Creative Christmas Gifts & Gift Ideas

Maybe Santa's getting older or maybe he's just plain lazy. 

But for whatever reason, old St. Nick decided to do much more of his holiday shopping online than on Main Street this year.  The results have delighted online giants like Amazon and dismayed traditional retailers everywhere.

In the midst of a global recession and skyrocketing unemployment, people were supposed to have no impulse to buy Christmas gifts for their friends and family this year.  And while this logic held for traditional retailers, it certainly did not dissuade people from shopping online.

Amazon Soars as Online Sales Grow

Between November 1st and December 24th, online sales topped $27 billion according to comScore, an online market research firm.  This sales total represents a 5% increase from the 2008 holiday season during the same time period.

The Wall Street Journal's Marketwatch predicts that Amazon, the online leader in consumer goods, had a record-breaking holiday season.  Experts believe the company to announce revenue in the area of $9 billion, up from $6.7 billion last year.  The company was bolstered by the success of its electronic reading tablet, the Kindle, which became the best-selling gift in Amazon's history over this holiday season.

Chain Stores Suffer, Get Desperate

Meanwhile, over on Main Street, traditional retailers did not fare nearly as well.  According to the New York Times, sales fell 2.2 percent industrywide, a drop felt mostly by big chain stores.  For instance:

• Abercrombie & Fitch was one of the biggest losers of the holiday season, with sales dropping an estimated 15% – 17%.  The company operates over 1,000 stores in the USA, but will apparently have to close as many as 300 in order to stay in business.
• After same store sales fell 12% in November and 10% in December, Hot Topic will likely have to close 200 of its nearly 700 stores in the coming year. 
• In a development that surprised no one at all, Barnes & Noble stores struggled mightily this season.  With sales off by 5%, it's clear that the culprit is Amazon, which continues to lure consumers away from malls.

Still, other companies clung to life with incremental gains in the retail sector.  Many big box stores, including Wal-Mart, Target and Toys-R-Us resorted to offering major discounts in order to pull in customers.  Sears Holdings Company (which includes K-Mart), for instance, posted a 0.4% growth during December in same-store sales due in large part to offering big discounts.

The Lesson: Only the Social Survive

Some retailers heard the bell toll for Main Street years ago.  Those who enlisted the support of advanced online marketing strategies had drastically better results this year.  Clients of the Art Technology Group (ATG), an e-commerce marketing company, saw strong holiday seasons.  For example, Calender Holdings LLC, reported "double-digit revenue growth versus the previous year."

Minyanville, an online business journal, offered some examples of companies that successfully bucked the trend this year, but didn't give a whole lot of evidence as to why they were successful.  I decided to take a look for myself.

JC Penney Innovates Faster than the Competition

When other retail stores were worrying about the revenue that online sales might siphon away from stores, JC Penney jumped headlong into online marketing earlier than virtually any other major brand.  The company, which now operates the fourth largest online retail store in the world, now maintains a commitment to innovative online marketing, optimizing its strategies regularly to keep pace with the speed of change on the web.  For instance, the company now offers deals and coupons through its Facebook page (over 700,000 fans) and its relatively new (less than 4000 followers) Twitter page.  Also, JC Penney recently scrapped its twice yearly Big Book catalogs in favor of online recommendations and smaller catalogs designed to appeal to different types of customers.  This is great news for people who hate junk mail, but terrible news for bored retirees.

Urban Outfitters Made its Website Social

With its “Show Us How You Wore It” campaigns and its focus on social networking, Urban Outfitters has developed a highly interactive and a highly effective relationship with and between its customers.  Instead of simply hawking products on its website, Urban chose to create a social network.  The site highlights the best reviewers – not the best reviews.  In this way, customers are led to see the personalities that attach to the clothes they buy.  In another smart move, the company sent its products to fashion bloggers and asked them to “Show Us How You Wore It” – or send photos of themselves back to the company, which the company would post on the website.  This would inevitably cause the bloggers to link to Urban’s site, further bolstering the company’s image. 

J. Crew Writes Better Email Blasts and Maintains Better Customer Relations

J. Crew might enter the U.K. market next year without selling an item at a retail store.  The company, which redefined its image in 1996 when it launched its website and began shifting to a more web-based approach, would only have to sell and promote its products online.  Nowadays, J. Crew’s email blasts are lauded industrywide for their simplicity, aesthetics, and for being idiot-proof.  In addition, the company entices people to join its Facebook fan site with free shipping for fans.

