Making the Most of Blog Labels

One of my original goals when I started this blog was to make it easy to find stocking stuffer ideas for different recipients by age, gender, or interest. As I've found new stocking stuffers, I've realized that they don't quite fit any particular category, which meant inventing new categories.... In any case, if you haven't already tried out the labels shown in the left column on this blog, I hope you'll find them useful at some point! On November 1, 2009, I will have posted at least once a day for an entire year, which means that just as we truly head into the holiday season, there should be a lot of posts ready and waiting that people can find simply by clicking on a link in the left-hand column.

The obvious categories are there: men, women, boys, girls, kids (meaning either boys or girls), teens, college students. I've also tried to identify specific interests: cat lovers, computer geeks, entertainers, crafters, gardeners, sci-fi geeks, art lovers, and so on.

Next, I've tried to note actual descriptions of types of gifts. This includes gadgets, kitchen, books, games, gag gifts, and more.

Because this blog is year-round, I've tried to find small items appropriate not only for stockings, but for other gift-giving holidays. These are labeled as Easter, Mother's Day, Father's Day, Valentine's Day, and so on.

And last but certainly not least, there's price! I use four price categories: under $5, under $10, under $15, and under $20. The exceptions are items posted on "luxury" Fridays (labeled "luxury items") and some of the Sunday "Etsy" items. The prices do not include shipping, in part because many of the items listed might be available in traditional stores.

So my reasons for today's post are twofold. The first is to explain how these labels came about and how you can use them, and the second is to ask you whether there are any other labels you think would be worthwhile. For instance, I thought about separating "babies" from "kids", but not having any of my own, I'm not sure if you would really give a baby many stocking stuffers since they can't have very small things, and they're not necessarily old enough to use many stocking stuffers. And I'm afraid if I went with "babies", "toddlers", and "kids", I'd really be off the mark, since I'm not great at judging age appropriateness (I think that's a talent that appears magically when your first child is born!).

In any case, I'm open to suggestions. Any other labels you might find useful, or anything confusing about the ones I'm using now?