Recommend any presents which are not "stuff" (i.e. material goods)?

[HoHoHopelessDad]

Two main reasons we want to give and receive presents which are not "things":

1. I hate getting things we do not need already I am pretty embarrassed by the loads of toys and crap the DKs never use from one week to the next - it's just wasteful, and
2. We have an urban dwelling with just about sufficient room to swing one of the rodents who occasionally stroll disdainfully across our living room floor when it's too wet outside.

Suggestions so far:

Dedicated tree from the Woodland Trust
Oxfam Unwrapped
An acre of land from the World Land Trust

BTW, if you hate adverts as much as I do, look at the video What would Jesus buy? from the Adbusters website.

By the way, did you know tomorrow is "Buy Nothing Day"? I might start a new conversation on that one...

wisteria - thats lovely

choosy - i think the 'bring and take' idea is genius. what a great thing to do.

i think lispys idea is inspired too. dont think a lot of toys nowadays require children to use their imagination like that

just donated to help a grandparent through Help the Aged for both stes of DD's GP's from her.

Not quite as hardcore as 'no stuff' - DH and I have max budget of £30 to spend on each other, for which you have to buy or make at least ten things - yeah, you can just buy stuff off the Amazon wishlist but then most of the budget is gone so you have to be far more creative! I have made him his favourite pie in the past, written him special letters, that kind of thing. Oh, and made up the ten presents by buying stupid stuff like a packet of Lovehearts.

For DDs birthday the year before last granny gave us a years membership for Chester zoo. Not as worthy a suggestion as those already posted but if you want to actually give something to a child without giving 'stuff' its a good one.

I've been considering for my niece and nephew adopting a dog from the Dogs Trust and a swan or duck from WWT respectively. My DD has an adopted dog, its quite a nice thing to give to an animal-loving child. (The dog has just sent her an advent calendar with pictures of dogs instead of chocs, so this is not a totally 'stuff' free option).

Flylady has some suggestions for 'clutter-free gifts' for various people:

Teachers/neighbours
For women.
For men.
For grandparents.
For children and teenagers.

My sister bought DP and I a wine tasting tour last Christmas. Twas a nice experience and it didn't clutter up our (already cluttered) house any further.

I really don't want stuff this year. So far I've asked for:

My DB to come round and cook us dinner (supplying food, wine and company, natch)
My DS for a couple of babysitting sessions
DH to sort out shelving for my currently boxed CD collection (will give me great joy!)
My SIL for a delicious selection of all the things I can't currently eat because I'm pg..

etc.

I reckon things like that will make my life much nicer than a DVD / Book / waste of space gadget etc

Meanwhile though I'm getting other people what they ask for because if they want / need stuff thats up to them.

i make food/hampers/liquers etc for grown-ups and buy toys for the kids...

but i work for a toy company so the amount of toys stays the same and get taken to charity/recycle/classifieds.

once my eldest complained that there weren't enough toys to play with!!

Theatre tickets, with a promise to baby sit. Vouchers for beauty salons are nice too. If you have a chain restauant near you that you like then vouchers for that are good, we love Wagamama vouchers.

Someone was talking about these www.cookfood.net ready meals, and I thought that some might make a really good present for someone who appreciated good food but was either too old or too busy to cook it - & I kept the link as I'm thinking of ordering some for my dm.

If children are over 10 then a voucher for GoApe or Aerial Extreme would be great! Warning: an adult has to accompany them, so hope you've got a head for heights!

you need to give everyone you know a "custardo voucher" a veryensible gift that gives the reciver the gift of giving.

the voucher entitles the bearer to buy me 2 drinks.

i will be greatful, they will be full of the joys of xmas, i will even say "i love yeeuuch" after the use of around 4 vouchers.

the only waste will end up in my toilet. i think this is actually a very low carbon footprint option.

I also have a very small and cluttered house so like to get consumables-anything food or drink related really! That way it's appreciated but doesn't hang around for more than a couple of weeks at most.

For my parents we often do something like a vine or olive tree adoption-they get wine/olive oil etc as part of it and it gives them somewhere to go on holiday!

I've just emailed the various people likely to give me anything requesting small edible gifts, and to tell them I'll be doing the same for them and sending a chunk of money (which will also be instead of Christmas cards) to the Disasters Emergency Committee.

Good Giftsis absolutely brilliant - unusual thoughtful things, with the added bonus of a lot of them being close to home.

Last year Dh and I had a fantastic bucket and spade holiday with the children, so I "bought" him a week's holiday at the seaside for an underprivileged child; my brother plays in a rubbish pub football team, so for him I sponsored half time refreshments for a season for a deprived children's team etc etc; my dad always used to take us to the panto when we were children, so for him I bought a panto package day out for a child in care etc etc.

Oooh - there wasn't a dry eye in the Anchovy household that year, I can tell you.

You can get those vouchers for cinema visits, or to put towards family days out, or DVD rental at WHSmith.

oh wisteria thankyou thankyou thankyou, you have just solved the perennial problem of what to get for my so-difficult-to-buy-for Dad.

Wow, I have done so much xmas shopping because of this thread... thank you so much

hohodad the buy nothing catalogue is great, I like that

Look at some of the arts and crafts threads with links to make Christmas things simply wonderful craft blog finds

Last year we gave our nephews "tickets" for a sleepover at our house. They thought it was fantastic and we enjoyed having them with us. They also didn't use their tickets until the summer, so it spread out the present!
If you feel you have to give a tangible gift there are plenty of catalogues selling fairly traded products, so at least you are contributing properly to someone's life or community at the same time. Try traidcraft, tearcraft or natural collection.

This year my son will be 9 months old and really has everything he needs so we have asked friends and family to contribute to our charity on www.reecesrainbow.com This charity helps to find adoptive parents for kids in orphanages all around the world. It just seems appropriate to give to this as they won't even know that it is Christmas. The website also has a Christmas appeal right now and you can sponsor a child and recieve a Christmas star with their photo on. They are really nice.