It's interesting to note that just having a Facebook page isn't enough anymore.  Truly successful online retailers are using the internet in many innovative ways, looking to find new opportunities on various platforms and rethinking how they promote themselves on the established ones (more on this in future posts).

In any case, for retailers across the country and the globe, the message is clear: get a better online marketing strategy or go the way of the dinosaur.  Santa's too old and too overweight to make his way to Main Street.

That's Great, but How Did www.christmasgifts.im Do?

Sales increased by infinity here at Creative Christmas Christmas Gifts & Gift Ideas in 2009, but I still didn't make enough to buy an iPhone.  However, if revenue continues to rise by infinity, I will be blogging from the moon next year. 

On a more serious note, I found a very interesting piece of information about my kind of blogging in a Business Wire article on holiday season marketing techniques:

Industry-wide, the 2009 holiday period saw a threefold increase over 2008 in the total number of product recommendations served daily by merchants, an indication of how many more online retailers are using recommendations and automated merchandising to quickly and easily optimize their online storefronts.

Looks like companies realize that they have to start serving consumers the information they require to make informed decisions.  It will be interesting to see if this trend continues over the next year (and how they cope with little guys like me competing for their readers!).

It's the night before Christmas and all through the house,

You've got presents upon presents but none for your spouse!  

The stockings were hung on the chimney with care,

In hopes that you would actually have something to put in there!

If you're caught in this same old dilemma, fret no more!  Choose one from this list of cool last minute Christmas gift ideas and have it shipped ASAP to your door.  I'll stop rhyming now.  Don't have a cow.

Last Minute Gift #1: Canon Powershot SD1200 Digital Camera

If someone in your family does not have a digital camera, this is the one to get them.  It's compact, durable, and takes high quality photographs.  With 10 megapixels, a nice big LCD screen, and a user-friendly interface, the Canon SD1200 Powershot makes a very cool last minute Christmas gift idea.

Last Minute Gift #2: Style Six Silk Screener

Got an aspiring designer in your family?  How about a kid who loves art?  If you answered yes to either of these questions, the Style Six Silk Screener makes an awesome last minute gift idea.  This silk screen kit allows kids to design and create their own, stylish t-shirts.  Style Six looks like they've hit a home run here.  Heck – I might get one for my cousin and myself.

Last Minute Gift #3: Toshiba 640 GB Portable External Hard Drive

Most people these days have tons of information stored on their laptops or desktops – thousands of irreplaceable photos, expensive downloaded songs, terrible old love letters, resumes, papers, etc.  If someone happens to steal your laptop or spill coffee on your desktop, those files could be gone forever.  Investing in a portable external hard drive gives you the security of knowing that, if something does happen to your computer, you'll still have your files.

Last Minute Gift #4: Cranium Family Edition

Cranium isn't one board game; it's 8 in one.  Combining Pictionary, Charades, trivia and more, it's a fun and dynamic game, even for those who think they're too old for board games.  The Family Edition is perfect for the holidays, as it has been modified slightly to make the game fun for players aged 8 to 80.

Last Minute Gift #5: Presto 03510 FlipSide Waffle Iron

Why don't you own a waffle iron already?  They make Sunday mornings much more interesting.  Making waffles as a family is always a great, and rewarding, experience.  Throw in some fresh strawberries and a bottle of whipped cream and you've got a taste of heaven.

Last Minute Gift #6: Sony Mini Hi-Fi with iPod Dock

Here's a compact stereo system with an iPod dock for much less than one would expect to pay for a machine with such good sound quality.  It's a great machine for anyone who's looking for big sound from a small machine.

Last Minute Gift #7: Weber 1520 Propane Go-Anywhere Grill

Every dude needs to have a portable grill to take the tail gates, on camping trips, and to the beach.  The Weber 1520 Propane Go-Anywhere Grill is my personal favorite because it's relatively inexpensive and it's so easy to use and clean.  It's lightweight but definitely big enough to cook food for 4-6 people at a time.  

Well there you have it: 7 cool last minute Christmas gift ideas.  If you still haven't found what you're looking for, check out some of my other posts on gifts for teens, gifts for college students, gifts for women, gifts for men, and much more!  

