i’m feeling like the holidays came out of nowhere this year. for the last few years, mrs monk and i exhausted the tradish market gifts and the handicraft mart.
i’m particularly stumped on the parents :?
any suggestions? what do other people get their folks at gift time?
Last year I sent some of those waving cats. I know everyone gets together at Christmas so I bought an assortment of Taiwan candy that I knew they would find strange. They said they had a good time daring each other to eat some. In past years I have sent those two-language cookbooks with the atrocious English. My sister said she didn’t want to cook anything that stares back at her.
This year I’m thinking of buying those toys with the spinning wheel suspended on a line between two sticks. Other stuff I need to figure out. Need to get it in the mail soon.
[quote=“monkbucket”]I’m feeling like the holidays came out of nowhere this year. for the last few years, mrs monk and i exhausted the tradish market gifts and the handicraft mart.
I’m particularly stumped on the parents :?
any suggestions? what do other people get their folks at gift time?[/quote]
Have them sent a gift basket of gourmet food (pate, special teas, coffee, sweets, preserves, meats, salmon, chocolates, etc) from a company near their residence. I started doing that a while ago with my folks because I’d run out of Asian handicrafts, and they don’t need any more ‘junk’ since they’ve moved to a smaller place. Gourmet food especially is good around holiday time since people are dropping in and they’re always rushing around.
The woman I deal with near my parent’s home is grateful for the business from Taiwan (she thinks that’s cool!) and always makes the gift basket extra special for them. I’ve used her like four or five times now.
Google your parent’s town: gift baskets boston
This is odd, I know… but my boy and I had our hands dipped into hot wax several times and then had the wax taken off our hands, still in its form… then the mold was filled with melted wax that hardened into reliefs of our hands. We’re giving those to my mom for Xmas. I have no idea what she will think of them. Kinda neat, my boy’s hand is an exact copy of mine, only smaller.
We had this done at a resort in Hualien, but the guy said his group is in Shihlin. I’ll see if I still have his card.
Most of the Taiwanese folks were making Buddha hands… we just dipped our hands in and didn’t form any particular finger pose.
Electric fly / mosquito racket - take out the batteries though and DO NOT handcarry it while travelling by plane.
I haven’t figured out what to get for the parents either, but I’m happy with my presents for my young nephews: t-shirts and boxer shorts from night market with Doraeman and other wacky Japanese cartoons on them. Cheap and silly, maybe, but as far as I know they don’t have stuff like that back home and will find them amusing.
Oooh, sounds exciting. What else do you dip in hot wax? 
I’m thinking about having a DVD player sent to folks this year since they don’t see the need to buy one themselves. My mom says, “I’ve gone through so much technology, I don’t even care anymore.”
Then I’ll send them stacks and stacks of dvd classic film sets I bought from Costco. They love that stuff. DVD players are dirt cheap in the US now. What was it, some woman got trampled at Walmart the day after Thanksgiving trying to buy a $29 DVD player…!
[quote]‘Stop stepping on her!’
Ms Ellzey said some shoppers had tried to help her sister, and one employee helped rescue the woman, but most people just continued their rush for deals.
“All they cared about was a stupid DVD player,” she said.
“I told them, ‘Stop stepping on my sister! She’s on the ground!’”
[/quote]
indymedia.org.uk/en/2003/11/282215.html
I usually give food. Harry and David http://www.harry-david.com usually has good stuff, not that I am trying to plug anyone’s business or anything. 
Rascal wrote : Electric fly / mosquito racket - take out the batteries though and DO NOT handcarry it while travelling by plane.
Those things should be banned. My best friend zapped me with one of those when I was passed out drunk my first night in Taipei. I woke up immediately only to have shaving cream added to my face.
Alien: Make sure the DVD player can play the discs from the region where your folks will be living. If it only plays ones from the Asian region, they will be stuck with an inert machine.
Tigerman: [quote]…but my boy and I had our hands dipped into hot wax several times [/quote] Of course he had to knock the kid senseless before he could get his hand in the damn wax…
Here’s some ideas:
Well, it could have been worst: he could have shaved you … 
I went to the Death Star mall yesterday and found a store run by the National Palace Museum. Some stuff is pretty expensive, but they also have stocking stuffers like refridgerator magnets and mouse pads. They have some good coffee table books. Lots of pictures, scolls, china, etc. If your relations are not sick of Chinese stuff, check it out.
i’m getting web cams for my siblings and my parents so we can chat online instead of making long distance phone calls. of course, my dad will get to say, hey you look fat now, you should exercise more to my sister.
a brooch for my mom.
not sure what to get for my dad. though he likes military journals about the PRC armed forces, and cost quite a bit back home.
some dvds. i think my mom requested godfather 2 having seen the first one probably for the first time last month. i think she also wanted a calendar or art book from the palace musuem.
i was thinking of getting a bottle of whisbie as a gag gift to my alcoholic friends.
my friend visited taiwan and bought some earrings and necklaces stuff from LiuLiGongFang, that glassware store founded by that one lady (something Workshop). it’s pretty unique and not too gaudy.
I need to find something for my husband’s office. I’d like to get some nice bookends with photo frames. Any leads? And how about a little vacuum thingy for his computer?
Install Skype for free PC-2-PC calls, no need for a camera (though I guess it can be used, too?).
Better go to the Handicraft Market near NTU Hospital (MRT Station), much better selection (on 5 floors) and cheaper I rekon.
Those for cleaning? Had one before - they are toys, not useful at all.
Those for cleaning? Had one before - they are toys, not useful at all.[/quote]I’ve got one, it sucks, or do I mean it doesn’t ?
Okay, so how about one of those plug in vacuum cleaners for his car? Guys, help me out here.
braxtonhicks wrote:
[quote]Guys, help me out here.
[/quote]
those work really well, but my dad already has one!
Sounds better. Much better. Get a battery powered on though (rechargable), nothing is more annoying than those wires while cleaning …