{"id":23903,"date":"2011-12-12T23:56:11","date_gmt":"2011-12-13T04:56:11","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.foodiecitymom.com\/?p=15760"},"modified":"2024-02-06T10:56:24","modified_gmt":"2024-02-06T15:56:24","slug":"holiday-gift-ideas-2011","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mominthecity.com\/holiday-gift-ideas-2011\/","title":{"rendered":"Holiday Gift Ideas 2011"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/p>I have attended several events over the last few weeks in anticipation of making holiday gift suggestions.\u00a0 Here\u2019s the thing\u2026I don\u2019t give a lot of gifts out for the holidays (shhh).\u00a0 We give gifts to the kids in our life \u2013 including our own, our parents, teachers and service people.\u00a0 We also attend various holiday parties where there are small gift exchanges, but that is about it.\u00a0 Reggie and I don\u2019t even exchange gifts with one another. That doesn\u2019t mean that we don\u2019t like to give gifts though.\u00a0 I just prefer to give gifts on birthdays or just throughout the year when I see something that I think a friend\/loved one will enjoy. So, I basically hold on to the end of the year gift ideas to guide my shopping decisions for the next<\/strong> year.\u00a0 So below are my favorite gift suggestions for 2011\/2012\u2026\n

1. My friends over at Cool Mom Tech co-hosted a great event with CNET at the CNET Gotham Pop-Up Store. There, they shared ten of their favorite holiday tech gifts for 2011. What I learned more than anything else is that I am an Android girl living in an iPhone\/iPad world. I\u2019m alright with that.\u00a0 You can see all of the CMT picks on their site. A couple of things that I really liked from the event involved photos \u2013 photo albums by Keepsy and video slideshows by Animoto<\/a>.\u00a0 I am going to be doing a separate post on my photo cards, photo books and video slideshows for the holidays, but meanwhile visit this Cool Mom Picks post<\/a>. They are giving their readers a free 30-day Animoto Plus membership<\/strong> so you can make your own full-length holiday video! <\/em><\/p>\n

2. The researcher in me loves Consumer Reports<\/em>. They really are the only publication that I consider to be completely neutral, because they are a nonprofit\/don\u2019t accept ads at all. The highlight (for me) at their media event which was highlighting their 2011 Naughty & Nice Holiday List was discovering their SHOPSMART<\/em> magazine. It was filled with so much helpful shopping information\u2026from food to family.\u00a0 My family actually loves to play games for family night, so I\u2019m buying the Mattel Uno Roboto<\/a> (one of their playtime family picks) for our family as a gift.\u00a0 I especially like that you can add a \u2018house rule\u201d at the beginning of each game, because the last time that we played regular Uno, it was a trip! We couldn\u2019t come to an agreement regarding whether or not you needed to say \u201cUno\u201d if you put the last two cards down at the same time. I want to make that a house rule! \ud83d\ude42<\/p>\n

<\/p>

\"\"<\/center>3. A \u201cJoin the club!\u201d article in SHOPSMART magazine was actually the impetus for me attending a BJ\u2019s blogger event. The article had a comparison of BJ\u2019s and the other main warehouse store competitors. The two things that I liked the most about BJ\u2019s are that they are the only major club that accepts manufacturer coupons.\u00a0 They also accept more methods of payment than their competitors.\u00a0 At the event, I also learned about coupon stacking (combining BJ\u2019s in-store coupons with manufacturer coupons) thanks to Mitch<\/a> (Gay NYC Dad). I found this YouTube video that explains it best:\n

<\/p>

<\/center>(On a special note, BJ\u2019s is offering a FREE 60-Day Trial Membership up until 12\/31\/11.\u00a0 You can access the pass on the BJ\u2019s site.) We received a Babycakes Donut Maker as a gift at the event, but I have my eye on the Babycakes Cake Pop Maker.4. I was curious when my friend Amy (Selfish Mom) invited me to a T-Mobile holiday shopping event. I had been testing out a Windows Phone on the T-Mobile network and had been pleasantly surprised that I wasn\u2019t having any connection problems. Alas, I\u2019m still a Verizon gal, but if<\/strong> I were on the T-Mobile network, I would want the HTC MYTOUCH 4G SLIDE<\/a>. It has a really powerful 8-megapixel camera and most importantly (to me) is that it has a QWERTY keyboard (my favorite phone component). In any event, if you are looking to buy a tech gift (especially phones), check out Amy\u2019s \u201cHow to buy tech for other people<\/a>\u201d post. It has several helpful questions to ask and other helpful tips.\n

\"\"5. Real Simple<\/em> held an event to showcase their pop-up shop in Bryant Park. The shop ends on 12\/13, so definitely stop by if you are in the midtown area. Along with the sale of many of the Real Simple<\/em> gift guide picks,\u00a0 L\u2019Oreal Paris is offering mini makeovers and hair consultations at the pop-up shop.\u00a0 The Container store, Vera Bradley and Citi are also sponsors of the event. I must say that my favorite thing at the event was the L\u2019Oreal Voluminous False Lashes<\/a>. I promptly threw away my old mascara.\u00a0 At less than $10, this is the perfect gift to give yourself. The other thing that I liked about the Real Simple<\/em> event is that Donors Choose is their charitable partner.\u00a0 If you donate to Donors Choose <\/a>and use the code \u201cREALSIMPLE\u201d, the board members of Donors Choose (including Stephen Colbert) will match your donation. This is such a great way to give to classes in need during the holiday season!<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

6. I\u2019m debating whether to give the beautiful gift box of Ouidad<\/a> Climate Control and conditioning products (that I was gifted) to one of my curly haired friends or to keep it for myself.\u00a0 Ouidad has a great reputation and comes highly recommended from several of my curly haired friends but I usually wear my hair straightened\/rarely wear it curly. I have read that Ouidad is a really great brand for Black women\u2019s hair too though (especially because the sulfate free shampoo is really gentle on our hair), so I just might keep it. I asked my hairstylist Shanelle what she thought and she said to try it. I\u2019ll see\u2026but without a doubt, Ouidad is a great gift option for ladies with curls!<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

7. Brookstone is one of those stores that I just like to go and tinker around in. Some of my favorite gifts that I have bought for friends over the years have come from this store. At the event, we were gifted with a battery operated neck wrap that had a built-in vibration massager. I think that it makes the perfect gift for those who travel a lot, so I gave it to a girlfriend who frequently travels from LA to NYC.\u00a0 She loved it and happily wore it back to LA on the plane.<\/p>\n

\n<\/p>

So these are seven of my gift picks for the adults in your life.\u00a0 Later this week, I will share my top kid gift picks. Is there a special gift that you are looking forward to giving (or receiving!) this year?<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n<\/body>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I have attended several events over the last few weeks in anticipation of making holiday gift suggestions.\u00a0 Here\u2019s the thing\u2026I don\u2019t give a lot of gifts out for the holidays (shhh).\u00a0 We give gifts to the kids in our life … Read More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":28511,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-23903","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\nHoliday Gift Ideas 2011<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/mominthecity.com\/holiday-gift-ideas-2011\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Holiday Gift Ideas 2011\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"I have attended several events over the last few weeks in anticipation of making holiday gift suggestions.\u00a0 Here\u2019s the thing\u2026I don\u2019t give a lot of gifts out for the holidays (shhh).\u00a0 We give gifts to the kids in our life ... 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