Running out of Gift Ideas?

How is your Christmas shopping coming along? Done yet? Have you totally run out of ideas? If you are tired of looking for "stuff", how about putting these nice gifts together yourself?

• Nice basket with food items and homemade gift certificates are a great gift for new parents or the elderly. I buy my baskets at yardsales and Goodwill. It's amazing what nice baskets you can find!

• Nice pot or set of small pots with some herb seeds, wrapped up in cellophane and tied with a pretty bow. I like to get those huge rolls of cellophane on eBay and sometimes Sam's Club sells them inexpensively. The craft stores also sell smaller rolls.
  

• A decorative holiday plate with cookies and wrapped baked quick breads in foil. Again, use the cellophane and tie with a bow. I like to check Goodwill throughout the year for this stuff, and I recently saw that Kohl's had some on sale already. The closer you get to Christmas, the better chance you have of finding this stuff discounted. Or better yet, shop for it right after Christmas for next year.

• A Mason jar filled with brownie or cookie mix and a tag with instructions. You can find many recipes on line. One version is called sand art brownies.

• A basket filled with a few food items (spaghetti sauce and pasta with Parmesan cheese as an example), and then some restaurant.com coupons rolled up and tied with ribbon. Wrap it up with cellophane and a bow. I like to buy those coupons when I can get a $25 restaurant coupon for $3 or less. Get on their mailing list to get notified of these sales.

• Think about functional gifts. For a college student, a brand new laundry bag with detergent works well.

• Forget about the ties or fruitcakes. Men have so many ties already, and it's such a cliche and shows you have no thought or effort...don't do it. I think only 5% of the population likes fruitcakes, so unless you know someone who really likes this stuff...don't pass on those bricks please.

• For retired people, get supportive gifts. Don't get them any more knick knacks! No kitch, liquor or music boxes. Most already have so much of this junk. Start thinking about a stack of greeting cards with stamps nicely tied up with ribbon, fruit or food baskets (you can make them up yourself, you know), grocery store and restaurant gift cards (you can dress these up by putting them in a basket with some edible stuff) or magazine subscriptions (make sure they read or like it first).

• A nice professionally done photo book telling a story. Many of you can print something like this at home if you have a nice printer. You can go to Kinko's or your local print center and get it bound. Use really nice paper to make it special. All the photo processing sites online also do photo books. Have your book tell a story...use those captions. Your story can be a timeline or revolve around a theme.

• A new item for their collection. If someone does collect something, then it is okay to get them a new treasure for it.

• A stamp pad with their return address and a stack of cards and envelopes. This works great for someone elderly too. Not everyone gets those free return address labels through the mail.

• A copy of a favorite recipe with a kitchen implement or towel attached. Just make sure it is a fabulous recipe or something the person complimented you on once. Make sure the person likes to cook too!

• Think about gifting an experience, rather than a "thing". How about a balloon flight or a ride with a WWI flying ace? Or be a horse trainer, beer brewer or whatever occupation you can think of....just for a weekend with no strings attached at Vocation Vacation. Keep down the costs by finding a job in your area. The sky is the limit! If that's a little too expensive for you, how about a manicure, pedicure or massage? How about a trip to the local day spa?

• For you favorite teenager who has an MP3 player, how about music downloads? Get a giftcard from a download center online. I like Amazon.com's download center. Package the card or certificate in a small basket with some edible goodies.
  

There are also some resources online to get you thinking. Here are some of the ones I've visited recently:

Perfect Present Picker

Gift Wizard Ideas

MSN Shopping Wizard

I also like Amazon's Gift Organizer. When I missed my niece's birthday last year, I sat down the next day and entered everyone's birthday and anniversary into the Gift Organizer in my Amazon account. Now I get emails a few weeks out, reminding me of those important dates. I've yet to forget again! The Organizer also keeps you organized and keeps track of your gifts given. Very handy, so you don't give the same thing twice!

What nifty gifts have you recently given? What are you giving this year? Any new ideas or things you can pass on?