When it gets down to the wire and you have virtually no time left to shop for Christmas gifts, think about blu-ray movies as well as Xbox 360 and Playstation 3 games. You can get some great deals for less than $50 USD, sometimes much less. Of course, it all depends on what you’re buying.
Christmas Lists like “Secret Santa”
The “Secret Santa” thing seems to be getting more and more popular every year, both with company parties as well as gifts to relatives. By setting limits on how many gifts can be given and a ceiling on the price tag, it makes it so much easier to figure out what to buy as a Christmas gift. Of course, some people can’t be restricted by lists.
I’ve had the opportunity to see a few wish lists and one of the things that I was amazed by was how many people wanted blu-ray movies of any popular titles as well as particular games for the Xbox 360 and Playstation 3 (such as Halo 4).
Bargain Bins and Amazon Specials
If you stop at Walmart’s bargain bin, you can find blu-ray movies of titles dating back to the early 1980s. I found “The Last Starfighter” on one wish list and I think it can be found in the bargain bin for about $8 USD, not a bad price at all. At that price, two or three movies can hit the average “Secret Santa” ceiling of USD $25. I can’t tell you about any kind of bargain bin deals for video games, however, because I never look for them.
On the other hand, Amazon usually has some pretty good deals, even when you don’t expect them. I picked up Halo 4
Blu-ray vs. DVD vs. VHS Tapes
Believe it or not, there are still some movies that can only be obtained on VHS tapes and I don’t know when or if that will change. For example, an old movie titled “Zotz!” (1962) can only be found on a VHS tape, if you can find it. It’s not on Netflix and it’s not on Amazon Prime and I haven’t seen it on any other service. [By the way, I have it an AVI file at home in the Philippines, but I can't tell you where I got it because I just don't remember.]
I wouldn’t recommend anything older, as far as data formats go, than blu-ray and that’s because the older formats degrade too easily or become unplayable too easily due to scratches (and that includes music CDs as well). Of course, music CDs can be easily duplicated or copied to other media, so music CDs are also viable options as gifts.
Video Games
Just like the case for movies, I can’t recommend anything but the blu-ray versions of video games and they play only on the latest video game consoles, of course. There are a lot of popular titles and you’d probably have to spend a couple of hours to find the right one at the right price. Don’t ask me, however, because I’m not a video game enthusiast in any measure of the term. If it isn’t a Facebook game, I don’t even bother.
That shouldn’t stop anyone, of course, from giving what the video game enthusiast wants for Christmas. Like my younger son, some people are extremely passionate about some of the titles available.
Also you can download it from P2P networks, its great also!
I like to do some Christmas shopping in January just to get it out of the way as early as possible. I like the Walmart bargain bin idea for getting video games for very young kids. They don’t mind playing a dated game as long as it’s something they don’t currently have.