Holiday Gift Guide 2015

Holiday Shopping Guide:

 

I have some super cool friends who make or do amazing things in SL and so I’m posting a  shopping guide of  10 (well more actually) cool items that would make great gift ideas for others or even yourself for the holidays and where to easily find them.  They are not in any particular order.  Guys take note as I know some of  you struggle with figuring out what to get for or do with your special lady.   I may add to this list as I find things or friends tell me of things they make or know of that I especially like, so check back here too.

 

1. Truthball and Chatterbox.  These can be found inworld or on SL Marketplace here: https://marketplace.secondlife.com/stores/93020 and  here: https://marketplace.secondlife.com/stores/27820
 I totally love these with friends or when meeting new people.  You get to know a whole lot more about people often in a funny way as they play sort of like a true or dare or would you rather question/answer format with the product asking the questions and participants answering.  They both come in various categories so can be for friends, lovers, a wide range of party styles, etc.  There is pretty much something unique for any social setting and always tons of fun.  One of my fav things to do is sit around in a hot tub playing these.

 

2. Whispering Sands Live Promotions is holding a special raffle this season and for the 250 Linden purchase of one of their cool t-shirts you are entered for a chance to win a show by the WSLP musican of your choice to be held sometime in January.  You can enter as many times as you like and although the t-shirt is yours, if you win, this could be the gift to yourself that keeps on giving.  The drawing will be on the 30th of Dec. at noon.  The shirts are very nice, and fun to wear to their many shows or anywhere really.  They can be seen and purchased in their listening lounge here http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Katalin/244/211/22

To see the many great musicians they represent check out their web site here: http://wslpromo.net/

 

3. You Play Ball Like a Girl designs by EnaRoane is a fun store for female sports fans.   She has a wide range of team gear and sweats, sportswear, and accessories for almost any team.  She also has a line of nice dresses too with one version currently being featured at FAB.  Her marketplace is here: https://marketplace.secondlife.com/stores/160710

 

4. You just can’t go wrong clothes shopping for anything for the ladies in the Lenox Co. sim area home to Blueberry, Just Because, Vinyl, Lennox, and Breathe clothing stores that make amazing handcrafted mesh clothes for regular or mesh avatars.  Folks if you can’t figure out what to get your lady/man in this shopping area I’m sure it’s only because there are so many great things to choose from and you can always hand out a gift card someone special will love.  The shopping district is located here: http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Palau/128/128/23

 

5. Will Burns (Aeonix Aeon) makes the cool Polybius arcade game which can be purchased on marketplace here:  https://marketplace.secondlife.com/p/Polybius-Arcade-Cabinet-Series-III/3956043 This interesting game makes a great addition to any game room in SL and can also be used as a token to exchange for 15 other well known arcade games.   Not only do they look great (made of mesh) but they are very playable and they have poses for one or two avatars for photos or just more fun playing. A visit to the marketplace is worth a look just for the story/history on this alone.  Check it out.  

 

6. A homemade gift (ok this #6 covers a lot so read on).  You can’t go wrong with a home-made gift from the heart.  In SL many people can buy for themselves what they want but something made especially for someone else or even a group gift made special for the holiday is very nice.

 

  Last year I made a picture/poem book for my friends.  If anyone wants a copy just ask me.  Another year I made home-made calendars. These items can be made with the Intelli systems which you can purchase.  The system to make them might be out of budget if just used for a once a year gift, but you can continue to use these systems to make other books/magazines, calendars  etc. and could be a fun hobby to make unique items created by you.   You can see and purchase this product here:   https://marketplace.secondlife.com/stores/48260

 

Another  homemade idea is to buy clothing templates online and texture them yourself, just be careful about re-gift/resale rights and instructions.  This way you make one of a kind or unique or personalized items that are special.

 

Plan “special times” (multiple ideas listed here and if you need links just ask me or use my blog search bar):  A special date night or maybe a sim explore package for friends including a new location they can visit unique to their personality or better yet together with you, with possibly a fun play place (skating, sailing, duck races, surfing, game areas, football game, wrestling match, carnivals)  or romantic dance or nature area, possibly a dining experience, some role play sim, an adult experience, a tribute concert, a night out dancing at some new/different club or live music show, some new art gallery tour, or maybe a combo of the above.  For a cheap date some of the animation stores like Abranimations is also fun to just visit with someone special.  They have a lot of fun things to play on and I actually still enjoy doing this and getting silly.

