› Holidays & Special Occasions › Christmas-Yule-hanukkah-Kwanzaa-Winter Solstice › HELP need gift ideas
- This topic has 17 replies, 8 voices, and was last updated October 21, 2008 at 1:02 pm by .
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October 11, 2008 at 4:50 pm #264431
mdowdy
ok here is the situation. I have four children ages 17, 15, 14 and 3 along with other family members to buy for. My boyfriends mom likes the expensive stuff so he has told me I can not just make stuff for her.
I say she will get over it but he is not taking that answer. I need cheap but nice ideas for gifts. Also we are at a loss for what to get the kids of course the teens all want things like ipods etc if they give me any ideas at all.
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October 11, 2008 at 4:51 pm #400140
mdowdy
oh yeah the 17 and 15 year old are boys. 14 and 3 year old girls
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October 11, 2008 at 5:25 pm #400144
rtebalt
Do you have any Outlet stores near you? They often have really cheap stuff. Bath & Body Works had stuff that was 75% & even 90% off!
You could also go to a Candleman or other candle store & buy some candles on sale. Make her sort of a “Spa Basket” – lotions, soaps, candles, nail polish, maybe a CD of classical or instrumental music also (on sale of course!)
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October 11, 2008 at 5:27 pm #400146
rtebalt
Oh, I forgot to add, you can also find great stuff on clearance at the regular stores. It doesn’t necessarily have to be an outlet store. Its just that the Outlets have more cheap stuff to choose from.
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October 11, 2008 at 5:28 pm #400147
rtebalt
As far as the girls go, you could make the 14 year old a gift basket with that stuff in it too maybe?
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October 13, 2008 at 12:23 pm #400302
faxonfive
I am making a gift baskets with the “female needs and wants” for my daughters that are 15 and 20 and then my son I am getting him a few braille books, but I am not sure if that idea will help…. 🙂
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October 13, 2008 at 1:26 pm #400334
NC_mom
Yes you want them to have a nice Christmas but big ticket items are just not possible. As our kids got older, or should I say realized Santa was Mom and Dad, we would let them know there was a budget. We would ask them for a “wish list”.
Letting them know that not everything on that list would be showing up on Christmas morning. They had a rating system, they came up with it on their own, that they exlained to us!!! Three stars meant they really really wanted it, two meant they would love it, one they liked it.
It was quite interesting to see them sitting on the floor together Thanksgiving afternoon with all the flyers, paper and pencil in hand. They looked like little accountants. They would put something on their list then they would total their stuff up, then you’d see them rearrange their stars.
Believe me, they start to realize how quickly it adds up for Mom and Dad. You just have to be open with them. So many parents don’t let their kids know, “this is how it is”, the kids ask and it magically appears, the children learn nothing from that.
Sorry for preachin!
Kris -
October 13, 2008 at 3:42 pm #400383
wilbe95
nc_mom: i am glad i was not the only one thinking that the spirit of christmas is missing here.
Then we start on our own children. Only then will I go to our parents, then on to brothers, sisters, and the older neices and nephews.
Christmas is not suppose to be about the gifts except for the gift of time and the sharing of love. The way the economy is today, you have to save money to survive not spend it on a gift. I would say let the boyfriend by for the mom-but then there goes all that money because he would probably by her something expensive.
Again, I don’t mean to offend just offering some suggestions 🙂
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October 13, 2008 at 4:24 pm #400391
mdowdy
I agree but he doesnt lol. Anyway what I did was said ok Im not spending that much money on them so if you want to fine but its coming out of the money you are getting for spending. He likes to spend a lot on them to make up for years he hasnt gotten them anything.
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October 13, 2008 at 4:31 pm #400392
mdowdy
no offense taken. My family has come up with just buying the kids things and for the parents nothing or homemade items. my family likes to eat so they are getting candies and cookies or mix jars, something like that. And Im letting him use his spending money for his side other than the kids I am handling that.
I told him I will go get it for him but only after he gives me the money and tells me where to get it and what it is. I think my 3 year old is going to be the easiest because shes at the i want everything I see on tv stage. The older ones do need new ipods because I bought cheaper versions last year and none of them work now.
