MIL and her dp, I neeeed ideas, please!

[lucysmam]

Somewhere between £15-20ish.

I'm stumped and dp looks at me like when I mention Christmas but shopping is almost done barring my dad and sister (joop and mugs for them plus something Christmassy to go with).

Mil and her dp are the type who are thrilled with quid shop socks but they do a lot for us & MIL has been very supportive through a tough year & I'd like to get something nice for them.

HELP!

'Thrilled with pound shop socks' - are they the sort who genuinely don't like luxury things?

home made hamper? Buy lots of treats you know they use / like and stick them in an empty, Christmas wrapped box. Stuff like nice hand cream, wine, chocolate, tea, jam, biscuits. It makes it really thoughtful if you know brands they like and consider a bit of a special occasion thing. You can get quite a bit for £20 f you shop carefully.

My mil sounds similar. I dont know if yours is like this but mine loved one of those light up tree branch things. Its like branches with your choice of colour lights on and you put them in a vase and its all leds (not explaining this well)! Mine has one with yellow lights for easter and red for christmas. Available in garden centres.

How old is she/he?

We did a movie night kit once with a popcorn maker, popcorn flavouring, tubs, dvd etc.

Also do you have dc? Mine LOVE anything so called from dc like a photoframe of pics with them and ds, personalised wooden spoons saying granny etc

My MIL doesn't like luxury type stuff - she's already turned down a posh dressing gown suggestion from SIL as she doesn't want to worry about wrecking it!
We're going down the restaurant/ theatre voucher route. MIL and her DP like to go out for meals and shows, so it's ideal for them as they never really want/need anything.

I like the DVD night in kit, I might steal that one!

Also second anything DC related, like a photo calendar with cute pictures of the kids for each month. If they prefer practical gifts mine really liked a tea towel set that the kids had their drawings printed onto. Are they into gardening at all? Could you get them a special rose to plant and watch grow?

They're not into luxury stuff at all...she would also worry about wrecking any luxury item of clothing.

Although maybe some nice gloves would be good.

They both enjoy gardening, and share an allottment with another couple so I will test the water with the rose idea & see what they say.

We've done dvd's in the past but they tend to sit for an age unwatched unless they're really in the mood for a film.

I tried to find something soap related a few years back for her which would have been perfect but have no idea now what it was (we got something different).

A hamper of treats for their allottment shed. So nice tea, Lyons coffee bags, biscuits, nice chocs, gardening cream, gardening gloves etc.

How well-equipped is their allotment? Could you engineer a conversation and see if they need things like netting, or new tools, or or thinking about fruit bushes/raspberry canes/artichokes (you get the idea).

Failing that, what MsAsprey suggested.

afternoon tea or theater tickets?

Or, what about some activity vouchers -eg a voucher for 2 hours of digging, a voucher for delivery of a hot lunch to the allotment on a long day, etc.

Plus some other allotment bits like new enamel mugs etc.

My mum hates luxury, thinks it's a waste and just not for her. If I gave her an expensive hand cream she'd save it for best, and buy a cheaper one to actually use, etc. She is fed up of stuff and has every thing that she needs.