Christmas Shopping 2016 Questions/Good Deals/Etc.

[Ksandra]

YES, I AM MAKING THIS THREAD BEFORE THANKSGIVING.

iirc we've done this before. Post if you have any questions regarding what to get people or if you see something really good you think others may want to know about while making shopping lists.

I'll start with a question:

My uncle now lives with my mom since my father passed away. They both love a good drink, so initially I was thinking of getting one of those mini bottle chocolates filled with random liquor. But then I turned on the TV today and saw Cake Boss on. My mom and dad watched like every single episode of that show. For shits I looked online, and it turns out that they opened a Carlos' Bakery at the casino near where my mom lives. So now I am debating on whether to get her the chocolates or order her either a Carlos' cake or a bakery assortment from Carlos'. Downside is the bakery doesn't deliver, so she'd have to pick up her own gift. I don't think she'd care that much to do so, but it is a little weird. Thoughts?

[BaneTheBrawler]

i'm sure you could hire a delivery service separate.

anyway, if anyone's looking for ideas for young kids, I got my grandnephews (will be 3 in 2017) a puppet each.

When I was ~3, my parents got me two: an iguana and a T-rex, and every morning until I was 11 my Dad woke me up with them in-character. They were real people to me, and a huge, special part of our family. I want my grandniblings to have that with their parents, so I talked with them about it and they're excited about the idea so I got a brief list of favorite animals to give me ideas.

For Charles, the list was dogs, gorillas, and elephants. Well, I didn't want to get him a dog because I'm pretty sure he'll have an actual dog and I don't want them to compete for his attention, if that makes sense. They didn't have gorillas and the only elephant was way out of my budget, and also not really all that cuddly. I ultimately went with a Koala, because I felt his list was more exotic, and the koala is the right size I was looking for and very soft and easy to operate.

For Nolan, the list was fish and dinosaurs. I've never seen a puppet fish, but they had some octopuses and even a nautilus that I thought were really cool... but not very cuddly, and maybe too scary. They had some T-Rexes that were very similar to mine the first time I went, but they weren't there the second time. I ultimately went with an otter, because I thought it was in keeping with the aquatic theme, and again right size range and easy to operate.

So this month I'll be tracking down nice wrapping paper and boxes and whatnot. The whole shebang.

Also, if you're picturing strings and shit when I say puppet, you're thinking of marionettes. The puppets I'm talking about are basically plush animals with a slot for your hand, and in the case of the more advanced ones, your fingers. you can operate the arms with your thumb and pinky, and mouthparts with your index or middle finger. I saw an owl that had a little handle inside that you could rotate to spin the head. not very cuddly: too much plastic. but cute, and fun to operate. There was a REALLY REALLY cool alligator I wanted for myself, but it was out of my budget. it was pretty basic, just a mitten-style mouth, but it was so cool, and really comfortable to operate. I might go back and get it later, once I have more money.

anyway, finding these online is actually pretty hard, from my experience. search results are always hand puppets designed for puppet theater, or finger puppets, or everything but cuddly plush puppets. I finally found 'em at the local ABC Toys.

[Ksandra]

Holy nostalgia batman. Great idea, Bane!

I know I've mentioned it before, but when I was young I was a clown. Went to bday parties n' shit with our babysitter who was a professional clown on the side. Anyway, I did some magic tricks, balloon animals, etc.. But one thing I did was I had a puppet dog and did "ventriloquism" (Let's face it, Jeff Dunham, I was not.) I loved the crap out of that dog puppet though and for shits I looked it up, and someone is selling one on Ebay:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/like/3021346...&ul_noapp=true

With that said, yes that is a great idea if people don't know what to get a kid as I bet they don't have one. Apparently Melissa and Doug have a few that look really nice (mostly human ones, though):

https://www.amazon.com/s/ref=sr_pg_1...F4Q,B01B1UOQ1G

[Ksandra]

Yankee candle for some reason has a coupon for $10 off on $10 or more:

http://www.yankeecandle.com/statics/images/email/112916_$10/coupon.html

It expires this Friday though. It works online, but obviously that will include shipping.

I know some bitches be big into candles so figured this might be a good deal for someone looking for ideas.

[Ksandra]

I know I am basically talking to myself at this point, but this is fucking awesome if you have/know any kids who are at the Santa-believing age:

https://www.portablenorthpole.com/en/store/videos