Serve 'Em a Big Bowl of Cuteness

This is a super cute, multi-giftee sort of gift.  It could even work for your pets, although they probably won't appreciate it (unless your animals have an extraordinary aesthetic sense).

These are japanese rice bowls with just the cutest animal faces on them.  And I don't mean cute in a creepy, sexualized Hello Kitty sort of way (well, maybe the cat looks a little like an alien, but in a nice way).  I mean whimsical, sweet, adorable, how your favorite pet looks on its best day kind of cute.

This would be a wonderful gift for a little girl who loves foodie pretend play (go the multicultural route; it can't hurt).  It's great for any animal lover.  Or, you could just buy a set for yourself and your pack or pride.

Check them out at www.okstore.la.  

Match Game

I'm about to divulge the greatest gift idea.  It's always gotten rave reviews.  It's personal yet funky.  And it's an idea I freely admit I ripped off from an ancient Domino magazine issue.

It's personalized matches.  Now, I know what you're thinking: "Ewww... nasty weddingesque favors."  But trust me, it doesn't have to be that way.

Foryourparty.com lets you design your own matches, from the size and type of box to colors, fonts, and print content.  It's surprisingly easy to do.  And it's so easy to "match" the style up with your giftee.  There's just one caveat: don't do a straight, conservative match box.  Mix up colors for a funky combination.  Pick a great font.  And keep the content offbeat (like, instead of giving an address, put just the apartment number, or just the city).  

This is an ideal hostess present for a weekend invite, or as a New Year's Eve bash extra.  Check out www.foryourparty.com for all your options.  And match them up with the gift of light for the coming year.

Self Creation

There are those who live to do projects, and those who run screaming at the sight of a hot glue gun.  This present is for the former.

Normally, I'm against giving personalized gifts.  They seem cheesy and lazy, not to mention looking disturbingly like something out of The Preppy Handbook.  But this personalized key chain is different.  It's really a project.

And no hot glue gun is required!  This needlepoint-it-yourself key chain kit comes complete with stencils of the entire alphabet, so your busy bee friend can label the thing with whatever letter. Completed, it looks cute and homespun in an Etsy way, not an annoyingly perfect Martha Stewart fashion.  

Order the handy dandy kit at www.curiousityshoppeonline.com.  And keep their idle hands needlepointing away this holiday season.

A Slug of a Different Color

A slug of coffee, that is.  Or maybe tea. 

Whatever.  The graphic (arts), creative people in your life are usually wandering around with a mug of caffeinated beverage permanently attached to their hands.  With this gift, they can combine work with reinvigoration.

These mugs feature Pantone color swatches.  Pantone is the official color wheel of choice for virtually every graphic endeavor.  They're classic.  Bright.  Pretty.  Pleasing.  And the mugs are good-sized to hold a good supply of whatever good stuff the artist wants to imbibe.  And, until quite recently, they were only available in the EU.

Pick up the mugs at www.delight.com.  They also feature an espresso set in various Pantone shades of brown, really cute for the continental creative director in your life.

Prissy Little Cookies

There are two types of cookie lovers.  Those who love perfectly neat, tidy, often decorated cookies, and those who like cookies in any form, even if they look like tiny trash heaps.  This cookie gift is for the former.

The Japanese are known for many culinary delights, including sushi, soba, and skewers.  But who knew they were such fans of butter cookies?  And these are fussy butter cookies as only the exacting Japanese can manufacture.   Uniform, elegant and perfect, the cookies also beat the pants off the traditional "butter cookies" you get every year in that eponymous Danish blue tin.

Order them for your uptight cookie fan, along with a tea cup or two and maybe some tea.  All can be found at that tower of exactitude, www.takashimayany.com.

Pretty, Golden, and Impossible to Lay

Obviously, you're not equipped to lay the Golden Egg, but you can at least be the person to give it.

This is a beautiful necklace.  It's made out of an actual quail's egg that's been coated on the inside with sumptuous gold, then plasticized on the outside for endurance.  It dangles delicately on a thin gold chain.  Frankly, it's unlike anything I've seen before.  So pretty and lovely in a fairy tale kind of way.

It's also at a decent price point for a golden item: about 200 bucks.  Give to someone special, perhaps your favorite Goose Girl.

Find it at www.aplusrstore.com.  It'll garner a gaggle of compliments.

Hanging Out with the Kids

Yes, Find A Toad has been a bit kid-gift heavy lately.  But, in case you didn't notice, it's the holiday season, which is presumably mostly about the kids (how many of you have written a personal note to Santa or Hanukah Harry recently?).

One item almost always present in any baby's room is the mobile.  Some are padded with quaint duckies.  Some squeal tinny music.  Most probably drive the poor baby crazy and are nasty for the adults to view, too.  

These mobiles are the exception.  They're very simple.  Very lightweight (in case the installer is sloppy and the thing plunges into baby's crib).  And rather abstract.  Sure, there are balloons and planes, but there's also silhouettes of seahorses or a whale with babies in its tummy.

Plus, they're inexpensive.  What a relief after all the high-priced stuff for a kid's room.  

Check out the enormous selection at www.designpublic.com.  It'll make hanging out with the kid just that much more esthetically pleasant.