With the holiday season quickly approaching and the recession still affecting everyone’s wallet, gift giving is going to take an interesting turn this season. But don’t they always say the best gifts are those from the heart and not pre-packaged from a store?

Robert Verdi, style expert and TV host, detailed his favorite gift ideas for the Wall Street Journal, ranging from totally practical to totally random. Five tips, after the jump!

It may only be Aug. 18, but it’s never too early to get crackin’ on your holiday shopping. While some of you may operate well under pressure, I need to start thinking about it now. Even if I don’t buy the presents right away, it makes me feel less desperate because at least I know what’s out there.

This year, I may go all-out and get super organized, making friends and family fill out this cute vital stats sheet designed by Made in England (and available to download for free). Yes, you might come across as a little anal, but calling your sister on Dec. 19 to ask for her shoe size kind of ruins the surprise. [Made In England]

When a commitment-phobe I had been dating for two months excitedly told me he had a present for me—“you’ll love it,” he assured me—I prepared myself for a thoughtful, romantic gesture of his relationship readiness. But when I walked into his bedroom, he instead pointed at a Starbucks iced coffee on his desk that I had left there after our third date. He thought he was being cute, but our relationship curdled shortly after. Whether intentional or not, your man’s gifts send a message. So what did his holiday gift say this year? Find out after the jump…



According to a new study, a third of all women “view an inadequate Christmas gift as a relationship deal-breaker.” Women sited cooking utensils, cleaning products, fake jewelry, and, mysteriously, “a tape dispenser” as bad gift choices. Not surprisingly, lame gifts followed by more disappointments (reservations at the wrong restaurant, perhaps?) led to more breakups, the survey found. Interestingly, smart women are particularly hard to please: “highly educated women—especially those in the legal field—are particularly demanding.”

Yesterday I posted about the Leading Lipstick Indicator, “a surprisingly reliable theory that suggests consumers turn to inexpensive little treats, like lipstick, when they start freaking out about the future.” It seems that included in those inexpensive indulgences, we women are splurging on sex toys to get us through the hard times. At a benefit last night for the New Space Women’s Center hosted at Babes of Toyland, owner and co-founder, Claire Cavanauh, told NYMag, “Right around when the AIG bailout started, and people’s consciousnesses were really being raised about what was going to happen, our sales went up 26 percent,” an increase she said the store hadn’t seen since just after the 9/11 terrorist attacks (the same time lipstick sales reportedly soared for leading cosmetic companies). The idea, explained benefit attendee and “Gossip Girl” actress Michelle Hurd (Eleanor Waldorf’s assistant, Laurel) is, “You can stay home, it’s free! And it’s warm, especially since here in New York it’s getting so cold.” She even bought her mother the Rabbit for Christmas last year, a vibrator made famous by a memorable “Sex and the City” episode. While I can appreciate a vibrator’s place in these trying economic times, I’m not quite sure I’d give the gift that keeps giving to the woman who gave me life (a tube of lipstick may be a more appropriate stocking stuffer), but what about you guys? Would you ever give someone — your mother or anyone else — a vibe as a holiday gift? [via NYMag]