OnTheBrink Posted September 4, 2008 Share Posted September 4, 2008 I'm sending my dad and step mother wine from a winery they like out here; I have NO idea what to get my mom and step dad, or my brother and SIL. What do you get them? Do you mail it yourself (if they live far away) or do you shop online and have it shipped? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jennifer in MI Posted September 4, 2008 Share Posted September 4, 2008 This year we had all of our family Super 8 films put on DVD. I also took all the pictures from my mom's and dad's house of my siblings growing up. I scanned them and put them in an album on Snapfish. Everyone will get one of those too. (This took an incredibly long time!!!!) One year we did one of those wine every month clubs. That was greatly appreciated!!! They have all sorts of those clubs and wouldn't cost anything to ship. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Confuzzled Posted September 4, 2008 Share Posted September 4, 2008 Last year it was subscriptions to "The Week" magazine. The year before it was movie theater gift certificates. I don't know yet for this year. Kris Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted September 4, 2008 Share Posted September 4, 2008 Last year it was a visit from us! This year, I think we're just buying for all the kids in the family. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dcjlkplus3 Posted September 4, 2008 Share Posted September 4, 2008 Last year I made a family and friends scrapbook/yearbook in photoshop and published it in Lulu.com. I only used pictures from 2007. I ordered copies for my parents, sisters, aunts and uncles and some friends who were in it as Christmas gifts. I will do another one this year. It is time intensive, and I decided that other than separating the pictures I want to use, there is not much that I can do before October or so. That reminds me, I need to start getting ready. The parents loved it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
E_Edgerton Posted September 4, 2008 Share Posted September 4, 2008 Dh and I usually send a magazine subscription. We have been renewing The Week for several years now, they love it! We actually get it too! I highly rec. it.:) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Confuzzled Posted September 4, 2008 Share Posted September 4, 2008 Dh and I usually send a magazine subscription. We have been renewing The Week for several years now, they love it! We actually get it too! I highly rec. it.:) Yes! It is THE favorite magazine in the house. Everyone fights over it and it's always a search of bedrooms and bathrooms to find it. Our parents love it also and are very happy with the subscription. Kris Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Laurel Posted September 4, 2008 Share Posted September 4, 2008 Last year I gave them long underwear and socks (big skiiers). And books. We (my parents and siblings) made very specific Christmas wish lists last year. It may be boring, but we all got what we wanted/needed. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jenny in Atl Posted September 4, 2008 Share Posted September 4, 2008 Audio books, music, movies, and handmade gifts are the usual. I also love to do Heifer each year. My mom always "gifts" back a hive of bees to both the girls. It's a great feel good gift that helps others. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sadiegirl Posted September 4, 2008 Share Posted September 4, 2008 Usually it has something to do with the grandkids...either a picture they have drawn and we have it framed. My mom loves antiques and she collects the pictures with thermometers in them. My dad is not into material things at all...so notes, pictures mean alot to him. One year, I managed to get a cornerstone rock to the fireplace at his grandfather's homeplace and give it to him. Those are the kind of gifts money can't buy. Priceless!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jacquelyn in NC Posted September 5, 2008 Share Posted September 5, 2008 Everyone in our family and everyone in my sister's family gets one page of a scrapbook. We include pictures form the year just finished and a letter -- this could be a story form the past year, a do-you-remember story, or a picture drawn by the kids. I scrapbook them and mail them the pages. We've done this for six years now, and my parents love it! It's the only gift I've ever seen them fight over, to see who could get the first peek at the new pages...:001_smile: Both my sister and I live far away (NC and TX, while my parents live in Maine), so this gift means a lot to them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RoughCollie Posted September 5, 2008 Share Posted September 5, 2008 I order gifts online and have them shipped. I give either gift certificates or something I know the recipient wants or needs. For instance, I gave my sister a gift certificate to Lowe's one year because she is always working on her house. Another year, I gave her a gift certificate to Hobby Lobby because I figured she needed a break from working on her house and I knew she didn't have extra money to spend on hobbies. My mother is German, so I give her items from a German store that is online - and located in the U.S. Usually these are foods she loves, with an emphasis on Christmas foods. My stepmother is hard to buy for because she has no interests. I usually get her Godiva chocolates or a gift certificate to The Cheesecake Factory. One year we gave her a cappuccino machine. My father was hard to buy for. I usually gave him jumbo cashews from Sunnyland Farms and a wheel of Vermont cheddar. I have also given plenty of nice picture frames to people who are hard to buy for. My sister gives magazine subscriptions to us quite a bit. The adults on our list do not like clutter (except for one who collects Precious Moments figurines), so I try to give them something they can use up or that would be useful to them, and I make sure it is something they would like. RC Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GailV Posted September 5, 2008 Share Posted September 5, 2008 My parents Do Not Want More Stuff and have been very explicit about this for years. So, recent gifts have included: - framed pictures of all of us on a horseback ride (including my parents -- the only time my mom has been on a horse!) plus small albums of all the pics for all my siblings - handknit socks - Heifer donations My brother gets them DVDs of classic movies, which is really cool because we all enjoy watching them when we visit. Also, food is usually okay, especially homemade. One year the kids made granola -- Mom and Dad loved it. My inlaws are a lot more dicey. We've been going with Heifer donations, but I think we need to come up with something different this year. I'm sort of hoping the world when end between now and Christmas so I don't have to deal with this. Ick. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stacia Posted September 5, 2008 Share Posted September 5, 2008 In dh's family, the adults draw names, so we don't necessarily get his parents presents based on that. And, his whole family is really good about making wish lists, so shopping is easy. My family, otoh, is so hard to buy for. I have a hard time every year trying to figure out what to get for my parents. Last year, we gave them a newspaper subscription. Dh (for years) has wanted to get them cable tv serivce (lol -- so he has more options when he's watching tv over there), but that's not really of interest to my mom. I've also given things such as: Games Magazine subscriptions (my parents like puzzles) Jigsaw puzzles Tickets to a show (many times, I've taken my mom to see Stars on Ice & other shows like that) Restaurant gift certificates Lamp or specific piece of furniture they want Boring but practical gifts like smoke detectors, CO2 detectors, flashlights for throughout the house, etc... I don't have to ship gifts (parents are all local), but for other gifts I ship, I've started ordering online & having the gift wrapped & sent from the retailer. Between gas prices & postal rates these days, paying for the gift wrapping & shipping from the retailer is as cheap as doing it all myself. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ticklbee Posted September 5, 2008 Share Posted September 5, 2008 Last year I gave the Entertainment Book to my brother/sil and they loved it. Will probably do it again for them and maybe for the parents as well. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rosie_0801 Posted September 6, 2008 Share Posted September 6, 2008 Mum lives on the other side of the country and will be receiving a book on mini quilts. She'll never use it, but she'll like it anyway, being a craft lover. I bought it while out roadtripping with my brother the other weekend, so I'll have to post it. Dad will probably show up here at some point, and will receive a medieval hat, which dh will make. He wouldn't like it at all if I made it, but if dh makes it he'll think it's funny and wear it around for the day. Then he'll leave it under the seat in the car for the next umpteen years. :) We'll also give him a tub of ice-cream, a new brand (for us anyway,) coconut and lime flavoured. This will go down very happily indeed, because ice-cream is one of Dad's favorite things. His only complaint will be that the tub isn't bigger. But Dad must say something negative about everything, and that is not unreasonable :) Rosie Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Heather in the Kootenays Posted September 6, 2008 Share Posted September 6, 2008 Movies, gift certificates, home baking and canning, family photos. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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