Christmas gifts ideas needed!

pjlla

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Oct 21, 2003
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My extended family pulls names for Christmas. We have one couple (my aunt and uncle) who NOBODY wants to get because they are impossible to buy for. Well.... I did the noble thing and OFFERED to take their names, thinking I would come up with some GRAND scrapbooking-related idea that I could make them for Christmas. And here it is, OCTOBER, and I have come up with NOTHING!!

Here are the stats.... they are in their 60s-70s... no kids. They owned a travel agency for many years and have traveled the world. They don't spend a lot of time with us (my family and DB's family) other than holidays. I would have NO way of accessing their photos to do any sort of personal scrapbook for them.... plus I wouldn't know where to begin.... as I said, they have traveled the world extensively.

The few ideas I have been playing around with are.... a calendar (but not sure what the "theme" would be and what photos I would use), an "all-about-me" album.... make a blank album for each of them to add their own pictures and journaling (but honestly, I'm not sure that they would care.... they don't have kids to share it with and their cat can't read :laughing: ). And I would HATE to put all that time and money into something that got stuff into a drawer. Another idea was to make up a bundle of blank cards... condolence cards, get well cards, birthday cards, etc for them to have on hand. But in this day and age, I'm not sure that they even send much by snail mail.

So HELP!!!! Any ideas out there?? BTW, the "criteria" for our gift giving is that it has to be handmade by the giver or bought second hand. Dollar limit is about $35 and under.

While you have your thinking caps on.... any ideas for DS to give his 9 y/o cousin (female) or for my DD to give her 16 y/o cousin (male)?? I do have a few ideas for them, but I am certainly open to more!!

THANKS so much in advance for your help....................P
 
I think the calendar idea for aunt and uncle is good- do you know at least 12 places they have traveled- you could do a picture from each and title it remembering our travels- maybe they would talk to each other remembering the travels each month as they looked at the picture(s).

For the 9 year old- maybe a shadow box that has things she enjoys or places to add momentos or pictures.

16 yr old male- could she make up a car care kit- some tools and such as well as air freshener (maybe homemade)- she might be able to get some of the tools second hand as well.

Rebecca
 
For the 9yo I'd make up a craft box (if she likes crafts of course:rolleyes1 ) - cover a box with pretty paper and add in scissors (maybe a fancy blade pair), fabric, glue, sparkly bits and pieces, beads etc.. Or a scrapbook kit - I did this for my niece and if you're anything like me all I had to buy was an empty scrapbook - I had plenty of spare papers, brads etc to make up an interesting selection. DS could decorate the box and help choose the contents.

16 yo I'd probably wuss out with an i-tunes gift card :guilty: but as that's against the rules how about making a knotted blanket with fleece? (No sewing required) Or something to do with his hobbies - how about a shadow box to mount pop memorabilia?
 
Thanks for the ideas. Unfortunately, the fleece idea has been done to death. (This is a group of 9 kids between the ages of 16 and 9... 4 boys, 5 girls.) They have done some interesting stuff in the past. DNephew learned to knit and made his cousin a scarf a few years ago (he was about 12, she was about 7). And then last Christmas was all about the fleece... pillow and blankets, etc. Everyone seemed to have a similar idea.

I may have DD bake something for her cousin. She made him his own batch of sticky buns last year and he LOVED it. (Not sure how we ended up with his name again this year :confused3 ) Maybe some sort of cookies that he could freeze a portion of to save for later in the year. He has a HUGE sweet tooth. The problem will be timing it right so that we aren't rushing to do this at the last minute, but so that the items are still fresh.

DS did like my idea of making up a small family recipe book to give his cousin. She is only 9, but she loves to cook with her mom. I thought a recipe book in scrapbook form that he could decorate, etc would be nice. We would just have to get some recipes from family members for things that are "traditional" to our family holidays.

Let's keep the ideas flowing.... I'm sure other folks need holiday gift ideas also!.............P
 

For your aunt and uncle, how about altered notebooks -- they could use them as travel journals or planners.


My DD is 9 and she loves notebooks -- your son could alter one very easily. THe recipe book does sound like a good idea though.
 
My idea for the aunt and uncle would be embellished photo mats with (shadow box?) frames (several or however many you can fit within your $$$ limit).

They MUST have some favorite photos from their many travels, and this way, if you pick a few destinations and pretty up a couple of mats with nice paper, Jolee's stickers or die cuts of Paris, an African Safari, Hawaii, (or wherever they've been...) This would be easy for you and also easy for them to just drop a treasured photo into a special frame or two.

Good luck!
 
currently, I am all about the star mini book. :) it unfolds into a star shape that you can then hang on something if you want. very cute, super easy... uses 6 wallet size (or just a tad bigger) photos... I know I posted a link to this a few months ago.
 
currently, I am all about the star mini book. :) it unfolds into a star shape that you can then hang on something if you want. very cute, super easy... uses 6 wallet size (or just a tad bigger) photos... I know I posted a link to this a few months ago.

sounds interesting - can you post the link again?
 
I just got in the Oriental Trading Make Your Own Christmas Gifts catalouge- while I haven't finished looking at it they have scrap a paint can, scrap post-it-notes, and many other things you may want to check out their website for ideas.

Another idea for the adults would be to make cards they can use all year, thank yous, birthdays, get well, and some just blank cards.

Rebecca
 





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