Top 10 Best Christmas Gifts for a Guy

I’m going to write something helpful here for people looking to buy a gift for a guy. So if you’re a wife, mother, sister, girlfriend, whatever†¦ this is for you.

A couple rules first.

1. Guys are not sentimental. Unless you’re a professional auto maker, don’t make them anything. And I know women think that risquà © pictures of them selves is a cool gift for their boyfriends, but be honest, that’s more geared toward you wanting to get a good photo of yourself than it is to give him something. He already gets to see it live.

2. Practical is not a bad thing for a guy. When a women thinks about a guy giving her something like a set of pots and pans, or a vacuum, they act like it’s a form of domestic abuse. But guys like getting stuff to make their daily life easier. One of the best gifts I got was from my friend Andy, it was USB keychain and I still use it all the time after 2 years.

3. Here is a rule I didn’t know about before, but most of you women probably already do. Don’t give a married guy a trip out of town without his wife. I did this a couple years back and I might as well have just sent him a stripper at home. She was not too pleased, and a gift that I thought would make him thrilled ended up causing him stress beyond what any single man could endure.

4. Unless you’re bringing a girlfriend, sex is not a gift. Think about it, when is the last time a guy made you feel like getting sex from him was an actual gift. It just leaves the guy wondering if he is supposed to buy you something, or if his part of the sex was good enough to replace an actual present too.

So, with that out the way, here is my list of the top 10 Christmas gifts for a guy.

1. Diamond Plate MAME Arcade Machine – $3,900 – Screw the 360, screw the PS3, and yes even screw the Wii. This is the real deal for a hard core gamer. This is a full size, stand up machine that comes with over 5,000 games pre-installed. I’m talking old school games like Defender, Joust, Pac-Man, and Galaga, right up through newer stuff like the Mortal Kombat series, Dragon’s Lair, Killer Instinct, and all the Golden Tee’s. It even comes with a light gun for games like Area 51, Revolution X and House of Dead. A client game me one of these games as a gift, and it is just amazing. My kid still plays it all the time. Buy this for your guy and he will be on the phone the whole week after Christmas bragging to everyone. It’s not cheap, but it’s worth it.

2. Art of Shaving kit – $100 – So we’ll bring the price down a bit here. If your guy is shaving with the stuff he buys at Target, this gift will change his life. The Art of Shaving products provide the most amazing shave I have ever had. The kits come with the 4 products; pre-shave oil, shave cream, a brush to apply the cream, and an after-shave balm. You can also get kits with their book, but the instructions on the box should be good enough. If you want to be ultra cool, pick them up a pack of Gillete Fusion blades and the vibrating razor. It’s the perfect fit for this package. $100 may seem like a lot for shaving stuff, but that’s exactly why it’s a good gift. It is something that he will enjoy that he is not likely to buy himself. And the package will last at least 5 – 6 months.

3. Tivo – $100 – $900 – It’s hard for me to imagine that any man doesn’t own this technology, but if he doesn’t this is the chance for you to buy him something really special. The trick to giving a Tivo is to make sure you do a little research to get the right one. If he owns or is looking to buy a Plasma or any other HDTV, you want to get him a Tivo that can handle HDTV. If he currently uses DirecTV or Dish Network, you want to get him a Tivo with a tuner for that system so he doesn’t have deal with two boxes. And be cool and pay for the service package. It’s never good to give a gift that requires a monthly bill.

4. iPod – $300 – Once again, it’s impossible to imagine any human on the planet not owning at least 2 of these right now, but here is a chance if he doesn’t. Don’t worry about picking the right one, just get the 80 gig iPod. It plays video and is pretty nice. The down side is that there is always a bigger and better iPod just a few months away, but that’s good for next Christmas. You can even get it engraved with something cheesy that he will hide from his friends. One extra piece of advice, do not get weird and buy him a Zune, no matter what the guy at Best Buy tells you. Stick with the iPod, accept no substitute.   I’m certain that an iPod is also an idea Mother’s Day Gift.
5. Gift Certificate to AllofMp3 – $100 – If he already owns an iPod, give him the gift of nearly stolen music. If you’re not familiar with AllofMp3, it’s a Russian music download site that is super cheap. You can usually pick up an entire CD of music for about $1.40. The downside is that it can be a bit of a pain to add money to the account. Take the pain for him and send him a gift certificate for $100. That should keep him in fresh tunes for at least 6 months. And an extra bonus is that it can be a total last minute thing via email.

6. Logitech Harmony Remote Control – $300 – This is a nice gift for anyone with a TV. This is the best all-in-one remote available for under $1k. Yes, there are remote controls that cost over $1k. The thing that makes this remote so great is that it plugs into a USB to set up all the different devices he has. If you want to be an extra sweet person, set it up for him before you give it to him. Imagine his face when it works on the spot.

7. Fisher Space Pen – $100 – I have one of these pens, and they are awesome. You have probably heard about space pens that can write upside down, freezing cold, underwater, etc†¦ But this one is extra cool. First off, it’s very small until you pull the cap off to use it. It then turns into a full size pen. Second, it’s guaranteed to never run out of ink! The pen can draw a straight line for over 30 miles without running out of ink. So, whether he’s in -30 degree or over 30 degree weather, if he’s upside down or underwater, he will never run of ink and always be able to jot down a quick note. This pen is a great conversation starter.

8. Seat at World Series of Poker – $10k – If your guy is a poker player, this would be the ultimate rush for him. It’s not cheap, and more than likely he will come home with nothing to show for the trip except some good stories. But wow is it something to tell your poker buddies. And a lot of the WSoP winners this past few years have been guys who never played in a tournament before. So you never know what can happen. The second best gift for a poker player would be a nice Stine poker table. So you might want to check those out too.

9. Year Subscription to Blockbuster – about $200 – Blockbuster offers a great service that competes with Netflix, but allows you to return your movies at the store as well as drop them in the mail. The difference is that when you take your movies back into the store, you get a free in-store rental for every movie you bring back, plus they ship your next movie out the next day. He should never have to rent a movie again for that year.

10. Gift Certificate to Best Buy – Whatever – This is a good safe gift. It’s not going to get him all excited, but he will use and think of you when he does. I’m not thrilled with giving gift certificates, but if you totally lack imagination, this is the place to go.
[tags]christmas gifts, allofmp3, ipod, best buy, stine, poker, world series of poker, art of shaving, Tivo, MAME, Logitech Harmony, Bluckbuster [/tags]