Who is amazing at gift giving?

wandajune6

I've been trying to buy BM gifts little by little so I can spread out the cost over the next few months. I have 5 BMs and I'm trying to spend around $50/person. So far, here's what I've got:

FSIL- 23, about to start grad school, completely broke. I bought her a cute Kate Spade clutch with a detachable shoulder strap. I got a crazy good deal stacking tons of deals together.

FSIL - 32 (FI's SIL), 34, married with 3 kids, loves to cook. I made a suggestion of my favorite knives to her sister when she needed them for cooking school. She's jealous of them but can't afford them for herself. A looking restaurant supply store is having their big sale next week and my mom's picking up a 4 piece set for me.

BM- lives out of state, no kids, recently single, adult actress. She's very frugal and got cleaned out by her ex BF recently. I bought her a lotion by LUSH a few years back that she loved. She can't find them in her area so I thought I'd buy her a big basket of fun products from that shop. She buys the lotion when she visits me (or I take it to her when I visit her) but we don't see each other as often as I'd like and I know there are a bunch of products she'd love. I'm still hoping for a better idea to inspire me but this is the plan so far.

BM- SAHM has twin toddlers and is due with her second set of twins 3 weeks before the wedding- though we're all expecting earlier since the first set was 10 weeks early. I'll buy the babies gifts but I want something for her. She's never been a big "stuff" person but she also has no time for herself- and that's just going to get worse. She's got a complicated diet (mostly vegan raw but also has food allergies). I literally have no idea. Our rule in the past was to skip gifts and go for a nice dinner out but since the allergies came on, we just hang out with the babies now. I want to buy something that's for her, not the kids. Any ideas?

MOH- my sister. She tends to buy herself what she wants if she can afford it. If she can't afford it, I probably can't either. She just started a cooking blog that I've been helping with (www.cookingonions.com- check it out!) and she's very excited about it. She's got every kitchen tool/toy imaginable. She and her husband have a toddler and their weekends are mostly about toddler-friendly activities. Our original plan was to give them a "date night" with babysitting but she has a laundry list of reasons why we're too inconvenient as babysitters.

Any ideas for my last 3? I'm drawing blanks and want to give amazing gifts. Thanks!

theartistformerlyknownas

Does the twin mom like massages or getting her hair done? A gift card for a pampering spa day might be nice... either a half hour long massage or a pedi and a blowout, maybe packaged up with some relaxing teas, a cute mug, and a fun color polish.

Chef MOH - what about some interesting ingredients she can experiment with? Local honey, gourmet cheese, flavored olive oils? This is really cute. http://www.stonehouseoliveoil.com/1oz-Cutie-Gift-Set.html#.U7K_D_ldWAh With a nice new bamboo spoon and some pretty pot holders?

wandajune6

I like those!

The twin's mom is a tough one. She'd love the pampering but has a hard time getting anyone to watch the kids. With 4 - and 2 that are likely to be preemies - she's very careful. Her husband is even convinced that he can't do it alone. We'll see. She does her own Brazilian blowouts on her hair when she's not pregnant or nursing so I need to leave her hair alone. She's such a PIA for gifts!

I like the idea for my sister. She has a lot of fancy oils, etc. but I know she's too cheap to buy everything that she'd love. Plus, she could make a blog post out of of some of the ingredients, right?

JCbride2015

I also think fancy oils for your sister is a great idea.  Maybe some exotic spices too.

For the recently single BM: Lush is awesome but $50 doesn't go that far, that's my only concern.  Maybe get her one or two Lush things along with something else, like a book you think she would enjoy or some DIY pedicure stuff for at-home pampering.  

Or were you looking for ideas in a totally different direction?  If the BM likes pampering/personal care stuff, you could get her a 6-month gift subscription to Birchbox.  I look forward to my Birchbox every month like a kid looks forward to Christmas, I swear.

For SAHM mom with food allergies: maybe get her a raw/vegan cookbook and some cooking tools?  And tell her you want to come over and cook something at her house so you can have a dinner date as is your tradition.  Or if she likes the pampering too, make her up a nice basket of things she can relax with at home.  Her favorite authors' books, towel turban for her hair, candles, etc.

theartistformerlyknownas

wandajune6 said:

I like those!

The twin's mom is a tough one. She'd love the pampering but has a hard time getting anyone to watch the kids. With 4 - and 2 that are likely to be preemies - she's very careful. Her husband is even convinced that he can't do it alone. We'll see. She does her own Brazilian blowouts on her hair when she's not pregnant or nursing so I need to leave her hair alone. She's such a PIA for gifts!

I like the idea for my sister. She has a lot of fancy oils, etc. but I know she's too cheap to buy everything that she'd love. Plus, she could make a blog post out of of some of the ingredients, right?

Would she let you and H watch the kids? Are they local enough for that?

JaxInBlue

Love the idea of oils/local products for Chef MOH! I've shopped here (<-- clicky) before and had a great experience.

For the mom of double twins, what if you got tickets for an experience for the two of you?  Maybe a show or a concert or even one of those outdoor adventure type things that crop up on Groupon?  If your FI is game, throw in that he'll join her husband to kid wrangle for the duration of the outing. 

If that won't work, and what she really wants is me-time, I might put together a basket she could use to escape at home with stuff you know calms her (for example, for me that would be some nice tea, a book and/or a cheesy chick flick, chocolate, and comfy socks).  I might be tempted to throw in something like a "do not disturb" door hanger or some earplugs, but can absolutely see that being a know your receipt/her sense of humor type of addition.

wandajune6

Good call on Birchbox! She would absolutely adore that! Thanks!

I don't really care about taking things in different directions, I just want to give gifts that I know the people will really like. They're all so unique and have such different lives and backgrounds that they're all make me think of different gifts.

wandajune6

lolo883 said:

wandajune6 said:

I like those!

The twin's mom is a tough one. She'd love the pampering but has a hard time getting anyone to watch the kids. With 4 - and 2 that are likely to be preemies - she's very careful. Her husband is even convinced that he can't do it alone. We'll see. She does her own Brazilian blowouts on her hair when she's not pregnant or nursing so I need to leave her hair alone. She's such a PIA for gifts!

I like the idea for my sister. She has a lot of fancy oils, etc. but I know she's too cheap to buy everything that she'd love. Plus, she could make a blog post out of of some of the ingredients, right?

Would she let you and H watch the kids? Are they local enough for that?

They're about an hour away. I'm good with the toddlers though I admit that I'd be terrified with premie infants. We'll see once they're born.

wandajune6

TwoDimes said:

I like the idea of some sort of pampering gift for the twins' mom. Maybe a giftcard for a mani/pedi? 

For your sister/MOH, what about something camera/photgraphy related so she can take better photos of her food for the blog. Or if she is already set with camera stuff, what about a book on photographing food, something similar to this: http://www.amazon.com/Food-Photography-Snapshots-Great-Shots/dp/0321784111

If she's blogging her food, then she needs to have great food photos!

She's actually been struggling with photography so that's a great idea. I just assumed she needs a fancier camera but this is good. Thanks!

theartistformerlyknownas

Oh I LOVE the food photography book idea. It's so much more about the skill behind the camera than it is the camera itself. A knowledgeable photographer can take a great picture with a shitty camera, and anyone can take a shitty picture with a great camera if they don't know what they're doing.