Tis' the Season to Be Giving!

I don't know about you, but I find that it gets harder and harder every year to find the perfect gift for everyone on my list. However, lucky for us (or not), poster ads in malls and commercials on television (i.e. Jamie Lee Curtis advocating boardgames) lend us a helping hand. In addition, several magazines, like Seventeen and People, have also made gift giving easier. In their recent issues (the ones with Paris Hilton and TomKat on the covers respectively), they offer their readers gift ideas. I know, I know. Why would anyone want to buy magazines with those people as the cover stories?

Well, as mentioned before, magazines during this time of year provide gift guides. Plus, many charities will benefit from the magazines' features. So, it's all for a good cause. This is great because you can help out others. In other words, it's a guilt-free trip for spending lots of moolah on Christmas gifts alone. Still, it's not only during this month that magazines feature specific stories annually. For instance, there are back-to-school and prom issues as well. Therefore, the media not only targets different people, but various times of the year, too. When it's Halloween, skulls and pumpkins abound. When it's Valentine's Day, beating and broken hearts are everywhere.

Here are some of the magazines' humble suggestions:
>Design your own Converse shoe here. Five to fifteen percent goes to the fight against AIDS.
>Help out Aldo's campaign to fight YouthAIDS by purchasing this tote.
>Who doesn't love candles? Go over here to pick up some floral candles that will assist UNICEF.
>Get a copy of the book, Two Million Miles by Andrew Macpherson, and a portion will go to the women's cancer research fund.
>Give Mother Nature a hand an buy recycled products like this cute bag made by "a Filipino women's cooperative" or this picture frame made out of bicycle chains.
>How about an indie rock cd? All of the profits go to War Child Canada that helps children in countries at war.
>Snatch up a dog toy here. Everything will go to the Planet Dog Foundation. They "[support] seeing-eye...dog programs."
>Make sure that every season's jolly for your friends. Pay up for The CollegeHumor Guide to College book. Ten percent goes to the pockets of the Boys & Girls Clubs of America.
>Buy Philosophy's Holiday Blues shower gel at philosophy.com. The Ricky Martin Foundation, "which fights global child exploitation," gets 100%.
>Go here for more gift ideas to benefit the St. Jude's Children's Research Hospital, among many others.

Although, my next and last example isn't for a charity of any sort, in line with the topic of presents, I thought I would mention it. What do you give to people you hate the most? This lady has the answer. Happy shopping!