With the holiday shopping season in full swing, the number of terrible gifts being bought is rising every day! In an effort to prevent people from buying the wrong gifts this Christmas, I decided to make this list of some of the best gift ideas sites and articles on the internet.  Check them out!

1. Laura Du Troit put together the best Christmas gift anyone can give over on Hubpages, an awesome list of charitable Christmas gifts. This Christmas, why not donate to someone in need instead of buying gifts? 

2. Christmas Gifts for the Nervous or Woefully Unprepared is probably the best list I’ve seen so far of gifts for young women. The author also has a great sense of humor about the frenzied holiday season. 

3. For science lovers, this well designed and well written list of the Top 25 Gift Ideas features gifts that are both fun and educational. Why didn’t they have all of this stuff when I was in elementary school? 

4. The Hillbilly Housewife’s long list of Frugal Gift Ideas is chock full of crafty DIY gifts that won’t break the bank this Christmas. 

5. Here’s a hilarious list of Christmas gifts from Studenomics that features 8 dynamite gift ideas. 

6. For the world traveler and environmentally conscious member of your family, check out these 10 traveler gift ideas from gogreentravel.

7. Also from Hubpages, Shirley Anderson made this great set of great Christmas gift ideas under $20, including fun games like Twister and Jenga, Swiss Army Knives, Watches, and much, much more. Kudos, Shirley! 

8. The Groovy Vegetarian (who sounds cool) has a great list of gifts for vegetarians, including an ‘Animal Rights Now’ hoodie and a great recommendation on a vegetarian cookbook. 

9. Growing Together’s list of Christmas gift ideas offers some insight on the right flowers to buy at Christmastime. 

10. Little Mummy has introduced what could be the greatest invention of our modern age: whiskey beer. 

11. If you’re in need of more stocking stuffer ideas, the best place on the internet to find them is over at KCC Big Country’s page, Stocking Stuffer Ideas.

12. If you’re interested in knowing what types of gadgets and games boys want, Prolific blogger frogsdropping has put together a big list of the Best Gift Ideas for Boys

13. If you're looking for a bargain, 30 affordable gift ideas under $30 has some great ideas. 

14. If you’re considering buying a remote control car this Christmas, you must read this great article on 10 radio controlled gifts. 

15. WalYou’s Top Christmas gift gadgets for gomen features some hilarious stuff, like the Rocky Balboa USB Drive and the Dog Treadmill. 

16. Here’s a well-organized blog with some excellent gift ideas for kids, including the Ripstik. I can’t believe I haven’t tried riding one yet. 

17. Are you nostalgic for Lite Brite? If you feel that your kids are missing out on the great stuff you had when you were young, then this list of classic gift ideas is a great place to start your search.

18. I’ve got to give props to Software Casa Blog for putting together an awesome and unique list of programs for your home computer 

19. Samantha’s weird Christmas gifts totally crack me up. I would love to see my family members trying to use a Gag GPS system together. Priceless moment. 

20. You have to give credit where credit is due to Lita Sorensen, whose five inexpensive Christmas gift ideas are not only affordable, but sure to be well received also.

21. The Pirate Mom wins the award for the most unique Christmas gift ideas of 2009. She took a bunch of magazines and found the obscure yet somehow attractive gifts in all of them. Aye aye. 

22. Here are some more gag gifts, including a tantalizing chocolate bar mouse (after a few days, I would definitely try to eat it). 

23. This is one of the best Christmas gift baskets sites I’ve seen. It features ideas for people of all walks of life and gives good, clear instructions on how to decorate your baskets. 

24. If you've got a boyfriend who owns an iPhone, look no further than Amit Bhawani's best iPhone applications for guys.

25. Finally, for last minute gift ideas, this post by Parka is filled with great stuff you can buy online. http://parkablogs.com/content/last-minute-christmas-gift-ideas

I've read the rest – Now try the best.  Follow these links and your gift worries will be over.  Merry Christmas to all and to all a good night.

