GeekGirlCon Blog

GeekGiftGuide: Last Minute Gift Guide

It’s a few days before Christmas; the malls are mobbed from open to close, and you really need to find a stellar gift or two for some geeks in your life.

Who you gonna call?!? I’m pretty sure the Ghostbusters won’t be able to help on this one…

Ghostbusters patches available on Amazon!

Never fear! GeekGirlCon’s Last Minute Geek Gift Guide is here!

Kinda Last Minute
There’s always Amazon, but if I can, I like to think a little smaller. CafePress, ThinkGeek, Etsy, and HalfPrice Books have a wide variety of products guaranteed to appeal to the geek in your life: t-shirts, toys (both pop culture and scientific in nature), coffee mugs, movies, books, bumper stickers — and the list goes on!

The Hobbit Mini-Plush from ThinkGeek!

Local comic and games shops may offer gift cards or gift certificates if you’re overwhelmed by the amount of geek one place. Find out what genre your geek loves the best, then ask an employee to point you in the right direction. It saves time, and gives your shopping experience a personal touch–as well as giving that employee the opportunity to show off their own geek cred.

Elemental Wall Clock from CafePress

Here are some sites of local comic, games, and geek-inspired shops:
Greenwood Space Travel Supply (Seattle)
Golden Age Collectables (Pike Place Market)
Comic Stop (locations in Lynnwood, Everett, Redmond, and the U District)

Mostly Last Minute
It’s definitely time to go local, people. If you’ve got a steampunker or a scientist in your midst, shops like UW Surplus, Second Use, and Hardwick’s are goldmines. New and used machine parts, tools, building materials, furniture, and stuff you never thought about using might be just what your geek is looking for.

Fractional-Decimal Dial Calipers, available at Hardwick’s

There’s also a search option on Etsy for “shop local”. Find something you think your geek will like, and contact the artist. If that handmade awesomeness is available, it’s as easy as meeting the artist at a local coffee shop to exchange your money for the nifty gift.

Steampunk Necklace from LondonProductions, located in Seattle

TOTALLY Last Minute
Tickets to local events can be found on Brown Paper Tickets, a fair-trade ticket company; you can print them and hide them in a festive box for your geek to open. Brown Paper Tickets sells tickets to concerts, movies, author readings, and conventions. For instance, you can gift your geek with passes to GeekGirlCon ‘13! (shameless plug, I know…)

You can order tickets to other awesome Seattle geek events like Emerald City ComicCon and Sakura Con from other sites, as well.

I don’t know about you, but I love to poke around in museums and educational attractions. Don’t tell the kids about the educational part, though, or you might have a fight on your hands! Some suggestions for local places and events:

Pacific Science Center: The big one going on now through January 6, 2013 is the King Tut Exhibit. There are also rotating movies at the IMAX Theater, as well as camps and scientific exploration stuff for the kids.

Get your King Tut tickets now!

Woodland Park Zoo: Memberships, which help support both the zoo and animals in the wild all over the world, start at just $42 for adults for an entire year.

Seattle Aquarium: Learn to make fish faces of all kinds at the Seattle Aquarium! Special exhibits and fun, on-going classes for kids make this a fantastic gift.

MOHAI

Museum of History and Industry (MOHAI): The grand opening celebration of the new MOHAI building at 860 Terry Ave N in Seattle promises to be a day to remember in the history of Seattle!

Starbucks

NO TIME WHATSOEVER
As an absolute last minute option, there is probably a gift card rack at your local supermarket or convenience store. Those racks have gotten bigger over the years, and sometimes that card is the gift your geek will value most. They get to pick what they want at their leisure, online or in a store, and you don’t have to worry about having your gift exchanged or returned. Some racks contain gift cards for iTunes, a favorite restaurant, or online gaming sites. Even a gift card to that Seattle coffee chain looks pretty in its little envelope, and geeks love their caffeine.

Barnes and Noble Gift Card

My favorite gift, for anyone looking, is a Barnes and Noble gift card. Any denomination welcome. *wink*

Happy holidays, and happy shopping!

–
Sarah “SG-1” Grant
GeekGirlCon Copywriter
sarahg@geekgirlcon.com

Shiboo_Krismer
“Rock On!”

Ask GGC: What was your most memorable gift?

Hi folks! In this installment of Ask GGC, we asked our staff members about the most memorable gifts they’ve received. Read up on what some of them had to say:

“My first pet, a baby black and white kitten I named Domino! I asked for a cat (from Santa) when I was seven and decided to test Santa’s reality by putting my christmas list in a neighbor’s mailbox down the street (instead of my own where my parents could find it!) I never mentioned wanting a kitten to my parents, and I wanted one SO badly … and it turns out the neighbors found my letter and brought it back to my parents the next day. So Christmas morning, I woke up to a little black and white ball of fur under my neck! It was seriously one of the most magical moments from my childhood! I was convinced Santa was real!” – LB Chambers, Manager of Fundraising

Sarah’s gift: a talking Dalek!

“I dated a very nice guy several years back, and he was pretty good with gifts. For my birthday, he got me a pair of sterling silver earrings with pretty purple stones, and a gift card to Barnes and Noble — both right on the money. The best gift he ever got me came wrapped in the newspaper — comic section, of course. I opened as we were driving to dinner, and I remember bursting into delighted laughter. He got me a talking Dalek from Doctor Who — black case, flashing lights, rollers underneath it. When I hit the button it croaked out, ‘Exterminate the Doctor!’ and ‘Obey! Obey!’” – Sarah Grant, Copywriter

You can’t go wrong with Snoopy!

“One year, I asked Santa to bring me everything Snoopy … which were my exact words. ‘Bring me everything Snoopy!’ My mother saved all the letters, so there’s tangible proof. Among the avalanche of Snoopy memorabilia, two items tie for some of my most memorable gifts. There was the super-cool Snoopy snow cone machine that my cousins always wanted to use during the summer. It was a lot of work for a little treat! And I loved my Snoopy soap dispenser. The contraption attached to the counter with a suction cup, and it used a weird granular dry soap that looked like dry laundry detergent.” – Kristine Hassell, Twitter Administrator

“My most memorable gift was a Super Nintendo from my dad that was bundled with Donkey Kong Country when it first came out. We didn’t have much money growing up, so any kind of gift more than $50 wasn’t something I could hope for. My Pa and I used to play on the NES together (he’d ALWAYS AND FOREVER beat me at Tetris) so he thought of it as an investment in family time. My SNES still works perfectly, and I marathon Donkey Kong every so often!” – Meg Humphrey, Assistant Volunteer Coordinator

Stephanie and her boyfriend, Robert, celebrating after completing a half-marathon.

“My awesome boyfriend spoiled me on my birthday! He bought tickets for Wicked and got me a Camelback — complimenting my geeky and sporty interests.” – Stephanie Little, Web Administrator

Thanks, Staff! Readers, what was your most memorable gift?

Shiboo_Krismer
“Rock On!”