here’s a little plug for my brother’s new project: www.giftjot.com. it’s a closed-circle gift registry – you can create a wishlist from any vendor (so you’re not limited to the items that a particular site is selling) – and then set up a network of friends and family that you want to share gift ideas with.
since my family is spread out across the country and we don’t see each other except on major holidays or big events, so we used to have these group emails that would fly around, with subject lines like, “shh…don’t tell mom” and then everyone EXCEPT mom would be copied on the email while we plotted a clever gift idea. pretty soon there was one of those emails floating around for each person and it was only a matter of time until the surprise was spoiled when it was copied to the wrong person. so, being the tech nerds that we are, my siblings set up a web-based database where we could log on, suggest gift ideas for ourselves or another person, see what gift ideas were already reserved, collaborate on a group gift, etc.
now that giftjot has officially launched, anyone can use it. it’s free, and you can set up your own network of friends and family to share lists with. or use it for a wedding/shower gift registry by setting up an account name and password that you provide to your guests when they ask where you’ve registered. so now it’s possible for the kids to collaborate on what they’re getting dad for christmas, mom can indicate on her wish list that that she’d really rather have a new iphone for mother’s day instead of that vacuum cleaner…you get the idea.
and since the registry isn’t tied to a particular store, you can register for whatever you want: link to books on amazon, request sky-diving lessons, ask mom to make turkey for christmas dinner because you don’t eat ham and then your grandparents always ask why don’t you eat ham it’s good for us look at us we’re in our 90’s and we eat ham, ask for the moon, or world peace or a donation to your favorite charity. you name it.
6.23.08 addendum: giftjot is temporarily closed for redesign, but matt promises it will be back and better than ever! i’ll put the link up here again once it launches.