Archive for December 2007
The Gift of Gaffigan
My wife and I celebrated my birthday by seeing comedian Jim Gaffigan perform in concert. If your giftee has a favorite comedian, watch for upcoming concert tickets. My wife acted quickly, giving me great tickets for a sold-out comedy show.
Throughout the performance, we were overcome with laughter. I relished Gaffigan’s sarcasm and observational humor on hammocks, waterbeds, beanbags, bacon, escalators, and Hot Pockets. Of course, he also delivered a couple of riffs on gift giving.
Gaffigan on clothing gifts:
It can be hard to give a gift. It’s a gamble. I can’t believe we are still giving clothing as a gift. Whenever you get clothing as a present, you open it up and think, “Not even close.”
And the person who gives it is like,
“You can take it back if you don’t like it.”
That’s all right… I’ll just throw it out. Don’t give me an errand.
“Merry Christmas! Why don’t you head to the mall for me? And if you could pick up my dry cleaning, that would be awesome.”
Gaffigan on Valentine’s Day:
Valentine’s Day… the tradition is we give those big red hearts filled with the gamble chocolate.
Have you ever eaten any chocolate out of those big red hearts with any confidence?
Hmm, this could be really good or totally nasty. Well, I’m just pig enough to find out.
Aaghh… I got the one filled with toothpaste!
Now I’m going to have to eat another nine to get rid of that flavor.
Tags: birthday, chocolate+candy, clothing, valentine's day
As a stocking stuffer, I gave my wife Baileys Irish Cream chocolates and Kahlúa chocolates. Both are among her favorite liqueurs. Chocolatier Turin fills these premium chocolates with liqueur-flavored centers. The key word here is flavored.
Days later, she noticed the liqueur fillings in her chocolates were actually non-alcoholic. Exasperated, she explained that she carefully limited herself to no more than one chocolate per night, presuming an alcohol kick. Oops. While she still likes the flavors, I’ll make sure to get the high-octane chocolates next time.
Tags: chocolate+candy, christmas, for her
Nielsen NetRatings kept its own naughty-and-nice list this holiday season for online shopping sites. While NetRatings may be holding back on the naughty e-tailers, the market research firm recently released the 10 best rated online shopping destinations. These sites scored “Very Satisfied” ratings from more than 80 percent of survey respondents.
- Netflix – 90.3%
Ninety percent of customers surveyed gave a “Very Satisfied” rating to Netflix, making the #1 online DVD rental service also #1 in customer service this holiday season. - NexTag – 87%
A comparison price shopping site, NexTag.com draws more than 15 million users each month to find, compare and buy products and services online. - Amazon.com – 86.6%
The e-commerce juggernaut, named for the world’s largest river by volume, scored third place for service. - Shopping.yahoo.com – 84.3%
Yahoo Shopping is arguably the most popular of the shopping comparison sites, anchored by partners like Nordstrom, Target and Blue Nile. - Kohls.com – 84.1%
This department store chain, based in my home state, has offered online shopping since 2000. - BarnesandNoble.com – 82.8%
Venturing online in 1997, the venerable bookseller claims its the Internet’s largest bookstore, with more than 1 million titles in stock. - HomeDepot.com – 82.5%
HomeDepot is the world’s largest home improvement specialty retailer and the number two general retailer in the U.S., second to Wal-Mart. - CircuitCity.com – 82%
Circuit City started as Richmond, Virginia’s first television store in 1949. Today, the consumer electronics seller runs more than 600 stores in the U.S., as well as its web presence. - eBay.com – 80.5%
The Echo Bay Technology Group could not get echobay.com, so the group shortened the online auction domain to eBay.com. - JCPenney.com – 80.3%
Founded in 1902, JCPenney’s sells clothing and home furnishings through its chain of suburban mall stores, mail catalogs and e-commerce site.
NetRatings formed its rankings from the 2007 Nielsen Online Holiday Survey (pdf) of nearly 900 respondents over the age of 18. Overall, 82 percent of all online shoppers were either “very satisfied” or “somewhat satisfied” with customer support when shopping online this holiday season.
Tags: christmas, lists, shopping, shopping online, surveys
A taste from Chicago’s Navy Pier landed on my door step yesterday. It’s one of my favorite snacks — popcorn from Popcorn Palace. I happily received the red, one-gallon tin as a Christmas gift from my boss. As I type, I am savoring the kernels of Chocolate Drizzle Caramel Corn. You can’t get this chocolate treat from May to October due to the warm weather — unless you ship the popcorn overnight, I suspect. On the other side of the divided snack tin, I’ve been scooping handfuls of tangy cheese popcorn. (I have to wipe the cheddar dust from my fingertips before returning to the keyboard, so the handfuls make it worthwhile.)
Popcorn Palace offers 27 flavors of its gourmet popcorn, including Chicago Style, a sweet-and-savory mix of caramel and cheddar. The company’s “pop artists” make the flavored popcorn fresh, just before it’s packed in tins for shipping. When ordering, you choose from a number of tin styles to fit the occasion. Holiday, birthday, and thank you gift tins are available now. Tin sizes range from the standard one-gallon tin ($18-$25 plus shipping) to the whopping six-and-a-half gallon party size ($40 to $75 plus shipping).
If your giftee absolutely loves popcorn, consider the Kernel of the Month Club, offering 3, 6 or 12 months of munchies. For those who give business gifts, you can send Popcorn Palace to your clients, customizing tins with your corporate logo.
My wife has also enjoyed this fully-popped, fluffy/crunchy popcorn. When we start seeing the bottom of the popcorn tin, I might just order a refill. Popcorn Palace offers “Just the ‘Corn, Please” refills in one-gallon resealable bags ($11 to $21 per bag, plus shipping).
Tags: chocolate+candy, everyday gifts, food, gift baskets, gift ideas, shopping, shopping online, thank you
My employer gave me an unexpected opportunity to test drive GiftCertificates.com. I was rewarded with the site’s flagship product: a $100 SuperCertificate, which is a universal gift certificate that lets me choose… well, my own gift certificate. I can select from more than 230 merchants, including airlines, hotels, restaurants, online retailers, clothing stores and department stores. While the SuperCertificate itself does not expire, you should check to see if the selected gift card has an expiration date. Also, guard your gift card closely. Neither GiftCertificates.com nor its merchants will replace a gift card if lost or stolen.
Before trying to redeem my SuperCertificate, I browsed through GiftCertificates.com merchants. I needed to choose between a physically delivered gift card or an electronic gift card. While most of the merchants require shipping, I easily made top ten lists for both shipped cards and e-mailed cards.
Favorite shipped gift cards
- Restoration Hardware
- Barnes & Noble Booksellers
- Buca di Beppo Italian restaurant
- Crate & Barrel
- Eddie Bauer
- Borders Books
- L.L. Bean
- Men’s Wearhouse
- Panera Bread
- Blockbuster Video
Favorite e-mailed gift cards
- Barnes & Noble Booksellers
- Overstock.com
- Eddie Bauer
- Lands’ End
- L.L. Bean
- BedandBreakfast.com
- Fandango Movies
- Red Envelope
- eBags.com
- Travelocity
I chose the speed of an e-gift card. While Barnes & Noble was my first choice, online gift cards for bn.com were limited to $50, with only one gift card per B&N order. Instead, I selected a $100 e-gift card from Overstock.com, which has no expiration date. Within 15 minutes of placing my order, I received my Overstock.com e-gift card.
Tags: for work, gift cards, gift sites, shopping
