FEATURE: 2006 Holiday Gift guide

40 Fabulous Festive Finds

Ho, ho, ho — off to the mall you go. But with our holiday gift guide, you can cut back on time spent business shopping. Many items can be ordered online!

BY BARBARA BALLINGER

Tis the month before Santa,
But no presents are bought,
Alas, you’re too busy,
Selling homes, as you ought.

We all know our best clients,
Deserve more than a card.
Thoughtful gifts are in order,
But finding them’s hard.

Now thanks to our elves
There’s no need to fret
With our doing the research,
You’ll give great gifts yet.

Whether your budgets small or sky-high,
You’re sure to find something
For each girl and guy.

We’ve grouped favorites by topic,
And checked the list twice.
There’s something for everyone,
Whether naughty or nice.

So get out your charge card
Wish for skies full of white
From us, Happy Holidays,
And to all a good night.

Holiday Gift Guide
Presents for Every Personality

Categories: Gifts for the home, creative ideas, food and drink, good deeds, technology

Home for the Holidays: Gifts for the home

Keep the home lights burning wherever they may roam with Light on Demand. This system lets them turn on the lights with a phone call and leave them on for up to five hours. Price: $29.99. www.lightondemand.com. Who’ll love it? Late-night partiers who don’t want to come home to a dark house.

Thrill the fixer-upper buyer with a gift card from Lowe’s, a REALTOR® Benefits Partner. Cards available from $5 to $5,000. 888/913-6060; www.lowesrealtorbenefits.com. Who’ll love it? Your bottom line, when you save 5 percent on the cards and boost your referrals thanks to the personal letter sent with each card.

Help them entertain in elegance with this hand-cut, lead-crystal biscuit box. To personalize it, add your own holiday cookie recipe. From The Personal Marketing Company, it’s priced at $39, plus shipping. 800/458-8245; www.tpmco.com. Who’ll love it? The buyer with engraved business cards.

Banish winter’s grayness with a sparkling stained-glass window, vase, or jewelry box. Prices start at $15 for a ceiling fan pull. From Bazaar Glass. 215/862-1163; www.bazaarglass.com. Who’ll love it? Everyone who appreciates handmade gifts and doesn’t want another scarf.

Help them preserve holiday memories with an online scrapbook. Choose from four holiday templates and then let customers upload their photos and write captions. A softcover version starts at $27 for 20 pages from SharedBook. 888/212-3121; www.sharedbook.com. Who’ll love it? Anyone with a far-flung family that can’t make it home this year.

Make their first holiday in a new home special with a charcoal-style drawing complete with a wreath on the door. Just e-mail the house photo to Charpics Technologies, and one week later, you have a custom gift. Prices range from $35 to $75, depending on the finished artwork size and art medium. 704/795-0918; www.charpics.com. Who’ll love it? The couple who monograms everything.

Creative Gifts

Help Santa with a supply of batteries nestled in a decorative container filled with candy canes. Who’ll love it? Every parent putting together toys at 2 a.m.

Offer the aroma of the season with a live evergreen tree. Try your local nursery or order from Fresh Christmas Tree.com. A 3.5-foot fir costs $40. 301/493-9273; www.freshchristmastree.com. Who’ll love it? Fans of The Waltons.

Remind others how blessed they are, suggests John Dorff, director of recruiting and education at Signature GMAC Real Estate in Orlando, Fla. He gives a trio of gifts—a loaf of bread, so clients won’t know hunger; a pound of salt, so their lives continue to have flavor; and a bottle of wine, so joy will be with them forever. Who’ll love it? Those who want to remember the spiritual in the season.

Get ready to ward off winter’s chill with a basket of fireplace logs and kindling tied with a red bow and festooned with pine cones and seasonal greens. Who’ll love it? Homebodies of all ages.

Keep those holiday snapshots and cards organized, but still visible, with the magnetic Fridge Frame from PocketFrame. It comes in a variety of sizes and costs between $6.95 and $19.95. 866/628-4538; www.fridgeframe.com. Who’ll love it? The neatnik mom or dad.

Nurture their green thumb with a growing kit complete with planting pots, seed packets, an herb garden wheel, labels, and a four-quart bag of potting soil. The pesto herb kit retails for $39.95. 800/247-6646; www.agromin.com. Who’ll love it? The gardener facing a long, cold winter.

