What are some thoughtful gifts you've received for Christmas? I'm not talking big gifts like a diamond ring or necklace but something you thought was thoughtful, creative, or something you would have never thought to give? Like one year my mom got me one of those tall containers for gift wrap & stocked it with not only birthday wrapping paper but scissors, tape, gift bags/wrapping paper for birthdays, Christmas, Valentine's day, even Halloween gift bags. She had the name tags, bows, ribbon, just everything you'd need. I thought it was one of the coolest gifts. Then the next year I was able to replace some of the stuff but after the holidays..when everything was 1/2 off.
My sister once got me a newspaper from the day I was born which was really cool. I don't know how she did it or where she even got it but that year she also gave me an old National Geographic magazine from the month and year I was born.
I'm not too creative or crafty so can any of you Momma's help me come up with some easy ideas? TIA!
You guys are the greatest....so many of the responses have brought tears to my eyes. These are just the kinds of gifts I was referring too..things not costing much at all but gifts truly given from the heart. It truly does show that it's not the amount spent but the thought that counts. I just need to reflect on my relationships & I hope to come up with something special for each one. Thanks, everyone!
My sister-in-law gave my husband & I movie tickets along w/a handmade gift certificate for a "night of babysitting" which was the most awesome present we could've asked for!
My son is a very talented 17-year old artist. Last Christmas he gave me a certificate to redeem for one piece of art. He did a pen and ink of Clint Eastwood (lifesize from the chest up) from The Good, The Bad, and the Ugly. He's staring me down as I type.
During a move when I was younger, the box that had all of us kids baby books in it vanished, never to be found. Fast froward several years, my mother took on a project of contacting every living relative that quite possibly would have pictures with any of her kids in them. 5 years ago she presented all of us with a 'new' baby book. I cried like a baby!
It wasn't for Christmas. My SIL had purchased me a handmade key chain with my name when she was in Brasil several years ago, which I really loved. Unfortunately the chain broke and I lost the key chain. Last year when we were there, we stubbled upon a street fair where there was a man making these. I really hinted to my daughter and hubby that I wanted one, thinking they would get one for me, but they didn't. So this year, my SIL went back and searched and searched for someone who made them. The key chains cost less than $2, the point was she knew how much I liked it so she spent a great deal of time and effort to find another one for me.
Back in the 90's my sister had little money and 4 kiddos under 6 or 7.
One of those early years she sewed buttons onto a felt backround in the shape of a star.My mom's is in the shape of a tree and I think my Grandmother's is a stocking. She had mounted them all in frames she found at garage sales.
I have my star out in my AMericana room, the piano room, all year.
This year will be our 25th Christmas together and the first year he made me a bowl made of chocolate and filled it with M & M's.
For my sister's that year he bought them M & M's and wrapped it with a box of maxi pads and tampons together. It was hysterical. My little sister was horrrrified! She was still a freshman in high school at the time BUT she hid it all in her bedroom so nobody would steal any of it! My other sister said "sweet, you can get me the same thing in two months for my birthday." Ahhhh, good times!
I collect antique Christmas ornament balls. One year, I had just started a new job. One day in September we somehow got on this conversation about it, and I said I for some reason, I did not have a white one. Everytime I had gone to an antique store, I looked for one but never found one. At Christmas time that year, she gave me an antique white Christmas ball! They don't cost much, but that meant so much to me that she had remembered our conversation and took the time to find one for me.
it wasn't Christmas, but for my high school graduation my aunt gave me a recipe box full of her favorite recipes. I was pregnant and not going off to college and it came in handy when learning to cook out on my own. over 10 years later and I still have it and use it and plan to pass many of them down to my kids.
Chestnuts.
I spent 4 years in Europe, Fall for me was street roasted chestnut and a Sprite form McDonalds. I would go to Switzerland every weekend during the fall and get them. I would walk around Basel, window shopping and enjoying my treat. In the 50's all the American chestnut trees became blighted and now they are extinct. Last year my husband managed to find imported chestnuts and bought seasonal cranberry Sierra Mist for me. It was beautiful.
My father in law is the hardest person to give a gift to. I never have any good ideas. Well a few years ago I noticed he would talk a lot about his family that had passed on or people that he barely remembered from his childhood. So I got the idea of making a family tree. I did it on my own and I am sure there are a few mistakes, but I did my best. I used old photographs, newspaper articles and of course other family member's memories. It wasn't anything professional looking, but it was the greatest gift I could have given him and it is still talked about to this day. It is one of the things I am most proud of myself for.
Best gift I was ever given was one my sister made me when she was 6 or 7. we are 14 yrs apart. It was one of those things where you layer the different colors of sand. I still have it and it's still one of my favorite things.
Im not creative or crafty either.. but two years in a row days before Christmas I found out I was pregnant both years.
So two years in a row my ( now ex) husband got a positive pregnancy test :)
Last year my Dad got me a moon necklace. Its really neat, its how the moon looked on the date I was born with a small birthstone on the bottom.
My husband had to import a female Flemish folk rock album for me--he had his parents order it so I wouldn't see a charge in Denmark. That was a surprise--I'd loved their music but did not have their albums.
He also ordered a copy of Saltwater Ballads by John Masefield (one of my favorite poets).
I like things I can and will definitely use, like coffee (yummier or nicer than I typically buy makes it more "gifty"), unusual bookends (again, something I collect), or something interesting related to a hobby or interest (again books, but my FIL has found some neat ones for me like a Jane Austen Treasury, collection of Fairy Art, or the original Star Trek Movies).
My sister-in-law does photography and has given us framed portraits and framed pictures that we've decorated with. She also made a family photobook one year that was incredibly sweet and means a lot to us--pictures and thoughts and memories. Those are easy to make online and pretty affordable.
Honestly, I'm really easy to please and am pretty happy with socks. :)
I wanted a shower radio/cd. I didn't quite get that, but I did get a fish shaped radio that she got from a thrift store. It's been 6 years and I LOVE IT still :D Now my son loves it too.
Several years ago a friend gave me the cutest gingerbread boy for Christmas. He is by far my most favorite decoration ever. He is about 2 1/2 feet tall, made from presswood and has the best happy smile painted on. I put him in my garden window in the kitchen looking out to the front yard so everyone gets to see him. I usually put a small tree with him holding the lights so he looks like he is decorating it. He looks so excited to be decorating ther tree, it just makes me laugh. I put a picture of him as my profile picture for you to see altho this was the time I didnt put up the little tree. You can see how really cute he is.
My other favorite gift was from our 2 kids. A few years ago when our son was home visiting at Thanksgiving, he and his sister sneaked off and went to Walmart and had their picture taken. They bought the photos, and a couple frames and a box of kleenex. As I opened the gift and saw the beautiful framed portrait of the kids, I needed the kleenex! It was really such a neat thing. They planned it, made the appointment and even bothered to dress decent! Love the picture!
My SIL makes doilies ( not sure what or how to classify the craft) but she is fantastic at it. She made one with our family name, had it framed and it is hanging in our hallway.
Another thing... she is one crafty woman... she made a purse out of CapriSun packages for daughter, SO CUTE, A knitted arm cover for daughter. so is do darn crafty I can't stand it but I value her girfts which are SO special because SHE made them from her heart.
