buying for parents who have everything

[ProudGrandma]

What do I get my in-laws who own everything they want or need?  I could go the gift card route, but that always seems so impersonal...unless someone here is more creative than I am and can help me figure out a really fun way to gift those.

 

Please help.  I seriously do not know what to give...and we have this issue every year.

 

thanks. 

[HomeAgain]

Give them an experience.  Do they have a show they'd like to see?  Ball game?  Concert?  Movies?

[Garga]

An experience or things they can use up or just use once and then get rid of:

 

Fancy soaps

Puzzles (cardboard cutout)

Puzzle books (crossword, sudoku)

Plants (those paperwhites they have out now)

Basket of edible things (fruit of the month or something)

Nice bottles of wine

 

 

[JFSinIL]

Shutterfly or similar is your friend.  Make a photo book for them of grandkids, or family history. My dad got a throw blanket with photos on it, year before a pillow with family photos on it (they come out nice!).  I have coffee mugged about everyone I know (kids each got a collage mug with family pets on it last year - each mug tailored to the kid with their pet most prominent).  Or local stores like Kohls etc. have photo album books that look nice and you can slip in the photos if you don't want to use an on-line service like Shutterfly.

 

Each of my folks (they are divorced) has gotten several photo books in the past from me - some grandkids/kids, others family history (if I have the content.)

 

 

[katilac]

Experiences, consumables, and photo items are all good suggestions that have served me well in the past. 

 

Google 'creative ways to give money or gift cards' and you will get lots of ideas if you go that route. You can also search by interest, like 'gifts for fishermen' and so on. If you have Pinterest, search straight from there. 

 

If you know of a certain treat they like, it's a nice act of service to make it and present it nicely. This becomes twice as popular if the grandkids do it! My kids made old-fashioned gingerbread for their grandfather one year, and it was a big hit. 

 

This same grandfather requests no "gifts for the sake of gifts" and we respect that. We will occasionally give him a consumable or a small item that really strikes us as suiting him, but mostly we don't buy for him and he thanks us for it, lol. Grandmother and I share a hobby so I try to find new or slightly unusual things related to that. 

[regentrude]

We give photo calendars with family and kid pictures, and baskets of yummy edibles. 

[Pippen]

International Rescue Gifts--a year of school, clean water, emergency food for children, temporary shelter, blankets, 

 

http://gifts.rescue.org/?initialms=ws_resq_banr_eoy16_es_161121&ms=ws_resq_banr_eoy16_es_161121

 

[Guest]

I've had this problem for years with my parents. My mother is sentimental and can't part with anything (bordering on OCD neat yet a hoarder) so she threatens us with death if we give her anything else to store in the house.

 

We've figured out technology is the way to go. Last year they started complaining about their computer. So we got them a replacement. This year it's been some TV comments. We're (well dh) is mounting all of their TV's for them (and we're buying the equipment-mounts, shelves, etc.) I got my mom hooked on podcasts as a distraction from her normal AM radio habit during the election. So I got her a Bluetooth speaker she can carry around with her. Things like that. You may have tech savvy in-laws so this may not work, but things like Roku's, electronic rain gauges and weather stations etc have been hits for us. Once they get it they love it, but they would've never purchased it for themselves.

[QueenCat]

Consumables (food, special bath products, etc)

[Farrar]

Sometimes we give in and just give more stuff. Sigh.

 

But mostly we try to aim for experiences (movie tickets, night out to eat, etc.) and homemade things from the kids.

 

My in-laws are stuff accumulators. They've gotten better, but one year back when they lived along the Metro North, we got them theater tickets for a small show we thought they'd like and a gift certificate for a restaurant nearby. They went to the restaurant... and GET THIS... did not use the gift certificate. They put it on a shelf to keep instead. OMG. I nearly died.

[Murphy101]

Other than electronic upgrades to make life easier or more enjoyable and things grandparenty like photo calendars - both of which we have done without positive reception....

 

Nothing.

 

We buy our parents nothing. They don't want anything or if they do they refuse to tell us. And they have reacted negatively to what we had tried to improvise over the years.

 

So unless we happen upon something that seems just perfect - nothing. And we have told them for years that seriously they do not need to buy for dh and I. It's appreciated but we aren't going to be even slightly bothered if they don't.

 

Last year my inlaws unusually asked for gifts. For me to make a peppermint blanket for her and a "very long scarf in golf colors" for him. Now they asked for it 3 weeks before last Christmas (lol) so they did not get that last year. I'm hoping they still want those because I made it for this Christmas. Actually I'm still frantically knitting the scarf bc I wasn't able to finish it before Baby Girl was born and she isn't giving me lots of knitting time.

 

Christmas is not about gifts and money.

[prairiewindmomma]

dinner theater tickets have been a hit here

[gingersmom]

Donate to a charity in their name

 

Let your kids make them gifts

[Guest]

Sometimes we give in and just give more stuff. Sigh.

