Holiday gift ideas part two: gift items

1. Puzzles of city scenes.  This one is of DC.  The New York Times offers puzzles of any front page they have published.

2. Transit authority gift items.  How about a transit-related ornament or book?  Many transit authorities have comprehensive gift stores (run by third parties--they could have better book selections, but that's another matter).  Here are a few websites: NYC Transit Museum Store, WMATA, MBTA, CTA.

3.  Izola is a company produces shower curtains of city and transit system maps.  I think they're cool.

4.  The Lego architecture construction block series is really cool (but expensive).  I wish that the dude who created versions of various regional bus livery schemes would come up with schematics for people too...  See "DC transit in Lego" from Greater Greater Washington.

5.  How about a gift certificate from a local bike shop?  Like BicycleSpace in DC.  Better to give a gift certificate than to buy something that they might not like...

6.  For kids, I like the idea of cookbooks, such as At the Farmers Market with Kids from Chronicle Books, appropriately sized gardening or cooking implements, or a subscription to the ChopChop Magazine for kids and families.

7.  For relatives, I like to get trees or other plant material.  E.g., a couple years ago, we got Suzanne's parents an avocado tree.  And if anyone wants it, we have an errant holly tree growing in one of our beds in the front of the house that we'll have to pull soon enough....

SO relatedly would be books like the Back Yard Orchardist or the Back Yard Berry Book.