Charity Contribution - Heifer International

Well this may not be the most unique idea ever, after all giving money to a charity in somebody elses name isn't an entirely new idea. But it is a popular enough gift that I thought I would share my favorite charity, the one that I donate to as a gift when the occasion calls for it. My charity of choice is Heifer International. There are several reasons why I enjoy donating to this charity. For starters, you typically don't just donate $$$ you either buy some livestock animal or if you can't afford the cost of an entire animal you can contribue a "share". For instance, a heifer costs $500 but a share is only $50.

Why do I like this charity? Because it makes sense to me. Sure, giving cash to people in developing countries helps them, until the cash runs out. If all they bought was food (entirely resonable I admit) then when the money is gon so is the food. If you give them a goat, or a flock of chicks, or a cow, then you give them a sustainable way to provide for themselves (possibly even earn extra money).

A charitable donation gift from Heifer International is also much more visual. Saying that "$100 dollars has been donated to X Chartiy in your name" isn't nearly as visual a gift as being told that a Goat has been given in your name.

There are many different options and gifts avaliable for people of all income levels. From buying an entire community a "noahs ark" for $5000 to helping pay for a share of an animal for as little as $10.

The other great part about a Heifer International gift is that part of the program is for the first offspring produced from an animal is given to another family so your gift will literally keep on giving.

Unique Gift for Tealovers

I'm a pretty big fan of tea, hot or iced (no sugar). While sometimes I am content with your everyday tea bags, sometimes you need to add a little "flavor" to how you make your brew.

One of my favorite ways to find out about unique gifts is when somebody gives them to me. I get to feel the surprise, I get to enjoy using the gift for the first time, and most of all I can write an honest review having used a product. This gift was given to me by a brother and I think it is a great idea for a tea lover that is only used to tea bags.

Gift Idea: Glass teapot with blooming floral teas.

Blooming teas are tea leaves that are hand sewn into what look like small balls or bundles, when you drop them into a teapot the "bloom" often to reveal a beautiful flower. It is usually best to use a clear glass teapot so that you can showcase and enjoy the sight of the blooming tea art.

There are many places to find glass teapots and blooming art teas on the web but one of my favorites is EnjoyingTea They have a lot of great ideas for the tea lover in your life.

One of my Favorite Unique Gift Resources

Sorry for the rant last week, I had just seen a "One Stop Gift Shop" end cap at my local grocery store, it was basically just 500 different gift cards to different restaurants/stores and was claiming to be the ultimate gift shopping stop.

Let me get back to my purpose, sharing my finds for unique gifts and hopefully helping a few people find some great stuff. Today I want to share one of my favorite sites for techie gifts. I found this site a few years ago and have bought multiple gifts from them (some for myself :P ).

Think Geek - For techie, gamer, science, and office gifts this is one of my favorite sites to browse. They have some great gifts if you know who you are shopping for.

My personal favorite is a "gift" I bought, one for my brother and one for myself. I've used this for over two years now with much success. Its the Aeropress coffee(espresso) maker. Its a single cup coffee maker that makes a delicious treat every time. The only problem is that if you drink A LOT of coffee, then making it by the cup can get very annoying. If you only drink 1 or 2 cups a day it is a wonderful solution. You basically get all of the flavor of a french press but without any of the dregs let over (it filters very well).

The picture to the right gives you the general idea of the product. It makes it look more like its glass (the actual product is stury plastic)

The best part about this is there is relatively no cleanup. The plunger cleans out all of the coffee as you push down, you just throw away the (dry) grounds and rinse off the end.