Guide to Gift Giving

Grace: Valentine’s Day is not just a holiday for women, although it may be difficult to remember.  Actually, in Japan women give men they’re interested in chocolate on February 14th, and then a month later, if the man feels the same, he gives her chocolate back.

However, if you feel like participating in a more traditional Valentine’s Day, a great gift for a guy are these bluetooth stereo headphones.  They cancel ambient sound AND they connect wirelessly, which is always a plus.  I’ve tripped over the chord to my headphones way too many times, so I think anyone would love to receive chordless headphones.  This is a great gift for any guy, regardless if he loves listening to music (although that would be a plus).

Grace: Valentine’s Day is just around the corner!  I hope everyone is thinking long and hard about what gifts to get!  The problem I always have when looking for Valentine’s Day gifts is trying to find something unique and special.

If you’re looking for a classic yet unique gift this season, I would highly recomend some pearl earrings.  I love pearl earrings because they’re so classic and go with EVERYTHING (really, everything) but they can be a little boring sometimes and there’s really no need to own more than one pair if they’re just going to look the same.  Pearls always make a great valentine’s day gift, but what makes these earrings unique is that they were made by Peruvian artisans.  The triple drop and the handcrafted silver earring stud makes these earrings completely unlike any I have seen.  This site makes a whole bunch of sterling silver jewelry, so don’t feel confined to just pearl earrings!

Grace: As most of you know, karaoke is very popular in Japan and other parts of Asia.  A lot of my Asian friends back home are OBSESSED with it, but I promised myself I would never ever go karaoke.  To my surprise, it turned out to be really fun, and although it’s not something I plan on doing every weekend, I can see why people love it so much.

That being said, if you know someone who loves karaoke and just can’t get enough of it, I found the perfect gift for you.  Known as the Ikaraoke for Ipods, this little device is a great gift for social events, provided the person enjoys karaoke.  It’s far more compact than a karaoke machine, and since you can just plug it into your iPod, you don’t have to worry about not being able to find songs that you like.  Ikaraoke removes the lead vocals so that you can enjoy the karaoke parlor experience without having to pay the devistatingly expensive fee at the end.

Grace: Even though I’m a college student, I still love being a kid.  That being said, I love giving kids gifts that I too can enjoy.  My grandfather actually used to give my dad gifts that he would play with later, so I guess this sentiment runs in the family.  One great gift for kids that I would love to give/get is a Marshmallow shooter.  It sounds really silly, but when you think about it, shooting marshmallows at people sounds really fun and tasty!

This is a great gift for a fun loving family or for your silly friends.  The only problems I can think of are that the marshmallows might stick together, possibly making loading or shooting the shooter a bit messy, and you might find marshmallows weeks after playing with it.  There is no better combination that food and toys!

Grace: Hello all!  Sorry for the lack of posts; I’m in Japan right now, studying abroad, and it’s a lot of fun!  Dan is also studying abroad but is without an internet connection, so I’ll be all by myself for a while.  It’s taken a while to get settled, but I’m finally comfortable and ready to start posting again!

Although the big holiday season is now over, there’s still Valentine’s Day to start thinking of!  I love chocolate, but receiving a big fluffy bear and roses and chocolate is a little overrated.  This time, why not try some handcrafted sterling silver jewelry?  The great thing about this site is that the jewelry is always unique.  I especially love their sterling silver bracelets.  I’ve never really been a fan of bracelets, but I love their silver cuffs.  Always elegant, they seem to go with everything.  One that really caught my eye was the Basket Weave Sterling Cuff.  This would be a great gift for a sophisticated woman.  Not to mention, it’s currently 25% off (until January 15th), so now would be a great time to get one!

Grace: I’ve probably mentioned my love of earrings about a million times already, but I’ve always found them to be a great default gift.  However, like most jewelry, I always find it very difficult to find unique earrings to give as gifts.  Handcrafted jewelry is always a great option, especially these handcrafted sterling silver earrings (not to mention, all the earrings are 15% off until December 25th).

One of my favorite pairs of earrings on this site are the Silver Elliptical Earrings.  They are so beautiful and expertly crafted that it’s difficult to believe that artisans from Peru made them by hand.  As with most of the jewelry from this site, these earrings are very versatile; I can picture myself wearing them during the day and wearing them for a special evening.  They also have a very fun and youthful quality to them due to their contemporary design.

