A different kind of gift guide – Stuck and don’t know what to buy? Here are 5 ideas
Today’s post is a zippy little bonus part 4 of my different kind of gift guide series.
So far, in this different kind of gift guide (minimalist-minded gifts for all budgets), we’ve covered:
I hope that you’ve found some interesting ideas in the other three guides (give them a read through if you haven’t already!). But, perhaps – even with all these ideas – you are still a bit stuck. Perhaps you have a friend or relative who is extremely hard to buy for. What do you do then?
Here are some of my ideas.
1) Always have a gift ideas list on the go
I know, it’s probably a little late for this idea for the 2021 holiday season, but there’s nothing stopping you from starting your gift ideas list now (better late than never). You can jot down any ideas that you don’t end up using this particular holiday season, for the future (also remember that sometimes one idea can be great for multiple people).
To help you easily create your own on the go gift ideas list, I’ve created a free little table where you can write down ideas for each person you are buying for (there’s also room to write you budget and what you ended up spending). Simply sign up to my email list by clicking the button below to get your pdf right away.
2) Ask others who are close to them
Consider asking your recipient’s partner, their kids, parents, friends – whoever knows them well. Find out what they like, what they might be interested in, what they have and what they don’t. This can easily lead you to some winning ideas!
3) Ask them for a list of things they might like
If you have that kind of relationship, then this is the absolute simplest option: get them to send you a list of different things they would like to receive. Easy-peasy.
4) Give them a gift card
In the Gifts for Adults article, I discussed various subscription or Patreon services that could make excellent gifts, but if you’re not sure of their specific interests then a gift card to a more general shop will never go astray. To make it more fun you could wrap it up with some extra consumable goodies.
5) Shorten the list of people you have to buy for
This may require you to have some conversations with your loved ones, but perhaps you could entice others to convert over to a Kris Kringle type situation. We started this a few years ago with my husband’s family – there are quite a few people involved, so, previously, everyone had been getting a little gift from everyone, which added up to a bunch of tiny little things. Now, we instead do a Kris Kringle that has a budget, so you only have to buy one gift for one person. It’s made life so much simpler.
A variation on this theme is to do a Yankee Kris Kringle – which ends up being really fun and interactive. We used to do this with my work colleagues during my PhD. Here are the rules:
Everyone brings a wrapped gift up to a certain value.
The gifts are placed in the middle of the circle of participants.
Each person draws a number to determine the order of gift choosing (the highest number will be the number of gifts there are. 20 people, 20 gifts, each person draws a number from 1 - 20).
The person who drew number 1 picks a gift from the centre and opens it for everyone to see.
From then on the next people can either choose a gift from the centre, or they can ‘steal’ a gift from someone who came before (and has already opened their gift). If your gift gets stolen, you get to choose another one from the centre.
It’s really really fun! I remember one year these mugs with owls on them kept on getting stolen – everyone wanted them!
Another variation that I’ve come across in Germany is to do a Kris Kringle but with useless/junk stuff that you’ve got lying around the house. I actually got an old-school glass oil burner, which I was thrilled with – one person’s trash really is another person’s treasure.
There you have it – some little ideas to help you if you are really stuck! I hope you have found some solutions to your gift-giving problems.
Tell me: Do you buy a gift for every person, or do you participate in Kris Kringles instead? Leave your answers in the comments below!
If you enjoyed this article, you might also like:
Awesome, thoughtful gifts for the new mother (or father) that you may not have thought of
The other guides in this ‘different kind of gift guide’ series: Book gifts, gifts for adults, gifts for children
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