Category Archives: Gift-Giving

Author’s Note: This post modified slightly from past years.

Do you have someone in your family or a friend who is “hard-to-buy-for”? Consider these ideas. Please note: these ideas work best if you are familiar with the recipient’s age, circumstances, likes and dislikes.

1. Make a gift basket. Buy items you know the recipient likes and uses frequently (or conversely, likes but doesn’t buy for him or herself). This is what I do for my mother. I buy gift cards for restaurants or dollar stores (she enjoys browsing in dollar stores), and hide the gift cards among the tissue paper around small food items, lotion or other items she uses. Depending on the time and energy level I have, I either wrap each item or just wrap the whole basket. My mother enjoys opening her customized gift basket and finding the items. True, “everyday stuff” isn’t glitzy. But you know the recipient will use it. If the person comes into a situation where money is tight, the person will appreciate having those everyday products to fall back on even more! Also, a bonus to the gift giver is that everyday items are not hard to find in the stores—people are looking for the latest gadget, rather than something that’s around all the time.  
2. Give the gift of time. If your recipient needs a certain project done and you have the skill and means to do it, consider scheduling a time to get together and do what the person needs. Your time is worth as much or more than the money you would spend on a gift for the person. You may be surprised at how appreciative the person is!
3. Give the gift of knowledge and skill. If the person has expressed a desire to learn a particular skill, and you know that skill, consider “gifting” it. Set up a time to help the person learn that skill. Speaking from experience, I appreciate it most when someone takes the time to show me how to do something, then watches and guides me as I do it myself, as opposed to when a person does it for me. 

I hope these simple ideas help.

©P. Booher

Author’s Note: Most of this is a re-post from last year. Hope it proves useful to someone needing suggestions for gift-giving.

While these suggestions are not original with me, they are on a different track from the usual ideas. They do cost you in time/money, but you can easily adapt them to your resources. (Please note: these ideas work best if you are familiar with the recipient’s age, circumstances, and likes/dislikes.)

1. Is the recipient someone who may not drive or someone “who has everything” and you’re stumped on what to buy him or her? If you are close enough to the person to know what brands of everyday products the person uses–facial soap, body washes, facial tissue, for example–buy some in bulk and wrap the items. Let your creativity come into play as you wrap the items. Some years ago I came upon this idea for gifts for my mother. It made such a hit with her that this is my “go-to” idea for Christmas and her birthday, which comes five days after Christmas. I buy products in the brands she uses and put them in a basket. I hide gift certificates to restaurants or stores among the items. Depending on the time/energy level I have, I either wrap each item or just wrap the basket. My mother enjoys opening her customized gift basket and finding each item hidden among the tissue paper. True, “everyday stuff” isn’t glitzy. But you know the recipient is going to use it; it won’t be placed in a cupboard never to see the light of day again. If the person comes into a situation where money is tight, the person will appreciate those everyday things even more!
2. Give the gift of time. If the recipient needs a certain project done and you have the skill and the means to do it, schedule a time to do whatever the person needs–then make sure to do it. Your time is worth as much or more than the money you spend on a gift for the person. You may be surprised how appreciative the person is!
3. As an offshoot to the above idea, if the person expresses a desire to learn a skill you know how to do, (say, a computer program or a small home-repair project) gift the person the skill! Get together and show the recipient how to do it. If you can’t get together for awhile, create a gift certificate for the skill, and give that to the person. Most people want to be able to do things on their own, rather than have to call someone, so again, you may be surprised how much the person appreciates it, and you.

Happy gift-giving!

©P. Booher