Recession Gift Guide: 10 Great Ideas Under $20

Zibra Open It
Sick of using your teeth to open packages? Get a Zibra — it has all the tools you'll need to open anything. Think MacGyver-like skill minus the safety pins, lighter fluid, and bubble gum. The Zibra combines a cutting tool, a dual-head screwdriver, and a retractable blade.

Book Owl Slim Reading Light
This super-slim light clips like a bookmark to whatever page you're reading. Lithium battery-powered, it's got 15-hour burn time, and the LED light bulb will never need to be replaced. Perfect for any spot that inspires you to crack open a book.

Panasonic Heated Eyelash Curler
Still haven't gotten her anything useful? Powered by one AA battery, this eyelash curler separates and bends each lash with a heated comb instead of pressing lashes between two plates. It gives eyes that smoky, natural look without tugging or pinching, and it's still small enough to fit in a cosmetic bag. Right, you don't get it, but she will. Think of it as a power tool for makeup.

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Ames Walker Travel Socks
If the travelers in your life are tired of walking off the plane with kankles, give them Ames Walker's travel socks, graduated compression socks that are made out of microfiber nylon and apply decreasing pressure from the ankle to the knee. This maintains the blood flow rate from the heart to the lungs to reduce chances of deep vein thrombosis — not something anyone wants to bring on an exotic vacation.

Webkinz Collective Lil'Kinz Mini Plush Stuffed Animals Cow
As if you needed more proof we're entering a postapocalyptic age where robots have taken over, there are Webkinz, stuffed animals that connect to the Internet. Log on to the Webkinz site, enter an "adoption code," then join a virtual world where kids can play educational games with other kids. Granted, this kind of thing used to be done at a place called the playground, but the robot overlords are gaining power.

Nautica Harborside Towels
They're not officially "gym" towels, but so what? These are the right size for wiping your face between reps, plus they're made from bamboo, which fights bacteria and mildew so they won't stink up your gym bag.

SIGG Water Bottles
The company behind this Swiss-engineered line of water bottles likes to tout how environmentally friendly its product is — they're made from recyclable aluminum instead of those landfill-clogging disposable plastic bottles — but it's the fact these bottles are lightweight, durable, and come in more than 144 different designs that will have other people at the gym asking you where you got that cool-looking water bottle.

Every Man Jack body & shave kits
Hygiene doesn't have to break the bank. The Every Man Jack Shave Kit box set includes full-sized bottles of face wash with chamomile, shaving cream, and a postshave face lotion. They've even thrown in a mini Hair & Body Travel Set with a two-in-one shampoo, body wash, an oversized body bar, and SPF 15 lip balm. All that for a ten spot. ($10, everymanjack.com or call 877-875-JACK to order)

Sucré Dark Chocolate Lovers Collection
Sucré adds southern spice to chocolate, offering varieties like "Magnolia," which features pecan ganache and praline liqueuer, and "Avery," which has malt flavors from the Avery Mines, a tiny island in the Gulf of Mexico. That'll get her blood going.

Dr. Cool & Dr. Hot Bags
Despite the fact these products come in dopey-looking fake IV bags and have equally ridiculous names, they work extremely well. The "Dr. Cool" ice pack works as expected — just chill it in the freezer and wrap it around a body part — but the "Dr. Hot" heating pack is something special. Just push a simple disc to activate a chemical reaction that gets hot and stays that way for more than a half hour. To reset and reuse, just place the bag into boiling water. Easy, peasy.

Reprinted with permission from Hearst Communications, Inc.

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