Gifts I Have Already Thought of and Dismissed

I have this peculiar shopping habit. I like to go into the store and look at things and then not buy them. Somehow, getting out the door of the store with nothing feels like winning to me.

I appear to be doing the same thing this year with gifts for the holidays. So far I have had several ideas that have died in the larval stage. Here is a sampling...

#1. NetCams for everyone! Me, the missus, my folks, her folks, her sibs, my sister. Then we could all do video chat instead of phone calls. We looked at cameras, but alas the idea dies in its infancy as we decide that a lack of high speed access for some of the participants is a deal breaker.

#2. Desktop setup for the missus computer! My wife, she has a laptop, which is real cool as a laptop. I had this thought that perhaps I would get her a fullsize keyboard, a flat screen monitor, a mouse and a hub. This idea fails I think because I like it much more than she ever would. It turns out she likes using her laptop as a laptop.

#3. Preloaded Video iPod! This is very cool. You buy an iPod from these guys and they will load up any video content you buy, plus you get the DVDs for home. Apparently transferring non iPod video to you iPod is annoying. Unfortunately, this idea reaches the "need a second mortgage" level fairly quickly.

#4. Wallet full of Gift Cards! While standing in line for a hot chocolate I spy a Starbucks giftcard and thing, hmm, I could get a really cheap wallet and give it as a gift. Then the person opens their gift and is all "what is this crap?" But then they open the wallet and there are a bunch of gift cards for various stores. This gift was made all the more alluring by the idea that our local Giant Eagle store has a stand with gift cards from their whole development - all of whom are national chains, and we get $.10/gal off on gas for every $50 purchased at that store. So we could parlay holiday shopping into free gas. This idea falls apart for being crass, and then also for being something that to be substantive enough also starts to cost real money.

Hmm. And so back to square one. Guess I'll have to do some more brainstorming.