You know the ones I’m talking about. Your Uncle Biff or your Father-in-Law, your 30 year-old Dual Income No Kids neighbors, your babysitter or your kids’ school teachers.
These are the people who either have EVERYTHING, don’t want ANYTHING or maybe you don’t really know them at all but feel obligated to get them a gift for some reason. So what do you get them? Think of the hardest people to shop for on your list and throw us some clues.
Often I choose topics for tip days because I have some great info to pass along. Today, I want to suck you dry. I’ve got next to nothin’ here, people. Help me out.
My ideas:
-Find something totally out there at some small online boutique. Get into the “they-would-never-find-this-stuff-in-a-million-years-unless-they-spent-every-waking-minute-surfing-the-internet” territory. These gifts are at least original and will have the, “wherever did you find this” factor, if not the “wow.”
-Books are almost always a good idea (First find out if said person is literate. Then you can decide whether to get one with words or pictures.).
-Buy something you would love for yourself but would feel guilty indulging in. I do this for my parents and in-laws sometimes. They have a lot more dough than we do and anything I could get them for 20 bucks, they could go buy themselves. The trick is to buy them something they see as frivolous or a luxury but that they would secretly love to have.
Your ideas:
(insert here)
* “Those one people” is probably my favorite misuse of the English language in the history of the world. Ex — “Who sings this song? Isn’t it those one people?”
Random Trivia – Dan and I own the domain name — www.thoseonepeople.com. We haven’t used it for anything yet and it cracks us up to tears but no one else really thinks it’s funny………at all.
I have never heard ‘those one people.’
Didn’t know what you were talking about.
I might get those people a Starbucks card or a GC for a manicure…
baking is always good, especially since I have so much time on my hands.
I always bake for the teachers – my aunt taught for 35 years and she has a collection of horrible gifts she has received.
Yet another reason why you and Dan need to be married to each other. You “get” each other’s humour. (Note the Canadian spelling) Who cares what the rest of the world thinks? You’ve got each other!
I want one of those frivolous luxury thingies that you can only find if you spend every waking minute surfing the net for under $20 ($10 would be better).
Don’t think I don’t know who you’re talking about when you mention “those one people”. I am one of them!
Sorry, the anonymous guy was me
yeah – I have that problem – my mom tends to adopt new people all the time to call our family, and so I have to fill stockings for people I don’t know well. So I usually get some strange assortment of disposable cameras, weird chapsticks, stuff like that.
I have never heard “those one people,” either. Is that a regional thing? Where I grew up, people just say, “y’all.”
I love giving and getting gift cards. I often put Starbucks or Barnes & Noble cards in stockings. That’s also what I plan to give my son’s preschool teachers.
I am related to many, many of those one people types.
Gift cards are a nice idea but I try to be careful what kind I give. It’s not always helpful to give a mom of 3 small kids a certificate for a pedicure unless you’re going to offer to babysit too. It’s not a gift when she has to call around to find a sitter and then pay the sitter. Yaknowatimean?
I love giving monogrammed stuff, people always love seeing their name or initials on something. The Lillian Vernon catalog has a lot of those unique things for reasonable prices and nice quality regardless of what the skits on MAD TV say. We bought the folks a nice, heavy door knocker with their last name on it one year. They say they liked it.
I’m with Blackbird on baking token gifts for neighbors, sitters, and teachers.
I also try to save money and headache by giving “couples” gifts to my husbands many siblings and their wives.
For people who love eBay you cannot possibly go wrong with an eBay gift card. Even better than Willy Wonka’s golden ticket.
For “those” people I usually try to make them something….
A small photo album, a crocheted scarf or hat….
But since I never have the time to make my well intentioned gift I usually end up buying them a gift card to a restaurant or a book store.
Boring, I know…
But that is all I’ve got.