If you ask any 7-year-old boy what he wants for Christmas, he'll probably answer "A pet dinosaur and a McDonald's in my house."  Once you get through the specifics of why both of those gifts are impossible, the kid will likely say "video games."  If further pressed, he might respond with one of these great gifts for boys:

Gift Idea #1: Skateboards or RipStiks: The Cool Kid's Gift Idea

Your son's best friend Bobby just got a skateboard for his birthday, so your son automatically needs one.  In themselves, skateboards aren't the most incredible gifts of all time.  However, if your son happens to see another, older kid with a skateboard, he'll immediately need one.  As long as you can convince your kid to wear a helmet, there's nothing at all wrong with skateboarding.  Besides giving him some degree of independence, skateboarding will also give your kid confidence (if he's halfway decent).  It might cause a few scrapes and fractures, but that'll just toughen him up and give him scars to show girls later in life. 

Ripstiks are may look similar to skateboards, but they are actually quite different.  These boards rely on wobbling back and forth and keeping both feet planted on the board instead of pushing with one foot.  Relative to skateboards, which can be tough to get the hang of and quite easy to hurt yourself on, Ripstiks are easier to pick up and result in fewer injuries.

Gift Idea #2: Boombox: A Rockin Gift Idea for a Boy

Take a page from Jay-Z’s mom: “Sean used to be in kitchen beating on the table and rapping into the wee hours of the morning.  And then I bought him a boom box.  And his sisters and brothers said that he would drive them nuts.  But that was my way to keep him close to me and outta trouble.” 

On the one hand, a boombox is a lot cheaper than a drum set.  On the other hand, an aspiring rapper in the house is a lot like living next to a construction site.  Except at this construction site, they don’t start work at 6:30 am.  It’s when they stop.

Gift Idea #3: Kid Galaxy Cars: Cool Gift Ideas for Boys

One day, your little boy is going to earn himself a state certified driver's license.  When that day comes, would you rather that he had a tiny bit of knowledge of how not to crash a vehicle or none at all?  

Kid Galaxy cars make awesome gift ideas for boys because they allow boys to live out death-defying fantasies without ever moving their feet.  Yes, the remote control car might be in flames, but at least your son is still standing here, perfectly well.

Gift Idea #4: Two words: Video Games

This one’s a no-brainer – unless, of course, you get them the wrong game (about a 80% chance).  Before you buy a video game or video game console for your kid, make sure that you're getting him the one he wants.  There's nothing worse than getting your kid the wrong game, because you'll hear him complain about it until you get him the right one.  

Gift Idea #5: Candy: Unbeatable Stocking Stuffers for Young Boys

Unless it turns them into Cookie Monster, almost any form of candy is universally appreciated by boys under the age of 9.  While your best bets are King-Size Hershey's bars or Hershey's Kisses, you can also get away with King-Size bags of fruity candies like Skittles or Starburst or giant buckets of Red Vines (Twizzlers).  SIDE NOTE: It's best to give your kid these types of sugary gifts while they still have their baby teeth and cavities don't matter.  Otherwise, you're just investing in silver tooth fillings for your kid down the line. 

Gift Idea #6: Rollerblades: An Awesome Gift Idea for a Less Coordinated Kid

Skateboarding's bastard child, rollerblading, is much less dangerous and difficult to pick up.  In addition, it allows you to travel faster and get more exercise.  On the downside, once your kid realizes it's way less cool than skateboarding, he'll probably throw the rollerblades in the closet and start begging you for a skateboard.  

Gift Idea #7: Swords and Shields: Unique Gift Ideas for Boys

Quite simply, boys want gifts that allow them to be King.  If they're at all interested in the Knights of the Round Table, the Lord of the Rings, the Hobbit, or any other medieval fantasy land, you should consider getting them a dull wooden sword and shield.  Most of these toy swords and shields are pretty harmless, but awesomely fun.  They turn your average 8-year-old into a fearless warrior and your average back yard into the treacherous realm of Mordor.  Finally, they turn virtually everything, from cousins to trees to basketballs, into orcs.

Gift Idea #8: The Big Book of Boy Stuff by Bart King

Here's a book that your boy might actually read.  Filled with gags, pranks, and jokes, this book is sure to entertain any growing boy.  While it might lead to him being sent to detention a few times, what's the harm in that?  Kids have to learn how to make their own mistakes and become their own people.  If that means lighting a few farts on fire during gym class, then so be it.

For most people, buying a book for a Christmas present is a last minute gift idea.  It's a cop out.  They run to the local book store at 9 pm on December 23rd and pick up a few best-sellers and a calendar, escaping into the darkness more relieved than a three year old in a sandbox.

