Last week we talked about gift ideas for people having financial problems.  This week we’ll talk about another trouble-spot:  gift ideas for people who don’t want anything.

This is not the same as the problem of people who already have everything—also known as the “she has Waterford crystal for 24, what’s left to buy?” problem.  Instead this is the problem of buying for someone who wishes the holidays weren’t so commercial and says, if asked for gift ideas, “I don’t know—I don’t need anything, and I already have so much STUFF.”
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It may be that you have people on your gift list this year who are in need of more practical things than one-cup coffee makers and French perfume and silver bracelets.  It can feel weird to buy someone something they don’t really need when there are so many things they DO need—and yet, a case of toilet paper doesn’t have that Holiday Spirit. It’s likely that those same people come with an additional issue: you know they won’t have much money to spend on gifts this year, so you don’t want to make them feel awkward by buying them something much more expensive than what they can afford to give.

In this situation we are looking for gifts that FEEL FUN while still being practical; and we are also looking for gifts that, contrary to the usual goal, seem LESS expensive than they are.

1. Nice groceries. A case of toilet paper doesn’t work under the tree, but sturdy yummy crackers like flavored Triscuits, and big blocks of cheese, and good cuts of meat, and crates of those little oranges, are both nutritious and fancy. Necessary unnecessaries such as coffee and tea and flavored coffee creamers can increase the treat factor. And as any grocery-shopper knows, you can spend huge bucks without looking like you spent much.
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This year my parents are hosting a day-after-Thanksgiving lunch for my brother’s in-laws. My mother is happily fretting about things such as tablecloths and centerpieces, and every week when we go shopping together we consider more possibilities.

Today I thought to look online, and I found a lot of stuff like this:

Harvest Blessings Autumn Centerpiece by FTD (photo from FTD.com). It’s pretty, and I like the way it’s nice and low (a lot of floral centerpieces are tall enough to block people from seeing each other), but it’s FIFTY clams, and that’s not including the shipping or the handling or whatever other fees there might be (the last time I ordered flowers from another flower place, there was a $6.95 “florist fee,” in addition to the delivery fee of $9.95, which brings the price up to $17 before I’ve ordered a single flower). And the storage would be a pain.

And looking at it, it occurs to me that this is a wreath on its side with a jar candle in the middle. And I’m pretty sure my mom has autumnal wreaths and jar candles. If YOU have an autumnal wreath and a jar candle, this is a centerpiece you can make easily (and FREE), and then you can put the pieces back wherever they were afterward.
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Farrell writes:

How DO you do Santa shopping for all of your kids? Online? In store? Coupons? Buy throughout the year? Tips + strategy please; ’tis the season.

Ah! It does vary. When I’m not gift-shopping, just buying normal household stuff (sheets, towels, non-perishable groceries) my general shopping strategy is “Buy it before you need it, when you find it cheap.” I do this for stocking stuffers: little toys or novelty candies (pacifier lollipops and similar) go on clearance all year, and I especially have luck in the party-supplies section where I can sometimes find 4- or 6-packs of party favors on 75% off.

But that’s not going to work as well for presents: a child might like Bakugan in the summer but be totally over it by Christmas.
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USA Flag Leather Hip Flask (photo from Amazon.com). Celebrate the PATRIOTIC way!

History of Famous American Flags (photo from Amazon.com). I liked this immediately and was already wondering if I could get an inexpensive pre-made frame in that size or if it would have to be custom, when I realized it says AMERICAN flags. It’s a pet peeve of mine that so many things say “American” when they should say “United States.” I realize “United States” is bulkier and that hardly anyone knows how to make it possessive, but “American” seems presumptuous and makes it sound as if there may be two whole continents known as the Americas but obviously we’d mean THIS small section of it DUH. I still think it would look really cool framed on the wall, but that detail would bug me too much.
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Let’s see: 6th, 7th, 8th, 9th—FOUR days until Mother’s Day. Um, obviously I am totally on top of this for MY mom (hi, mom!), but just in case YOU need something quick for YOUR mom:

