We Have A Question...

With the holiday party invites starting to come in, we were wondering, What is your favorite $20-ish gift to give or get? A yummy candle? An ornament for the tree? Home made baked treats? A CD? What's the thing that gets more than an "aw, thanks!" and then an eventual toss in a drawer with the rest of the crizap?

Comments (10)

I know it seems cheap but my favoraite thing to do is make personalized party cd mixes (w/ cd covers and everything) for the host and a bottle of wine. My friends played the jazz holiday cd even after the holidays was over with. I make mixed cds for every holiday. Gives that cool high school mixtape feel.

posted by dani on 2005-11-30 14:33:07

my favorite 20$ gifts are
1. movie tickets
2. coffee GC--prefer coffee bean over the green people but that's just me.

posted by rs on 2005-11-30 15:32:45

a bottle of wine and a mixed cd
exactly

posted by guido on 2005-12-01 04:31:13

i'm all for cd gift giving, especially middle eastern music; it is very soothing, atmospheric, spiritual and sexy all in one and highly underrated.

posted by Alana on 2005-12-01 10:12:14

I agree, Alana. From bellydancing, ballads to hip hop- I'm all about the middle eastern sound. What's also underated is modern African music and Japanese/ Korean hip hop. I could go on and on. I try to include at least 2 songs my friends never heard into the mix.

posted by dani on 2005-12-01 14:10:59

dani - if that's what you consider "cheap" then can I get on your "cheap gift" list, please?

posted by anne on 2005-12-01 14:38:00

I only really give holiday gifts to my immediate family, and I knit them things. I buy yarn [a gift for myself!] early in the year and plan out everyone's birthday and holiday gifts... I always check in with them to see if they want the thing I plan on making, so everyone on my list gets something they'll use, and they all really appreciate that I haven't just gone shopping. Most of the things I make are still under $20, although this isn't a gift that everyone can do...

posted by mary on 2005-12-01 17:24:21

LOL Anne. Homemade gifts rock. Mary, I'm so jealous. I wish I could knit. Maybe you, Anne and I ned to do a gift exchange ;)).

posted by dani on 2005-12-01 17:54:45

I'm lucky to have good friends who are very creative. We prefer to give each other handmade items which over the years have included gorgeous Swarovski crystal jewelry (thank you, Karen!), homemade olive-oil based soaps, mix CDs, baked goodies, homemade liquours, sewn and knit items, etc.

This year, I bought a Knifty Knitter knitting loom (dumb name - great product) and can knock out a really good looking knit cap or tote in about an hour - scarves take a bit longer - so many folks are getting knitted items.

Personally, I love giving and getting handmade gifts. I have never understood why some people (uhm, my past inlaws) saw it as some way of cheating them out of some store-bought wonder - go figure!

posted by Libby on 2005-12-02 12:11:32

A couple of years ago I was living in a loft with several roommates who were all major phish-heads. I am not a fan. For Christmas, I went through my photos and found strange-looking pictures of each of them. I then went online and found pictures of Trey Anastasio from Phish, as well as a picture of a Phish concert ticket. Using the above, I made collage-type pics of my roomies in compromising positions with Trey, and included in the corner of each a "signed" concert ticket from Trey "to my favorite backstage betty." The cost was minimal, but the pictures came out great and will not be forgotten anytime soon.

posted by Ian on 2005-12-03 16:04:18