Hasta La Ideas

Today we kick off Unclutterer’s 2009 Holiday Gift Giving Guide. Over the next few weeks, you can expect to read posts in the Guide about giving gifts that hopefully won’t become clutter in their recipients’ homes. Some of these Guides are for experiences, charitable giving, kids’ items, consumables, utilitarian objects, and even a deal or two just for Unclutterer readers. We’ve created an index page for the 2009 Guide, and we hope that it will be a resource for you during the holiday season and any time throughout the year you wish to give a gift.

We’re starting off this year’s Guide talking about stocking stuffers. As a child, Santa filled my stocking with cans of black olives and my brother found cans of sardines in his. We couldn’t have been happier because these were exactly the items we begged Santa to bring to us when we wrote him letters every year. (Little known fact: Santa Claus loves to give salty food stuffs.) Unfortunately, or maybe fortunately, not everyone on our holiday shopping list allows us to intercept letters they have written to Santa Claus detailing exactly what they want in their stockings. We have to hunt for small items that can fit in a stocking and still be useful or enjoyed by the recipient.

Gift cards are great stocking stuffers because they are small, allow the recipient to choose exactly what they want, and are easy to carry home if the recipient has to travel. I recommend Amazon Gift Cards or Visa Gift Cards because they can be used on almost anything the recipient might need. (They’re also perfect for teacher gifts if you give such things.)

Consumables — such as artisan chocolate bars or premium coffees — are always a hit for people who enjoy a specific food or drink.

If you want the gift recipient to be able to unwrap an item, I recommend things that have high utility. The following three gift ideas are useful and extremely accessible since they perform a function and attach to your keychain:

The Swiss Tech MPTBS Micro-Plus 8-in-1 Polished Stainless Steel Key Ring Multi-Tool:

The Swiss Tech UKTBS Utili-Key 6-in-1 Polished Stainless Steel Key Ring Multi-Tool:

The LaCie Iamakey 8 GB USB 2.0 Flash Drive:

What small, useful gifts do you recommend for stocking stuffers?