Want to give some very unique gift certificates this year? You’re already used to thinking in terms of giving a gift certificate to a store... Why not consider trading around some amongst the people you know so as to come up with the right "thing to be done" for your giftee?

Let’s say you have a friend who’s desperately in need of a massage, but your wrists are extremely weak. You have another friend, though, who used to be a masseuse... You could offer to pay her to give a massage to your other friend.

Hmm... Maybe the masseuse needs her garden tilled; and you have a rototiller... So you could trade - rototilling by you, for massaging your friend by her.

In fact... What about running a little service gift brokerage amongst your friends? (Hmm, maybe a good concept to hang an early Christmas party on!)