<p>For people who have the funds to buy themselves what they want, I think consumables and experiences, like gourmet food gifts, parent-funded family travel, or theater tickets make nice gifts. And if you can hit on that one item that someone looks forward to receiving from you every year, you’ve taken the pressure off going forward. My husband’s grandmother used to send a box of See’s chocolates (which, at the time, were not available everywhere) and the family looked forward to that every year. If she’d searched for a new idea or “something different,” they would have been disappointed. We had a few years of sending a box of steaks to my sister-in-law and her husband and them sending us a box of fancy pears. We agreed this would make a lovely gift every year. (Eventually we decided to stop sending one another gifts at all…but, honestly, I’d never buy myself a box of Harry and David pears so anyone who wants to send me a box, that would be a lovely gift!)</p>
<p>If there is something I’d like to have but wouldn’t buy for myself, not because I can’t afford it but because it seems too indulgent, or because it’s kind of a pain in the neck to get it, that is the perfect gift, and a number of the gourmet food gifts fall in that category. So, these days, do theater tickets a lot of the time! I get my husband uber-pricey soap that I have to order from the Virgin Islands every year for Father’s Day. It’s not just the cost, but also that I go to the effort to order it that makes it a gift. And what makes it perfect for both of us is that he needs more every year. </p>
<p>Of course, some people have enough money that nothing is an indulgence to them. Then, things that take effort (like compiling family videos onto DVDs, or scanning photos, collecting family recipes, etc) make a nice gift. My mother-in-law, who needed little and had no room for anything, appreciated it when we hit on giving her a photo calendar and a photo brag book to carry in her purse each year. I collaborated with my sister-in-law.</p>
<p>I realize some ideas are better executed as a gift sent to the recipient’s home and don’t address the need to have a box under the tree that will be unwrapped at a particular time, but they could work for families that are dispersed at this time of year.</p>