Archive for July 2007
Did You Know… Random Gift Trivia
I love trivia. As a kid, I got two copies of Trivial Pursuit
Did you know…
- …that in 2006, U.S. gift givers spent approximately $300 billion buying presents? That’s about 10 percent of the $3 trillion consumer market in the U.S.
- …that the National Retail Federation estimates that shoppers bought $24.8 billion in gift cards for 2006, a 34 percent increase over 2005?
- …that 189 million roses were produced for Valentine’s Day 2006?
- …that approximately 5 million Americans celebrate birthdays each week? An average of 700,000 birthdays take place daily.
- …that June is no longer the most popular month for weddings? August ranks first (10.2 percent), followed by June (9.9 percent).
- …that Mother’s Day is the number two American holiday for gift giving (after Christmas)? Nearly 68 percent give flowers. Also, Mother’s Day is the most popular day of the year to dine out.
- …that Father’s Day was not officially recognized until 1972, when President Richard Nixon signed the holiday into law? The Census Bureau estimates there are 64.3 million fathers in the U.S.
Tags: birthday, christmas, dining, father's day, flowers, for mom, gift cards, mother's day, trivia, valentine's day, wedding
Enter the upstairs study in our home, and you’ll see a treadmill, an iMac poised on a corner workstation, books on a credenza and a writing desk — all on hardwood floors. In other words, it’s a room collecting sweat and dust. My wife suggested I should get a “manly scented candle” to freshen up the study.
My first reaction was laughter. Nervous laughter. There is no such thing as a manly scented candle, I professed. As definitive proof, I summoned Google on the iMac and typed in manly candle, confident that I could count the search results on both hands.
Google humbled me. There were some 481,000 results for manly candles.
Mandles.
I clicked the first link and discovered the Manly Man Candle Company. The company’s name was set in maroon military stencil, flanked by angry bulls. The site declares it’s all about “[c]andles that were designed and developed with guys in mind. None of the ‘froo froo’ garbage, these are smells that guys like.” These white candles (and they only come in white) sit in a metal tin, suitable for storing nails, screws and washers when the candle is gone. Prices are $5 for 4 ounces, $7 for 8 ounces, and $13 for 16 ounces.
(Update on July 5, 2010: The Manly Man Candle Company is no longer in business. Try Mandles instead.)
The most popular Manly Man Candle scents to date:
- The Hunting Lodge: “A strong, woody outdoor scent accented by cedar…. Think back to your favorite cabin….”
- Wild Alaska: “A great outdoor scent” of pine that “doesn’t leave you thinking about pine cleaners.”
- Alpine: “Rain forest meets the alpine tundra…. It is not sweet and definitely not flowery.”
- Leather: “From a fine sports car to working gloves, the fresh smell of leather is always good to the nose.”
- The Coffee Shop: “This isn’t one of those sweet coffee smells that you find in most common candles, rather a good plain cup of joe.”
- Irish Springtime: “Will definitely remind you of a bar of Irish Spring…. There isn’t that soapy or sweet smell…”
- Yardwork: “This one smells like fresh cut grass.” “One of our company’s founders starts sneezing whenever he smells this candle.”
So would I appreciate one of these mandles as a gift? Yeah, probably. The Hunting Lodge, Leather or The Coffee Shop might be welcome in the upstairs study. Sometimes the best gifts are those you might like but you wouldn’t think of buying for yourself.
Tags: candles, everyday gifts, gender, gift sites, guy gifts, popular posts
While I have not played GiftTRAP
To start, cards are dealt at random, revealing pictures of different presents (e.g., Japanese herbal teas, a Stratocaster electric guitar, skydiving lessons, a hammock, steel drum lessons, hair extensions, a new driveway). From the ideas shown, you match gifts to other players and give them using tokens. While these gift tokens are still “wrapped,” you secretly rate the gifts you like and dislike using Great, Good, OK and No Way. Now you show the players what you wanted, then open your gifts.
