Gift Ideas for Black Friday

Welcome to my first Jolyse’s Friday Find post. Since this also happens to be Black Friday, the coolest shopping day of the year for all my bargain and gift hunting friends, I’ve decided to include more than one of my favorite discoveries this week. Enjoy!

Jolyse’s Choice for Coolest Gadget Gift of 2015

Do you have a bunch of peeps on your gift list and you want to impress but don’t want to break the bank? Check out the Tile, a tech gift anyone can use–from your uber-cool twenty- and thirty-something nieces and nephews to your eighty-something parent. From my research, the device is reasonably priced at $25 for one. A pack of 12 is $17.50 per Tile, or $15 a Tile on Black Friday. Since the battery is sealed within the little unit, owners receive an email eleven months after activation with the opportunity to order a new one at a reduced price. (Currently, Tile owners are offered a replacement at $12 and are sent a prepaid envelope to return the old Tile for recycling). The company appears to provide great customer service with a replacement warranty if a Tile doesn’t perform as stated for the year. I like the premise of this little gadget and think it has potential down the road for more uses, the concept of a community of Tile users helping each other locate lost or stolen items for each other just one of the possibilities. That’s just plain cool in my book.

Gift for Multi-Taskers

There are many organizers and planners out there, but I’d highly recommend Erin Condren planners. My friend, Jeannie Moon, gave me one for Christmas last year and I’m hooked. How can I not use it? It’s pretty, sturdy, functional and personalized to fit my needs. I can organize my home life, my day job, my writing life, and my health/fitness goals all in one book. It’s too large to misplace but small enough to fit in a larger purse or briefcase/backpack. Oh, and the Black Friday sale has 30% off selected items.

Gift for Car or Truck Owners

I first spied this practical gift idea on TV last weekend–the HALO Bolt Portable Charger and Car Jump Starter and immediately thought of buying it for my sixteen-year-old son. (Shhh. Don’t tell him!) He has been quite nervous during bad weather ever since Hurricane Irene and Hurricane Sandy hit our region, the latter storm having knocked out our home’s power for eight days. He’d like the light  on the charger in addition to the charger for his phone and other electronic devices. I think women may like the jump starter aspect. I know I do.

Gift for Readers

If you’re the type of person who reads anything and everything available, from the back of the cereal box at the kitchen table to the toothpaste tube while hanging out in the bathroom doing your thing, I suspect you’d agree with me that books are books, whether print or ebook. I’m the happy owner of a Kindle Paperwhite I received for Mother’s Day this past May, but the newest version released this summer’s on Black Friday sale for $99 dollars.  If you want to splurge, Kindle has once again improved their technology with the Kindle Voyage at $199.  It’s super-thin at 7.6 mm and weighs only 6.4 oz, about an oz. less than the Paperwhite.

Gift for Writers

Like many writers, I go weak at the knees when I enter a stationery or arts & school supplies store. Always have. I’ll write on napkins, in cheap spiral notebooks, whatever’s handy when the muse strikes, but Moleskine makes my favorite journal. I always carry a small, ruled one everywhere with me and keep another on my nightstand. The plain, small notebooks are perfect for anyone in your life who like to doodle, sketch, and write observations, ideas, lists, or whatever their creative little hearts desire. (Think unusual stocking stuffer! You could pair it with a cool pen or three.) For Black Friday sales, go to moleskine.com. They’re also offering free shipping for orders of $30 and more.

Now it’s your turn. What Black Friday or holiday gift giving ideas have you found?

photo credit: Darker Hearts via photopin (license)