CIJ Day 20- Put It Under the Tree

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Myron's Mom

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Jul 1, 2018
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The hard/ impossible person on your gift list.

I’m sure we all have at least one (hopefully not more!) hard to buy for person on our list. If you are like me you have combed the internet looking for gift ideas. I feel like I’ve looked at 100’s of articles titled “The perfect gift for your husband or father or mother…..” and found absolutely nothing suitable. Slippers, mugs, water bottles, candles, bubble bath, Covid tests, and bamboo toilet paper?- surely we can do better!

Again, ask for a list. It’s always nice to get exactly what you want. (I’m not a big fan of lists because I feel I should be able to come up with something on my own but, it’s not about me, is it!). Lists can also give you a jumping off point for a special gift.

What to do with the person who has absolutely everything they need and want and will not give you a list (this was my parents)? Think about what they enjoy, love or miss. For my mom it was hard to find butterscotch carmels and raspberry filled hard candy. 2 things she enjoyed and missed from holidays long past. A simple gift but something she liked, missed and appreciated the effort to find it.

My best gift successes for the hard to buy for have been based on memories.

For example: A long lost, now found photo, matted and framed. Copies of a cookbook with handwritten recipes by grandma. A photo Christmas ornament of my mom and her sisters from the 1940’s. Hard to find old movies watched at the drive in with family. A photo quilt for my FIL of his champion beagles. The basis for some of these gifts was here waiting to be transformed into the perfect gift.

Again making and /or baking may be a solution. Does the problem recipient love your peanut butter cookies? Mix up a batch along with some gift vouchers for future cookies or a copy of your special recipe and the ingredients.

LastIy, will leave you with the following articles to ponder. Hopefully one of these articles will inspire or give you ideas for the perfect gift.

12 Questions To Find The Perfect Gift For Everyone On Your List

9 Tips That Will Guarantee You Find the Perfect Gift for Everyone on Your List

8 Crucial Questions To Find The Perfect Gift Every Time

Tomorrow, wrapping it up!
 

homemade4me

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Jun 30, 2020
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........"based on memories" my husband always likes candy his Mom and Grandma used to buy.....

Both my kids said a few years ago they would like consumables. So that is always my focus.
I try to buy something that is a little bit more special than the everyday.


So far on my list i have.....Organic coffee and tea, shampoo bar, bamboo tooth brushes, food wax wraps (can be compostable) and sew cloth napkins for the grandchildren from scraps of left over kids type prints.

In California we recycle everything, this year we received bins for organic food waste. I didn't know that rotting food in land fills was a major contributor to climate change?

Since it looks like our grandchildren will grow up in a very different world than we know now, I am hoping the above could become second nature to them.

Laurie

Simplify
 

Ahorsesoul

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My brother is hard for me. He is 8 years older so needs nothing. One year he told me a memory story of playing with a tin boat that held a candle that when lit would propel the boat. He played with it at our grandmother’s house. I remember singing the Davey Crocket song with him when I was little. It was very popular in the early 1950s.

I found the boat on eBay and then a few years later someone had a real raccoon fur hat for sale on our local garage sale site. Both were well recieved. Especially by my nephews dogs. The hat had to be locked up in a bedroom before the dogs settled down Unless someone headed for the bedroom. Here is my husband with the hat.
 

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PamelaG

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There's a great list on Pinterest of Clutter-free Christmas gifts - experiences, memberships, subscriptions, classes, passes, services, etc. Great especially those that keep on giving all through the year.
 

Holiday_Mom

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Some years I have a difficult person but it usually isn't the same person. When I don't know what to get a person, it usually ends up being a consumable gift.

Last Christmas, I bought all the gifts on the wish lists and still had money leftover in each person's budget. (It seems the wish list gets smaller and smaller as my kids hit adulthood.) I went to the high end grocery store and bought high end food that doesn't match with a college student's and post college student's budget but matches with their taste. Some items picked up were Italian sodas, flavored peanut butter, King Arthur baking mixes, coffee syrups, flavored K cups, They were well received.
 

jampss

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Great articles! And great ideas and inspiration! More and more these years I have been gifting food items.