 

Couples might just enjoy some quiet at home time in the Jacuzzi filled with rose petals, some candles, and a nice movie and some pose balls-heck this is fun with friends too and you can break out the floaties and girls night out products with girl friends.  These itmes can be made even more special if planned right, buying ahead some things like pillow fight systems, facials, pose props and take pictures and post to Facebook or Flickr.   There are plenty of video stores in SL or even TV viewers that offer a wide range of movies/shows, youtube, etc.  I used to play youtube with a friend and we’d go back and forth showing each other funny videos or music videos we especially loved.  I have my current TV set up in a mini skybox theater that I love and can have friends over to watch the many shows it offers from current movies to HBO series. Also these things can easily be found on SL Marketplace in regular and adult versions.   My fav TV/video player "XControl" is inworld or Marketplace here: https://marketplace.secondlife.com/p/XCONTROL-TV-FLATSCREENMOVIES-TV-SERIES-LIVESTREAM-AND-MORE/5309677

 

Sometimes it’s fun to step out of the comfort or usual zone too and try something different. If you do these things together your individual attention and time is also a gift.   Check out the destination guide here: http://secondlife.com/destinations/editor

 

If you can’t think up anything to make or are broke, a home-made holiday card is always welcome and many people like to collect and display them in their homes too.  I used to have one of these.. you could slide your Christmas card images/textures friends gave you into this holiday card holder that was a wall decoration but it's now lost in my inventory and for the life of me I cant find another one. I even asked some builder friends who said they never saw any and dont' make them. OMG.. someone needs to make me one and I'll blog it.  If they hurry there could prob. be a good market for it if its cute.  In the mean time I'll put my cards into a multi picture frame and add some Christmas décor of my own next to it. 

 

7. Gacha gifting… always fun and can be inexpensive.  The Dec. round of Gacha Arcade is now open, here: http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Country%20Club/163/128/3115 and has a ton of great items that can be transferred.  For more Gacha info. check out my friend Kath’s blog about all things Gacha, "A Few of my Fav Gacha Things" here: https://myfavgachathings.wordpress.com/

 

8. Games! - SLictionary, Greedy, Spades, Cards Against Humanity,  etc. All can be found on marketplace here: https://marketplace.secondlife.com/   These make great gifts and continue to provide hours of enjoyment when playing. 

 

9. And of course gift cards are always nice and now days you can find them in most busy stores.  Marketplace also has a nice gift giving feature too. 

 

10.  Come play with me! 

 

Bonus!  

Another great idea is to buy something for yourself, but now you might not have to.  Just visit Strawberry Signh's wonderful blog and check out her annual gift giveaway contest.  You might be able to win a significant gift card from Catwa just for entering. Check it out here: http://strawberrysingh.com/2015/12/07/strawberrysingh-com-2015-holiday-giveaway/

Also along the lines of gifts for yourself be sure to grab all the many Advent Calendar gifts in many sims... a pretty good list of where to find many of these can be found on the Showtime Magazine site here: http://showtimemagazine.net/?page_id=5474

(Disclaimer: These are my SL recommendations, not those of Linden Labs. I have not been bribed or even requested to blog these products or ideas and most of the designers/builders of these products are not even aware I am recommending them.)

 

 

 

Anyone Need a Date? Visit metaMatch

Visit here: http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Lionheart%20Pumbaa/128/128/15


metaMatch   "Real friendhips Real romance"
metaMatch Matchmaking and Dating Service


"Whether looking for friends, romance, a casual date, or true love, metaMatch is the premier matchmaking and dating service for your Second Life."

My friend Will Burns introduced me to metaMatch and it's brainchild, owner and builder/scripter, MikeD Panache.  Will gets around SL and has plenty of friends, but he sounded excited about this new social group and invited me over.  He seems to really be on top of all the new cool stuff in SL.  Soon I understood his excitement.  Mike built and scripted the place and together with Molly Elisabeth, events coordinator, and MISTY DeMure, hostess,  they have grown to 120 members in just 4 short weeks since opening.  Mike continues to work on things to enhance metaMatch.  He humbly attributed it's success to all the support of Molly, MISTY and others already involved. 