 

But mostly we try to aim for experiences (movie tickets, night out to eat, etc.) and homemade things from the kids.

 

My in-laws are stuff accumulators. They've gotten better, but one year back when they lived along the Metro North, we got them theater tickets for a small show we thought they'd like and a gift certificate for a restaurant nearby. They went to the restaurant... and GET THIS... did not use the gift certificate. They put it on a shelf to keep instead. OMG. I nearly died.

 

That makes me think of something my parents would do. They like to take day trips to the casinos in LA. A couple of years ago we got them a gift card for the new Golden Nugget casino to stay a couple of nights, have some dinners at the restaurant, etc. It was new, we thought they would enjoy a change. We thought this was the *perfect* gift. I was so stoked, convinced we finally got it right. I just knew they would be thrilled. Well, you can guess how that ended. They were horrified. They thought it too expensive a casino and wouldn't stay there overnight! We were pretty baffled because it would've been FREE! We paid for it! We already bought the freaking card!!!!!   :confused1:

 

But noooo........they couldn't go some place so frivolous. Would you like to know what they finally (after much debate) used the gift card for? Lunches at Saltgrass. Apparently the gift card was good at all Landry's group business at least, so it didn't go unused. I think they're still using it two years later.  But really, after that I gave up on gift cards. Old people are weird. Do they not get the money all goes to the same place? Tilman Fertitta doesn't care where you spend his gift cards! I guess that's better than sitting on a shelf but they completely missed the point. 

[Tina]

Dad's 89. He usually doesn't like anything, but we've had a few winners. We've gotten Netfix, and my sister paid for a Sirius radio? Or something that played dad's old time band music. This year I got a hanging canvas swing. If he doesn't like it I'll gladly keep it. Lol.

I've been buying really old movies and passing them to him to watch a second time in his life. Ones I love and want to keep. ;)

Edited December 3, 2016 by Tina

[Farrar]

That makes me think of something my parents would do. They like to take day trips to the casinos in LA. A couple of years ago we got them a gift card for the new Golden Nugget casino to stay a couple of nights, have some dinners at the restaurant, etc. It was new, we thought they would enjoy a change. We thought this was the *perfect* gift. I was so stoked, convinced we finally got it right. I just knew they would be thrilled. Well, you can guess how that ended. They were horrified. They thought it too expensive a casino and wouldn't stay there overnight! We were pretty baffled because it would've been FREE! We paid for it! We already bought the freaking card!!!!!   :confused1:

 

But noooo........they couldn't go some place so frivolous. Would you like to know what they finally (after much debate) used the gift card for? Lunches at Saltgrass. Apparently the gift card was good at all Landry's group business at least, so it didn't go unused. I think they're still using it two years later.  But really, after that I gave up on gift cards. Old people are weird. Do they not get the money all goes to the same place? Tilman Fertitta doesn't care where you spend his gift cards! I guess that's better than sitting on a shelf but they completely missed the point. 

 

I don't even know which emoji use. Mostly just  :lol:  that someone else's parents are weird about this too.

[Seasider]

We just don't do the gift thing anymore. It was a stressful exercise in futility. We do host lovely events for them ans they get to spend time with their grandkids that way.

[bookbard]

Plants. I always give plants when I don't know what to give. Nice pot of lavender, herbs etc. 

[Tina]

For their 60th anniversary, we put together a photo book and filled it with brief family lines and memories as well as photos. Even the grandkids threw in most memorable lines and such. That was a big hit!

Edited December 3, 2016 by Tina

[katilac]

If dh has good holiday memories of his childhood, it would be lovely if he wrote them a note talking about that and thanking them.

[Tina]

If dh has good holiday memories of his childhood, it would be lovely if he wrote them a note talking about that and thanking them.

My parents have really enjoyed the notes I've added to various cards through the years, thanking them for various things they've taught me during my childhood and beyond, things that have made me who I am.

Edited December 3, 2016 by Tina

[Rebel]

We have been using http://www.amazingclubs.com/ for the hard to buy. They have been a hit so far.

[Janeway]

I always make my own basket up of goodies. I let them know in advance though, so they can purchase less food at Christmas. For grandma, I have to ship, so I order her k-cups and paper plates and napkins for when she has company.

[Night Elf]

One year I got my mom and stepdad a gift card for a year long zoo membership. It came with a stuffed animal which I wrapped up with the gift card. They were so happy. They loved going and just walking around.

[Carol in Cal.]

CDs of music that was popular when they were dating or in high school.

 

DVD's of movies ditto.

