Hi girls: Have a question? Every year is harder then the last. Christmas time is near and I am making a list of things to buy our family members. The kids are easy and most of the time so are husbands, but my dilemna is with my mother and my mother in law. I never have a clue what to get them? If I buy something real nice for one, I need to buy something real nice for the other. My mother is 74 years old and lives with us. She has everything and never wants for anything, so I am really stuck. My mother in law I believe is 60 years old but looks very young for her age. She too has everything and doesnt want for anything. She lives in her own home. I am always beating my head against the wall, because I dont have a clue what to get either one of them. they are both very different so buying the same thing for both is not a good idea. Any suggestions ladies? Help?????!!!!
I went through all the suggestions and they were all great. Some I have already done in the past, but the one that stuck out to me the most was the Family Tree blanket/Throw. It actually is suited for both my mother and my mother in law. My husband is an amatuer photographer and so both have an abundance of Photos and Frames and Books/Albums. I went ahead and ordered the Family Tree Throws and I was so happy about that. I think that both will be pleasantly surprised mostly because it is so personal. I just dont know what I will do next year to top this one off? hahaha. Thank you all so much for your wonderful suggestions, but thank you Kathy F especially for the one that I loved the most. I just ordered them and they are on the way. Hopefully I get them before Christmas! Happy Holiday's to all!!!!
My in-laws are terribly hard to shop for! Fil is 81 and mil is 80 and they want for nothing and are very independent. I got lucky at fil's b-day this year in discovering that he loves loves the chocolate cheesecake I make. Since he is diabetic I made it with splenda for him and so that is what he wants for Christmas now. Is there a baked goodie that either mom likes that you can make them?
I agree with the other posters but wanted to add that you could get something that is personalized as well. Things Remembered would be a good place to start looking at ideas. My husband's siblings bought my mom-in-law a beautiful blanket with the family tree on it that named all of the kids.... etc. She LOVED it!!! I have purchased my mom a t-shirt with greatest grandma theme with a cartoon of each grandkid and their name. I have seen photo throws where you can put a pic of the kids on a blanket as well. You can go as inexpensive as a coffee mug with a picture or as expensive as a Grandmother ring with each of the kids birthstones in it. As far as not having too much time to shop??? Online research is great to begin with (you may even find that perfect gift and order it to be shipped) and then perhaps a trip to the mall.
http://www.thingsremembered.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet...
I like the stepping stones on this next one:
http://www.personalcreations.com/home.asp
I agree with the suggestion of a personalized gift!
I think a photobook made with family photos or your children's photos (and their cousins) would be a great gift.
My mother has everything she needs in life, but gifts that I actually spent time creating always touched my mother's heart more than anything I could buy her, and what grandparent doesn't like having pictures of their grandchildren?
I was in the same boat with my grandmother who lived with us going up, but the flip side of her living with us, was that she didn't have many items in our house to call her own. A personalized photobook would be made just for her. :D
I make them using Blurb.com, which has so many size and cover options and is fairly inexpensive, although you could use snapfish.com or shutterfly.com too.
Some ideas:
Find a favorite poem and put a line on each page adding your photos as illustrations.
Or fill it with photos and family stories or things you remember about past christmases.
Blurb also has a cookbook option, which I haven't tried yet. But you could make a collection of family recipes being sure to have your mother and mother-in-laws recipes in a prominently position. ;)
Good luck!
Good morning V.. My mother in law is 79 and last year we bought her a beautiful scarf, and a broach to pin on the scarf, My mother died in 2005 2 days after Christmas, but what I got for her the year she died, she was 76, I put together a basket, and in that basket, I put chocolate covered cherries, somwe lotions, perfume, I put a really prety frame with our grown kids picture in it, and some other items as well, I fixed it up real Christmasy ( not a word huh ) anyway she really like it a lot, If your mom and/or mother in law gets cild easily they have really nice wraps and throw blankets, One year I got my mom one with kittens on it, and one for my MIL with angles. just a couple ideas, I'm sure you will get a lot more ideas. Hope these helped. J. L
A framed updated family photo in a frame that fits each of their styles.
Well, each woman probably has their own style and/or attitudes about gifts.
Do they equate dollar "amount" to "quality" of the gift?
How about a family portrait? For each of them? With them in it?
Or, get a gift certificate for a nail pedicure or "spa" type massage?
One time, I got my Mom a gift card from our local car wash.... and she LOVED it! Since she is "old" and gets too tired to do it herself. So, throughout the year, she was able to get her car washed/polished whenever she wanted, and it was a real treat for her.
Or, another one which my Mom liked, is we got her a "maid service" to clean all the windows in the house. I usually do it... but, this way, it was helpful for my Mom, and me... and she really appreciated it.
At this age, they can't or are not able to do the house "maintenance" type of heavy cleaning... so any help they have, helps them. At least for my Mom, she likes this sort of thing.
Good luck,
Susan
There are journals for out there for mothers and grandmothers to write in about their life and then the books pass to the grandkids-maybe a keepsake like that? Give the gift of time. Make coupons for special outings. I just read in a magazine that a family gave the grandma a calender with a years worth of preplanned days penciled in for spending with the family.
make them a gift basket each. put their favorite things in it. ask yourself what do they like.... candy? coffee? fruit?... gift cards are always great then they can get what they desire (i know not everyone likes to give gift cards). or you can go with needed things like if they need clothes or something. im sure youll think of something. i like the idea another mom posted about a framed family photo :) good luck!
