The Gift Detective » For Adults of All Ages

Members Monday: New Mystery Book on My Nightstand!

The Gift Detective — Tue, 18 May 2010 06:59:40 +0000

One of my favorite authors just came out with a new book titled, Please Login or Register to read the rest of this content. It is free and easy to become a member!

Toy Tuesday: Water Floats

The Gift Detective — Tue, 11 Aug 2009 09:47:46 +0000

I LOVE being in the water. In fact, remember I mentioned my surprise vacation? Well, I spent the vast majority of my time in, on and next to the water.

My favorite!

Alex's fave!

The great thing about water floats is that you can find them for very inexpensive prices – even at places like grocery stores (where I got mine!) and drugstores. Of course, you can also snag them online, expect to pay more but, if you get a good one, your recipient will totally love it and the little bit of extra cost will be worth it!

The styles above are some pics of the floats I stocked up on for summer fun – I purchased four total, two of the chair kind (they were $3 each!) and two of the mattress kind (at $5 each). My fave is the chair because I was in the water more but, when the water is a bit cooler the mattress variety rocks – you get the benefit of being on the water without getting really wet. The chair variety is quite big and supports you a lot and you can lie on your stomach while on it as well (I did that a lot – did I mention how much I love being in the water?). Alex preferred the mattress style. As much as Isabelle loves the water – she was having nothing to do with any damn float, thank you very much. She felt much more secure on the windsurfing board, sans sail.

These make great gifts for kids and adults alike, for pool people, lake people, people who visit calm beaches (where we used ours). This is a great gift to bring with you when you are visiting someone who has a pool, lake house or beach house. Almost like a pre-thank you gift. They can enjoy it while you are visiting, you can snap some pics of everyone having fun and then, instead of sending a traditional “Thank You”, you can have a photo printed and mail a “Thank You” postcard instead. Choose a fun pic that reminds your host of what a great time you guys had together and it will be something that is super personalized!

I hope you are enjoying your summer and that you help your friends and loved ones enjoy theirs with a fun toy like these floats!

Happy gifting!

Gifts of the Season

The Gift Detective — Tue, 11 Aug 2009 06:57:48 +0000

Summer isn’t over yet, although the stores would have us believing that we need to break out the sweaters, the plaid, the knee high boots, the back-to-school gear. Go ahead – plan for these but stay in the present!

Whether it is a birthday, graduation, wedding, thank you gift, etc. – make sure that it is seasonally appropriate.

Summer is the season for playing outdoors, swimming and taking relaxing vacations so if you need a gift consider the person first (do they love to swim, sun, hike, bike, cook? what are their particular interests, hobbies, things that make them unique from the other people in your life?), your relationship to them (lover, parent, friend, child?), the reason for the gift (just because, birthday, milestone, thank you?) and the season in which you are giving the gift (you want the gift to be enjoyed in the present!).

Enough theory!!! Let me give you some quick examples…

Stayed at a friend’s beach house? What is their focus? Sailing? Sunning? Water sports? Fine food?

If they love to sail you can make a thank you card with a nautical theme or give them their favorite alcoholic beverage (you were paying attention, right?) and re-label it (a photo from your stay, saying “thank you” in code with nautical flags, print a nice pic off the internet of a sailboat, etc.) and tie a sailing knot around the top of the bottle. See how something as simple as a bottle of wine can be turned into a more personalized gift? Without a lot of fuss or money either! Combine their passions with a gift and you have something personalized that they will enjoy!

A child’s birthday? What do they love? Bugs, dinosaurs, Barbie, Harry Potter, video games?

Well, let’s pick the bug lover…do they love to examine, find, learn? Consider their age and what they have access to. You don’t want to give an butterfly net to a child who lives in a city apartment complex but an insect habitat like a butterfly garden or ladybug habitat. A child who has access to outdoor spaces might like a Creature Peeper. A younger child might love a stuffed animal and an older child might like books on the subject.

Happy gifting!