 

A book about old stuff that has just been published so you know they don't have it.  Obscure example:  A couple of years ago I really, REALLY enjoyed a book of old sermons by someone who is important in my family's denomination, and so I bought a copy of it for elderly relatives.  Since it had just been published, I knew they wouldn't have it; yet it was very traditional and also since I had enjoyed it I knew it was well written.  The book was "Gospel Sermons, Volume 1" by C. F. W. Walther, which I'm sure will mean absolutely nothing to most of you, but it was sermons on the Gospel lessons in the one year lectionary during the festival seasons of the Church Year, so it was wonderful to read devotionally.

Edited December 3, 2016 by Carol in Cal.

[PeterPan]

I made my FIL his favorite dish for several years.  He really enjoyed it, and it was something my MIL never made. I'd take a whole pot of it on Christmas day.  :D

[Storygirl]

My dad (age 82) is hard to buy for. This year I got him a membership to a museum. DH and I took my kids there this summer, and when he heard that, he said, "I've wanted to go there for 83 years." So I bought him the membership, gave it to him early, and went there with him for a couple of days in September. It was a trip for just the two of us, which we've never done before, and it was really nice. The membership is for a year, so he can visit again if he wants.

 

I don't buy for my mom any more. She is in a nursing home with Alzheimer's, so she has very few possessions and doesn't need anything new. I tried to give her gifts the first couple of years that she was there, but it was obvious that they didn't mean anything to her any more. Which is very sad, since Christmas was a favorite holiday for her.

 

MIL and FIL are hard to buy for. We usually get some restaurant gift cards and something else little to go with it. Maybe a fun snack item for FIL and a scarf or home decoration for MIL. Last year they each got a mug imprinted with a piece of artwork by my children. I noticed that they don't use the mugs for coffee but have them sitting as a decoration on the kitchen windowsill.

Edited December 3, 2016 by Storygirl

[Julie Smith]

My kids take piano lessons.

 

For Christmas grandparents get a music cd. Dh records them playing songs and burns them a handful of CDs.

[RioSamba]

My father loves anything given in his name to benefit a child. The first year I did an Angel Tree package in his name, he cried. I have NEVER seen him cry before or since. I took pictures of each gift and wrapped them in a shirt box.

[trulycrabby]

We have been using http://www.amazingclubs.com/ for the hard to buy. They have been a hit so far.

They have a dog treat club! :wub:

[Guest]

Consumables.

Cheese of the month, wreath of the season, crate of pears

[MotherGoose]

We got my mom a cold frame with automatic opener. (Went in with my sister). If the relative has even a remote interest in gardening, it's fabulous. All they have to do is plant, water, and harvest. This is one of those things that my mom would never buy herself but would love.

[bettyandbob]

I make soup and freeze in serving sizes for my parents.

 

I have up attempting to buy. If they want something they buy it. I can't compete with that.

[Paige]

We get my in-laws gift certificates to restaurants in their area that they may not have heard of and that are the new and cool places to be. They seem to like discovering new places. We don't live near them but my brother does and is the cool spy on the ground telling us where to go. 

[bethben]

I just bought my mil a very nice paring knife.  She was always complaining about how all of her paring knives are dull.  My mom likes to do puzzles and this one gave her a good challenge and she thought all the different shapes of the pieces was really fun  

.http://www.libertypuzzles.com

Edited December 3, 2016 by bethben

[6packofun]

This year we are "sponsoring an acre" in our National Park in my dad and stepmom's name.  Our family is sponsoring an acre right next to theirs (this is between where both of us live) and we're going to invite them to go hiking with us to "our acres" in the spring/summer.  :)  It just helps to keep up the park and trails in our area.  They already have everything they need and I just found this and thought it was neat!

[Seasider]

My father loves anything given in his name to benefit a child. The first year I did an Angel Tree package in his name, he cried. I have NEVER seen him cry before or since. I took pictures of each gift and wrapped them in a shirt box.

I would cry, too. That's lovely.

[mommyoffive]

This year we are "sponsoring an acre" in our National Park in my dad and stepmom's name.  Our family is sponsoring an acre right next to theirs (this is between where both of us live) and we're going to invite them to go hiking with us to "our acres" in the spring/summer.   :)  It just helps to keep up the park and trails in our area.  They already have everything they need and I just found this and thought it was neat!

 OMg

 

I love this.    How do you do this???

[aggieamy]

We give photo calendars with family and kid pictures, and baskets of yummy edibles. 

 

Exactly what my parents are getting.  My dad loves the calendar and last time we visited I noticed he had all the old calendars on his desk so he could flip back through them.  :wub:

 

We have a fancy spice and oil/vinegar store in town.  I got some interesting spice mixes from there and an assortment of good oils and vinegars to put together a basket for them.  It's fun to do and it's easy to personalize it with things you know they'll like. 

[Guest]

We don't really buy them things. Cards and such, yes, and sometimes we will send them things like iced tea or whatever we think they'd like, we don't regularly get any of them anything.