I think this place is unlike anything I've seen in SL before.  While it IS a dating agency, it's also so much more, even for those who are not in the dating market.  MikeD told me it's for everyone, but especially "the brokenhearted, the being with RL issues that need someone.. thats who we want.  We want to help those people.  To be here, to join the community, use the facility.. hang out.. its free.  I don't want your money I want you to be part of regrowing what we've lost in SL" Mike only charges 25L a week in order to use the date/information exchange boards.  This will help with just a fraction of the cost of sim space and business expenses I'm sure.  The build not only has dating boards, that I will get to shortly, but the social aspect is even greater.  He said, "We host events every week, social mixers, themed parties, and we hope to grow attendance.  Events are free to the public.  People are welcome here, members or not, as long as they adhere to respectable standards." 

I sat and chatted with a small group of people who were hanging out there and had Mike in IM asking him a few things about the place for my blog.  He said, "The target goal is to have 400-500 panels up in this location.  The real push is to build a community larger than that of mature SL members who want to meet real people, share real experiences and real bonds.  This isn't the place to find poseball companions or the like."   "One of the things that differentiates metaMatch from the typical dating agencies in SL is this is wrapped around a community, not a bunch of nameless faces on boards.  People come here to sit, meet, make friends."  The hangout area provides a social hour every Wednesday and Friday at both 12pm SLT and 4PM SLT where people can meet other members and make new friends, enjoy games and music, have a drink and hang out and chat.  There is beer pong, bowling, a hearts game table, and business room besides the bar and various seating areas.   They also offer a gift card option in order to utilize the dating/information exchange boards.


(below is a pic I snapped of Mike)





Mike is a scripter and has really managed this system well.  The information exchange boards are completed through easy-use kiosks.  I decided to try this out, as not only do they have male seeking female and female seeking male company boards, they also offer male/male, female/female, and female/friends and male /friends. So interestingly enough you can just go to actually meet friends with like interests or unlike interests if you want :  ) who are also interested in making more friends. 


Ok, so yup, I approached one of the kiosks, and being a very techy-impaired type person I have to admit I was a little worried it would be intimidating to complete the process, but the beauty of this system is the ease of use.  Mike has scripted the kiosks so well.  It asks a series of questions and you can skip whatever you don't want to answer, it asks if it can use your profile pic or if you'd like to supply your own photo to drop in for your board photo, and it allows you to also drop in an additional notecard with more detailed information if you'd like.  I just agreed to it having my profile pic and it automatically used that with no effort on my part.  I also completed the basic questions and the extra notecard so if you want to know more about me feel free to go over and have a look.  Go check it out some time and see what's happening that is new in SL while meeting new friends, companions, or more.


I popped back over tonight just after finishing this blog post and found Mike is running a promo for new members, through Sunday, check this great deal out!

Mingle

Visit here: http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Mingle/128/128/22

(final prize room)




Tonight Enig and I found a fun little adventure called "Mingle".  Their notecard in part reads: "The creators of Havenhollow proudly present its 2nd holiday installation: Mingle.
February 1st we open our interactive hud-based event. Complete the Mingle hunt with your HUD and receive access to some amazing prizes generously offered by some of your favorite designers!
Mingle encourages you to do just that! To complete some of the HUD's hunt tasks you will need to find someone to do them with! This is your chance to make memories with new friends and old.
The fun won't stop there with a transferable item gift shop to pick something up for you and your sweetheart.
If you don't have a sweetheart, you might find one at the Mingle Date Auction. Gussy up and get ready to Mingle!"

Mingle is open until Feb 28th so head on down with a date or good friend or go and try to meet some new friends.  You do have to complete the tasks with someone.  I also got a little hung up toward the beginning when we were to get the free cards.  I didn't realize you had to wear them and have the other person touch or take them from you when they were worn.. which was similar with a chocolates situation.  Other than that its' pretty easy and self explanatory from the hud and local chat.  You and your partner will get to know each other a little better in a variety of ways. The hud is free btw. Rated PG.