Great Gifts you've Given or Gotten?... and how's THAT for alliteration?

[Aliceacc]

- For mom, who is 86 and lives alone: Each year I get stock her freezer with Omaha Steaks. I get a variety of stuff, from chicken to hot dogs. It arrives in a cooler, and I know she won't have to venture out into the cold to go food shopping.

- For my husband, one year before we were going to WDW: an IOU for Lunch with an Imagineer. He LOVED it.

- For my inlaws, before a WDW family reunion, an IOU for the Dessert party.... this was before the prices jumped to crazy levels. But we had a really nice evening together, all 11 of us, at WDW.

- For my daughter when she was about 4 and was obsessed with collecting rocks in the back yard, and again this year for the 4 year old across the street with the same obsession: I went to geology.com, and bought a pound of beautiful tumbled rocks-- blue, orange, green, you name it. I got a plastic embroidery thread case for them.

- For my daughter, when she was about 12: I contacted a local beauty school and got her and a bunch of my friend's daughters all a makeup application class. It cost something like $15 a head for each of 8 girls for a 2 hour class. Each of our 4 brought along a friend.

- For my mom and my mother in law one year: I contacted all the siblings on both sides and asked them to come up with a list of favorite memories. You know-- the kinds of stories everyone laughs about when we all get together. I added some clip art, printed them up, put them into page protectors, and gave the moms a binder. And it printed up copies-- minus the clip art-- for the siblings.

 

[Terapin]

When my sister was on a tight budget she made my son a blanket fort kit: It was a drawstring bag with flannel-backed table cloths, clothespins, a battery powered lantern, and a few other activities. It was really cute!

My most wow gift given to me was a first edition of two books I loved, in a custom slipcase. Certainly not a budget gift, but total wow!

 

[TCRAIG]

When my sister was on a tight budget she made my son a blanket fort kit: It was a drawstring bag with flannel-backed table cloths, clothespins, a battery powered lantern, and a few other activities. It was really cute!

My most wow gift given to me was a first edition of two books I loved, in a custom slipcase. Certainly not a budget gift, but total wow!

Love the fort idea! My best gift was for my birthday last week - my daughter and her new husband presented me with a copy of her Ultra Sound - showing our first grand child!

 

[tink1970]

When we were engaged but still living 2000 miles apart, DH bought a crazy expensive ticket for Christmas Eve so he could spend Christmas Day with me (otherwise, since DD was with her father, I'd have been alone). It was so sweet, especially since he is usually very (very very very) frugal.

 

[AndreaDM]

I made cookbooks for my daughters on shutterfly. I worked on it for 2 years taking pictures whenever I'd make a family favorite, and typing out the recipe. Put them all together in a cookbook along with some pics of the kids over the years baking cookies, etc. Huge hit and minimal cost.

 

[Chelley00]

I made cookbooks for my daughters on shutterfly. I worked on it for 2 years taking pictures whenever I'd make a family favorite, and typing out the recipe. Put them all together in a cookbook along with some pics of the kids over the years baking cookies, etc. Huge hit and minimal cost.

Our son's girlfriend's mom sent out a letter to all the girlfriend's adult friends and family asking for them to handwrite two recipes on a 4x6 card and mail them back to her. The mom then put them into a photo album for her indexed by recipe type. It was a great gift for her moving into their first apartment.

 

[Soulsearching]

I made cookbooks for my daughters on shutterfly. I worked on it for 2 years taking pictures whenever I'd make a family favorite, and typing out the recipe. Put them all together in a cookbook along with some pics of the kids over the years baking cookies, etc. Huge hit and minimal cost.

Love, Love this idea!!!

 

[barkley]

tabloid magazines my brother and I were racking our brains to figure out what to get my mom one year when it struck me that she loved reading them but would never think to pay for one (just made a bee-line for them at the beauticians and doctors). SHE LOVED THEM-it was like Christmas twice a week when her 2 magazines arrived (and they got passed on from one friend to another-so lots of people enjoyed that gift).

 

[ctinct]

This was a gift I got a few years ago.

When my daughter was in undergrad, she was not too crazy about the idea of studying abroad. Her school is very big on students studying abroad, and her friends, professors, and I'd like to think I finally persuaded her to go.

I was a big fan of The Amazing Race at the time, and since she was going to some of the places the previous seasons race had gone, I asked her to take a few pictures for me.

Christmas morning, I received magnets from every country she had visited, and a beautiful scrapbook she had made for me. She had someone take her picture at various iconic sites in Europe, and in each one she was holding up a sign with one word. When read all together, they said, "Thank you mom for giving me the world. It was an amazing race!" The last picture was at a pit stop from The Amazing Race. I cried my eyes out.

She told me she found the idea on Pinterest, but I was so touched by the time and care she put into gathering the pictures and souvenirs, particularly since I've never been to Europe myself. I've got a good kid!

 

[fifthdimensiondweller]

I made cookbooks for my daughters on shutterfly. I worked on it for 2 years taking pictures whenever I'd make a family favorite, and typing out the recipe. Put them all together in a cookbook along with some pics of the kids over the years baking cookies, etc. Huge hit and minimal cost.

My aunt did this for me last year and it's one of the best gifts I've ever gotten.

 

[cel_disney]

When my sister was on a tight budget she made my son a blanket fort kit: It was a drawstring bag with flannel-backed table cloths, clothespins, a battery powered lantern, and a few other activities. It was really cute!

My most wow gift given to me was a first edition of two books I loved, in a custom slipcase. Certainly not a budget gift, but total wow!

I absolutely LOVE this fort kit idea! It's perfect for the 'kid who has everything' as well as the budget friendly!