What are you getting your FIL?

[Anxietyandwine]

As the title says - what are you getting your FIL or similar. I’m really stuck for mine this year.

My in-laws are so generous and kind to us all year round but so hard to buy for.

He is a married, high earner in his early 60s, just moved and refurbed whole house, goes to wales to their caravan for weekends here and there. No real hobbies other than that, walking his beloved dog/family time.

We are skint in comparison to them so even harder!

Do they like coffee? I would buy them a three month coffee subscription

No idea - DH’s family are his problem when it comes to presents!

My own dad is getting a joint gift with my mum of a portable Bose speaker they can use indoors or out, but I have a couple of siblings to share the financial load of that with. Could be handy in the caravan if he likes music though!

My FIL doesn’t do much but loves to watch his garden so one thing we bought is a set of butterfly bee and bird feeders from Etsy.

Mine has a book so far from both me and DH we saw one we thought he’d like separately. Some really nice chutney and crackers from a local swish farm shop centre. Will probably get him some nice nuts to pick at just little bits really.
Would he like a magazine subscription gardening or cooking or Nat Geographic?
Does he like real ales there are some interesting collections on Amazon as gift boxes to work his way through trying?

Mine has a book so far from both me and DH we saw one we thought he’d like separately. Some really nice chutney and crackers from a local swish farm shop centre. Will probably get him some nice nuts to pick at just little bits really.
Would he like a magazine subscription gardening or cooking or Nat Geographic?
Does he like real ales there are some interesting collections on Amazon as gift boxes to work his way through trying?

Cheese selection box.

We’ve gone rogue and bought him a tandem sky dive.

He’s got two hobbies and already has the best of everything on the market. He’s incredibly difficult to buy for. And, in our defence, he is a bit of an adrenaline junkie. So he’s either going to love it (in which case, it was all my idea) or he’ll be horrified (which is when DH will get the blame).

I think we’re getting him a record. MIL probably suggested the precise one.

It’s hard to come up with suggestions for strangers, doesn’t your husband have some ideas of what his father might want? You’ve said you’re skint in comparison but not given budget, is there a ballpark?
I’d narrow down a category first. Does he drink at all? Does he read? Does he cook? Is he a gadget person? Maybe an experience day for the two of them? Clothing - a nice jumper? Does he enjoy his garden, maybe something for that if they’ve just done the house? Something for their caravan (I’m not a caravan person, I have no idea what sort of caravan accessories you can get but I assume they exist)?
Can you ask MIL for an idea?

Very boring jumper and shirt, almost identical to the same ones I’ve bought him most years for either birthday, Christmas or Father’s Days. He has everything he wants, has far more money than me to buy anything he needs. He wears the same style clothes which is why he gets the same stuff. The one year I left it to DH to buy something he bought pretty much the same thing.

I've got FIL one of those frames you can email photos to and they display instantly, and a promise to send a new photo of DD to it every day!

Photo books always go down well - a membership of something - we got my step dad a National Trust membership because they live near a lovely garden - went down well. A fortnum and mason hamper - even the smallest ones are impressive :)

Hamper of food for himself and smil. It includes nice coffee, chocolate, various things from local producers, homemade chutney, Turkish delight, home reared lamb, smoked salmon, stollen, nice bottle of wine etc. They have everything under the sun and certainly do not need more "stuff". The nice thing about a hamper is that you can put in a mixture of things, bits can be regifted if necessary, you can include homemade things, and you can do it every year because it's always a bit different. My ILs really enjoy it.

Three books by an author he likes. There will also be a photobook (joint gift to MIL as well), but putting that together is DH's job, and it's not going to happen until after Christmas.

We have done the hamper thing before for FIL and for similar gift-buying challenges, and as long as you know any major likes/dislikes, it usually goes down really well.