Parlez-vous francais? If not, Transparent Language will help would-be travelers improve their French or 100 other languages. Prices start at $49.95; www.transparent.com. Who’ll love it? The single who wants to impress a date at a French bistro.

Eat, Drink, and Be Merry

Order up the perfect treat for late-night visitors—especially those who come down chimneys—with Fairytale Brownies. Wrapped individually, they come in yummy espresso, pecan, and chocolate chunk blondie flavors. A dozen costs $32. 800/324-7982; www.brownies.com. Who’ll love it? Anyone who still believes in Santa and happy endings.

Revive their holiday spirits and ensure a safe trip home with some good strong coffee. Holiday flavors—peppermint, cinnamon gingerbread, or pumpkin spice—add to the festiveness. The company also sells Rainforest Alliance Certified coffee. Prices start at $6.99. 800/729-5282, www.millstone.com. Who’ll love it? Coffeeholics.

Make the New Year sweeter with a selection of cookies baked from Grandma Frieda Solomon’s secret recipes. A three-month cookie-of-the-month gift from Solomon’s Gourmet Cookies begins at $48.95. 888/384-8575; www.solomonscookies.com. Who’ll love it? Who doesn’t love cookies from Grandma?

Have your cake and donate, too. Five percent of the online sales of these tasty treats go to The Make-A-Wish Foundation of America. Extra special touches: The cakes come packaged in gold boxes with personalized messages. Price: $19.99 to $39.99, plus postage and handling. 888/987-9474; www.bakemeawish.com. Who’ll love it? Anyone who might otherwise feel a tad guilty eating dessert.

Warm up their winter nights with gourmet hot chocolate from Bellagio in flavors such as white chocolate and chocolate truffle. Price: $5.50 per canister. 504/269-5707; http://bluefrogchocolates.com. Top it with homemade marshmallows from Whole Foods supermarkets. Who’ll love it? Skaters, sledders, snow shovelers, and fireplace snugglers.

Help them keep the fun and frolic of the season alive all year with Realtor Benefits(sm) partner Entertainment® books. The coupon book offers discounts on dining, travel, and attractions. Price: $15 to $45, depending on location. 800/672-3053 or REALTOR.org/realtorbenefits. Who’ll love it? You, when you save 50 percent-plus on your purchase. Place order by Nov. 15 to receive book between Dec. 1 and 8.

Add class to any holiday gathering with a bottle of good bubbly. Price: $38 for Kluge Estate 2003 SP sparkler. 434/977-3895; www.klugeestateonline.com. Who’ll love it? The lady who listens to Cole Porter instead of Coldplay.

Help out fledgling cooks, or overextended ones, with a special meal prepared in their kitchen. Private Chefs Inc. represents more than 800 chefs worldwide. Prices vary. Log on to www.privatechefsinc.com for select cities or call your local cooking school. Who’ll love it? The hostess who doesn’t know to take the plastic off the turkey.

Remember, dogs are the new children, so don’t forget Fido this holiday. Pampered pooches will love Gourmet Gift Basket Inc.’s dog bone–shaped basket with bowl, toys, and treats, Price: $40. 800/934-4386; www.legift.com. Who’ll love it? Woof, woof.

Clients can sit down to a quick and tasty meal after a hard day of holiday decorating with GourmetStation’s dinner for two. Choices arrive in a cooler-style box. A Tuscan dinner includes a kalamata and artichoke tart, chicken Roma, and Kailua cheesecake. Price:$69.99. 888/944-9794; www.GourmetStation.com. Who’ll love it? The time-crunched gourmet.

Provide the perfect party for the environmentalist on your list with organic party mixers. An oxymoron? Hardly. Modmix uses only organic ingredients for its pomegranate cosmopolitan, lavender lemon drop, and citrus margarita. A bottle costs $14.99, or three for $50. www.mod-mix.com. Who’ll love it? Those who want a healthy New Year’s Eve, but still want to party hardy.

Satisfy the chocoholics on your list with Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory Confection Tower. Chocolate-covered gummy bears, cashews, raisins, peanuts, nonpareils, creams, turtles, and toffee from Because Baskets & Beyond cost $60. Other premade and customized gift baskets are available. 866/748-1200; www.justbecausebaskets.com. Who’ll love it? Anyone who dreams of chocolate and wants to do a good deed—a portion of every sale goes to the American Cancer Society.

