My go-to gift for the younger audience would have to be a BBC micro:bit. Small, affordable and kids love to use them. Throw in a few accessories for the next Christmas I have yet to try one, but I think the Raspberry Pi 400 will make a pretty compelling my-first-computer gift. Most kids have access to a shared family computer or a phone/tablet but the Raspberry Pi is one they can call their own and break/fix to their hearts content.

I suspect once it was discovered the golf-cart actual returned or maintained independence it became accepted. I know for myself I am reaching the point physically where I have to decide, not can I do things rather should I be doing things. I hate shovelling snow. If the kids ask to shovel I pay them. If they don't come I do it myself. My wife suggests hiring someone. I can see the need yet I freely let the kids do it.

Probably the best gift we've given was a golf cart for my wife's father. He has knee troubles and we thought this would make it easier for him to get around his acreage. He wasn't really interested when we suggested it and he thought we would be the ones using it to cruise around when visiting, but ever since he started using it, he's been inseparable from it! He has been using it daily ever since, including using it as a workhouse for various tasks like in this picture - getting firewood!

One of the best gifts I ever received was a "Top Contributor Award" care package from element14 way back in October 2011. It's surprising how sometimes a gift can spark something new in your life - this was my introduction to Arduino, which has been my go-to platform for nearly all of my tech projects ever since.

Thanks again, element14! life changing

Best,

-Nico

I think the most valuable gift you can give is your time.  I love the time I spend with my grandchildren and really get excited when they show interest in the things that also interest me.  I have a grandson who has an interest in coding and a granddaughter who likes to make things.  My favorite projects are the ones I do with them.

Of course I wouldn't mind receiving a 2 channel bench power supply or LCR meter.  Probably better that I pick those out for myself though.  And after giving my son a Raspberry Pi 4 last year he said he wanted another one this year.  So that is what he will be getting.

My go to gift these days would be A XIAO by SeeedStudio. It’s easy and portable and there’s tons of examples on the SeeedStudio wiki website.

the gift I would love for Christmas this year would be a Pi HQ camera. I found out that I can mount it on my Canon camera, would that be cool!

Christmas gift to the daughter!

Greetings everyone!

I want to share the story of the gift which I got from my friend. Though the story is not very heartwarming but I think its worth sharing.

So, it happened last year. I live in a hostel and my friend's room is just below my floor. So, one day, my friend called me and said that he has something to give to me and asked me to come to his room. So, I went to his room. I asked him what he wanted to give me. He said that he has some gift for me. He went to his almirah and brought some electronics related stuff. I remember there was an aurdino uno, an LCD display, jumper wires, 3 brushless motors, RC transmitter and receiver, connectors and many more in that box. I believe all those things costed over INR5000. I don't have their pics since they are at my hostel room. He said that he don't need these (in fact, these were not his, some senior had left these things behind in the room after graduating.) and want to gift these me. I became very happy. I thanked him.

But there was some evil in his smile, I could feel it. But I couldn't control my temptation and immediately accepted the gift. Then, I thanked him and started to leave. When I reached door, he called me and asked what I am going to do now in my room. I said maybe I will do some rest for now. And then, he started his game... Stretching his arms and his whole body, he said that he need to clean his room (His room always seemed dirtier than the hostel toilets) and then moved his face away from me and started to talk with himself loudly, obviously so that I could hear him clearly. He was saying something like - 'How will I clean my whole room all alone, I can't clean it by myself. Hey God, please send someone.'. And I was standing there listening to him, falling in his honey trap. I was already lost against his EVIL kindness. I said in my mind- 'ok I lost, You won! Maybe destiny is with you this time.'. Then I said- 'ok, I will help you out' in such a low voice that nobody could ever say that I said something. But, he listened to me, I don't know how (maybe he already knew that I would not deny) and said thank you. Actually, cleaning your friend's room is not that difficult unless you know how to clean the room properly using minimum water, so that you don't need to carry 8 buckets full of water through that long corridor.

Moral - Never fall in temptations for gifts, especially from your friends (even if you need them).

Well, I am thinking that I will gift all the parts and components which I got or I brought to my junior when I will leave my college. I think it will be the best gift for a college student.

A heartwarming story

The day in 1980 my dad brought home this odd typewriter...

... a RadioShack TRS-80 Color Computer, was the day my love of digital creativity started.  In many ways that computer made computing accessible in a similar way that Raspberry Pi has done so more recently. Of course, the Raspberry Pi price point, flexibility and community has made digital creativity way more accessible today.

The RadioShack TRS-80 Color Computer came installed with BASIC.  Not only was it fun to code up 2D images and video games, looking back, coding with BASIC was great way for me to develop a mindset for problem-solving and working through frustration to the satisfaction of getting the code to work as intended.

Go to gift... without hesitation, a Raspberry Pi.  Seriously fun making and tinkering!

I haven't received many go-to gifts, but one that  I received - from my wife - was a heat gun because she was tired of me using her hairdryer :

What I did give, not to makers, but to a couple of teenage boys (A son of a friend and my nephew) who wanted to start their journey into computers and informatics was:

For one:

- books into programming C and assembly, as well reverse engineering

- a Raspberry PI

The other:

- For this year, his birthday, two books about programming with a Raspberry PI from the Raspberry PI Foundation

     -

Did they read them ? I don't know, but felt good about it

Looks like a good mobile robot. I do like the fact that you are using books as well. I am a fan of books (I've written some myself) but over the last decade or so found that there was just less and less demand for actual technical books. Everything is on line now. I used to have a large collection of technical books, probably 1000 or more, dating back to the 1970's, but when I retired I decided there was just no use for them anymore and chucked the majority in the bin (recycling bin of course). Nobody else wanted them and it was the only way to get rid of them.

Dubbie