$25 grab bag family gift?

[krismom]

I've exhausted myself trying to come up with new ideas... previously I've done a Foreman grill, Gift Cards, Movie basket... any other good ideas out there? It's one of those trade it if you don't want it keep it if you do swaps... and mine always stink!

 

[mom2d&b]

maybe a plant, family board games, a money tree ( small chrsitmas tree --dollar store item-- with singles attached)

 

[powellrj]

CVS has all kinds of small appliances on sale tomorrow and they have things like waffle irons and popcorn poppers and crock-pots for 9.xx. That is so cheap you could really add lots of food items like waffle mixes and syrups, popcorn and topping and maybe soup items like gourmet crackers and fancy dried soup mixes with the crock-pot.

 

[tinkerlisa]

Well with my step daughter, we felt cheap giving her gift cards year after year(she doesn't live with us)! So last year, I bought her some clothes. Well she returned them and got something else that she liked instead. She was honest and said she would rather have the gift cards. So I got her one for walmart and one for kohls. Then I got a tiny little bag with bath gel and lotion and put one card in there and another little bag with pedicure stuff and put the other in there.
My mom is hard to shop for. This year, I got her and her fiance a candle from yankee candle and a gift certificate to an upscale restaurant in our area.
My godparents are also hard to shop for. I did another candle and am going to make homemade truffles for them.
For both my mom and godparents, i am going to put there gifts in a gift basket.
If your crafty, try something homemade. I hate christmas shopping. My kids are the easy part its everyone else that it is hard to shop for!
My best friends mom, every year has a huge party. She thinks of a gift for each family. If they are into the beach, she does a gift basket of beach stuff like towels and sand toys. One year for her daughter she made a basket that had a DVD player(cheap one from walmart) and a mess of movies and popcorn.

 

[rosiejo]

Jigsaw puzzles - year's flower delivery - books - candy - lottery tickets

 

[seeking pixie dust]

I like some of your past ideas. I like the above poster's idea of a waffle iron with syrups, etc... How about an ice cream maker? We're so tired of gift cards - it's fun to get a nice surprise.

Other ideas - spa pack, arts n crafts, painting, Disney movies, another themed movie pack. Wine n Cheese

Family board games are also a hit. Think of a fun game or two that would fit several of the families.

I like your idea...if we were close to our families, this would be a lot of fun.

 

[RMulieri]

I HATE the family grab bag gifts!This year is Secret Santa. I was just told we have a $30 limit this year and no gift cards allowed.To which I replied I am doing gift cards.Only because I can mail ahead to my MIL, and she can distribute if we don't go.The family get together is 4 hrs away, and if someone is sick or the weather is bad( which often it is) we do not travel, and I think it is totally unfair to make 3 people lose their gifts till March or April because of that.Plus every year I spend the amount of money we are supposed to , and I get a stinkin dollar store present ( I know the thought counts, but when you give someone a george foreman grill and they hand you a xmas hand towel it makes me a little annoyed)

 

[gigi1313]

ooh, we play this game, but we have a $15 limit... some of our gifts are good to win, others are truly "white elephants"

last year i brought a chia pet (and another nicer plant), $15 worth of scratch off lottery tickets (a HOT prize!), a gift cert for a magazine subscription (that kids were selling for school fundraiser) and 20Questions game...

this year i am bringing a fleece blanket that my dd is making (a kit from craft store and likely a pillow or sleepytime tea or something to go with it), $15 worth of scratch off lottery tickets, a winter hat that ds picked out (the boys will want to win this one), and dh ordered a set of Barak Obama coins (we have some serious political opposites in our extended family so this should be a scream!)...

another year i did a gift card but i put it inside a balloon and blew it up... it was hysterical 'cause the winner had to pop the balloon to claim their prize!


other gifts we've had were a basket w/a blockbuster gift card and some snacks, a gift bag full of ziplock bags (including the steamer ones)(don't ask! LOL), a singing toothbrush, a board game (apples to apples is GREAT!), and some gift cards...

 

[wrighter]

Not sure if there are any drinkers in your family, but a nice bottle of wine or a half case of some unique beer would be cool if there are. Another one that has been coveted in our exchanges before is a movie theater gift card - who doesn't like going to movies?!

 

[scrapquitler]

Popcorn Basket-- a popcorn popper with several kinds of popcorn and flavored toppings.

Ice cream sundae basket: gift card for grocery store to buy a couple half gallons of ice cream plus sundae dishes, hot fudge sauce, m&ms and other toppings.

a couple of board games or several card games like Uno, Skip Bo etc.

a set of placemats, a table runner or tablecloth and some sort of centerpiece for the table

A couple of DVDS for the whole family to watch together

 

[FSUDisneyGirl]

If you're into gift cards, how about 5 for $5 each? Starbucks, McDonalds, Barnes and Noble, Cold Stone, Blockbuster? That might equal a nice coffee, dinner, a cheap book, ice cream, and a movie! To be fun, maybe you could put them all into balloons or something...

 

[kellig]

Burt's Bees has a $25 holiday bag on their website that it pretty nice. If you click on gifts under $25 you will see it. I ordered two yesterday for our Dirty Santa gifts (one for each family get together).