or occasions? I’ve gotten into the habit of purchasing sale or clearance items during off-seasons that make great general gifts (i.e. things most everyone would find useful and are not holiday-specific).

Below I’ve compiled a list of some of these items along with online retail links and general pricing, not including shipping:

• Cute Overload Page-A-Day Calendar for animal lovers, based on the Cute Overload blog, $10-14
• T-Shirts for a range of geek-types from ThinkGeek.com, $15-20
• Beer-opener rings for beer lovers, available at many gadget/toy stores but available for online order, $6-8 (I paid $7 for a pack of two at a retail location)
• The Rearview Mirror Monitor, for people who don’t want to get busted playing games at work, $10
• A USB Gift Set for people who spend quality time at their computers. Includes a mini-vacuum cleaner, light, cup warmer, and mood light pen holder with a 4 USB ports hub and 4 feet of cable, $20-27
• Giant “iPod headphone” Speakers for the humorous music-lover. This review shows them hooked up to an iPod, but I use mine with my computer. I also paid $30 to the site’s $40. Browse for best price.
• One of my personal favourites, for book lovers: Chapters‘ (or an equivalent bookstore’s) sale tables. You can purchase material on an unlimited variety of topics for anywhere from $2-10.

Especially acceptable with the economy right now is the idea of giving a gift that saves the recipient from spending money themselves; see this list of 28 gift ideas that keep giving. (via Personal Finance Advice.)

Leave a comment if you have any personal suggestions or additions!