Dan: What I enjoy most about these earrings is the design.  Like you said they seem to be very versatile in that they can be matched with many different outfit combinations and for different events.  They seem to be fun and modern at the same time.  I would buy these as a gift in a heart beat.

Dan: Both myself and Grace are going on study abroad trips soon and my flights are going to be very long.  My first on New Years goes from JFK in New York direct to Hong Kong (roughly 20 hours), and then we are switching with a 3 hour lay-over to a flight going to New Zealand from Hong Kong which will be over 5 hours.  With all of this free time I do not know what I am going to do with myself.

My iPod will run out of battery, and my friends and I can only play so many card games in a row, so I’ll need something to keep me busy for sure.  A great gift, would be a book!  Books can be really personal because it shows that you know what the other person enjoys to read.  Books are also a sophisticated and often times expensive gift.  It is scary to think of the day that books won’t exist with all of the technological advances society is experiencing.  So, I recommend books for a holiday gift or just any occasion, books are an excellent choice!

Grace: Books have always been my favorite gifts to receive (and give)!  You can never go wrong with a good book, and it’s always a great way to introduce people to things you love.  Many of my favorite books are ones that people have recommended to me.  If you don’t know what kind of book to get someone, a gift card to a bookstore is also a great idea.  Although I’m normally not a fan of gift cards, I never complain when I get ones to bookstores.

Dan: Are you running low of a good gift idea that would be good for a whole family?  Every holiday season, my grandmother and aunt in Texas send us a giant package of goods that she made from scratch.  Everything from fudge, taffy, cookies, brownies, and the list goes on.  If you are going away on a winter vacation or study abroad like me, maybe not the best idea to eat the whole thing by yourself, but it is a really great gift anyway.

This is a good gift because it immediately shows that you had to put a lot of your time and effort into making it.  It instantly becomes less about the money spent on the gift and more about the thought and effort put into making your holiday great!  Also, it does not have to be baked goods like this, you can plan a dinner where you make everything or bring them out to a nice restaurant!

Grace: If you’re looking for a great gift that won’t fail, this definitely is it.  Food will never disappoint, especially if it’s home-made, so if you love to cook and don’t know what to get people, I would highly recommend taking Dan’s advice.  This is also a great gift idea if you’re  college student.  I love giving my friends gifts, but I since I’m in school, I can’t really afford much, so instead I bake them something.  Since everyone is sick and tired of campus food, this gift idea always works!

Grace: Like many women, I’m such a sucker for shiny things, especially shiny bracelets.  Maybe it’s just because I have the world’s shortest attention span, but I just love wearing sterling silver bracelets.  I don’t wear them that often, but when I do, I feel so put-together.  Buying a bracelet as a gift can be very difficult since I find most bracelets to look the same, so this year I’ve been looking mostly at handcrafted sterling silver jewelry. They are not only elegant and beautiful, but they’re also unique.

One handmade sterling silver bracelet that I really enjoy is this Silver Ribbon Bracelet.  I love the shiny silver and the modern design.  I’ve also never seen a bracelet like this before; I’ve only ever really seen cuffs or charm bracelets.  This is a great multi-purpose gift too, since I can see it being worn everyday or for a special evening.  If you’re looking to give a unique, special gift this holiday season, I would definitely recommend this bracelet!

Dan: This is a really unique gift idea Grace!  I have seen lots of different jewelry items as gift ideas, but this one is different because it was handcrafted by Peruvian artisans.  I look at this peice more as a work of art than a, “every kiss begins with Kay” ordeal.  It is really catching to the eye and a great peice!

Dan: Are you looking to give someone a perfect jewelry gift this coming holiday season?  You will be able to find a lot of great artisan jewelry here!  From artisan communities in Peru, this sterling silver jewelry is extremely unique.  Most jewelry that you can buy when shopping around is mass produced in a factory.  No hard work is put into the production of that jewelry, but when buying a Peruvian product you know that these are prized works of art.

Also, the person you give this jewelry to will know it is unique.  The Byzantine sterling silver .950 chain is intricately handcrafted and cannot be replicated by most hands.  It is truly a unique design and a unique piece of jewelry.  Please, give someone a real jewelry gift this holiday season.

Grace: Wow that is an astonishing peice of art.  To know that you can wear something as beautiful as that is amazing.  The Byzantine design on the chain is so intricate and difficult to create, only Peruvian artisan hands could have made such a great necklace.  This is a perfect example of what handcrafted jewelry is about.