I know the feeling because I'm always running to the book store for last minute presents.  Over the years, I've learned what types of books people like and which ones get used to start fires.

There's nothing wrong with buying books at the last minute for family members, but you've got to keep two important ground rules in mind:

1.  Don't buy fiction.  Unless you live with someone who reads everything they can get their hands on, it's best to stay away from novels when buying books for gifts for family members.  If you know that someone loves Haruki Murakami novels, you could pick up one of his lesser known titles.  However, it's possible that the Murakami lover has already the title you're buying.

2. Don't buy nonfiction.  You might think your Dad cares about JFK, and you'd be partially right.  He cares enough to watch 45 minutes of a History Channel show on JFK and then doze off.  He almost certainly does not care enough to read 450 pages about JFK, though.

Where does this leave us?  We're left with the undisputed best gift ideas for books for Christmas: artsy coffee table books and hilarious, captivating toilet readers.  

10. When Ninja's Attack by Sam Kaplan, Keith Riegert, and Phoebe Bronstein

This book is flat out hilarious.  It's the sort of book that you can just pick up, flip to any page, read two sentences, and start cracking up.  Chapter 7, "Buying Time: Negotiating with and Befriending your Ninja Assassin" should probably be made into a movie.  

9. What's Your Poo Telling You? by Dr. Anish Sheth and Josh Richman

Caution: If you decide to read this book while sitting on the toilet, you'll probably be in the bathroom laughing hysterically for at least 45 minutes.  Writing in a smooth, irreverent style, Sheth and Richman answer all of the questions about poo that you were too afraid to ask and too ashamed to Google.  

8. Massive Change by Bruce Mau

In this thick coffee table book, Bruce Mau provides hundreds of fascinating photos and short descriptions of ways to better design the planet.  Featuring beautiful photography and crisp copy, Massive Change is a prodigious conversation starter.

7. Annie Leibowitz: At Work by Annie Leibowitz

While not exactly a coffee table book, this big book by the master of portrait photography features excellent pictures accompanied by very interesting narratives.  Leibowitz, who has photographed everybody from OJ Simpson to The Queen of England (not to mention virtually ever president, actor, musician you can name), tells some very interesting tales about her exciting life and the character's she met.  Give this book 15 minutes and you'll find it hard to put down.

6. Nufonia Must Fall by Kid Koala

Here's a comic book with no words, designed to be read while the accompanying CD plays in the background.  The end of each track by Kid Koala, one of the most innovative DJ's in the world, coincides with the end of each chapter.  The combination of the artwork, music and the story warps you into another dimension.  This gift idea is perfect for any college student or art junkie.  

5. Wall & Piece by Banksy

For the angst-filled teenager is your family, an introduction to Banksy's work makes a great gift idea.  In this excellent coffee table book, Banksy shows us how to use the maligned art of graffiti in beautiful ways to make statements about society and humanity. The zeitgeist of the latter part of this decade, Banksy's work has been so influential that many companies have embraced his methods of artwork as guerilla advertising (which is either a compliment or a sign of the end of days).

4. The Americans by Robert Frank

An expansive photographic history, Robert Frank's Americans shows us the hopes, dreams, and failures of the American people during the 20th century.  Because much of Frank's work shows New Yorkers in the late 1950's and early 1960's, this book makes a great gift idea for anyone in advertising or anyone who's obsessed with AMC's hit show, Mad Men.

3. Andy Warhol: Giant Size by the Editors of Phaidon Press

A huge book that features the work of the most influential American artist ever, this Phaidon press behemoth is sure to amaze your visitors (and the people across the street).

2. Edward Weston: A Legacy by Jennifer Watts, et al

One of Ansel Adam's contemporaries whose work is often overshadowed by Adams' mountain of popularity, Edward Weston took equally impressive photographs of landscapes and also some amazing black and white portraits set in the rolling dunes of Monterey, California.  This book includes hundreds of 8' x 10' Weston's photos and makes for a great coffee table book.

1. The Complete Worst Case Survival Handbook by Joshua Piven

Unlike most bathroom readers, which are so obsessed with having zillions of tiny anecdotes and facts that they forget to make the writing interesting, the Complete Worst Case Survival Handbook gives you fascinating copy that might save your life someday.  How many other books can say that?