I have a hard time giving my parents valuable gifts, they won't accept them. We had a heck of a time getting my mom to accept a new Mac Mini for Mother's day even though all three of us were pitching in for it.

There's a thoughtful and entertaining podcast called Skeptoid that offers a skeptical view of pop culture phenomena; but more to the point, there are episodes that teach critical thinking skills.

The host, Brian Dunning, and friends also made a movie called Here Be Dragons: An Introduction to Critical Thinking, offering a nice intro to distinguishing pseudoscience from science. Here's a torrent of the movie in HD in case the site gets creamed.

Good stuff. I recommend both for audiences of any age