For Her:

What girl doesn't like to smell good? The Gap has great gift sets for their perfumes. My perfume picks are Dream and Heaven. The best buy would be to get the small body spray and lip sparkler set for $7.50 and a bath gel for $3.50. Your total: $11.00. These are only available at the store. If you're feeling a little more generous, buy 3.4 oz. bottle of either perfume for $19.50. To find other great buys at The Gap, check out www.gap.com.

At The Body Shop, you can get a whole lotta kewl stuff for under $20 bucks. Buy something here for your mom. My suggestion is the gift set that includes a little shower gel, shimmer body lotion, and bath crystals in Cranberry, all for $10. If you're feeling extra generous, buy the big bottle of shimmer body lotion in Cranberry for $15. Wanna see what else The Body Shop has to offer without ever having to put clothes on? (I know your sitting in front of your computer buck-naked…hehe J ) Checkout this link.

Is your gal pal a bookworm? Head over to Barnes & Noble's to find great reads under $20 bucks. Some good picks for any girl would be Pride & Prejudice by Jane Austen, Much Ado About Nothing by William Shakespeare, and, my personal pick for the fiction lover, The Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follett. B&N also has some really kewl stationary for your writer pal. Still aren't sure if your gal would appreciate any of these books, get her a gift certificate. All of these are available on-line at the Barnes & Noble site.

Are your better half's hands rough? Why not purchase her some great Healing Hand Cream with shea butter in Sweet Pea from Bath & Body Works? This stuff works wonders and smells simply delightful! I have yet to meet someone who didn't like the smell of it. It's also not greasy. This great gift will run you $10.00. Sorry, no link…bummer. Guess you'll just have to battle the crowds at the mall in order to get this gift.

Like sexy underwear? Buy some for your gal. Victoria's Secret has some really great buys and there are always some sales. Your best bet would be to check it out for yourself. Click here.

For him:

What guy doesn't like something electronic? Guy's like toys, so head over to Best Buy and find the perfect gift. My pick under $20 is a Playstation game. Best Buy has got great games under $20 for most consoles. CD's are a decent price, too! Aren't sure what types of games he likes, play it safe and purchase gift certificates for $10- $20. If your going to give a gift certificate, however, buy one over $15 because what can someone buy with $10? For more kewl stuff check out this link.

Guys like tools. Head over to Sears to check out the sales. You can find a neato flashlight from Rayovac for only $19.00. Want a smaller flash light? Sears has that too. You can get a MagLite miniature flashlight. You can also get a three-piece pliers set from Craftsman for $19.00. If your willing to spend a little more for your boy's toys, check out all the great stuff available on-line at www.sears.com.

Is his face a little tough? To make it as soft as a baby's bottom, head over to Macy's and purchase that guy some Polo Sport Face Fitness for Him. This'll cost ya $16.50. My choice is Tommy's Mowed Over line for him. It smells like Tommy and has great stuff like gel and lotion. To find this great stuff on-line, click on the link http://www.macys.com/index.html.

Guys like movies. Girls like dates. Guys hate paying for the date. Here's the solution. Get that guy of yours two gift certificates for the local movie theater. Then he won't have an excuse to not take you out. The dent in your wallet will be about $15.00 depending on where you go. Don't like the theaters, eh? Well, you can't go wrong giving him a gift certificate to Block Buster. Look, I already found the link for you. How simple is that? Check out BlockBuster.

For the caveman, in your life, head over to the best on-line shopping area for the great outdoors. Lots of kewl stuff for you man's specific outdoor passion. Take a look for yourself. PlanetOutDoors.com.

For anyone:

If your pal is a college student, she/he'll love anything from Starbucks. My pick is the Coffee Break Essential gift set. This groovy gift comes with some holiday blend coffee, biscotti's, after coffee mints and a kewl mug. This great gift will only run you $14.95. What!!! Your friend doesn't drink coffee? Well, good thing Starbucks also makes a mean hot chocolate. To find the perfect Starbucks gift for anyone, just click on this link and prepare to be amazed…

The Perfect Gift:

To find an abundance of the perfect gift, a.k.a. gift certificates, head over to GiftCertificates.com.

If you still can't figure out what to give that special someone, here is my idea for the crafty, financially challenged people. Find a really great poem that speaks to you. Two great sites for poems are Poets.org and Poetry.com.

My poetic picks are "After Love" by Maxine Kumi, "She Walks in Beauty" by Lord Byron, "To My Dear & Loving Husband" by Anne Bradstreet, and the absolute most romantic poem ever, "A Valediction: Forbidding Mourning" by John Donne. All you need to do now that you have your poem, is print out that poem on some nice cardstock (this is paper heaver than printer paper and can be found in the scrapbook section of any craft store). Then get a nice frame and frame that puppy. Wrap it up really pretty like and you've got one of the most thoughtful, meaningful, and memorable presents ever! Good Luck! J

Wrap it up

What's a college student to do with all of those presents that were bought? What? You have to wrap them!!! That sucks because there goes some more of your money…Here's Jessie's answers to all you gift-wrap needs.

1. If you purchase any clothing item, make sure you get a box, preferably white. What you're going to do, is take that white box and decorate it using your imagination. Here are some ideas: Make a collage all over the box with cut out pictures and words, use stickers, make kewl designs like swirls or a string of Christmas lights, whatever you can think of. If you get a brown box, use a gold pen to create your designs. Then, after you have artfully decorated your once plain white box, get a great ribbon. No, not a cheap pull-the-sticky-stuff-off-and-plop-that-bow-on-the-box kind, but an actual ribbon. Preferably with wired edges. If you have no idea what I'm talking about, just head over to the craft section and ask to be directed to the wired edged ribbon. Then add a coordinating nametag and your good to go.
2. If your present does not come with a plain white box, don't fret. Just start saving those comics each Sunday and use that as really neat wrapping paper. A groovy nametag would be a ribbon with an ornament (think a cartoon character like Garfield or Snoopy) and put that on the outside of your package. If you haven't saved enough comics, why not use just plain old newspaper? Make sure all the newspaper you will use is only black and white. It would look best if you randomly tore the newspaper into varying sized pieces. Then, with rubber cecement (read the can on how to use it), paste the strips onto the package to create a really neat wrap. I would recommend using a red ribbon or bow as the finishing touch.
3. Use a generic brown paper bag to wrap your gifts. To give your bag character, take the bag and rub it against the floor until it becomes fuzzy. After that, use something like a leather shoes lace or some raffia to tie the top together. If you’re feeling artsy, why not put a shimmery gold star on the front or something?

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