---
title: "Top 10 Gag Christmas Gifts for Technical Writers"
date: 2008-11-30
description: "$( document ).ready(function() { // Handler for .ready() called. $('#toc').toc({ minimumHeaders: 3, listType: 'ul', showSpeed: 0, headers: '#content h2, #content h3, #content h4, #content h5, #content h6' }); /*..."
canonical_url: https://idratherbewriting.com/2008/11/30/top-10-christmas-gifts-for-technical-writers/index.html
---

> For AI agents: a documentation index is available at https://idratherbewriting.com/llms.txt. Markdown versions of all pages are available by appending .md to any page URL.

# Top 10 Gag Christmas Gifts for Technical Writers

1. Fortune cookies with fortunes rewritten as numbered lists.
2. Bobblehead with favorite SME's face pasted on the front.
3. Stack of how-to manuals from everything you assembled for Christmas.
4. Copy of that *House*episode with the agoraphobe tech writer and comment "Saw this and thought of you."
5. "Certificate" of year's achievements with typos on it.
6. Jigsaw puzzle of the current interface the tech writer is documenting, but rearranged.
7. Photo calendar of the project team with month-by-month candid shots, mostly in meetings.
8. Pen with the inscription, "Hold nothing back" (but remove ink).
9. *Microsoft Manual of Style* with lengthy inscription from Sarah Palin.
10. Copy of the author's favorite style sheet written in Japanese calligraphy.

Thanks to [Kirstyt](https://twitter.com/kirstyt) for contributing #4 and #5.

If you have any additional gift ideas, please add them in the comments below.