Aaron's Last Minute Gift Guide

It's just about Christmas and I'm sure everyone reading this has finished their shopping, so consider this an extremely early 2025 gift guide. I've tried to cover a wide price range here, but each of these is a serious suggestion with items I've personally tested. 

This is Grok's idea of a "cartoon shop vac"

Battery Powered Shop Vac

One of the quirky things about my wife is that while she doesn't seem to like vacuuming, she loves vacuums. She may not tell you that she loves vacuums, but her actions speak louder. On no less than four occasions during our marriage, she has asked for a vacuum as a present. And she has received the requested item every time.

The best of these is the battery powered shop vac. We had different shop vacs before, but invariably the cords become an issue. My dad keeps a 50ft extension cord wrapped around his shop vac, which is handier than hunting one down when you need it, but not nearly as good as being cord free.

We use the Ryobi cordless vacuum and it is great, but you will want to find out if the gift receiver has a battery tool system they already use. It's frustrating having one outlier that you have to charge on its own system.

A Subscription of some kind.

Most of the people you are looking for a gift for are likely more a part of the digital age than you realize. My 76 year old father was sitting in his recliner with two devices in his lap and a streaming service on the TV on the night I wrote this. Since we spend our time in the digital realm, we should at least try to do it with quality content, and that often means paying for a subscription.

This is Grok's graphic representation of a subscription.

You can use this in different ways as well. A subscription can show that you understand and support that person. For example getting an outdoor enthusiast an All Trails subscription or a homeschool parent a Daily Wire subscription. Or it can be used to try and improve the recipient. For example getting a couch potato an All Trails subscription, or your crazy hippie aunt a Daily Wire subscription.

This gift requires the most thought as there are wide variabilities between types of subscription, but it also gives you the widest selection of price points. Some possibilities are: Duolingo, The New York Times (includes daily games like Wordle), or geocaching.com. If you are shopping for a reader, Substack likely has a favorite author offering regular articles for a price. You can even think local, like the Cedar County Republican. Sadly, the St. Clair County Courier is unavailable at this time.

A Remote with a Find Feature

I'm not sure if this is readily available or convenient in any other model, but I hated to lock it into one streaming device. That said, the Amazon Fire TV Remote Pro has been a favorite gift I've received. The buttons light up, it works as expected without a million other options, and when the Chiefs game is about to start and the remote is missing, it is a fantastic feeling to say, “Alexa, find my remote." Then, the remote starts calling out for you.

A Long Shoehorn 

One undeniable truth in life is that everyone ages. This may seem like a gift for the elderly, but don't we all hope our loved ones make it there. With the proliferation of laceless sneakers, the range of people this has become useful for has increased greatly. They will have fond feelings for you each morning when they don't have to bend down or awkwardly dance on one leg to get themselves out the door. For bonus points give this with a 3M hook to hang it inside the closet.

Those are my gift ideas for 2024 or 2025. I think you will agree they are timeless. If you enjoy reading about some gifts you would never actually buy here is Dave Barry’s 2024 gift guide. It's funnier than mine, but I promise not as useful.