Reader Mail: The Gifts That Keep On Giving

We are finding it very difficult to get any work done this week, what with the tone all warm and holiday-y. Why can it not be the first week of July every week of the year, is what we're asking ourselves.

We march on with our Jocasi giveaway: Once again, the question with the most comments wins. Easy peasy!

Today's question, from K.:

What is the best gift - big or small - you have ever given someone AND do you have a good fall-back gift that is 100% guaranteed to please when you are otherwise out of ideas?

Our answers: She may disagree, but we feel the answer was an inspirational message for our BFF at Christmas last year, written by a cookbook author and framed. We were very pro this gift because it didn't cost us anything, and it was thoughtful, unlike basically all of our other gifts. Speaking of: Our default is always, inevitably a book, and the one we love giving most is the one above: It's short and just perfect, which makes it appropriate for all sorts of readers.

Above: The Bridge of San Luis Rey, $10.36

Comments

[shoppingsmycardio]

ah, good question. best gift ever given: my hubs is an obsessive fan of alton brown (the "good eats" show on food network), so i stalked his agent to get a personalized, signed copy of his new book to give my hubs for christmas. i was so freaking excited when it arrived in the mail...it was all i could do to save it until christmas.

fallback gift: well, books and art...but i tailor those to the person's taste. the one thing i know everyone loves is food...especially the sugary kind. the default is mari's brownies (www.marisny.com)...mmmmm. or a gift basket from dylan's candy bar (www.dylanscandybar.com) filled with nostalgic candy. who wouldn't love that?

[Anne (in Reno)]

Um, when I go to visit relatives in the UK, I always bring pistachios. They are insanely expensive there.

So basically, I guess, something hard to get for them but easy for you. Books are tough. Some people I can give my favorite book to, some people I can't. Although, I just thought of someone else to give it to now...

[Lola]

Best gift given: Would probably be tickets to a Phillies game for my husband with the promise I wouldn't complain one time. And they won, which I like to take credit for...

Fallback gift: I have recently started giving Lands End tote bags. They are cheap, so useful and great quality. Wedding, baby, for any reason, really. Even for kids -they have a tiny one that kids even like!

[Pat]

I had a bf that was extremely hard to buy for. So I looked up his favorite Christmas Carol on itunes and made a cd of about 12 different versions of the song. He loved it.

Best backup gift? Scented candles.

[AB]

Back-up or supplementary wedding gift: the wedding invitation in a lovely frame.

[lauren]

I really like making people mix cd's for special occasions. For example, I attended a baby shower recently and made a mix CD that started with "Papa Don't Preach," but every song after that had the word baby in it somewhere. (See: Baby, Baby by Amy Grant, etc.) It was fun. You can always decorate CD jewel cases with pictures of the recipient. I like to make my own CD covers out of pictures from fashion magazines. The end result is usually something that everyone is happy about!

[A]

Great question! The best gift I ever gave was a signed copy of my sister's favorite author's latest book. I saw him at a book reading months before Christmas and bought the book and got it signed for her. Then I had to wait to give it to her, and by the time Christmas arrived I was more excited about that than any gifts I might have received. Ah, the holidays...
Books are my default, too. Or jewelry for close friends.

[jessie]

best gift: three tickets to a film noir festival for my dad, and my mom and me. My dad loves film noir, especially the really obscure ones that we haven't seen yet, so it was a really fun present to give, especially since other people were included in the fun too.

default gift: probably some type of jewelry, or an interesting book or some music. I try and pick out stuff that seems to fit the person's taste.

[M]

Being of the younger set (as well as job-less), gift giving isn't quite as important for me yet. I do have a fall-back gift though: gift cards. I know, I know, not very thoughtful. But you can make it seem more thoughtful by getting one from someone's favorite store or from somewhere they've talked about. For example, a HomeDepot gift card for someone renovating their house.

Maybe it won't seem quite as perfect later on? I don't know what else to give though... I never give books, just the thought of someone not reading the book, ugh.

[ms. spinach]

Best gift? Hmmm. I've been converting all my father's favorite mix tapes from the 80s and 90s into cds (the mp3 confuses him). Of course, he *loves* it, but my mother is ready to kill me because he won't stop playing them over and over.

Fallback gift... My friends have such unusual taste that it's hard to pinpoint just one. A one of a kind vintage item (I'm always trolling) is a great, inexpensive addition when you're giving a gift card or something more generic. The best are usually vintage purses or a neat retro houseware piece (a melamine sugar bowl/creamer set, for example) -- if you thrift them, they're generally cheap but always very cool.

[Suzy]

When my now-19-year-old daughter turned 9 (sheesh) I bought her and two of her friends tickets to see the Spice Girls. The three of them dressed up and pretended to be the Spice Girls the entire time - which was one of the most hilarious and charming things I have ever seen. They all loved it, of course, and I actually had a great time too.

As a fall back gift? I like to get my girl friends gift certificates to this fantastic spa in my city. When they redeem it, I like to go with them and make a day out of it. I hand-make little vellum sleeves to go over the card and tie a ribbon to it to make it a little cuter.

[Elizabeth Bee]

I love to give my girlfriends jewlery pieces found at a little store in Winnipeg called "Silver Lotus" all the jewlery is hand crafted in Canada and just "To Die For"

My favorite back up gift is a pretty bottle of sparkling wine with two champagne glasses, It is very pretty and always fun to give and recieve!