If the giver matches your preferences, she scores giving points. And as a recipient, if people know want you want, you score getting points. If you do not guess gifts well, both you the giver and your recipient lose giving and getting points respectively. (“Sorry about those skydiving lessons. I didn’t know were afraid of heights!”) To win, players seek both giving and getting points to move across the board to the “Gifted” winner’s area. (Click the board game image above to enlarge it.) To advance more quickly, you can make bets on gift outcomes to earn more points (or lose points if you’re wrong). GiftTRAP looks like it could lead to laughs, stimulate great discussion and improve your gift sense.
Recipient Recommendations
This game is ideal for people who enjoy party games with close friends and family. From the GiftTRAP web site, I can see there are some racy gift idea cards in the deck (e.g., adult TV subscription). GiftTRAP comes with an envelope to hide these cards when children are playing.
Tags: choosing gifts, for couples, for hosts, games
Gifting Report 2007, a survey and study released by Unity Marketing this month, tabulated the top gift selections for 2006.
Top Ten Gift Choices for 2006
| Rank | Gift Type | Purchase rate |
| #1 | Videos/DVDs |
25%
|
| #2 | Books |
21%
|
| #3 (tie) | Women’s Clothing |
20%
|
| #3 (tie) | Chocolates |
20%
|
| #3 (tie) | Bath & Body Soaps & Lotions |
20%
|
| #3 (tie) | Toys, Games, Dolls |
20%
|
| #4 | Children’s Clothing |
18%
|
| #5 (tie) | Men’s Clothing |
17%
|
| #5 (tie) | Candles/Candle Accessories |
17%
|
| #6 (tie) | Audio/CDs |
15%
|
| #6 (tie) | Dining Experience |
15%
|
| #6 (tie) | Flowers, Plants, Garden Accessories |
15%
|
| #7 | Baby/Infant Clothing |
14%
|
| #8 | Other Consumables |
13%
|
| #9 (tie) | Electronic Games |
12%
|
| #9 (tie) | Fragrance/Perfume |
12%
|
| #10 (tie) | Gift Baskets |
11%
|
| #10 (tie) | Liquor & Spirits |
11%
|
Tags: bath+body, books, candles, chocolate+candy, choosing gifts, clothing, dining, dvds, flowers, fragrance, games, gift baskets, lists, movies, music, surveys, toys, wine
When it comes to finding gifts, America shops Wal-Mart and Target, according to Gifting Report 2007. The survey, published this month by Unity Marketing, found that 42 percent of gift seekers chose Wal-Mart for gift purchases and 31 percent bought presents at Target in 2006. In fact, discount department stores swept all eight categories of gift purchases in the survey:
- consumables (food, candy, wine),
- clothing and/or fashion accessories (purses, shoes, wallets),
- jewelry and watches,
- personal care products (cosmetics, perfumes, bath products),
- home furnishings and household operations products (decorative accents, housewares, home textiles, china, glass and tableware, small household appliances),
- “giftables” (flowers, candles, greeting cards, stationery, seasonal decorations, figurines),
- entertainment and recreation goods (books, toys, sporting goods, video/audio, DVDs, cameras, computers, games), and
- store gift certificates
The survey tracked the gift buying habits of more than 2,800 gift shoppers. Respondents were 50 percent male and 50 percent female, with an average age of 42.7 and an average income of $62,875. In 2006, the gift givers surveyed spent an average of $2,643 on gift purchases and an average of $78 on gift accessories such as gift cards, wrapping paper and ribbons. These spending averages reflect a 13.5 percent increase over 2005.
While Christmas, Mother’s Day, Valentine’s Day and Father’s Day remain the top ranked gift holidays, more gift giving is occurring year-round. Nearly 42 percent of the average annual gift budget goes to gift occasions throughout the year (e.g., birthdays, anniversaries, weddings, and travel souvenirs) as opposed to gifts for the major holidays. Analysts noted that 42 percent figure — the percentage of the average gift budget spent throughout the year — is increasing, up from 38.5 percent in 2005.
Tags: anniversary, birthday, choosing gifts, christmas, father's day, mother's day, shopping, souvenirs, surveys, valentine's day
