When I’m struggling to come up with a gift idea I usually resort to something nice that can be eaten or drank. Some nice chocolates, coffee or liquor can be a great gift that won’t leave someone with something they never use.
Dad - a planer and bacon of the month club. Mom - athletic clothes and reservations for afternoon tea. I’m also buying tickets to an escape room for all of us to do together. Trying to give fewer gifts and spend more on activities that will bring us all together
The best gift ever is that my family all agreed not to buy unneeded things for each other. The gift of not stressing, not having to go shopping, and not spending money just keeps on giving.
We have a secret santa where the rule is the gift has to be unneeded. We are all adults with jobs who can buy ourselves things we need. The best gifts are things people want but wouldn’t buy for themselves. If it’s not frivolous, it’s something they probably will get themselves.
I do secret Santa with my family so I only have to get my cousin a gift. He built a race car in the past year so I had a guy on fiverr make artwork of it and then had it printed and framed
Stepdad is a pain in the ass to shop for and last year the wire cheese cutter didn’t do so hot on meat so this year is a guillotine cutter and a big summer sausage box.
Brother is getting a sports team hoodie.
Nephew is starting reading and a huge pokemon fan so hes getting the most recent Ninja Turtles game on Switch (previously hed get Kirby games. Coop means dad can help.) and Pokemon chapter books. Probably a trip to the bookstore as well a bit later.
Niece is teenaged, getting her a book as well since I encourage them to read, along with a nice blanket robe.
Grandpa is a vet and so this year we got a framed print of the ship he served on.
Uncle is a D&D nerd so hes getting a D&D book he wants.
Other folks will prob get candies, alcohol, and the like, as the situation and kinship merits.
Just a heads up, books are a very personal gift to give. I’ve never had it work out. Not saying you don’t know your family, but it’s hard to guess exactly what types of books they like. Especially if the only goal is encouraging her to read, that book will prob end up not being touched or given away.
I’ve had family I know really well gift me many books over the years, since I was a kid who liked to read, and it was always something I would never be interested in.
Now a Barnes and Noble/Books a Million gift card? Those are always awesome! Even though I know it feels lame to give gift cards. That could encourage her to get into a bookstore to shop for exactly something that catches her interest, and maybe shows her a whole series or author she can come back for, even!
Anyways, I hope you and your family have a happy and smooth holiday!
I got a system in place. Been giving niece age appropriate books for years along with other gifts. I also take her to the bookstore after Xmas to let her pick whatever.
Nephew is a new reader and a pokemon fiend so I’m pretty sure if a Pikachu is on the cover he’ll give it a go.
For the most part our family has decided to not get gifts this year. We just spend time together, eat something nice and enjoy each other, except for the one child in our family that of course still gets something.
For my wifes side of the family, we decided to do secret santa this year and cap ourselfs at 30.- CHF for value.
Byo food in this case? Lest this causes more than one person to bring potato salad, lol.
Best tip for this is to designate types of foods instead of asking what they’ll bring to avoid back and forth. Eg. Someone’ll make the salad, someone’ll make a pastry, someone’ll make dessert, etc.
I’m getting my mom a rowing machine because she wants one to help her exercise more. I’m getting my SO a Chromebook because his old one is like 7 years old now.
I am thinking about getting dad an Airspy stick and a Raspberry pi, we both love Flightradar24, and he has spoken about setting up a node in the network for them.
That’s a really interesting idea; my kid wants to be a pilot and just discovered flight tracker… I’m going to check out Airspy’s “how to” stuff and see about this as a gift idea too!
Colouring books! The wife, mother, and mother-in-law all find it therapeutic so they get that. Father and father-IL get booze. Brother gets a happy Xmas text as we stopped exchanging gifts years ago.
I found plantable paper stars/snowflakes that can be used as gift tags or tree ornaments. The paper contains wildflower seeds so you can plant this paper star into the ground in spring and it will sprout flowers.
My in-laws are in Arizona where there are scorpions. I’m giving them a powerful blacklight flashlight so we can go look for them when it gets dark out.
Be aware that powerful UV flashlights (especially the no-name Chinese ones) can also damage your eyes quickly without you noticing. Better ones will come with protective glasses.
To be clear UV flashlights are NOT the same as blacklight flashlights. However I totally agree if you are getting a UV light source for some reason, eye and possibly skin protection is a fantastic idea
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