Frugal Friday: Aerobie Football

The Gift Detective — Fri, 29 May 2009 08:23:12 +0000

I swear, I am not in any way affiliated with the folks over at Aerobie (although I just signed up to be notified of their new products – yeah!). I just love any of their products I’ve tried so far (and, judging from all the positive reviews on so many of their products, so do lots of other people!).

So, imagine my surprise and delight as I’m walking through the store and I see the Aerobie® Football?!?!? What??? I didn’t even know they made a football!

This is exactly like the football I got! Pretty and fun - the best of both worlds.

Aerobie® Football available through Amazon
Well, you know I had to get it as a gift for my boyfriend who just loves footballs or any type of sports related ball. He even taught me how to throw a little bit better (we sometimes stand at opposite ends of the room with a mini-football and see how many times we can throw it back and forth without dropping it).

Let’s just say it’s a hit. I love it. He loves it. His dad loves it. His mom will probably love it too, just not for the same reasons! She’ll love the fact that we prefer to play with it outdoors (it’s a nine inch football and is more fun to throw distances) so we won’t be likely to break anything by playing in the house. This was $12 well spent because it will offer us hours of fun and variety. Another winner by Aerobie, ladies and gentlemen.

Enough about us loving it – who is this a good gift for? Especially with summer coming this becomes a really versatile gift. You want to give this to someone who is active or loves to play outside, young or old, male or female. Like your friends who have you over for dinner and have the badminton set up or pull out the Frisbee to play with.

It’s inexpensive so you could give it as a host/hostess gift for any of the invites to the summer parties, BBQs, pool parties, beach and lake getaways. You could bring a bottle of wine like everyone else or bring something that is fun and will outlast the evening. It also makes a great birthday gift for anyone who loves to play (child or adult) because , although it is a simple present, it is a really fun one.

Does your boyfriend or spouse love football? Give him one and go out and play with him! This doubles the gift giving because he gets the joy of playing football with the one that he loves. Even if you don’t particularly like football, you might actually even enjoy playing with this one and you will make him a very happy man. It’s really light so it is a breeze to take it to the park to have some fun!

This football is the type that lots of people will enjoy, regardless of age or gender, because it flies and spirals so easily, it makes the most inept look and feel like a pro (namely me!). It is soft and easy to catch so the kids aren’t going to get hurt playing with adults or older children, unless, of course, you decide to play tackle football. It basically levels the playing field a lot so that everyone has fun, no special skills required. So, that means that it would be a great gift for a child or a family that plays a lot.

The Aerobie® Football would be a great thank you gift for active and playful people as well. Forgot to bring a host/hostess gift? No problem – give them this after the fact as a thank you. This works especially well if you have new friends in your life that you don’t know all that well yet but are finding things out about them as you go along. Thank you gifts are a great way to express that you not only wish to thank someone, but it also shows that you were paying attention to them while you were spending time together (by giving them something that you think they will like) and that you were thinking of them after the fact. This is what helps make gifts personal!

If we have some nice weather this weekend I’ll try to get some video of people playing with the football so that you can see how wonderful it is.

Happy gifting!

Xootr Scooter

The Gift Detective — Mon, 25 May 2009 07:24:53 +0000

This is the least gay* (adult) scooter I have ever seen! And trust me, as an adult living in Boston without a car, I have looked at a lot of scooters and other alternate forms of transportation.

Xootr Mg – Click for Info!

*When I moved to New Hampshire, where I attended high school, I had to learn a whole new set of vocabulary that I will share with you so that you can understand the lingo in this post:

gay – Not happy not homosexual – these definitions were only reserved for English or health class…gay meant stupid, ridiculous or absurd. Often used when one was speaking of another’s parent. “Are you kidding me? She [the mother] won’t let you go out on Friday? That is so gay…”

wicked – very or cool – depending on usage. “Wicked gay” would be “really stupid” but “Wicked!” would be “Cool!”

pisser (pronounced piss-ah) – cool. Often used in conjunction with “wicked.” If something is “wicked pisser (piss-ah)” it is considered pretty damn awesome, unless of course it was said with a lot of sarcasm…then it really sucked.

