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The problem with gift buying
If you are in any way similar to me, the thought of choosing a present is a thing you dread. Your dilemma is that you want to think of a gift that is extraordinary and original, something likely to outdo all others gift ideas at the party.
Basically, no-one wants to be the one who runs out of ideas and ends up with experiencing the socks for Christmas moment - the recipients excited anticipation, followed by immediate disappointment, barely concealed in order to not offend - "Socks, and my favourite colour too" True, they could be nice socks with jazzy patterns on them but, ultimately, they're still socks.
The underlying problem here and the reason why buying gifts tends to make me uneasy is the unspoken assumption present in buying someone a not particularly inspiring gift - well, I've fulfilled my obligation and got you a gift, yes it's a book token but frankly I really don't like you enough to spend much time in deciding on anything more personal or interesting.
Clearly most of this is probably just personal insecurity on my part but the fact remains that a thoughtful, idiosyncratic gift will always be gratefully appreciated. The bottom line then is what is a good gift, and where can I find one?
First and foremost, a lot is dependent on who is the lucky recipient - the key to giving genuinely touching gifts is to find something that feels individual rather than generic. For precisely this reason, you should find choosing for a certain type of person much easier than for others, if you have a friend, who is an avid collector Star Trek paraphernalia, then find something related to that. Maybe it's not especially original, but they should nonetheless be delighted. Not everyone's this straightforward though; there are some people, whose lives are apparently bereft of hobbies from which to draw gift buying ideas.
If this is the case, it is important to find something that is not so obviously suited to their interests, but is different, that stands out from the crowd, something that makes the recipient feel genuinely pleased. Luckily we live in the age of the World Wide Web and obtaining something a bit unusual can be a piece of cake if you know what you're doing., Of course, regular surfers of the net won't need warning that there's a hell of a lot of rubbish out there so you need to know where you're looking.
I've no doubt that Ebay is positively resplendent with thrillingly unique gift buying opportunities but it's also so overwhelmingly large that unless you already know exactly what you're searching for its not worth bothering with. Much more useful are the expanding number of websites that specialize in slightly unusual gift ideas. There are loads of gadgety, boys' toys sites out there - Firebox and I Want One Of Those for starters along with more general gift sites like Needapresent.com or Lastminute. Websites like Not on the High Street offer up unusual, frivolous and chic gifts at prices that won't break the bank. And chaps, if you're buying for the woman in your life don't forget the classic stand-by gift - flower delivery, made easy by standard companies like Interflora.
Educational Websites
Standards Site, BBC History, PBS Online, Open Directory Project, Virtual Library,
Education Forum, History GCSE, Design & Technology, Learn History, Music Teacher Resource,
Freepedia, Teach It, Science Active, Geography IST, Brighton Photographers, Sussex Photo History,
Compton History, Universal Teacher, English Teaching, English Online, History Learning Site,
History on the Net, Black History, Greenfield History, School History, HistoryWorld, I Love History,
E-HELP, Ed Podesta Blog, Macgregorish History, Historiasiglo20, Sintermeerten, ICT4LT |
News and Search
Guardian Unlimited, Times Online, Daily Telegraph, The Independent, New York Times,
Washington Post, BBC, CNN, Yahoo News, New Scientist, Google News, Channel 4, ZDNet,
Google, Excite, Yahoo, MSN, Lycos, AOL Search, Hotbot, Metacrawler, Netscape, Ask, Search,
Go, Looksmart, Dogpile, Raging Search, All the Web, Kartoo, Search Engine Watch, About
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