Do a Good Deed

Share the joy of the season with a donation to your client’s favorite charity. For example, the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation partners with organizations to offer a variety of pink ribbon gifts, such as a Waterford crystal bowl with pink “ribbons,” Price: $60. Eighty percent of the cost of each gift goes toward research. Who’ll love it? Anyone who loves pink and a fabulous cause.

Keep gifts in the REALTOR® family with a donation in your clients’ names to one of the national charities supported by REALTOR® Magazine’s Good Neighbor™ Award winners (see page 39). At REALTOR.org/realtormag, click the Good Neighbor logo. Who’ll love it? The former Scrooge who now wants to have and share the holiday spirit.

Make the REALTOR® Relief Foundation a part of your holiday giving and help build reserves to aid REALTORS® in future disasters. 800/874-6500; www.REALTOR.org/relief. Who’ll love it? Those who have the true meaning of the holidays in their hearts.

Of Tech and Tinsel

Help them run off those holiday pounds with the Nike+iPod Sport Kit. A sensor in special Nikes transmits exercise data to their iPod Nano so that they can fine-tune their regimen. Retails for $29, plus shoes and iPod Nano. 800/806-6453; www.nikeplus.com. Who’ll love it? Those who completely blew their diets at all those holiday parties.

Make clients’ correspondence more personal by taking a photo of their house, kids, or dog and turning it into actual postage stamps they can use to send those holiday thank-you cards. One sheet of 20 39-cent stamps costs $17.99. www.photostamps.com. Who’ll love it? Everyone who loves to brag about their kids.

Don’t let clients get lost going over the river and through the woods. Give a copy of Rand McNally’s Road Atlas Gift Edition 2007. Price: $16.95. www.randmcnally.com. Who’ll love it? The directionally challenged.

Give the gift of portable holiday music with Coby Electronics’ compact MP3 players. Prices range from $19.99 to $39.99. 800/688-COBY; www.cobyusa.com. Who’ll love it? Anyone jealous of their kids’ iPods.

To help them combat the senior moments that holiday stress can bring, get them Motorola’s E52 Expandable Digital Cordless Phone, complete with large buttons for aging boomer eyes and a paging feature to help locate a lost handset. Price: $49. http://broadband.motorola.com. Then go to “Products for the Home” and Cordless Phones, and look for the Purist E-series. Who’ll love it? Anyone over 50.

Ease the stress of long days at the mall with the Conaire Sqweez Soft Body Massager. Great for feet and necks. Price: $19.95. 800/870-7140; www.footsmart.com. Who’ll love it? Someone who just went to five stores looking for the must-have toy of the year.

Help golfers get onto the green with 3M’s premium or standard leather golf glove, designed to lengthen their drive. Price: $11.95 to $15.99. 877/339-3933. Available at Austad’s Golf (www.austads.com), local pro shops, and other retailers. Who’ll love it? Every weekend duffer who’s never made par.

Encourage them to store up energy for the big day with a good nap, helped along by the white noise of Sound Spa from HoMedics. Priced at $39.95. 800/466-3342; www.homedics.com. Who’ll love it? Anyone tired of hearing “I’m dreaming of a white Christmas.”outside the box

Forget the video games for the geek on your list. Instead, give the “Artoo Potatoo,” which changes an ordinary potato into the hero of the intergalactic world. Priced at $9.99 from ThinkGeek.com. 703/293-6299; www.thinkgeek.com. Who’ll love it? The nerd next door.

Get into the New York state of mind with a 500-piece puzzle of Rockefeller Center decked out for the holidays. Price: $7.94, plus $7.99 for shipping. 877/544-7294; www.puzzlesusa.com. Who’ll love it? Anybody who never misses the “Today” show.

While away the hours after a holiday dinner with great board games. Dog lovers will go for “Dog-Opoly,” but the next superstar will prefer “Photo-Opoly.” Each game costs $23.77. 866/625-3386, www.funfinity.com. Who’ll love it? Any adult who wants to keep the kids occupied.

Put the pedal to the metal with a Club Sportiva six-month holiday membership package, which includes five driving days behind the wheel of one of the club’s 20 automotive legends, such as a Lamborghini Gallardo. Holiday gift package, $2,995. 866/719-1600; www.clubsportiva.com. Who’ll love it? Who wouldn’t?