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Christmas

From present ideas to party food, find all your Christmas inspiration here.

Original poster

Can I please steal your ideas for original present ideas for grown ups .

46 replies

travellingwilbury · 19/11/2009 07:32

I have got a few presents I have to buy for adults but I really don't want to end up buying yet more candles or smelly bath stuff .

I love buying presents for children but when it comes to adults I really struggle trying to find something people actually want rather than the usual shite .

I am stuck for inspiration , needs to be under £20 .

Please help

OP posts:
StealthPolarBear · 19/11/2009 07:44

i get my parents a big present & a small present. For my dad's small present I've git him tesco fig, apricot & date delight - like a box of chocs but dried fruit - apricots dipped in choc, dates stuffed with pistachio and figs in coconut. Obviously he likes dried fruit, I'm pleased with that, thought it was different!

tostaky · 19/11/2009 14:47

my mum - a bracelet
my dad - a ticket to a F1 race
books, luxury choxolate or macaroons, handbag, gym bag, sports watch, table lamp, suscription to magazine, hamper, a plant in a nice pot, a vase... look at what you have in your house and think about what you bought that could have been a good present for you.

Lifeinagoldfishbowl · 19/11/2009 14:55

I have found a lovely hurricane lamp at MandS

stealthsquiggle · 19/11/2009 15:00

Tostaky - that's kind of the problem for me. Other than big things (a sewing machine, please, DH) there is nothing I really want for Christmas - and I look around and think "I don't want more 'stuff', so why would anyone else?" and in the

Original poster
travellingwilbury · 19/11/2009 15:45

That is the problem I have got exactly stealth , all I can find for £20 is just more space filling , drawer stuffing , cupboard bulging stuff .

I figure if I don't want any more shite then others probably don't want it either .

I have however gone out today and wasted some hard earned money on books and stuff and choc and stuff for grown ups .

I am sure they will all be thrilled

I am open to all ideas . Honestly not normally this grumpy , but all this shopping for shite is annoying me .

OP posts:
Original poster
travellingwilbury · 19/11/2009 15:46

Wow , my old english teacher will be so proud with my repeated use of I at the beginning of each sentence

OP posts:
StealthPolarBear · 19/11/2009 15:49

yes i'd love to get no "stuff" this christmas (and if that makes me ungrateful and grumpy then so be it)

potplant · 19/11/2009 15:50

I bought my DB and SIL home DVD rental subscriptions a couple of years ago. Can't remember whether it was for x number of movies of x number of months.

My MIL was happy with a gardening magazine subscription (more than £20 though).

TitsalinaBumsquash · 19/11/2009 15:52

I am getting my Dad neal vouchers so him and his girlfriend can have a night out.

TitsalinaBumsquash · 19/11/2009 15:52

meal vouchers even......

blithedance · 19/11/2009 15:53

I think a book, CD or DVD is a good fall back- don't take up much space. If you have an inkling of the other person's taste it's not too hard to get inspired if you wander around a branch of Borders.

My BIL likes to put a bet on the horses, so once I bought him passes to the Boxing Day races nearest to where we were all spending Christmas. Got him out of the way of Mum and a good day out too !!

DH has a good approach to buying presents for hard to choose-for adult males. He gets everyone the same thing. There was the year when everyone got a multitool, a CD, a leather belt...

Original poster
travellingwilbury · 19/11/2009 15:54

The amount of people we buy for is half the problem , I would rather halve the amount of people and double the money to each , at least then I could get them some tasteful shite and not just tat .

We have always bought for adults and children which is nuts but so are my in laws so that is the way things will stay . I love buying for children but for grown ups I just cba .

Figure if they really want a dvd , cd , book , then they will probably buy it themselves .

Maybe I should be in the bah humbug topic and not spoiling all the christmas cheer in here .

OP posts:
rasputin · 19/11/2009 15:55

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

Original poster
travellingwilbury · 19/11/2009 15:59

Now I would be very happy with book tokens but when I told my in laws this they were horrified . Apparently no thought goes into a voucher .

However a lot of thought went into the place mats I was given

On reflection maybe I am just a bitter old hag who doesn't actually want to spend money on people who are only going to buy me shite . Then two houses have extra shite in .

What is the point ?

OP posts:
Orlando · 19/11/2009 16:09

I secretly lust after the Maison Blanc macaroons in Waitrose every week-- little pastel-coloured bites of gorgeousness in a v posh box. At 6.50 too much to buy for the kids to scoff in two minutes flat, but I'd love to find some of those with my name on under the tree. Think I'm going to get those for girlfriends.

Books also lovely - have bought this one for dh and it's great. And anything from my fave shop of last Christmas, (where I got everyone height charts... here

FiveGoMadonTheDanceFloor · 19/11/2009 16:13

For all the adults I know, they are getting a retro Marmite tine with a homemade fruitcake/biscuits. For my father/brothers I will add a bottle of port. My 26yr old nephew is getting a Top Gear book which has soemthing to make.

stealthsquiggle · 19/11/2009 16:30

We have more coffee table books than we anyone will ever read.

The DC have more than one height chart thing each.

I too love book tokens - the excuse to spend time browsing and choosing a book for me (even if I do occasionally spend them on the DC ) is great - especially if it is time spent on a station or somewhere equally depressing - when I suddenly think "aha - I have a token from X in my purse - I shall go and treat myself"

(if anyone who might be inclined to buy me a present is reading this, the same goes double for Paperchase gift cards, if such a thing exists )

The only reason I don't like buying them for people is that it makes it a bit too in-your-face obvious how much you have spent [hypocrite]

OmniDroid · 19/11/2009 16:36

Magazine subscriptions. I love my magazine subscriptions. And theatre tokens.

(have noted the Waitrose Maison Blanc thought from Orlando, and am now sorted for little gift for the inlaws)

OmniDroid · 19/11/2009 16:40

Has anyone given or been given a LoveFilm subscription? (thinking of my brother's Christmas present here). Are they any good?

catinthehat2 · 19/11/2009 16:41
stealthsquiggle · 19/11/2009 16:48

Lovefilm are very good and I might succeed this year (now that he has 'discovered' it for himself ) in convincing DH that a gift subscription would be the perfect present for SIL - I suggested it last year but he vetoed it for some reason which I did not get at all.

stealthsquiggle · 19/11/2009 16:50

If you are going to do the Maison Blanc thing don't forget to label the present as perishable - I still remember the year PIL forgot to mention that there was cheese in one of the parcels which we proceeded to heap up right next to a radiator.

OmniDroid · 19/11/2009 16:57

Thanks Stelthsquiggle

Original poster
travellingwilbury · 19/11/2009 17:51

I am so glad that I am not the only one that finds all this buying pointless stuff thing a pain .

I did make a school boy error a couple of years ago and added oxfam gifts to the mix

They went down like a cup of cold sick .

OP posts:
grumpypants · 19/11/2009 17:53

In Paperchase for a tenner you can get a lovely filofax type thing.