There are just a few hours left before the jolly fat fellow stuffs himself down chimneys the world over. Because you’re just now getting to your xmas shopping (don’t even try to pretend otherwise), we’ve put together a handy list of stocking stuffers for the drummers in your life. Forget the candy canes, underwear, socks, and photos of fat Aunt Bertha’s 30 cats. This is the stuff that drummers really want to find swinging from a mantle. We’ve listed our choices from roughly the least to the most pricey.

5. Drumsticks. Every drummer uses them, and every drummer goes through enough pairs to level a rain forest. If the thumper in your life already has a bag full of virgin wood, just buy another pair anyway. Trust us. Depending on the brand and model, you’ll only have to shell out somewhere between $6 and $16. And in case you are interested in giving gifts to absolute strangers, I am hoping for a pair of Vic Firth’s new and hot black 5As.

4. Subscription to a Drumming Magazine. What?! We’re recommending an actual, old-school magazine? Yep, print is not dead quite yet, and that’s particularly true of drumming magazines, which still are the main source for extended interviews with pro drummers. The great granddaddy of drumming mags is of course Modern Drummer. A one-year subscription to this stalwart publication costs $29.97. The more hip DRUM! magazine and its superb sister publication TRAPS cost $19.95 and $15, respectively, for a one-year subscription. Drumhead, the new and quite good-looking kid on the block, can be had for $24.95 for a one-year subscription. Those are the biggest and best print drum mags published in America. For international magazines written in English, check out Drummer, Rhythm, and Drumscene.

3. Bass Drum Beater. If your drummer uses felt, pick up a wood model so that s/he can experiment with the differences in sound and feel. Though many current pedals, like Taye’s awesome Metalworks, already come with a multisided beater (e.g., wood, felt, and plastic), having a spare is still essential for every gigging drummer, and it never hurts to give an extra to all garage warriors as well. A good beater will set you back somewhere between $15 and $40.

2. Metronome. Timing is everything for drummers, and most of us will spend our lives trying to get it just right. Help us out a little by slipping a metronome our way. There’s an enormous variety available, ranging from about 30 bucks right up to a couple of hundred.

1. In-Ear Monitors. So you’re a big Cheddy Johnston with plenty o’ bucks to spare? Spend some of them on the ultimate stocking stuffer for drummers: in-ear monitors. They allow us to hear what the hell our bassist is playing on all those stadium gigs, but more important they allow us just to hear period. In-ear monitors protect our delicate tympanic membranes from harmful volumes and frequencies so that we’ll have a long lifetime of thumping bliss. In-ears range from $200 to over $1,000, but if you gift a pair, you’ll forever have a club-wielding bruiser as a best buddy.