Ten Great Gift Ideas for Bachelors

Just about everyone has a bachelor on their holiday list, but not everyone knows what kind of bachelor's gifts to buy. Before I married, folks typically bought me football-shaped couch pillows, singing wall fish, and enough nuts to feed an army of elephants. These gifts were thoughtful, but my bachelor pad suffered, overrun by bad humorous gifts and well preserved food. One aunt gave me a "Peanut brittle" membership that brought a sample of candy every month. I threw it in the freezer and still had it a year later. Here are some great bachelor gifts:

1. Four Cup Instant Coffee Maker With Automatic Shutoff - A bachelor has enough to do without having to worry about accidentally leaving on a half-full coffee maker all afternoon. Shoplet.com carries a small black coffee maker by Classic Coffee Concepts for $39.40. This model is compact, looks sharp, has a generous man-sized handle to get the little pot out from under the unit, and the brew basket swings out so you don't lose it. Euro style black.

2. GPS Unit - The Garmin eTrex Vista Cx Color GPS w/Free Case, available from The GPS Store is one of the best handheld units for Geocaching. For $349, you get a 64mb unit with USB, software, manual, and lanyard as well as a mount adapter. This unit is so cool because it fits in your pocket and you can swap a card to get all of your maps updated. At just over 5 ½ ounces, this unit is not a difficult thing to carry, and it's water resistant. LCD display is backlit so you can use it at night. This item has a rebate option if purchased prior to December 31.

3. Car Detailing Kit - A car detailing kit from Eagle One contains six products with enough good stuff to detail a car. With a simple guide to follow, this kit is an awesome gift for any bachelor who prizes his most utilized investment, his car. This item includes Eagle One ® car wash in the ¼ ounce size, Was As U Dry ® in the 4 ounce bottle, Eagle One® Tire Shine (4 oz), 20/20 Perfect Vision ™ auto Glass cleaner (4 oz), Tire Swipe Tire Dressing Applicator two sided sponge, and Eagle One® all Wheel & Tire Cleaner (4 oz.) This entire kit of Eagle One® products is just $9.99.

4. Bachelor Pad Tunes - Music for a Bachelor's Den is a series of CDs perfect for the bachelor who likes to unwind. Available where most CDs are sold, including Amazon marketplace, these compilations are basically old jazz circle songs, big band, and songs themed for grooving in a bachelor pad. They are the perfect mood makers for an evening of schmoozing. You can almost see the bond girls when listening to these tunes.

5. Maxim or Stuff Subscription - A gift of a famous men's magazine like Maxim or Stuff is a great sentiment for professional bachelors. These magazines feature in-depth articles and tasteful (ahem) photography. Your bachelor will enjoy the educational content as well as news on the latest tech gadgets and favorite celebrities.

6. Bachelor Cookbook - The Bachelor's Guide to Ward off Starvation by Clarence Clinary Culpepper, Yardley Jones, and Margo Embury, is a cookbook with humor in mind. This book is written by bachelors (so who's Margo?) and is kind of funny. Recipes are serious and easy to prepare. Cartoons galore in this great bachelor gift.

7. Mop Slippers - The Dust Mop Slippers by Walter Drake are funny plaid sandals with attached dusters. Bachelors can use them to pick up dirt and dust bunnies on the apartment floor. I don't recommend dipping them in mop water! Currently this gag gift is only $5.99. Chances are, they'll be a hit with your favorite bachelor who might just use them!

8. Bar Tool Set and Ice Bucket - For a classy, simplistic look consider a Bar Tool Set with Ice Bucket by Oggi, available for $29.95 from cooking.com. This seven-piece set includes a stainless steel ice bucket, a foil cutter/knife combo, a shot measure, a strainer, bottle opener, stirrer, and a cool stand for the smaller tools. It is dishwasher safe, stylish, durable, and best of all convenient. There are no pieces that are unnecessary, and there is nothing really missing. Consider a personalized shaker to complete the gift.

9. Dude Soap - A clever item available from Country Arts and Originalities is a whimsical line of novelty soap to give to your favorite bachelor called "Dude where's my soap?" available in car wash, copa cabana, and apple pie. For an even bigger statement, consider the "Manly Man" gift basket from the same seller. It contains Dude soap, a plumbing votive, and a java bag. Soaps are simple scented glycerin packaged in a whimsical cover.

10. Personalized Leather Coasters - The height of class, and to keep from leaving ugly rings on expensive furniture, Jenni Bick carries a tasteful accessory for the only the finest bachelor pads. For $29, you can buy your favorite bachelor a set of four, four inch diameter round personalized leather coasters in a small tin. You can personalize them in up to three initials for just $12.00 more. Three types of embossing are available to make these custom coasters have the perfect look. You can buy them in black, red, navy blue, green, British tan (gold), burgundy, patent snakeskin black, snakeskin red, scale brown, scale olive, mocha, light blue, pink, orange, or lime. Coasters vary in texture.

Buying a gift for a bachelor need not mean running to Spencer's gifts for something to make the rest of the room at your holiday party either blush or pity the bachelor who receives it. But if you simply must go with whimsy, consider some of the gifts from this list. Happy Holidays!