This one will combine gift ideas for my brother, my dad, and my Paul.

 

The Taco Rack Senior. This is something my brother asked for. We have one, and there is a long list of things I like about it:

1. It works
2. It stores flat

I think it’s overpriced (twenty dollars for three flat metal shapes), and yet I would buy it again immediately if something happened to ours. It looks from the picture as if it will only heat up six shells at a time, so that you would need TWO twenty-dollar racks to make more than six shells, but we turn more shells upside down on top of the first set, in an interlocking way so that one shell is over half each of two shells, or over just half of one shell if it’s an end-shell (this is one of those things that is so easy to do and so hard to explain). There is also a Taco Rack Junior, which would heat three shells with another four turned upside down on top of those. The instructions suggest also FILLING the tacos using this rack, but we only use it to heat up the shells.

 

TacoProper taco holders. Twelve individual pieces. This is what we use on the plates, to hold the shells upright for filling/serving. Amusingly, these come with a DEMO VIDEO. They also try to make a selling point out of the fact that these can’t be used in the oven. Anyway, they’re really good for what they’re made for, and they can go in the dishwasher, in the silverware rack. Very handy.

 

LightKeeper Pro. I got this for my dad after reading MomQueenBee’s review. On Amazon, review after review after review says it didn’t work, or doesn’t work on pre-lits, so this was more a Fun Gift, like the time we got him the remote that said it would turn down the volume on those TVs at Walmart that show you commercials while you’re trying to shop. The remote didn’t work AT ALL, but it was fun to open, and fun to try. And maybe the LightKeeper WILL work, and wouldn’t THAT be nice! It DID work for MomQueenBee and she DOES have a pre-lit tree.

 

Giant Smarties. Same as regular Smarties, but HUGE instead of TINY: each roll is about 4 inches long, and each Smartie is about three-quarters of an inch across. I get these for Paul. The hardware store he goes to sells these for $1.39 per roll: they really are a fun novelty item, but A DOLLAR THIRTY-NINE? So for about $20 I buy a 36-pack: 55 cents per roll seems like a much better price.

These are also nice to use individually as stocking stuffers, or to tie onto the top of gifts. We went to one birthday party where I think the birthday child was more excited about the two rolls of Smarties I tied to the top of her gift than about the gift itself. (I checked with the mom ahead of time about food allergies / dye sensitivities, in case you are getting a fretful feeling as I tell this anecdote.)

 

I was complaining to Paul about the price of Minecraft figurines and whether they were worth getting for any of the children, and I noticed his eyes were shining. I said, “…YOU don’t want them, do you??”—and he DID. He DID want them. He wanted a WHOLE BUNCH of them, to set up on his desk at work. So I got him the animal 6-pack, the core survival pack (Steve, bed, chest, crafting table, pickaxe, sword), the creeper pack, the zombie pack, the enderman pack, and the spider jockey pack. I could not BELIEVE how much I was spending on LITTLE ACTION FIGURES for a GROWN MAN. (But if you are reading this in a future where those prices have been hiked up due to the figures being discontinued, it wasn’t THAT much. “His main present”-level, not “Obtained second mortgage”-level.)

 

Speed square. This is a tool my dad wanted. I got the feeling it was in the category of “tool basics that will last you your whole life, so you only need to buy another one if you have a second residence or else want one for the workshop and one for the toolbox.”

 

This, as you certainly already know, is a Mini Universal 3D Magnetic Base Holder! Instantly recognizable, am I right? Paul wanted one and I ordered it without knowing what on earth I was buying. And he loves it! It is a huge success and he wants another for his birthday! So! That’s good!

He gave me a demonstration, and I am REALLY not interested in workshop stuff but it did look like a handy device. Basically it clamps onto things and holds them for you and you can move them around in various ways as if it were your flexible robot assistant, which is useful. Anyway, if you have a workshop guy in your life, perhaps he would like one of these too.