Restless, by William Boyd (photo from Amazon.com). My mom, my sister-in-law, and I all really liked this mother-daughter spy novel. Excitement! Suspense! Romance! And one sex-scene detail you will not want to imagine your mom reading, but my mom claims it didn’t shock her. She said she was glad it was just REGULAR sex, and I will leave you to decide for yourself whether that makes things better or worse. (And if she then gives multiple examples of scenes in other books she DID find shocking? And you’re in Wendy’s eating lunch at the time this conversation is taking place? How about THAT, better or worse?)
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Several years ago, clenching my teeth through another unsuccessful, crabby, sticky attempt at making heart-shaped pancakes for Valentine’s Day breakfast, I realized my problem: I am a lover not a fighter shopper not a maker. Instead of making heart-shaped pancakes, I should be shopping for heart-shaped cereal bowls. Since then, my only Valentine’s Day woe is that there is a low limit on the number of heart-shaped dishes I want to store for a year between uses.

Zak Designs Mini Heart-Shaped Bowls (photo from Amazon.com).  The stackability of these makes them something I could consider using all year.
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Farrell asked last time about Valentine’s Day gifts for children. Here are some of the things I’ve done in previous years:

1. Small heart-shaped box of chocolates, the kind that has about 4 pieces in it.
2. Box of conversation hearts.
3. Plastic heart full of Skittles or M&Ms.
4. Baggie into which I’ve put a couple pieces each of all the Valentine-wrapped/colored candies I bought for myself (Kit Kats, M&Ms, Hershey Miniatures).

I used to make heart-shaped pancakes for breakfast on Valentine’s Day morning, but that, uh, didn’t go so well.

More ideas for kids:

Happy Valentine’s Day, Mouse! book by Laura Numeroff and Felicia Bond (photo from Amazon.com)

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I love Valentine’s Day.  “Hallmark Holiday”?  Pfff.  It WAY predates Hallmark.

Paul and I don’t often celebrate it between us, though. Some years I’ll have a yen for a heart-shaped box of chocolates and he’s happy to indulge me, or other years I’ll use the day as an excuse to give him something that took some extra effort, like the year his favorite slippers wore out and he couldn’t find any he liked to replace them, so I researched it and found him some I thought would be perfect and gave them to him on Valentine’s Day.  Ooo la la, SLIPPERS!  Slippers are not exactly the one single perfect long-stemmed rose, but they are, for me, a better way of saying “I love you and what you want is important to me.”  (It seems to me as if the “single perfect rose” is another way of saying “I didn’t spring for a whole dozen but you have to act as if this is better.”)

But most years we don’t treat it as a couple’s holiday.  I like giving a little Valentine’s Day treat to the kids on their breakfast plates in the morning, and I like helping prepare for their classroom valentine exchanges.  I like sending valentines to my friends sometimes.  I like using valentine postcards for my Postcrossing hobby.  I like the pretty decorations:  I nearly always get a new cute mug or picture frame or plate.  And I like the way it breaks up the low-holiday stretch of winter.

I’m picky, though.  I had a boyfriend long ago who would give me, like, a red teddy bear holding an “I luv you” heart, and, uh.  I mean.  Thank you for the thought, but what IS that thought?  I have said it before and I’ll say it again:  if you want something that doesn’t look like it was grabbed from the “Oops, did you forget it was Valentine’s Day?” display at the grocery store, try Etsy.

Be Mine Little Valentine Sampler by Stitched by Julie Ellen on Etsy

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So I made some New Year’s resolutions this year. Some are lofty goals (”Start writing a book”, “Finish at least 16 credits of college classes”), some are less so (”Ped Egg my feet more often so my scratchy heels don’t snag on the bedsheets”).

A bunch of my resolutions are health/fitness related, which I am sure is totally blowing your mind because that is such an unusual nonstandard sort of resolution category and clearly I am a special creative person with many—okay fine. Baaaaaaaaaaa. ANYWAY, I’ve got 3 main goals, dietwise, that I want to achieve in 2010:

• Eat more whole foods from local sources
• Keep a food journal for more than a week at a time
• Make more of our staple foods from scratch

These are mostly about personal choices and, you know, seeing things through, but since this is a blog that mainly talks about fun stuff to buy, here are some of the tools I think will help me:
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