Gift Ideas: 8 General Suggestions From Huffington Post Readers

1. Experiences always beat out stuff.

2. Services, like I asked my husband to fix my old Schwinn Cruiser for my birthday. You can't buy that in a store.

3. In my family, although all the kids are grown, we get a game every year that everyone can enjoy. It's especially fun if it's something nostalgic that we played in our childhoods.

3. iTunes gift card

4. Gas cards, theater tickets, or dinner cards.

5. Massages, pedicures/manicures...people generally have too much STUFF, so things you can actually use are always nice.

6. Donations to UNICEF, Heifer International Foundation, PBS, NPR, etc.

7. Homemade gifts are nice as are interactive ones, which tend to be remembered. Also unique gifts, such as locally-crafted jewelry, are great.

8. Eco-friendly shopping bags. Favorite perfume or cologne. Handmade items. Favorite music or art pieces. I would like to see holidays be more simple and sincere, rather than huge expensive gifts that are the "must-have" of the moment.

Comments

[melaniekama]

Every year my kids help us make a family gift that is either useful, charitable, or both. Here are three of our favorites:

1. Homemade Spice Blends and Our Favorite Recipes
- We peeled the labels off of old spice jars, washed them, and measured out herbs into a bowl. Then we mixed them together and my daughter poured the mix into the jars using a funnel. We labeled them, tied ribbon around, and included some of our favorite recipes that use the blends.

2. Homemade Bookmarks and a Donation to R.I.F.
-My daughter loves books so one year we cut up some construction paper to make bookmarks and let my daughter decorate them with stickers and stamps. I took a picture of her making them, printed it out in black and white, and glued it on the back of each bookmark. Under the picture we wrote "Family Inc." (Everyone got a kick out of it). Then we had them laminated at our local office supply store. They only cost a few bucks to make so we included a print out with each bookmark that showed a $20 donation in the gift receivers name to R.I.F.

3. Homemade Apple Butter
-We took our kids to a local farm to pick apples in the fall. Then we made and canned our own apple butter. It was a big hit!

[floridalady7]

I found a unique web site that sell beautiful Hand-painted Jewelry. Beautiful & different. The site is SeascapesByLisa.com I just ordered a ton of stuff for Christmas. She also custom sizes everything. Her jewelry is gemstones which she hand-paints. Never seen anything like it! My daughter in college Loveeees this jewelry. Check it out....Highly recommend!

[wandering girl]

each of our family members this year receive the gift of a donation of bunnies, chicks, bees and goats to third-world families from Heifer International.