13 Unique Holiday Gift Ideas

Gift giving is not my forte. Gift receiving is even harder for me.

In general, I am just not great with gifts. Mainly because I'm not a shopper. But also because I have no idea what to get people. I am afraid I will get something that they won't want or something that isn't at all useful to them. 

When I was about 6 years old, I gave my dad all of the change in my piggy bank for his birthday. I was super excited about it. I thought it was going to be the present of a lifetime. He refused it and said that wasn't how gifts worked. I still haven't quite graduated from that level of gift giving. I guess I got a little better... a few years later I hand copied all of my favorite knock knock jokes out of a book from the library and gave that to my dad.

Because of all of that, I usually do gift giving a bit different than most people.

Here are a few things that I have found work pretty well for me:



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• A little more about coupons... Scott and I don't do birthday or Christmas presents for each other. We tried and it resulted in tears. Now, for birthdays we usually make each other a coupon book full of things like, "one week of no diaper changes," "I will watch a football game with you and not complain," "one dessert of your choice to be prepared," etc. I used to give them to my mom and dad when I was little and it seemed to go over pretty well.

• You could make a personalized calendar where you put birthdays, anniversaries, etc. You could even put invites for the person to come over to dinner. Be sure to include cheery notes here and there. You could pin a few dollars and write, "ice cream outing" on a page.

• Last year, Scott has given his mom a "pasta of the month club."  The idea is that he will make her a special food for each month of the year. He has also given her bread of the month and soup of the month.

Scott made this document, printed it up and wrapped it for her.

 

• Have a fun get together where you play the "Bad Santa," "White Elephant" or whatever name you choose of the 15 option 

• Give a certificate for an activity that you can do together. Make sure it is something the person is interested in. If she or he likes kayaking but you think sun-tan lotion might be a silly gift and a new kayak might be a bit too much try a gift certificate to somewhere like Charlotte's White Water Center.

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• Ask for suggestions. Maybe the person you are buying for needs a new umbrella or a yoga mat. You can make it more personal by narrowing one down out of the millions of choices.

I assume this is the umbrella that most people would pick to give as a gift.
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• Do an ornament or cookie exchange and make it all about the get-together!

Here are some neat present ideas that you can make yourself:

• Give someone a casserole dish and etch their name on it. They will never leave it behind at a big gathering again!

glass etching tutorial found here

• Put a photo on a wood block!

wood block photo how-to

• Make blocks with photos and letters on them for a kid. It could also be for an adult to use as a display and change the words!

photo building blocks tutorial

• I love the idea of a date night jar. Each stick is color-coordinated to mean something different. For example, dark pink might require some planning; light pink might be stay at home, etc.

date night jar

• Who doesn't want a secret hidey-hole book? Make one and give it as a gift.

hollow how-to
photo source

• One more idea... A Tea-A-Day-Wreath! After looking at yesterday's blog, Scott suggested that if you have a lot of people to buy gifts for you could buy a big assortment of teas and make a bunch of tea wreaths!

If you liked this post, stay tuned next week for FOOD Gifts That You Can DIY!