AA Gifts & Baskets Idea Blog

Archive for the ‘Men’ Category

Sports nuts are a special breed. They live, sleep, and breathe their favorite teams. Nothing is too extreme when it comes to the sport they’re cheering for. So think like a sport fanatic and give a gift this year that he’ll really love.

Here are ten gift ideas to get you started thinking:

1.      Tickets to his Team’s Games: The best gift you can give a sportsman is tickets to his favorite season’s games. If you can swing season tickets, great. If not, plan a big day where he goes with you and his best buddies for a big game in person.

2.      Memorabilia of Old: Look on auction sites and at flea markets for memorabilia of his favorite team. You may be surprised at what you find. You might unearth a Super Bowl ring or a vintage jacket. It’s worth looking into.

3.      Team Colors: He’s probably already got t-shirts, caps, and every item ever made with his team’s logo. Why not surprise him and let him decorate an entire room of the house in his team’s colors? He will be utterly dumbfounded that he gets a whole room to decorate as a man cave.

4.      Bar Stools: Get him bar stools with his team’s logo on the seat. There are many companies from which you can purchase these on the Internet. They’re fun and whimsical, especially in his man cave.

5.      A Camp Experience: If you can swing it, send him off to a day at professional sports camp. Many teams offer the opportunity to train for a day with their favorite players. It’s a once in a lifetime experience he will never forget.

6.      Signed Items: Check out pawn shops, flea markets, and online for signed baseballs, jerseys, and other sports memorabilia. You’ll be sure to buy one thing he doesn’t already have.

7.      Baseball Cards: The baseball cards he traded as a kid are now worth big bucks. Try to find a card that he’s searching for online or get him a few from his favorite team that later may go up in value.

8.      Tailgating Merchandise: If he’s a sports lover, he must love tailgating. Buy him a few pieces of equipment to trick out his rig. You might get a portable grill or smoker, coolers, grilling tools, or even tables and chairs that fold for easy storage.

9.      Binoculars: If he doesn’t already have a set of first class binoculars, get him one. Today’s binoculars also come in night vision for those night games. And you can even get binoculars that have cameras built in so he can take shots of what he sees.

10.  A Huge TV: When it all comes down to it, the sports fan loves his TV. Surprise him with a High Definition LCD TV that’s equipped for 3D. 3D is about to be the wave of the future in TV viewing, so get him set up now. The bigger, the better when it comes to TVs, so get the best deal you can on the biggest TV you can.

It’s not really hard to buy for a sports fan. If you think like him, you’ll be sure to show up with the best birthday gift he has ever had. If you don't think you can swing something quite as expensive as the above ideas, you can always surprise him with a sports gift basket this year that he won’t soon forget.

Still on the hunt for gifts? Try this article on Father's Day Gadget Gift Ideas.

Chapter One of the Great Gatsby

Some men love to read and have a vast library. For them, a book is a gift of travel and suspense and otherworldly sensations. Others are more comfortable reading the Financial Times or Sports Illustrated than an actual novel. But if you are a man who would like to get more into reading the best books or a friend who wants to give a man book gifts, put these ten great books on your list.

1. The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald
2. 1984 by George Orwell
3. The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger
4. The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde
5. Brave New World by Aldous Huxley
6. Dharma Bums by Jack Kerouac
7. Catch-22 by Joseph Heller
8. Lord of the Flies by William Golding
9. Ulysses by James Joyce
10. The Art of Warfare by Sun Tzu

Yes, some of these, if not all of these classics were on your English Literature reading list in high school or college. But that doesn’t mean that they’re just for students. They are for students of life. What makes each of these books great is an author who was ahead of his time.

Many of these titles star a fierce hero who overcomes adversity. But that’s not the draw here. It’s the writing style and the treatment of the subject matter. Each book on this list is written in a voice that only that particular author could have created.

In The Great Gatsby, for instance, the hero is a rich man named Jay Gatsby (yes, he was played by Robert Redford in the movie version). The story is set in the glory days of the 1920s when money was thrown around by those who had it. The story line is not what keeps readers coming back. Instead, it’s the way F. Scott Fitzgerald infuses his particular genius on the material. The narrator is not Gatsby, but Nick Hornby. His likeable and yet fragile narrator takes on a completely different voice than the voice of the man Gatsby himself. Books of this type do not come along every day and so it should be in any library of classics.

Great books abound. Of course, there are more than ten that should be included in every thinking man’s repertoire. But today’s authors also produce their own brand of greatness. The likes of Stephen King cannot be duplicated. His brand of writing has thrilled every reader who has ever experienced its spine tingling beauty.

For men who want to become readers, or the people who want to give them the great authors, there’s no shortage of amazing books out there. Browse online to sign up for book blog feeds and you will find that readers spring up with superb recommendations on what to read next.

If you're looking for baby book gifts for a little man, there are plenty of options out there, but you're likely going to want to look at Little Einstein book sets or Mickey Mouse instead. Now if you find yourself at a loss for the manly men of your life, look up the classics and staff picks at a book store or go online to a site like Amazon, Borders, or Barnes and Noble, and see which books rank in the tops. Of millions of books, only one book can be number one. Breeze on by and see what it is. Chances are, once you get it home and read it, you’ll have no trouble recognizing why it hit that top position and stayed there.

Related Articles:

1. Gifts for Book Lovers
2. Great Gifts for Grandparents

It's that time of year again.  Can you smell the barbecue in the air?

We carry a variety of Gift Baskets that have the grilling pastime in mind.  Marinades, Barbecue sauces and gourmet mustard's complement the variety of snacks we pack in each basket.

Grilling Snack Baskets make great gifts for Father's Day, Independence Day, or any other summer event.

Our Jim & Jack's Grillin' Gift Basket features two true classics.  Jim Beam and Jack Daniels have lent their flavors to an assortment of sauces and marinades to make your next grilling adventure memorable! We have filled our red gloss basket with Jack Daniels BBQ sauce, marinade mix, horseradish sauce, sweet N hot mustard and gourmet coffee, along with Jim Beam medium salsa and beef jerky. Their friend Southern Comfort has joined the party with some gourmet coffee, along with Buffalo Bill's tortilla strips, pretzel rods, 3 pepper water crackers, smokey cheddar cheese, peanut butter-filled pretzel nuggets, chocolate fudge popcorn, Claey's old fashioned fudge, and chocolate chip cookies. We also sneak in a set of grillin hot pads.

Visit All About Gifts & Baskets for great Barbecue baskets for every occasion.