Ok, here’s the deal.
I still haven’t bought anything for my in-laws. They are IMPOSSIBLE to buy gifts for. They have no real hobbies, don’t read, don’t collect anything, rarely eat out, and don’t travel.
My MIL is very picky about clothes, so anything I buy is returned. She has tons of mis-matched knickknacky crap already, so I hate to buy something like that.
My FIL is retired and basically just sits and watches TV all day…quality stuff, too…Jenny Jones, Divorce Court, Jerry Springer, wrestling, you get the idea.
Anyone have any clever ideas for something? Anything?
Please! I’m desperate!
Go to Wal-Mart and get a “Billy Bass” singing fish.
Seriously, I give gift certificates to people like that. If they don’t really need/want anything, you can make a donation in their name. Do you know any causes that they might feel strongly about?
If they drink - some nice wine or champagne for the new year, maybe a nice brandy or whatever.
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If they don’t drink (or you don’t want them to), some of those holiday gift packs like from Figis (where they have some meat log/cheese log etc) go over well with the wrestling crowd. Or fruit basket. canned ham, holiday ham etc.
Bunches of hot sauces if they like that. Odd pastas if they like those. Variety of Chocolate and other sauces for ice cream sundaes.
Maybe a “movie” basket? Get a gift certificate for BlockBuster (or local video store), some microwave popcorn, big movie size boxes of candy, and any other movie type things you can think of. Put it all in a large popcorn bowl and voila!
You can also get passes for a movie at the local theater and gift certificates for dinner some place close. Maybe they don’t eat out because they don’t like to spend the money.
If I buy gift certificates I always try to make them more personal by buying a little gift to go with and wrapping them together.
This might still be a little too iffy, but I tend to buy picture frames for hard-to-buy-for people. Everybody has more pictures than they have frames for, and people with new babies (or grandbabies) seem to really appreciate this gift. Other than that, I would go the gift certificate route, too.
but you see, with gift certificates, they know exactly how much you spent and depending on how ‘impossible’ these folks are it could lead into either a ‘you’re so cheap’ or ‘you’re too extravegant’ kind of thing. But, that’s just MHO. I know my teenager ** loves** them
Jerry Springer has a “too hot for TV” video tape out… quality stuff… Maybe one of those “remote caddies” that hangs over the side of a chair/couch and has pouches for the remote, the find-a-word magazines, the fingerhut catalog, etc. That’d be for your FIL. Maybe a foot massager or something?
Not sure about your MIL. Might they get interested in jigsaw puzzles? A backgammon set? Maybe some sort of potpourri? Or maybe a personalized address plaque (couldn’t get it by Christmas, but these are pretty cool) or some floodlights for their front yard? A bird feeder? Some great Virginia peanuts? A Honey-Baked Ham? Omaha Steaks?
As wring said, they would fall into the “This is too much, you keep it yourself” category with gift certificates. I buy them for my nieces and nephews and personally, I love them.
While I was out today, I passed Old Country Buffet (gag!) and that is really the only restaurant (using the term ‘restaurant’ loosely) they go to, so I got $40 in GC’s for them there.
I feel like I need something else, though.
Maybe I could run to the mall and get a Hickory Farms gift basket.
They are in an apartment, so Home Depot or Lowe’s or yard stuff is out. MIL doesn’t like “smells”, so potpourri or bath stuff is out.
I got FIL a “remote caddy” for Father’s Day.
I have gotten them frames, but I don’t have pics of the kids to put in them, and she hates getting an empty frame. She thinks it’s rude to give an empty frame.
I like Green bean’s idea…though I think if I rubbed hemmorroid cream on the two of them, they would both disappear!
Southern Season has a range of really nice looking (and tasting) gift baskets for pretty reasonable prices. Harry & David has specialty pears, other fruits, confections, and award-winning fruitcake (stop laughing!). Cheesecake factory will ship any one of their million-and-a-half cheesecakes to your inlaws. They can eat in front of the TV.
I have difficult-to-buy-for in-laws myself. This year we got off easy (but expensive) – they built a new garage this summer and needed a garage door opener, so we bought them one as a combined birthday for both. This was “too much” according to them, so we made it a combined birthday/chritmas gift for both and I don’t have to worry about the christmas gift thing this year. In the past, I’ve gotten them magazine subscriptions. This is difficult in your case, as your in-laws don’t have hobbies. However, there is TV Guide, which I think might be perfect for them. And, a years subscription to TV Guide is expensive enough to be a very nice gift.
Buy them expensive snacky-type items- That way you -will- find out what they do and do not like, and if they like something, you can get away with buying them the same stuff the next year. Buy fancy stuff- Perugina chocolates, biscotti, fancy coffees/teas, snacks that are too fancy to buy for yourself, but nice enough that they want to keep them (everyone is a little bit selfish).
