It’s hard to shop for people you like. There are basically three categories of gifts: “ask them what they want,” “gift card to a store they like,” or “food.” Rare is the wild present that absolutely knocks their knickers off. And at the same time, nobody wants to overdo it and buy something extravagant, or something they don’t need. But all of us know curlers. And some of us are curlers whose family are — gasp — non-curlers.
So you may need to send the following to them for a rough guide on what generally does and does not work as a stocking stuffer.
Can’t hurt it: Pants, socks, broom heads, grippers, club donations
These are practical gifts. You can’t have enough of any of these. With all the stretching and sweeping we do, these suckers will wear out in a year or two, less if you play a bunch. Obviously it will help to know clothing sizes and type of broom head. The gripper seems like a weird gift. They’re what socks are to normal people. Socks to curlers are like t-shirts to normal people.
As for donations in your name: those are self-explanatory and always feel good.
Don’t hate it: gloves, hats, equipment
This stuff might require some specificity or are bigger ticket items. Check with the recipient in question but there’s always something missing in their broom bag. Or the broom bag might be missing.
We could try it: pins, ornaments, decorations/memorabilia, other stuff
Most curlers will never turn down a cool curling pin. We’re all going to do something with them someday. Trust us.
Just about everything else in the “other” category falls in here. There’s a lot out there you can find on Etsy and eBay, most of it with value that’s more sentimental than monetary, which is why you can’t go wrong with pins, the perfect size.
Let’s call a timeout and discuss this: tabletop curling games, t-shirts
I think the number of “mini curling” games I have is upwards of five. It’s not a horrible gift but we are going to likely going to re-gift them or use them for bonspiel raffles.
T-shirts … folks, we simply have too many shirts. Clubs, bonspiels and competitive teams all sell shirts. As a society we have reached our t-shirt saturation point. Every interesting moment in our recent history seems to be commemorated on a t-shirt. That’s what pins are for.
But no matter what you get, as long as it is curling related, it’s a nice gesture, especially when it’s from a non-curler.