This year we spent the whole chunk o’ change on having a new baby. That and said baby means that I (we) are off the hook for buying trillions of gifts for every Tom, Dick and Harry. As in no money, no time no sleep… but lots of milk. Maybe they would like a small keepsake bottle of milk?
One more Idea, I’m doing this for my brother because he is somewhere in Kansas . . .
But instead of just getting a giftcard to some specific place, you can get a disposable visa card. Put how much you want to spend on it and then they can use it anywhere visa is accepted. You get them at local banks, so look it up or call around.
Definitely, the small luxuries. We got my mother-in-law a massage. She’d never get it for herself. 🙂
i dont do christmas, so i dont have the problem of buying pressies for every single person you know (sounds like a nightmare to me). but i do buy gifts for birthdays and other such occasions, and often have the problem of choosing the right gift. Recently I’ve started giving gift vouchers as presents. For example, for my sisters, an extravagant voucher for a beauty treatment of their choice; a travel voucher for my parents on their anniversary for a weekend getaway of their choice; a book voucher for my cousin (so that i dont end up buying a book they’ve already got)… you get the drift. Also, home made gifts (espcially preserves and baked goodies) are always well recieved by friends – and are cheaper too.
I’m a fan of high-end liquors as gifts–for people who drink, obviously. My mom always gets my husband a bottle of fancy scotch which makes him very, very happy. I bake a lot for teachers and everyone else, really. And I personally always appreciate a gift certificate for a manicure or some such at a local salon. Oh, and I once also gave someone a book of movie theater passes. Most people like movies.
I’m one of those who doesn’t really like gift certificates(I always get ones to stores I NEVER go to) or those luxury gifts. If i have remember to book for a massage before it th GC expires, i might never go. (especially with 2 small kids).
*Liquor is always good but I like useful stuff like:
*People who like to bake: get baking ingredients, oven mitts and cookbook or your favorite recipe.
*Connoisseurs of coffee,tea or Hot cocoa, add cookies or chocolates, add tea towels instead of mugs…everyone gets too many mugs.
*Fancy photoalbum or scrapbook album (with GC for photofinishing) so they can start the year off creating new memories.
*Bunch of magazines on a specific interest they have (I wrapped a bunch of home design ones tied up in a pretty ribbon once for someone).
I LOVE that bundled magazine idea from MommyMaki! Which also reminds me that magazine subscriptions are fun too.
For the record, I myself have used the phrase “those one people” on many occasions. It is a real grammatically incorrect phrase. As for gifts, it’s nice to buy something that they need because their old one is wearing out. Kitchen utensils are great, as well as nice bath products. Everyone can always use a new cozy blanket for snuggling on the couch, too.
Movie night in a basket:
Blockbuster gift card
Microwave popcorn
Candy
Soda
Less than 10 bucks
And disposable. I hate giving people stuff that will jsut clutter up their house
We pick names and buy for one person and I LOVE LOVE LOVE it.Ok, except that the person I am buying for has all of what everyone mentioned and if she doesn’t spoil herself, her husband will. So I am just going to have to go with buying her the gift I already planned…silicone muffin molds. Found them on the website where she bought my gift two years ago. They are cute and they bake lots so I think she’ll like it. Otherwise, they have a great return policy.
Ditto on the baking. It’s especially nice to bake somthing non-sweet (like bread) since everyone is inundated with sweets this time of year. (Plus, if I bake sweets, I do way too much bowl-licking).
And I have never in my life heard the phrase “those one people”. You must explain!
“Those one people” is a way of referring to one or more people. It’s in the same category as “that one guy with the hair and the face and the shoes”. The only person who can fully understand what you are saying is someone who can partially read your mind.
Well, if you are serious about those wacky Internet gifts, a great place to go is http://www.knockknock.biz/. They do have some strange stuff, some funny stuff, and even some useful things.
Also: check if these people have an amazon.com wish list. That’s the easiest way to get them something you know they’ll want.
Thanks for all the great ideas. I have actually used knock knock and they have some really fun original stuff.
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