THINGAMAWHAT?

Between December holidays, birthdays, anniversaries, and other special occasions, the average American spends well over $1,000 per year on gifts. We buy gifts for family and friends, of course, but there’s also wedding gifts, graduation gifts, housewarming gifts, get well gifts, and countless other occasions that will make us reach into our wallets and test our generosity. That may sound like a lot of giving, but these traditions are an important part of cultivating our personal relationships, and don’t forget that you get a portion of that money back in the form of gifts given to you. Give and you shall receive, it’s a beautiful system.

The sad part is, many of these gifts will never get used. Instead, they will be tucked away in the back of a closet and forgotten. Even gift cards go unused, as crazy as that sounds. NPR reports that over $41 billion in gifts cards haven’t been redeemed since 2005. That’s a lot of wasted money, pointless effort, and a lot of missed opportunities to really enrich the lives of our loved ones.

The reason for this sad state of affairs is simple – most people are bad gifters. And we can’t blame them, knowing what to get someone is a challenge, and we’re all guilty of delivering less than stellar presents from time to time. There are lots of reasons people end up choosing bad gifts. Sometimes people go with something they would like instead of truly thinking about the recipient. Other people procrastinate and end up with a small set of options in the eleventh hour. One of the worst offenses is giving someone something they already have – who needs two Keurig coffee makers?

This is a silly situation since there are actually tons of great products and ideas out there waiting to be discovered. The only trouble is that the selection of thingamajigs and widgets is so vast these days that the exceptional ideas get lost in a sea of ordinary things. The perfect gift may just be a google search away, but buried so deep that it would be a full time job to find it. Luckily for you, that is exactly what we do. Thingamagift is always on the lookout for unique gift ideas. We dig into the deep pockets of the internet, mining for innovative products. The kinds of things that will not get pushed to the back of the closet. The kinds of things people didn’t know they couldn’t live without. Our goal is to put the joy and surprise back in giving, and in receiving. Shopping for gifts shouldn’t be a chore, it should be a chance to examine and strengthen the bonds between friends and loved ones. This website is a showcase of creative ideas designed to help you find what you need without spending your whole day doing it.

Thingamagift doesn’t process payments, take orders, or ship any of the unique products that are featured here. The site is a curated directory of ideas from trusted retailers big and small, as well as ideas for things you can find locally and DIY gifts you can make yourself. In some cases, if you visit an online store like Amazon from one of our gift guides and make a purchase, we receive a small referral fee from the retailer. This sales commission is taken out of the retailer’s profits, it is not passed along to the customer so you’ll always pay the lowest price possible. In other cases, we get nothing except the satisfaction of knowing someone, somewhere, is about to receive a gift that will make them feel like a kid again.

If you have questions, comments, or gift suggestions feel free to reach out and tell us what’s on your mind.