Wicked Sites: Finding the Perfect Presents

It's December. You can tell by all the chesnuts, Snowmen, Santas, Jesuses, and jewlery commercials that are blasted at you anytime you have contact with the outside world. The holidays are upon us, meaning we have to find presents for people. Here are a few sites I find really helpful for getting out of this conundrum.

Gifts.com has a personality profiler to help you find gifts for people. I've found it pretty handy, they give you a ton of options for each personality so there's bound to be something perfect in there. It's also very helpful for finding gifts to give yourself, and there's no harm in steering your friends and family to the site so they can be sure to find gifts to fit your personality. (Ok, sometimes I find myself pretend shopping for myself with my imaginary million dollars on here, it's just like they know me.)

Changing the Present is like a database for gifts that give back. I was surprised at how many small ones there were (six pages of gifts under $5!) Have a friend that's all for saving the environment? $11 reduces 2,000 pounds of carbon (or 6,000 miles of air travel) or $125 can adopt a Polar Bear from Defenders of Wildlife. There are also micro credit loans, (around $40 to $500 give loans to help small businesses in developing countries) education gifts, (everything from school supplies, tuition, and uniforms for students in need) and research (things like $67 for 1/2 and hour of Breast Cancer research or $100 for 300 DNA samples for the Strang Cancer Prevention Center.) There's something for everyone.

Uncommon Goods could be the solution for the person who has everything. Products range from funny, useful and even recycled. There's stuff like picture frames and bowls made from vinyl records and bags made from reclaimed billboards. Oh and if you need to furnish your home you could always get the rocking chair made of skies. Or if you have $3700 laying around you could get the Road Tested Chair made from "Walk/Don't Walk" signs from New York City. I could go on for a while, this site is packed with unusual stuff, and it can be addicting.

P.S. Sarah Haskins sums up the ridiculous-ness of all those annoying jewelry commercials.