In my extended family, as soon as you turn 18, you stop getting significant gifts, and move into the “Secret Santa” pool with the rest of the adults. Everyone draws a name and buys (and receives) one gift, up to $25 in value. We all shower toys and other swag on the ones still below 18, though. It works out pretty well for everyone.
Gift cards. Amazon gift cards are the bestest.
My adult friends get wine or books. I’m partial to consumables, since most people these days have more durable shit than they know what to do with. For some adult relatives, the “gift” I gave them was: You don’t need to buy me a gift, and I won’t buy you one, so that’s one less hassle we have to worry about."
Gift cards. Amazon gift certificates. It’s pointless to buy gifts of value for adults but you could give them something nice of more sentimental than material value, on top of the money. It is the thought that counts, but it counts more when there’s some money attached.
I’ve asked for experiences before. Like a trip to the nearby aquarium. (And given experiences-- concert tickets or play tickets).
Little Banjo is now 22, and was stupid enough to get himself a gorgeous busty blonde girlfriend who lives in…Prague. We are giving him airfare to Prague.
When I was about 16 my parents cut way back on the gifts and started giving us mostly cash, but also one or two inexpensive gifts like books or music. I preferred it that way because I could buy what I really wanted instead of what they thought I might like.
I’d settle for a Ferrari 330LMB.
My SO and I have been running into this as the nieces and nephews have grown up. This year we’re looking into gift cards for some fancier restaurants. Someplace they wouldn’t go on their own. We’ve also discussed things like one very nice knife, a style they may not know about, but makes cooking more fun.
Other ideas we’ve tossed around: Season tickets to a local theatre. Museum membership. Zoo membership. Concert tickets. Cooking classes.
My son, 23, likes travelling. This year we’re paying for his enrollment in the US Global Entry program. It includes TSA PreCheck, so it’s helpful for domestic flights as well. $100 for five years.
This year we’re paying (with credit cards points) for my daughter and her husband to fly to Boston to see his relatives. Last year we paid for my other daughter to fly to Disney for a week.
In addition, we get them socks and clothes and coats and a few gift cards for frivolous places, such as an online gaming site that my SIL likes, or their favorite restaurants. I also get them AAA coverage each year as a stuffing stocker since they all commute for their jobs.
The last 3 years, I’ve also been giving them a card every year that reminds them that I’m still paying for their cell phone plan, to the tune of $240 to $480 each year. I have a feeling that I’ll be 90 before they get their own plan.
I grew up in a nominally Jewish house. We kids got Christmas (we didn’t bother to call them Hanukah) gifts until we were late teens. We never gave them anything. When I got a wife and kids of our own, we followed the same practice. The gifts were toys and stopped when they went to college. We do not give and do not receive gifts and I am far happier to have a major source of aggravation removed.
My sister married into a Catholic family and told me a couple decades ago (so adjust prices accordingly) that they spent at least $2000 every year on gifts for his family and received gifts of similar value. These included a minimum of $500 for her mother-in-law. I realized that what this meant, leaving aside all the time and effort they put into it, was that all the luxury items they ever got were chosen by someone else. I will choose my own frivolous expenditures, thank you.
I make donations to either a local homeless women’s shelter or animal rescue, then give the kids a card saying ‘a donation has been made in your name.’
They’ve never said they don’t like it, and even if they did, too bad. At least the money’s going to a good cause.
Amazon gift lists are good. I guess asking your kids what they want and what’s going on is the best way to stay relevant.
This year, we a looking at the possibility of singing at Carnegie Hall next Thanksgiving, so we are asking for money to finance that trip.
I gave up giving gifts to my parents when it got to the point where we were sending each other gift cards.
I’ve used The Human Fund in the past, but for some reason that wasn’t well received.
Every year my mother and I announced that we were giving each other a million dollars. Since the amounts were equal, we agreed that it was pointless to actually transfer any money from one place to another.
Eh, don’t sweat it if you want to give someone else that stuff. The thinkgeek product was a ripoff of Crazy Aaron’s Thinking Putty, which is still sold in at least a couple dozen colors and seven effect types. If you pick up one of the glow types sometimes you get a black light keychain with it.
He got me a piece of paper saying “I’ve given your gift to someone else!”
It’s a small group: 9 adults (which includes my adult children and spouses/S0s) and 4 children in the group. All the adults give gifts to one another: homemade, bought, upcycled, thrifted, or dug out of a closet are all acceptable, about $20 upper limit. All the adults give gifts to the children. I expect the children will age into the adult group after college or thereabouts.