It's another holiday season, and time for our annual recap of the best martial arts gifts. Here's some items to brighten the day of any martial artist. What should you give that hard-to-please martial artist?

Something to Punch

Century Martial Arts, one of the biggest mail-order martial arts equipment companies, perennially ships tons of uniforms, gifts, and training equipment during the holiday season. What's the hot gift? "The number one item ordered last Christmas was a free-standing bag, like the Wavemaster," said Century's Trish Morrow. This year, Century introduced its new Hydro 2 bag, with both air and water fillings for a realistic feel. Like their counterparts, training dummies, heavy bags are useful for any martial art that involves striking techniques, including hapkido, karate, kung fu, and tae kwon do.

Something to Wear

Clothes are always a popular gift during the holidays. But rather than that funky tie for Uncle Fred, or a weird sweater for Aunt Zelda, consider some martial arts apparel. Uniforms are usually easy gifts--they come in simple sizes (match height and weight, and you're done), and easily-coordinated colors (any color, as long as it's black, white, or blue). Before you buy a new uniform for those martial artists, though, check to see what type of martial art they study. Although they're quite similar, karate and tae kwon do have different uniforms (karate's top ties closed, while tae kwon do's top is a v-neck pullover shirt).

Numerous companies sell unique, fun t-shirts with martial arts graphics, including Century, AWMA, MartialArtsMart, and one of our site's sponsors, KarateDepot.com. 

Something to Use

Nothing says Christmas more than finding a nice pair of nunchaku under the tree. Ok, maybe just in my house. But for a lot of folks, weapons, safety equipment, and accessories make great gifts. MartialArtsMart sells nifty packages of a kung fu weapon and an instructional video so you can learn how to use it. Although, if you're like me, you'll rip open the wrapping paper and start playing with the gift before you read (or watch) the instructions. Be careful!

Something to Watch