I like putting together gift wish lists for some reason. Most of the stuff is obviously stuff that no one really NEEDS, but I’ve found that you can end up in a lot more trouble when you don’t specify some things that you actually might enjoy. No matter how many times I say that I don’t want anything for Christmas – what do I end up with? – a bunch of random stuff that family members picked out because they HAD to get me something. You know the story. I’ve all but given up in my efforts to rob people of their joyous giving. It’s not my right – but I can help steer them in a decent direction can’t I? I think so.
Therefore, we have this list. And this list could go on and on…not because I think we should be all about stuff, but because I want to save you from buying that hot dog toaster for your special someone. He really doesn’t need that. As a guy I have identified that I like a 70/30 ratio of useful and fun. Perhaps the men or boys in your life are different – maybe a 60/40 ratio of useful to fun – who knows…even a 90/10 is possible I suppose.
The point is this: You’ve got a week until Christmas. If you haven’t figured out what to get by now, the internet will still be friends with you and you still have a few days to get things just in the nick of time. Things like this:
A good jacket. Sometimes people buy certain types of clothes to keep up with fashion trends, and other times there are trends created because something just happens to be that good. I think these jackets are a bit of both. Wearing a North Face jacket is like walking around with a Starbucks cup in your hand, it gives you a false sense of superiority, but it also keeps you warm.
I like this one too:
This wouldn’t be for everyone, but for the car enthusiast – Gran Turismo 5 is a must. It’s a real driving simulator for the Playstation 3. There are nearly 1,100 cars in the game and it’s endless hours of fun. The only downside is that players who have invested serious hours into racing may find themselves trying to hit the proper apex driving line when they’re in real life on residential streets. I speak from experience.
Want to accessorize Gran Turismo 5 to the max?
You’ll need this:
It’s been said that a good knife is like a fine wine, “Whip it out during a dinner party and you can slice right through the dull conversation.” Actually I just made that up, but every guy needs a good knife. You can cut strings with it or those evil little zip ties that hold your kid’s toys in their packaging cages.
Gloves that aren’t gigantic puffy oven mitts! I want my hands to be warmer when I need to use them for activities such as; moving my fingers, driving, picking up small objects, holding grapefruit, etc.. How am I supposed to do anything when I have humongous hand pillows attached to my wrists? Mittens…don’t even get me started on mittens.
Apple TV. This would fall into the category of extremely useless/useful. For those of us who have abandoned cable and now use NetFlix, Hulu, iTunes, etc.. for our TV watching, Apple TV makes everything easier. I don’t own one of these, but friends do, and I want one. It will stream stuff from your computer to your TV and make it all pretty and stuff.
A titanium spork. This could possibly be the most useful item on the planet. Imagine what MacGuyver could have done with one of these babies.
What can’t you do with a dremel? You can sharpen your knife with it – you can sharpen your titanium spork with it! You can sand things, take paint off of things, cut holes in things, engrave things, and more. Rumor has it that Chuck Norris defeated an entire army of Zombie Ninjas using only a dremel.
With this item you can make fire happen. And prove that lighters are for sissies.
Speaking of fire…nothing goes with fire quite like cigars. If your man likes the occasional smoke and he doesn’t like his cigars getting all dried out and repulsive, get him a humidor. It’s one of the finest of man gifts.
Chef or not, being able to check accurate temperatures of almost anything with an infrared heat gun is just plain awesome. After he gets done pointing it at people’s foreheads he can find the hot spots on the grill.
I like smelling good for my woman. That is all.
Backpacks are the new briefcase. Didn’t you hear? No one wants to carry around some strange little suitcase with their laptop flopping back and fourth and crushing their crackers. But men can’t very well walk around with a SpongeBob SquarePaints backpack and be respected either – the solution is something classy. Like this:
Men have stuff too. Ladies have jewelry boxes and all sorts of little caboodles to hold their wares, but us guys are always losing everything we take out of our pockets. I need a valet to park my stuff in and it would be awfully nice if it could charge my digital stuff while it’s at it.
Or you can get one with fake grass in it:
Hopefully these ideas have helped you out. If you’re still not convinced and you’re unsure of what to get – there’s always the gift card, and those are always welcome. Happy gifting.