Not! – Said after something else untrue was said in a believable tone, then “Not!” is said quite emphatically (and annoyingly) to nullify what was said previously. i.e. “Mary loooves Michael. Not!” This means Mary does not love Michael.

Tons – Ton is not backwards but I guess it didn’t sound right in the singular so if got pluralized. Tons is used very similarly as “Not!” but is said more sarcastically (but just as annoyingly) within the sentence instead of after a sentence. i.e. “I would tons ride a Razor.”

In fact, this is a wicked pisser scooter, if I ever saw one! Seriously.

All NH lingo and kidding aside – I like this scooter so much, I want one! If I had the extra money I would buy myself a netbook (they are just so cute and portable…what’s not to love?!?) and a Xootr (portable, would get me to my destination faster, in the long run I would probably save money {the MBTA isn’t a mere 75 cents anymore!}, very eco-friendly and sleek – again, what’s not to love?!?). Plus my dog would love, love, love running by my side while I’m xooting along. (Ha! New vocab!!! Xooting is like scooting only way cooler…)

Things I love about this scooter!

Sure, it isn’t the least expensive scooter out there but if you check out their website and see the materials that go into the making of this, you are getting a quality scooter. One for an adult that weighs a bit more than your average ten year old and will want to ride it more than one week before it collects dust in the basement or garage. This is something that you are going to buy because you imagine commuting to work, the train, my (er…your) boyfriend’s house, etc. A great way to get some variety as far as exercise goes.
It looks sleek. Sure, looks aren’t everything but really, an adult on a scooter could be pretty redonkulous looking if it looked like they were riding some kiddie scooter.
It looks safer, if used properly! Because the wheels are bigger I imagine not getting a front wheel lodged in some hole and flipping over the front. Because of the quality materials I imagine feeling like I have something solid under me instead of something rickety.
Check out the Amazon reviews! Not just for the item but also for the customer service. The customers are long time owners and actually use them, so it would seem they have a really good sense of how the product holds up and, since they are putting these scooters through their paces with lots of use, they also have a fair idea of what it is like to get replacement parts after wear and tear. When all is said and done, the Xootr guys seem to really stand behind their product which says a lot! In this day and age, great customer service is such a beautiful thing and, although one would like to expect it, we all know it is unfortunately rare. Kudos to Xootr for getting high marks for the product and customer service.
It looks stable enough that I could even ride it! Let’s just say, I am a disaster when it comes to balancing on moving objects…sometimes even my own two feet, but in particular roller skates, roller blades, ice skates…you get the picture. Honestly, I bought a pair of roller skates last year and while I eagerly anticipated their arrival I told my boyfriend what a hard time I was probably going to have and he just thought I was being dramatic or something…until he saw me. Then he banned me from even trying them further until I had safety equipment. This was not meant to be mean or controlling but because he was genuinely (and rightly so) worried about my safety. Think of the scene with Bambi on ice and that is pretty much what I look like.
Love the wide base! If you fast forward through this review to about minute:second/6:40, you’ll see the hosts riding the Xootr and will be amazed at how far it goes off of one push. It glides! Well, here is where that wide base comes in handy…if you don’t have to kick all the time you can put both feet on the base and just ride. How fun would that be? Wicked fun!

Okay, I could go on and on about this baby. I’m in love! Trust me, I have a good eye for these things and I do my research…if you are going to spend some money on a scooter – for your dad (*ahem* Father’s Day is coming up), sports lover, active loved one, your favorite commuter, a great way to exercise with the whole family or surprise your sweetie with his and hers scooters so that you can have fun side-by-side this summer, spend the little bit extra and get something quality like the Xootr. No matter who you think would love this gift, it doesn’t seem like you’ll be disappointed with either the product or the customer service. And really, when you give a gift like this, you want it to be a quality gift and very usable for a long time to come.

Don’t forget safety equipment – it would be sweet to round out this gift with some safety gear for your recipient as well. Helmet, knee pads, elbow pads and the like. Make the gift even more personal it by getting safety equipment in their favorite colors if you can.

The Xootr is only available on Amazon or the Xootr website.

Happy gifting!