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Great Gift Ideas

By Theresa Juva

If holiday shopping doesn’t make you want to “fa-la-la-la,” forget about a tie for dad and a coffee mug for mom, and add some pizzazz to your drab gift ideas by thinking outside the sparkly-wrapped box when considering what to put in it.

Get The Green

Give someone the luck o’ the Irish by purchasing a piece of Ireland. That’s right, for just 50 smackeroos you can buy one square foot of rural green space in County Roscommon in the heart of the Emerald Isle. You get an official deed to the land, several snapshots of the surrounding area and even detailed directions to your property in case you ever want to go to your slab of grass to, uh, picnic? And since there are no property taxes in the land of the leprechaun, you pay once, and the sheet-of-paper-sized piece of dirt is yours forever. See www.buyireland.com for details.

iPoop?

Take your tunes anywhere.

The sound of your leaky tub is not the best motivator when it comes to getting energized in the morning, which is why an iPod Dock Toilet Paper Holder is a must-have if you love to sing and shave in front of the mirror – or from other selected locations in your tiled kingdom. Featuring four speakers to pump out your favorite tunes, (Think of bathroom anthems like TLC’s “Waterfalls,” and “Have you Ever Seen the Rain?”) the nifty paper roller can fold up and even recharges your iPod while you’re busy scrubbing. For $99.95, you can brag about having the coolest toilet paper holder on the block. Check out www.old-fashioned-values.com.

Outdoor Adventure

Let a loved one live out a Lewis and Clark fantasy with an outdoor adventure gift card that lets you rappel down canyons, soar across the sky hang gliding, take a bungee plunge or trudge through mountains on a snowshoe trek. Prices vary according to adventure and the Web site, www.giftybox.com, lets you punch in your area code and locate the closest excursion. Expect to commute a couple hours from the City – unless you want a cross-country adventure getting to Montana or Utah – where you’ll find a breath of fresh air and maybe a hungry black bear. Don’t worry though; each trip comes with a certified wildlife wrangler.

Spin Your Web

Hook up your made-in-summer-camp lanyard keychain with a hi-tech friend. The Kensington WiFi Finder Plus lets you find a wireless hotspot with the press of a button. It also gauges signal strength so you don’t pop open your laptop if access is limited. When you spend $25.70, you’ll never be too far from cyberspace. Get clickin’ at www.hp.com.

The Modern Album

With the dominance of digital, the days of grandma scrapbooking photos are over. Now you can store a lifetime of moments in one place with Brookstone’s PictureBook Digital Photo Album that holds a whopping 20,000 snapshots. All you have to do is insert your digital camera memory and voila! – pictures appear on the screen, and you can scroll through your collection that can be organized into folders. If you love the snipping and clipping of creating your own memory book, this might seem too impersonal, but it offers a no-mess quick alternative for people who want to avoid the sticky pages of a photo album. But at $399, this is one photo album you won’t find in the clearance bin. See www.brookstone.com.

Get Inspi(Red)

Whenever U2’s Bono, or any other high-powered celeb, gets involved with something, a frenzy is sure to follow. The (Product) Red campaign enlists Hollywood’s big names to tout signature “Red” products to raise money for the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria in Africa. Expected to be this holiday season’s sell-out item, The GAP line of T-shirts are emblazoned with the campaign’s catch words on the front: Uncenso(red), Inspi(red), Empowe(red) are just a few. Retailing for $28 and made from African cotton, the price of the shirt goes directly to the fund which has raised $5.6 billion since 2002. The edgy ad campaign features Chris Rock, Jennifer Garner and Penelope Cruz outfitted in the social conscious shirts, which make them all the more desi(red). Get them while you can at www.gap.com

To The Extreme

Just when you thought the red furball’s craze was over years ago, Tickle Me Elmo is back – and he’s laughing all the way to the bank as the top pick for this season’s biggest selling toy. The enhanced Tickle Me Elmo, called TMX Tickle Me Elmo, not only cackles and trembles, but now bends over into the ultimate giggling fit while slapping his mitten hand. But with its predicted popularity, the doll’s $35 price is sure to soar on Web sites like eBay, where people will pay the premium for the cracked-up critter. On Amazon in the second week of November, the lowest listed price is $122. 88 – and that’s no laughing matter. See www.amazon.com

Be Prepared

Talking about disasters doesn’t put people in the holiday spirit, but the present of preparation might be the most important box under the tree. The American Red Cross of Greater New York offers a variety of survival kits for your home, office or commute. It suggests that every person has a three-day supply of necessities in a compact case that can be easily carried. A disaster-pack-for-one goes for $29.95 and includes essential items like a blanket, batteries and, for when things really get rough, a biohazard bag with a twist tie. For subway riders, The Red Cross Safety Tube ($4.95) contains a dust mask, light stick, water pouch and whistle. Nothing says stocking stuffer quite like a catastrophe survival kit. Visit the New York Red Cross Store at 520 West 49th Street (between 10th and 11th Avenues) or www.nyredcross.org.

Holiday Warm-Up

Want to get into the holiday mood real fast, and warm up from the inside out in the process? Stephen’s Gourmet Hot Cocoa recently introduced Candycane Cocoa, a cocoa with a milk chocolate flavor and bits of real peppermint candy cane. It’s a hot beverage that’s offered for cold nights this holiday season. Candycane Cocoa will be sold in individual one-serve packs or in boxes of 28- and 32-packs at larger grocery chains. Look for it wherever yummy candy products are sold or online at indulgentfoods.com.

Handheld Fun

Okay – now you’re getting desperate, right? Whether it’s your boss, your mailman, your sharp-dressed co-worker or your friend who is the mom of three, they all have one thing in common – they wear shoes. Let’s face, nowadays who doesn’t? We don’t you want them to have clean, shiny shoes? Of course you do. That’s where the Buff’n Shine comes in. Available at Wal-Mart and other stores, this hand-held wonder does exactly what it says it does – it buffs and shines. There are no rags, no stains and no elbow grease needed – the machine does it all for you. Check it out at buffnshine.com.

Double Dip Gift

How about the gift that is actually two gifts in one? Head on over to Glenn Bradford Fine Jewelry, located at 279 Main Street, Port Washington, during any of their three invitation only cocktail receptions where they will hold fund-raisers for The Mosaic Foundation for Autism, The Mosaic School, the Port Washington Education Foundation, The Viking Foundation and Grassroots Environmental Education.

During these fund-raisers, a certain percentage of the sale price of your jewelry will be donated directly to these worthy causes. To get in to the party, give them a call at (516) 767-1600.

Slick & Sexy

Olive oil, used by the ancient Greeks to provide health and beauty benefits is out of the bottle and back into a line of beauty products from Tact Beauty Care. From bar and liquid soaps to body lotion, shower gel, hand cream and shampoo, get down with the fruity goodness and health benefits of the purest of olive oils in the Tact Beauty Care Pure Olive Oil collection. To learn more go to tactbeautycare.com.