My grandmother gave my mom the Betty Crocker cookbook when she left home and in turn my mother gave me the Betty Crocker cookbook when I left home. I guess if I have a daughter I have to give one to her right?

I probably will but I would also consider giving her a TasteBook. TasteBook is a site that allows you to create your own cookbook from recipes in their database (they have a ton from Epicurious…mmm) and/or recipes of your own.

The application is easy to use and for $35 you get a hardcover cookbook featuring 100 recipes and you can even include personal photos and your own title.

I really think this would make a great graduation gift, housewarming gift, wedding gift or birthday gift for someone special to you. It may take some time to create but the personalization can really mean a lot to someone. Plus $35 is a great deal!

Visit TasteBook to find out more. Tell them we helped you un-stump your brain.

Update: All Recipes and Big Oven also offer personalized cookbooks around the same price.

OK, you have a sports fan, music fan, or theater fan you want to give a gift to. And it would be great to send them to the game or the show.

But, what if they’re busy that night?

If it’s too hard to figure out your gift recipient’s schedule, or if you’re not sure what kind of event they would prefer to go to - just them them a gift certificate to choose their own tickets!

There are at least two places I can think of that have a wide variety of ticket types, and offer gift certificates:

StubHub -		StubHub Gift Certificates
TicketsNow -		TicketsNow Gift Certificates

Maybe they’ll bring back their ticket stubs for your collection…

Changing the Present is an absolutely wonderful site dedicated to helping those around the world who are less fortunate.

They are a non-profit organization offering people the opportunity to buy ‘gifts’ for others. Each gift listed on the site is dedicated to a specific cause or organization. They have everything from ‘Feed a Family‘ ($75 buys two weeks of food) to ‘Save an Elephant‘ ($15 provides one hour of student research) to ‘Unite for Sight‘ ($60 covers the cost of one surgery). They even have Facebook gifts!

This really is a great site and an even better gift idea. Not sure what charity someone you know would be interested in? Part of the reason we like the site so much (aside from the good-natured aspect of it) is they also provide a ‘gift ideas’ section for those who are unsure of what to choose. You can search by person, occasion and even price.

Visit Changing the Present and give someone you know the gift of charity.

eBay Gift Certificates Overview

I hope it’s a good idea because I just gave one to MsGift for her birthday!

But, I thought about it a bit before I went ahead and purchased it. First, while I know MsGift very well, I don’t actually think she uses eBay all that often. At least it hasn’t come up in the last year and a half (and we talk Internet stuff every day).

So, why would I decide on that as a gift?

• It’s a unique gift
• If she doesn’t use eBay now, she might enjoy exploring it a bit (knowing she has some $$ to spend for free)
• You can buy almost anything there
• An eBay gift certificate can help you buy some pretty cool stuff that you wouldn’t see on Amazon or other shopping sites (like some of the items I talked about in my post about helping someone start a collection)
• Honestly, it was quick & easy (and I think I would have had a hard time figuring out what store to go to - although I bet I could have gone to someplace local and “funky” to get a fun/funny present)

The downside to giving an eBay gift certificate:

• The recipient might find it a bit of a pain in the… to buy something on eBay if they are not used to shopping there
• Like any gift certificate, it could just go unused
• Invariably, the $$ amount will likely either cause the recipient to pony up more of their own money, or there will be an unused remnant that will just sit there in limbo

I’m hoping that MsGift will someday share her experience on this site about receiving and using this little B-day present…

If you know anyone that’s obsessed with taking pictures, and then organizing them in albums and frames (as I am), then this is the perfect gift.

Digital photo frames come in so many different sizes, styles, & materials. You can view the pictures individually or as a slide show and they can be displayed as portrait or landscape. You can set your slide show to shuffle pictures at different time intervals - by the minute, hour, day, etc.

Traditional Frames
Wallet-Size
Keychain

The one catch is that the individual receiving the gift must already have a digital camera as a memory card is needed to be inserted into the digital frame.

Check out some of the characteristics you can find in the different frames:

• Frame styles - wood, clear, black, metal
• Color photos or black & white
• Remote control
• Sound
• Plays video
• Wi-Fi
• Wall mountable

Here are some places to buy digital photo frames online (links take you directly to digital photo frame pages):

• Brookstone
• Sharper Image
• Amazon.com