Why I'm not making a Holiday Gift Guide

'Tis the season for Holiday Gift Guides! And maybe you would think I would make up a nice little book guide for you, and then you could shop from it (using my affiliate links, of course!) and it would be a win-win, right?

But here's the thing. I don't believe in Holiday Gift Guides.

Don't get me wrong, I celebrate Christmas with the best of 'em! But what ends up under my tree doesn't come from Holiday Gift Guides. Once, (once!) I bought something that I saw in the toy guide that Family Fun magazine put out right before the holidays -- but I bought it long after the season had passed.

I bought this game years ago and still love it.
I highly recommend it!
Perfect for preschoolers.
(A little younger or a little older is OK too.)

Tangent: It was the Richard Scarry's Busy Busy Airport Game, by the way. We like it so much that despite taking good care of it, the pieces have begun dying. When we played it last week, the little guys couldn't be put into the planes very well (two years of wear will do that to cardboard) and it was really getting in the way of the game. So, I emailed the manufacturer to ask if I could purchase replacement parts. Good news! They're complimentary, and they arrived today. I am one happy customer. :)


Anyway, if I'm going to go to the trouble of suggesting things for you to purchase this holiday season, I want it to actually be useful to you. So. I am not going to create a Holiday Gift Guide. I'm going to create a list of personalized book recommendations!

I did this on Facebook, quick and dirty, a while back, and it was great fun:

We'll do it like this, but with pictures of those beautiful book covers.

So, fill in the blank and I will recommend you a book, personally! And if you shop through links that I post, I get a small commission. (Even if you don't end up purchasing the item I post about, I can still benefit from those items you do purchase, if you get to the site through my links. Pretty cool, huh?)

I'm thinking I'll do this in a separate post, so that it doesn't have to have all of this explanation on top of it. I'll call it, Not a Holiday Gift Guide: Books to give in 2014.

You can leave your queries on this post or on the Not a Holiday Gift Guide post, I'll see them either place. I'll start adding recommendations Monday 11/17/14 call it quits on 12/18/14, or thereabouts, because after that shipping gets dicey.

So, who do YOU want to buy a book for? One person? A whole family? The same book for several people who will all like it? I'm up for a challenge.

Alysa, give me a book recommendation for __________!

p.s. If you want to include your budget or where online you like to shop, that's fine with me!