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October 13, 2008 at 4:37 pm #400395
wilbe95
Stockings in my house is the only items that are from Santa 🙂 Saves me the trouble of them not getting the other items. He usually does buy one bigger priced item for them. It doesn’t matter how old you are a stocking is always fun. One year I went out bought my grandmother a really expensive gift and added a little jingle bell on to the wrap, would you believe she didn’t really care about the gift but loved the jingle bell.
Guess her mother use to give her one every year until she died when my grandmother was 12 and noone had ever given her one since until I did that year. She gets one every year now from me.
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October 13, 2008 at 4:40 pm #400397
mdowdy
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October 14, 2008 at 9:29 am #400469
brchbell
I remember when I was 17 and thought I knew it all, my dear Mom surprised all of us teens with a very special Christmas present. Years later we all still have it and will always remember it! She took card stock and covered it with Christmas foil and made a simple book tied with yarn.
In it it had family photos and she had hand written notes about each one– many made us laugh! I’ve done the same thing with my family. I make a family calendar every year and that’s what my extended family get.
A little imagination you can give some very special gifts that would mean a lot and cost very little! Good luck as you ponder your family Christmas this year! Hope you come up with an idea that won’t break your bank this year!
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October 14, 2008 at 11:51 am #400503
mdowdy
Im working on a cookbook now for the kids when they move out on their own get married etc. The picture additions are a great idea. I ordered a sample cookbook from one of the companies we will see what they offer if and when it gets here.
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October 16, 2008 at 10:36 am #400729
NC_mom
@mdowdy 85674 wrote:
It’s funny how it seems to be the little things that are appreciated. Now if I could only get my boyfriend to realize that lol
i mean everything!!!! she was always picking them up if she saw them, she would say “oh i can use that!!!” well one year, we were in the dollar store, and what did i see but a huge bad of rubber bands, shapes and sizes.
i scooped it right up and told my dh, “i’m putting this in your mom’s stocking!” he looked at me like i was crazy and told me under no circumstances was i giving his mother some cheap bag of rubber bands from the dollar store. well, i didn’t listen, on christmas day, you should’ve seen her face when she opened those rubber bands up!
kris
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October 16, 2008 at 6:39 pm #400756
MorningG
Gift certificates are always good – that way the kids can get what they want without whining (the way it was in my house – “But Mo-o-o-m, I wanted ___”) Another idea is to wrap up everything that fits for the stockings without so many “presents” to unwrap. We used to do that one too – each individual gift certificate, candy, etc was wrapped up, so the fun in unwrapping was there, the wrapping actually took up space so stockings were bulging, and it made it a little more special. I also remember *my* mother point blank setting me and my brother (when I was in high school) and just explaining how hard things were – it was hard to swallow, but letting everyone know there’s a problem and making them moer aware that things are tight might keep them from beeing greedy
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October 16, 2008 at 6:40 pm #400757
MorningG
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October 21, 2008 at 12:49 pm #401075
rtebalt
@mdowdy 85832 wrote:
Im working on a cookbook now for the kids when they move out on their own get married etc. The picture additions are a great idea. I ordered a sample cookbook from one of the companies we will see what they offer if and when it gets here. I did a memory book type thing for their 13th birthdays. My daughter cried when she got hers. Thanks for the ideas
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October 21, 2008 at 1:02 pm #401076
JoAnn
@brchbell 85788 wrote:
I remember when I was 17 and thought I knew it all, my dear Mom surprised all of us teens with a very special Christmas present. Years later we all still have it and will always remember it! She took card stock and covered it with Christmas foil and made a simple book tied with yarn. In it it had family photos and she had hand written notes about each one– many made us laugh! I’ve done the same thing with my family. I make a family calendar every year and that’s what my extended family get. this year I’m using photos and transferring them to fabric to make lap sized memory quilts for parents and siblings that we gift to. I’ve also collected family memories and recipes and done those up into home made books and given them. Everyone is asking that I do that again soon! A little imagination you can give some very special gifts that would mean a lot and cost very little! Good luck as you ponder your family Christmas this year! Hope you come up with an idea that won’t break your bank this year!
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› Holidays & Special Occasions › Christmas-Yule-hanukkah-Kwanzaa-Winter Solstice › HELP need gift ideas