Heck Of A Guy

Today’s post concerns the classic Christmas Story: purchasing the just right Christmas present for that special someone.

As such fairy tales often do, this one begins with Once upon a time but goes on to describe finding gifts that are …

Too Expensive

The Money site at CNN.com serves up Extravagant toys for spoiled rich kids

A few excerpts follow, but the entire list is worth checking out.

Grand Victorian Mansion
$22,000
This Victorian house is straight out of a fairy tale. It includes a wraparound porch, a stained-glass window, window boxes, a skylight and a doorbell and brass door-knocker. The interior resembles a real house with sponge-painted walls, simulated hardwood floors, fireplace mantel and an upstairs loft accessed by ladder.

Fantasy Coach
$47,000
This carriage promises to make your little princess’s dreams come true. Handcrafted of wood and fiberglass, the oval-shaped interior measures just over 6 feet in diameter. Linens and interior options can be added upon request.
Product dimensions: 9′6″ L x 5′6″W x 8′H

Zoltar (Fortune Teller)
$8,999.95
This fortune teller provides 16 different spoken fortunes and dispenses 23 different printed fortunes. Insert a quarter and he nods his head up and down as his crystal ball illuminates. Just don’t wish to be big, and you’ll remain a kid forever.

Junior Off Roader Gasoline-Powered Vehicle for Two
$32,350
Get an early start on teaching your kid how to drive a car with this gas-guzzling two-seater. Children can even tune into the radio with a fully functional removable tape deck, with speakers on both sides. The car shifts into three different modes and has adjustable leather seats.

Too Cheap

A nice counterpoint to the preceding extravaganza is offered by the nice but weird folks at The Onion: Cheap Toy Round-Up 2006

Pictured above, for example, is the “Ping-Pong Super Gun,” which promises ‘Unbelievable Stimulation’ and ‘Stimulation FUN game’ ” — all for a buck.

Just Right

Multitudes of retailers on the net offer gift-finders that suggest the perfect toy, tool, or trinket for each category of individual on ones gift list — as long as that item can be purchased from that retailer (and as long as one accepts a liberal definition of “perfect”).

FindGift.com, 1Stop Gift Shops, and Gifts.com work on the same basis (i.e., recommending presents for Christmas or other occasions in hopes of profiting when that recommendation is followed) with two important differences:

1. These sites have cut deals with lots of stores so the potential inventory from which recommendations are drawn is larger than most single retailers.
2. These three gift finder sites, perhaps because they specialize in this function, are, from my experience,¹ significantly more successful than retail sites at coming up with creative, interesting, and suitable gift ideas, especially for those “hard to buy for” folks. Their recommendations and the underlying rationales also tend to be more completely described while retailers often limit suggestions to the catalog copy for the item. Finally, these sites are more likely to promote personalized gifts for a specific individual.

Footnotes

1. Full disclosure: I’ve personally used Gifts.com and FindGift.com but not 1Stop Gift Shops. 1Stop Gift Shops, however, works on the same premise, has been reviewed well, and offered high quality gift suggestions on a few trial runs↩

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