Villainess Handmade Soap

Villainess doesn't provide your average handmade soap. Her products are all natural, and every one is luxuriously silky-smooth and has a witty, tongue-in-cheek name and description. I've been using her "Silk & Cyanide" bar for the last month, and I love the delicious almond scent.

Bionic Wrench

The Bionic Wrench is an incredibly smart, well-designed tool for anyone who does a lot of work around the home. This tool was designed with a single purpose in mind: to simply and quickly let you tighten or loosen any size bolt. When you squeeze its handle, the wrench head contracts to fit snugly around the bolt, gripping it tightly without slipping or scraping. A great addition to anyone's toolbox!

Sinus Buster

This stuff's made the rounds before, but it's still a great product, so here it is: Sinus Buster is an all-natural nasal spray created from capsaicin, the stuff that makes hot peppers, well, hot.

Every winter, I have stuffed-nose trouble. I don't like to use over-the-counter pills or decongestant sprays for more than a few days at a time — I find they start to lose their effectiveness. So when I heard about this stuff, I thought, heck, why not? and ordered a bottle.

It came, and I gave it a try, and wow! This is one really potent spray! It's a bit intense at first, but man, does it ever clear your nose.

If anyone on your gift list suffers from a chronic stuffed nose or cluster headaches, get them a bottle of this stuff. It's truly incredible.

Hard Case Crime

If anyone on your list is a fan of mystery novels, especially the classic hard-boiled detective novels like those written by Raymond Chandler or Dashiell Hammett, Hard Case Crime is the site for you! Featuring new and reprinted paperback pulp novels (with gorgeous, vintage-style cover illustrations), they've got a fantastic selection of fiction that any reader would enjoy.

A notable newly-published addition to their catalog is Stephen King's new novel, The Colorado Kid, shown here.

Pirate Wear

Arr! Everyone's got a pirate on their gift list, right? What better booty than a t-shirt from PirateMod? Featuring all the definitive piratey designs pulled straight from history along with a treasure chest of new, original designs, PirateMod is sure to have something for every scurvy dog on your list. Avast! Okay, I'll stop now.

Silver Jewelry Club

It sounds pretty skeezy: Silver Jewelry Club provides nice silver jewelry with real, quality gemstones for free plus $5.99 shipping and handling. But it's really a good deal, and the company's no fly-by-night operation. My wife has ordered items from them and had absolutely no trouble. Sure, you're not going to get any diamonds or pearls, but you will find beautiful peridot, tiger's eye, amethyst, garnet, and more, all in beautiful silver settings.

Each item they post is only available for fifteen minutes or until supplies run out, so keep watching their site throughout the day to catch the real beauties.

Ice Dozer

Those of us who live in snowy climes understand the hassle involved with cleaning off one's car after a snowstorm. The Ice Dozer makes that chore a bit easier by giving you a powerful tool to quickly and efficiently remove ice, frost, and snow from your car. Much more sensibly designed than regular ice-scrapers, Ice Dozer removes a 7-inch wide swath of snow or frost with each swipe, and has built-in tools to crack that really stubborn ice.

Norpro Egg Rite Egg Timer

For anyone who appreciates boiled eggs (hard, soft, or in between), the Norpro Egg Rite Egg Timer is a nifty little gadget that takes the guesswork out of making them. As the timer heats up, it darkens from the outside in at the same rate that eggs cook. When it's completely dark, the eggs are done! Couldn't be simpler. For only $6.99, it would make a nice gift for multiple people on your list.

About this Blog

Hi! I'm Ryan Freebern. Every year, the holiday season rolls around and I find myself wracking my brains and scouring local stores for gifts for friends and family. This year, I decided to put a stop to that. Throughout the year, I've been keeping track of nifty little gifts and gizmos that I thought might make a good gift for someone. Now, I'm sharing them with you.

My goals with this blog are simple: I want to provide my readers with a wide selection of creative, thoughtful, and (usually) inexpensive gift ideas. In return, I hope you'll send new ideas my way. I'll share the best ones with everyone, and hopefully it'll help me with my shopping as well.

While some links will include a referral code (items on Amazon.com will have this, for instance), making a few bucks isn't the main point of this blog. I'll gladly feature items from small, independent businesses right alongside ones sold through major retailers. The bottom line? If it's a great gift idea, I want to post about it.

If you'd like to contribute a gift idea to this blog, please send it (and make sure you include a link!) to rfreebern_gift@corknut.org.

Thanks, and happy gift-giving!