A shopping blog of cool gift ideas

Happy New Year's, the Jewish New Year that is, which starts tonight with beginning of Rosh Hashanah and until Thursday at sundown. Whether you're going to your first or your annual celebration, a hostess gift is a must. Go the easy route with a Kosher Gift Basket.

This large basket is packed with everyone's favorite snacks, and everything is kosher. Also try bringing a kosher wine or dessert to symbolize a sweet new year. If you're still stumped on what to bring check out some of our other choices here. I wish a shana tova ("good year") to all who are celebrating.

Kosher Gift Basket starting at $59.99. 

Procrastinators, you are a lucky bunch this year.  Even though Mother’s Day is this Sunday, you still have time to send Mom something special.  The Gift Gurus have pulled together a selection of last-minute gifts for Mother’s Day. Order one of these today (right now, why are you still reading this?) and look like you’ve been thinking about Mom all year long.

If you want to go beyond the standard flowers and chocolates, look for a gift basket that matches Mom’s interests.  For moms with green thumbs, this Garden Treasures Gift Basket comes complete with 6 tools in a nice canvas bag plus some sweet treats including our all-time favorite cookie, Snickerdoodles.  Whether your mom is a chocoholic, a tea lover, a beauty junkie or a top chef, there are plenty of gift baskets to suit her style.  But hurry up and order by Thursday noon EDT to get your gift to Mom on time. 

Garden Treasures Gift Basket starting at $39.99

A key component of great gifting is planning ahead. With that in mind, now's the time to think about your St. Patrick's Day plans. Here's an easy one. Show up to a party (or make your own) with the St. Patrick's Day Irish Beer Bucket and you and your party pals will be doing a jig in no time.

The gift basket comes with six Emerald Isle favorites including Guinness Extra Stout, Smithwick's Irish Ale, and Harp Lager. And the bucket, which looks great right out of the box, includes a tin of peanuts, some pretzels and some beef jerky to go along with the suds. It's kinda like a party in a box. Erin Go Bragh!

St. Patrick's Day Irish Beer Bucket starting at $69.99

It wasn't easy, but we all survived. The first Sunday in a long time without football may have caused cold sweats for some, but the cure is now less than a week away. That's right, this time next week, we will have a new NFL Champion. But until that time, both teams will be very hard at work devising game plans to be unleashed on Super Bowl Sunday. And I suggest you do the same. 

Your game plan is all about putting together an all-star Super Bowl party. First things first–get your Giants and Patriots team gear ready. Next think seriously about upgrading your TV. And don't forget to put together a menu of serious grub that they'll be talking about until next year's game. And lastly, serve it all up on this awesome platter.

As for the big game? Guru's Prediction: Patriots 28 Giants 17.

TGIF. You've got your paycheck in hand and we've got a few ideas on how to blow it—on family and friends, of course. But feel free to treat yourself too. Nothing wrong with a little self-gifting.

For the weekend kickoff: Get ready for New Year's Eve with a colorful set of champagne flutes.

For the kid at heart: The Alu Sled, a high-tech lightweight aluminum sled sure to make any dad's snow day. (via Uncrate)

For New Year's Day: After ringing in 2008, cure your hangover with a Bloody Mary Breakfast Gift Basket.

For the glam girl: She can get her party look with The Body Shop Shimmer Cubes. 

For your imaginative kid: A super silly and one-of-a-kind handmade sock puppet. (via Babygadget)  

For your party host: If you're not afraid of DIY, bring a homemade bottle of infused vodka. (Hostess with the Mostess)

I love Spanish cuisine, especially the tradition of tapas which encourages everyone to taste and sample a little bit of everything. What better way to encourage mixing and mingling than by presenting your holiday host or hostess with a Spanish sampler. An assortment of Spanish Cheese can be put to use right away or present her with the Spanish Paella & Rioja Gift Set–a nice bottle of Rioja paired with all the ingredients to whip up the traditional meal at a future gathering. 

These Spanish samplers make great holiday hostess gifts for globe-trotting types and foodies. And if you're a procrastinator, express shipping options can help ensure it arrives before the next holiday party. 

Spanish Cheese Assortment starting at $39.99 & Spanish Paella & Rioja Gift Set starting at $69

Dancing Deer Baking Company sent us their Holiday Cookie Tower and the entire team here loved it. It's hard to go wrong with cookies, but these ranked up there with our all time favorites.

This gift basket comes with four flavors of chewy cookies (Molasses Clove, Chocolate Peppermint, Cherry Almond Ginger Chew and Snickerdoodle) and festive decorated cookies (hand-iced and decorated chocolate Snowfolks, peppermint-flavored Deer Rounds and chocolate trees). The Snickerdoodles were the overwhelming Guru favorite.

If you send these to your sweet toothed friends and family this year they will not be disappointed. Hurry, you need to get your order in before noon on Friday to guarantee delivery by Christmas.

Decorated Holiday Cookie Tower starting at $57.95 

Here's another amazing gift basket that we got to try in the office. Many of the Gurus are big fans of cheese so this was an instant crowd pleaser. iGourmet's Gourmet Basket of Cheese is filled with eight varieties and a couple boxes of crackers so you really can't go wrong. It has usual favorites like Camembert, Cheddar and Gouda as well as unknowns like Oltermanni a snacking cheese from Finland and Dorothea a goat cheese flavored with potato skins and basil oil. I will never cease to be amazed by the things they can do with dairy!

This basket is a great way to say Merry Christmas to any cheese connoisseur. Or give it to your holiday party hostess to add to the hors d'oeuvre table.

Gourmet Basket of Cheese starting at $69.99

I don't know about your office, but our office is filled with gift baskets! As your trusted Gift Gurus, we decided to sample a few and let you know which ones are worth sending on to friends, family and clients this year.

First up, Gourmet Gift Baskets sent over a basket that I can only describe as ginormous! They call it the Executive Suite Christmas Gift Basket. Since we're a small team it took us awhile to devour it, but no snack went untouched. We loved the Raspberry Honey Mustard Pretzel Dip, Cheese Straws, Summer Sausage, Small World Truffles and Caramel Filled Walnut Shortbread Cookies.

This is a great idea if you need to send a last minute corporate gift basket or send some cheer to a big family gathering. 

Executive Suite Christmas Gift Basket starting at $249.99

Check out this cookie: it’s me!

My parents sent a bunch of these to me as a congratulations gift when Gifts.com won the People’s Voice Webby Award. They were a big hit around the office, and the quality of the image is impressive. Our picture here doesn’t really do it justice (no offense Dan T.!).

Corso’s Cookies can print anything on a cookie, as long as the image is in the correct format, so they’re a great way to celebrate all kinds of photo-worthy occasions like birthdays, retirements, and new babies.

Logo Cookie Gift Basket starting at $39.95