Obviously, there are hundreds of other games we could recommend, but then what would we write about next year? So, let's move on to the fun deals and cheap gizmos.

Thanks for the memories
If you don't want to spend a lot of money but want to give something useful, consider giving a flashy gift -- flash memory. Whether in the form of SD cards or USB thumb drives, everyone needs some memory.

In fact, our friends at Kingston told us about a heck of a deal they're running through the end of the holidays. They're selling their 1GB DataTraveler USB flash drives at two for $25 or four for $45. You could buy all four, and then give one out to each of your friends. A 1GB thumb drive for $11 is a heck of a gift and a heck of a deal.

Kingston also has an SD card sale. For a mere ten bucks, you can get a 512MB card or if you splurge, for $15, get a 1GB card. Finally, they tell us shipping is free, so this is about as friction-free a low-cost deal as you're likely to find.

Daniel Dern had a neat recommendation. This has to be for your geek friend, because no one else would appreciate it, but it's useful and always needed:

Any USB external hard drive enclosure -- it's the ultimate data rescue tool. For more flexibility, a chassis-less Newer Technology USB Universal Drive Adapter, which, according to the vendor, connects ATA, Serial ATA, or ATAPI based mass storage devices... and, I was told, also optical drives.

Hey, Mom might not like this, but I eat USB drive enclosures like cookies. It'd always be a welcome gift under my tree.

A nice, inexpensive girl gift
Nettie Hartsock found a really nice gift, shown in Figure C, for a geek girl or young woman:

FIGURE C

You can have your own, stylish calling cards. Click picture for a larger image.

Nettie describes these items:

This is more for a geek girl who wants really cool business cards. I have a really geeky looking picture wire rimmed glasses and all carrying a reporters pad and a computer, and I can't tell you how many great responses I've gotten when I've handed those out!

eBay and the WalMart discount bin
DominoPower contributor Ron Herardian recommends checking eBay for great deals on crappy products. For example, he found the Nokia HS-26W-BK Wireless Bluetooth Headset with Charger, normally about $60, available on eBay for about $10.

He also found McAfee's Wireless Home Network Security 2006, a horrible $49.99 software product, but available on eBay for about a $1.50. Of course, we don't know if the product's pirated or legit, and given that shipping was more than $10, you've got to be careful what you buy.

Finally, Ron told us he found a no-name USB 1.0 flash drive -- complete crap -- for a penny. Again, shipping's a sawbuck ($10), but what's a few bucks when you're going for quality?

Stay tuned. Ron'll be back later in this article with some of our most disturbing finds.

DVDs can often be a wonderfully cheap gift. Whether you find them in the WalMart discount bin, at Best Buy in the $5 section, in Walgreens for three bucks, or at the dollar store, you can often find incredibly bad DVDs for a very low price. These make excellent stocking stuffers and, well, they're likely to amuse you immensely.