Second annual last minute Gen X Christmas gift guide!
It's late, but chillax! There's still time to pick up some fresh bling for your homies.
SO YOU HAVE totally spent the holiday season vegging out. You didn’t manage to get Oasis tickets for your main squeeze; your home skillet has all the raggedy flannel he needs to get through the year. It’s five sleeps till Christmas and you are panicking. Don’t wig out chiefs! We’ve got your back here at Nevermind, with our second annual last minute Gen X Christmas gift guide. (Here’s last year’s list— there are still lots of great ideas there!)
As always, the first thing to keep in mind is that while nostalgia is fine, even advisable, it is important to avoid at all costs anything that is Gen X branded, like everything on this Etsy list. You don’t wear the shirt of the band to their concert, and you don’t wear a “I’m Gen X” t-shirt.
Second, for some of these things you’re going to need an Amazon Prime sub and/or a Facebook account — FB Marketplace is the el dorado of Gen X gift buying. Anyway, here’s a quick list of things the Xer in your life will love, that you can get before Christmas if you act fast (and maybe live close to an Amazon fulfillment centre).
Books
Hardcopy is a must here, no e-books allowed. All these can be delivered by Christmas through Amazon Prime. Or you could, you know, try a bookstore.
The Book of Elsewhere: A Novel, by Keanu Reeves and China Mieville. I bought this one more or less based on the cover and the names. It looks great. I got it at Paragraphe in Montreal, where the clerk said it was “weird.” YMMV!
Video Games: From Pong to the PS5, by Nicolo Mulas Marcello and Alberto Bertolazzi. This seems self-recommending.
We Oughta Know: How Céline, Shania, Alanis, and Sarah Ruled the ’90s and Changed Music, by Andrea Warner. This is a must-read, I think. It’s such an obviously great idea for a book I am surprised it hasn’t been written yet. (UPDATE: The excellent Michael Barclay informs me that this is actually a reprint of a book that came out on a very small press almost a decade ago. I oughta known that! But that reminds me that you really oughta subscribe to his substack, which is basically a one-man alt-weekly newsletter.)
The Impossible Man: Roger Penrose and the Cost of Genius, by Patchen Barss. Penrose is no Gen Xer but Patchen is; some of you may remember him from his early days in journalism on the ground floor of the National Post when it launched. He’s a great writer.
Finally, if you can stomach pre-ordering, the hot new Rick Astley autobiography is coming out in early January. Also, coming in March (too late!) is the uncensored history of Lollapalooza. (These will probably go on next year’s guide).
Concerts
So yeah, Oasis huh. I was lucky enough to get tickets for Toronto in August, but for those who didn’t, there’s always StubHub.
For a band I don’t really like, I’ve seen Metallica twice (and would have seen them a fourth time if Axl hadn’t started a riot at the Big O in 1992). Anyway, they are touring North America this summer with Pantera and Limp Bizkit.
Green Day’s Saviors (sic) tour, celebrating 30 years of Dookie and 20 years of American Idiot, began last year and they are keeping the party going.
Also touring around various parts of this planet: Alison Moyet, Kylie Minogue, and the Pixies. (Not together, mind you).
But honestly, if nostalgia what you want, just go to the home page of killer 80s/90s/00s cover band Dwayne Gretzky. They tour relentlessly, and their shows are fantastic.
Gifts
The 2024 bucket hat revival isn’t over! Amazon has a great selection they can deliver pronto. But if you are willing to do a bit of driving, here’s where Facebook Marketplace and Kijiji are your best friends. Punch in a few keyword searches and let the algorithm do the rest. Some ideas to get you going — most of these are from my Montreal listings, so localize as needed.
How about an old fashioned Polaroid instant camera? There are a bunch on FB Marketplace, and you can get the film packs delivered from Amazon.
A vintage Nirvana toque for $10, or a Guns n Roses shirt? You know what is a great nostalgia gift? A Hudson Bay point blanket.
Use your imagination here, and get creative. If you can think of it as a nostalgia item, odds are someone near you is selling it. And if all else fails, you know what to do: Get yourself a boom box or CD player and some cassette tapes or CDs, and make your loved one a Merry Christmas mixtape. You can start by burning them a copy of the new Dean and Britta Christmas album entitled A Peace of Us, which is all kinds of great and has a lovely version of the old Bowie/Crosby duet on The Little Drummer Boy/Peace on Earth.
Happy Holidays everyone. Much love to all.
-ap
