From the Archives: Watching the Web Sunday

Where to Find Gifts
Outside the Ordinary

By ANDREW BLACKMAN
Staff Reporter of THE WALL STREET JOURNAL

Searching the Web for gift ideas can be overwhelming. There's so much stuff for sale online these days that you can buy almost anything.

But what if you're buying gifts for someone who already has it all, or who just doesn't want any more junk around the house?

These sites offer some gifts that definitely won't end up in back of the recipient's closet.

PrivateLessons.com

Giving the gift of music doesn't have to mean rushing out to buy the latest Britney Spears album. This site helps you locate a music teacher by area and instrument. You can't actually buy the lessons on this site, but it provides a contact box where you can type a message to the teacher of your choice.

The database certainly seems comprehensive: Searching for bagpipes teachers in New Orleans, for example, generated 17 results.

privatelessons.com

Alternative Gifts Int'l

The idea behind Alternative Gifts International: Instead of giving gifts to your friends and family, you donate something to a charity in their name. But instead of just making monetary donations, you can buy tangible gifts. For example, $45 buys a wheelchair for someone in Zhengzhou, China. Or you can donate a pig to a group of Ugandan refugees for $33.

For $1 extra, you get a gift card with a description of the gift and the project it supports.

You can either have the card sent directly to the recipient, or get it sent to you so that you can add a personal message.

altgifts.org

GiftCertificates.com

This site sells gift certificates that can be redeemed at hundreds of different stores, listed by category.

OK, so this does involve buying more stuff in the end. But at least the recipient gets to decide what stuff to buy. And the certificates can also be used for things such as restaurant meals, movie tickets and even airfares.

There's a service fee of 95 cents for e-mail certificates and $1.95 for those sent by mail.

giftcertificates.com

Incredible Adventures

If you want to splurge this Christmas, Incredible Adventures of Sarasota, Fla., offers once-in-a-lifetime experiences -- at a price.

For $6,425, you can fulfill your loved one's secret Top Gun fantasies with a flight over Moscow in a supersonic MiG-21 jet.

A flight in a biplane offers a bit more nostalgia and is also easier on your wallet at $325, or $460 with aerobatics included. Or for those who are afraid of heights, $775 buys 10 hours of diving with sharks off the California coast.

www.incredible-adventures.com

Write to Andrew Blackman at andrew.blackman@wsj.com