It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas—during a deep recession. Oh, sure, sales racks are everywhere as usual, but if you look closely, you can see tiny omens starting to show. The dollar movie theater now charges $1.50 on weekends. Your favorite restaurant just added a fee for doggie bags. In a few weeks, I wouldn't be surprised if Walgreens hires a doorman and tacks on a cover charge with a two-bottle-of-Advil minimum.

With that in mind, here are more great money-saving gift ideas:

Magicjack (magicjack.com): How much do your giftees pay for their phone needs? Typically, a cell phone is at least $50 a month. A land line adds on maybe $30 to that, plus long distance. Well, if they've got a broadband connection, Magicjack could cut that monthly outlay to under $4, and they won't need an IT professional in their immediate family to keep it up and running.

For only $40 you can get them a tiny box that plugs into their computer's USB port. Any old-style land-line phone then plugs into that, and after software automatically installs, they'll be able to call anywhere in the U.S. or Canada for no extra fee all year long. After that the fee drops to $20 a year. Yes, I said “;year,”; not “;month.”;

I know what you're thinking: “;Sounds great, but my loved one needs a cell phone for emergencies—like when their car breaks down, or they're too embarrassed to ask Sears to page a wife last seen in Home Furnishings, or they want everyone to see them waving like an idiot on the street outside 'The Today Show.'”;

Well, prepaid cell services such as AT&T's GoPhone charge per use only, and even if all three of the above things happened in the same year (and what a year that would be), meeting such cell needs would cost at most $10.

I know it's fun to have a magic bar in your hand that lets you phone home as you listen to your Oak Ridge Boys anthology in your dentist's waiting room, but when you do the math, Magicjack could be the gift that keeps on giving, or at least keeps on not taking.

KWorld Xpert USB DVD Maker (buy.com, $30): This simple USB device links your computer to your VHS player or camcorder and converts analog videotape into zeros and ones so you can burn them to DVD or even post them on the Web. Finally, boring nuptials recorded pre-1999 can finally get their moment in the online, user-created sun (though surely YouTube will filter out all wedding-reception displays of the Macarena on public-decency grounds).

Kill-A-Watt EZ (amazon.com, $35): Growing up, was your dad a penny pincher who kept yelling “;Turn off the lights when you leave a room!”; or insisted the thermostat remain at levels just shy of violating the Geneva Conventions? Well, this simple device plugs into appliances to reveal their actual kilowatt consumption rate, forecasting their cost on a weekly or monthly basis. Give dear ol' Dad the vital, objective data he needs to decide which home appliances need to be unplugged when not in use. Then run far, far away and never come back (also a perfect gift for those who hate their moms).

Next week: More gift ideas.