Is the headline below how you feel about shopping for holiday gifts for guys?
Q: What is a woman’s favorite holiday w(h)ine?
A: “Guys are so hard to buy for!”
To help you tackle this problem, I put together an extensive list of ideas for holiday gifts for guys. In order to facilitate your shopping experience, I’ve included links to many of these items. Several are “affiliate links” which may yield a tuppence or two for me, but hey, that’s how I pay Santa’s elves!
Ready? Let’s go!
What are the three best presents you’ve received to date?
A while back, I posed the above question to some of my husband Tony’s college football officiating friends. Here are a few of their answers.
- Leather key fob stamped with “Pop”
- Coffee cup coaster hand-painted by a daughter
- Hand-written card from each child inviting him on a father-child outing
- A collage of family photos
- A framed picture of a local newspaper article about an event he participated in
- A Porsche (FYI Tony Bear, don’t get your hopes up!)
As you can see, when it comes to holiday gifts for guys, hand-made and personal gifts are likely winners.
To gather more ideas, I posed a similar question to my guy friends on Facebook.
For the record, I actually think more ladies than men answered the question. Either way, I collected a ton of great gift ideas. For instance:
Yeti travel cup
Interesting socks
Food-prep gizmos (ie. cheese-making kit, bacon-making kit, whiskey-aging kit)
Gourmet food items (ie. chocolate, exotic fruit basket, nuts, exotic game meat, a pumpkin pie)
Tools or supplies for a hobby (ie. camping, beer or whiskey-making, hammocking, mushroom hunting)
Gift card from Home Depot, Cabela’s, or Dick’s Sporting Goods
Merchandise from his favorite sports team
Telescope
Restaurant gift cards
Adult beverage(s) of choice: beer, wine, whiskey, etc..
Watch
Fancy Flashlight
Dress shirt and coordinating tie
Certificate for a back rub, massage, facial, or “sports” pedicure
Coupon for “other personal services,” from their sweetie, of course!
Wireless headphones for the gym (or the airplane if he travels a lot)
Newspaper or magazine subscription
Add money to a turnpike or EZ Pass
Certificate for a family (or couple) get-away
Gift card to an indoor shooting range
Socks or underwear. Or both.
Lingerie (for you, not him!)
To gather even more gift ideas, I also read tons of articles titled, “Best Guy Gifts” and found these cool items:
Lifestraw ($11.99)
Elite Hookey Ring Toss Game ($34.99)
11 in 1 Beer Opener Survival Tool ($12.99)
Magnetic Wristband to hold nuts and screws ($16.99)
Endurance: My Year in Space book ($11.56)
Breakfast Sandwich Maker ($24.99)
Hot Dog (and Bun) Toaster ($19.77)
Beer & Whiskey-flavored nuts ($39.95)
Corksicle Beer Chilling Sticks ($19.95)
Hot Sauce Sampler Pack ($34.99)
Reversible Belt ($24.00)
Favorite holiday gifts for guys that I’ve given (or plan to give):
Over the years, I’ve hit some home runs with my guy gift ideas. For example:
- Books: ie. Just about anything by Stephen King, The Martian, books about war (ie. Unbroken) or personal development (ie. Atomic Habits). The last few years, Tony has been tearing through Lee Child’s Jack Reacher thriller series. Killing Floor is the first book in the series.
- DVDs (and/or sets) of movies your guy has loved: ie. The Bourne Trilogy, Die Hard 5-Movie Collection
- DVD sets of television shows your guy has loved: MacGyver: The Complete Collection, Miami Vice, Breaking Bad
- Monthly sock subscription
- Homemade Chex Mix in a tin: My mom used to make Chex Mix for Tony Bear every year.
- Homemade Sesame Candy in a tin: Our oldest daughter makes this candy for Tony every year. Send me an email if you want the recipe.
- Salsa Bag: This is a super easy gift for anyone who loves chips and salsa—a sturdy bag full of an assortment of salsas and tortilla chips. If you haven’t yet tasted Red Hot Blues Chips, try them ASAP. I can pretty much guarantee you’ll hear a heavenly choir when you take your first bite.
- Coffee bag: We have a lot of coffee lovers in our family so this year I’m giving away several coffee bags with coffee from CaffeDarte and Raven’s Brew Coffee.
- Candles: Everyone in my family–including the guys–loves candles. Bath and Bodyworks has reasonably-priced offerings. My son loves the Mahogany Teakwood fragrances. If you’re in the market for something a little more posh, I love candles from Nest New York.
- If your sweetie still listens to cds, buy them cds of bands they loved growing up or when you were dating. Or movie soundtracks like: “A Star Is Born” or “Bohemian Rhapsody”
But wait! There’s more… holiday gift ideas for guys
- T-shirt throw or quilt: A few years back, Tony’s sister made him a quilt using his old beer t-shirts. He LOVES it! If you don’t sew, have someone else make it, like MemoryStitch.
- A Slide Belt: This is a suggestion from Tony. He loves these belts so much he gave one to our son.
- A 5”x7” picture frame with 12 photos of you, you and him, the whole family, etc.. He can keep the frame on his desk at work and change the picture every month (I did this for my mother also.).
- Whiskey and all the trimmings: Every year I give Tony an updated copy of Jim Murray’s Whiskey Bible. I’ve also given him whiskey accessories from Crate and Barrel: ie. whiskey glasses, sphere ice molds, and stainless steel “ice cubes.” He gets even more excited when I gift him with actual whiskey.
- Reading Glasses: If your guy often misplaces his readers, consider getting him a few extra pair. I like that these are in multiple colors AND they block blue light!
- Introductory membership to a gym: Only give your honey this item if he won’t be offended. A few years ago, I gave Tony a 2-month trial membership to a local gym that offers personal training. He loved this gift so much, he still goes a couple times a week.
- Omaha Steaks: My mother used to send us Omaha Steak variety packs and the items were super tasty.
- Wolferman’s English Muffins: Mom bought us gifts from here also! Wolferman English muffins are awe-mazing—big, soft, and available in wonderfully unusual flavors. Give them a try. If you haven’t broken up with bread yet.
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There you have it, my updated list of holiday gifts for guys. If you have some great ideas, too, please let us hear about them down in the comments!
One more thing…In order to help you shop for the other half of your gift recipients, I’ll soon be updating my idea list of holiday gift for gals. In the meantime, if you need some ideas now, click here.
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