Inlaw family presents - no more chocolate, please!

[CraftyC]

Every year my husband's family get together for a post Christmas/new year thjng. They are a lovely bunch, but they have a habit of gifting each other boxes of chocolates or biscuits. Every year everyone mutters about how they are on a diet, how they have loads of biscuits at home etc. Yet every year we all pass the same sort of boxes from person to person, feigning gratitude.

I want to gift them all something different this year. They include a 90 year old lady living alone, 2 couples in their 60s, 3 families with teenagers (including one couple who have been on a serious diet this year and are eating very well).

I am crafty but many of them crochet like me. I do like to bake bread, but would homemade bread be an appropriate gift? I was thinking maybe a houseplant? But the older crowd may not like that.

Any ideas? It cant be expensive as I have about 15 people to think of. Just a token gift really, but I cant face gifting more chocolate.

Some great ideas here.
Personally I'd love a house plant, and plant pot holders can be picked up cheaply in charity shops etc. Coffee shop voucher also would be well received.

Board / card game for families is a good idea.

I ordered the rest of my immediate family wouldn't get much use from a notebook and pen, but for the older , more housebound family members, maybe a puzzle book and pen? Eg word search / suduko

Bottle of wine if you know they drink ? Should be able to get a reasonable bottle around the £10 mark. Or DM who is bedridden seemed to enjoy the slipper socks I got her from the garden centre. Or M&S does some scent samplers that might be fun - well I would like to receive anyway, but then I would quite like a box of chocolates .

Maybe I am an oddity but I hate getting plants as a gift, they seem like a chore.

I would love that. The suggestion would not be well received by the older members of the family who simply dont do change. They gave rented the same church hall for 30 years. Change is not good to them, even if the 'norm' doesnt make them happy 😆

My cousin announced recently that they were pre diabetic and off the sweet stuff so Christmas plants it is as they don't seem to have hobbies and are snobby about toiletry brands.

Watching for other ideas 💡

I have loved the suggestions! I think I will do a coffee voucher for the family watching their diet as they have teenagers and love some time together, and the bird feeders for the older couples, and I will have a think about the last 2 families. These ideas are so.much better than chocolates that people avoid for the whole of January 😆 thank you!

I would love an easy to care for house plant such as a spider plant or really nice essential oil soap, one of my favourite gifts I still have after 40 years is a little beautiful tray big enough for 2 mugs of coffee so I can carry my coffee round the house without slopping it over the carpet, a set of real bee products, Burts bees do lovely little gift sets including tinted lip balms which I love.
Wild flower bombs for bees and butterflies.
Decorative make up mirrors from Etsy. Etsy does a wonderful range of inexpensive gifts such as botanical handmade car diffusers which are gorgeous and cheap.
Have a look at IvyStudiosUK on Etsy.
Some of the buggies earrings on there are quite inexpensive too, I love them. So easy to take in and out.

@CraftyC For adults try NIO cocktails https://niococktails.co.uk/collections/our-cocktail-box-collections?srsltid=AfmBOoqs1cB57WhFXLwZgh0--x8a4CHKgAIqUYtEkU7Qd35yhf3L35Vh
I buy a large box and separate out with one per person as stocking fillers.

I know you said no chocolate but for younger DC I’ve made my own hot chocolate reindeer but you can buy them (easier to google)

If any of them wear glasses you can get inexpensive glasses wipes with a special photo printed on?! (£4 on Etsy ) I might do this for DD's stocking this year.
I aim for consumables often if not sure - a nice olive oil if it would be appreciated as mentioned already , or special nuts /olives / jams/ honey / lovely soap or similar from tk maxx?

I would go for a game for the families with teens (check out amazon - lots for your budget), then dependent on your relatives - candles, plants, garden ornament/lights, etc

Absolutely a brown loaf please!! And some cheese too!!

Nice jar of jam. Or olive oil.
Coasters.
Retro sweets.
Mugs. Maybe personalised.
A book. Recipe book, or latest best seller.
Yankee Candle.
Bunch of garden flower/vegetable seeds. Or those seeds that you just throw randomly in n open space and flowers will grow.

Second hand book?

Jigsaw
Board game
Jam/hot sauce/chutney

This.
great gift for foodies.

Some great suggestions here.
Love the ones for bird food, olive oil and games. Plants are great. Just check they are pet safe - have had to rehome lillies a few times.
Another possibility is a beautiful Christmas ornament that can be reused year after year.

Thank you for the thread. Some great ideas shared.

Home made chutney in an attractive jar.

I actually woukd really appreciate homemade bread, especially something a bit different like sun dried tomato and feta, to go with all the Christmas leftovers/soup and some chutney (there’s still time to make it or garden centres often do lovely ones). Maybe a couple of home made fruit or cheese scones for the older lady.

I think you can gift whatever you feel would be a decent gift op. The point of a gift is really for the giver to decide, not the recipient to dictate.

I'd probably go for some of the food suggestions - nice tea or chutneys etc.

My only slight caution would be that I once gave someone some Mariages Freres tea, which I think they were clearly unfamiliar with, as they looked a bit taken aback (disappointed really), then for my birthday gave me a packet of very bog-standard supermarket tea! I am sure they felt it was a like-for-like attitude! So just choose something you feel sure they won't feel is just "groceries." That said, MF tea is far from supermarket standard so you never know.

The one thing I think you can't do is the MN special manoeuvre of declaring your family isn't accepting chocolates.

I'd love fresh bread! As this poster says, I think it needs a bit of fancywork - some sundried tomatoes or similar - and definitely needs to be super fresh! You can't make it look like leftovers. But I think its a nice idea.

I won't be baking fresh bread on top of all the Christmas prep though!

I love a poinsettia. They are so festive.
A bottle of wine.

This, plus a little book on common British garden birds so they can ID their feathery visitors.

Garden centre vouchers (you can get national non-specific ones for use in any GC - National Garden Gift Vouchers - Home & Garden Centre)

Popular games with my DNs in recent years have been Uno (or its close relative Skip-Bo) and Bananagrams. Cards Against Humanity for older ones, but this is definitely not suitable for all - my DM would find it unacceptable. A soaraway winner a few years ago were a set of little 'trumpets' with numbers on them, accompanied by some cards with number sequences on them. Everyone had a trumpet each and the idea was to blow your trumpet in turn in the sequence shown on the card, they made up Christmas carol tunes, quite effectively if done right. I think they actually came in a set of Aldi Christmas crackers. Anyway, the trumpets now make a reappearance every year and are a great leveller and source of amusement across the ages (teens to 80s in our case), especially if one or two of the oldies are a couple of glasses in. They sound a bit facile, I know, but are good harmless fun.

Magazine subscriptions have also proved popular for older adults (BBC Gardeners World or History, Private Eye, etc.)

Thank you for the thread. I always mine MN threads like this for new ideas - they rarely let me down!

How about an Italian meal hamper e.g. fancy pasta and sauce. Eataly is great for this if you're in London/happy to order online, but other Italian delis are available!

e.g. https://eataly.slerp.com/order/store/eataly-shop-online-nationwide-delivery/venison-rag-180g---il-vallino-gourmet-d-italia

https://eataly.slerp.com/order/store/eataly-shop-online-nationwide-delivery/spilinga-nduja-sauce-270g--crispino-Y6VSX

I'd love that!

How about personalised bookmarks? I have given these ones from Etsy before to various people and they're really lovely.

Personally I'd love to receive some sort of consumable/food gift so good sea salt, olive oil, spices or marinades, fancier than average dried pasta or local honey or marmalade would be amazing and I'd be delighted with any of those.