SEOcret Santa

Weird and Wonderful Gifts for a Geek Christmas

So, it’s that most wonderful time of the year once again!

Offices up and down the country are preparing for their secret Santa programs, but more importantly, SEOcret Santa has restarted for 2011!

I’ve been elf’ed up and I’m getting in the spirit (literally it seems looking at my elf picture with a bottle of rum at the ready and a couple of spares to see me through the Christmas period).

I’ve tried to scour the web in search of great gifts for geeks to make it easier for all the folks signing up to be Santa, as it sounds like there are lots of brave Santa’s (me included) who are feeling brave and are asking to be surprised this year.

Very brave indeed!

So I’ve decided to join Santa’s elves with a guest post here looking for weird and wonderful gift ideas for geeks this Christmas. I should note – if you are my Santa, you don’t have to get me any of these if you have any ideas yourself!

Handerpants

If you follow me on Twitter, you may have seen me raving about these already – they are gloves that look like underpants! What’s to not like? Watch the passion in this video from the product makers and tell me that this isn’t just genius!

Their website says that they have hundreds of uses, including reducing twitter chaffing and night blogging. Treat your friends to some handy handerpants! This gift isn’t quite in the £5 range, but if the person you are Santa for is worth it, then maybe you should give it a go.

Robots Are Awesome

This statement, whilst true particularly relates to a gift I recently got for my girlfriend:

 

Needless to say, she loved it!

Robots generally are awesome, and come in all sorts of shapes and sizes. I know lots of geeks that love a robot, and there are so many styles available that you are bound to be able to find one to suit their character perfectly.

I also found a fun little noisy robot called an Echo Bot – a cheap and cheerful alient intruder alarm that also looks really cute. It also has the added advantage of having a message recorded on it that you can customise!

 

Desk Accoutrements

Nearly every geek will have some kind of desk and workspace that will need brightening up, making it a perfect, memorable gift for Santa’s to give out. Some of my personal favourites are:

The Wheelie Bin Desk Tidy:

 

Tidy up that loose clutter with a bin for your desk – I usually dump everything in a drawer at the moment, but this is much more interesting!

Then there are monitor mirrors – I know I’ve sat in desk locations where it would be really good for me to know who was walking up behind me (my current desk is right in the middle of the room!) So, help people know what’s going on around them.

 

I also found these cable management Quirky Cordies to help you tidy up all your various cables that you need for all the gadgets that these geeks tend to collect.

 

Lego

I’m not super knowledgeable about Lego – but I know that lots of people in my Twitter stream are certainly interested in adding to their collections, so you could do much worse than picking up a small bit for the right person.

I’ve also seen lots of people talking about Lego advent calendars which sounds like a great idea, although it’s perhaps going to be a little late by the time these get delivered.

For The Blokes

The LavNav – Well, being the bloke that I am, I know that locating the toilet in the dark can be a problem, especially after a couple of drinks! This has a motion sensor so that when you stumble into the loo in the middle of the night, you have no excuse for not finding your way!

Sock Sandals could be another winner for the right candidate – I’ve known plenty of geek friends rock this combo despite the mockery, and why not let them do that whilst wearing just one item!

 

Finally, I stumbled across these Beard Hats too. I ask you, what man wouldn’t look wonderful in one of these?

 

For the Ladies

I’m not completely confident that I am going to get this bit right, but here goes. I have a graphic designer for a girlfriend and she seemed to like them, but she isn’t in the upper echelons of geekdom like some of us!

Steam Punk jewellery is something I’ve seen shared by some geek friends on Pinterest, but it’s also something that the missus loves, so I reckon that this is a fairly good option. You could spend hundreds of pounds, but there are some really nice quirky pieces available for much less.

 

 

Or perhaps you could choose a really cute USB flash drives (ok, some uber geeks might be beyond USB drives these days, but I still carry one around with me):

 

Perhaps you could get this lovely set with a lunch box and spork:

 

Useful Gifts

Lots of SEOs are also known to have to tackle some hardware issues from time to time, so whilst a rather practical gift, it might be worth considering getting this compact and colourful screw driver set:

 

I had this fun camera tripod recommended to me as well for some further inspiration. The good thing about this one, is that not only does it hold your shots steady, but it’s also really flexible and can be attached to various locations for some really interesting shots making it perfect for budding photographers

 

Alternatively, for some of the big tea drinkers that I know reside in this community, why not try out one of these mugs:

 

Make sure you never get tea made to your particular requests by showing whoever is making it the strength and colour that you like it!

For People with Pets

There are quite a few internet marketing types that are fond of their animals, so why not get them a gift for their best friends!

Humunga Stache is a great idea – it’s a rubber a ball with an added moustache! The perfect addition for any dog! Check out this little doggy!

Whilst I’m in a minority in the online marketing community, I’m not that fussed about cats and kittens – they have a tendency to attack me on sight, so we often don’t make best friends. However (and I may be massively behind the times with these) the cat playhouses made me laugh:

 

I hope that this post has given you some ideas on potential things that aspiring Santa’s can choose for their lucky recipients. It was certainly fun looking for all of these, and who knows; when I’m Santa, I may get one of these for you!

(I must also say thanks to my two helper elves, Michelle Winter and Sarah Jane Walker for helping me put this list together – I’m sure I’ll carry on my hunt for further gifts, so maybe keep an eye on my Secret Santa Ideas Pinterest Board).

Peter Handley is an SEO Helper Elf from the south of England