Any Christmas gift ideas?

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Here’s the rundown:

Brother and wife and 6 children coming for a week the day after Christmas. They live 12+ hours away and come once a year. They are financially very well off and are not in need of anything. They’re staying at our parents’ house.

We are not well off by any means, but feel the need to get them something for Christmas. Any ideas either for gifts for the children or one gift for them as a family would be greatly appreciated. We don’t want to be caught empty-handed, especially if they bring our children gifts.

Peace.

+JMJ+
 
jmj777 said:
Here’s the rundown:

Brother and wife and 6 children coming for a week the day after Christmas. They live 12+ hours away and come once a year. They are financially very well off and are not in need of anything. They’re staying at our parents’ house.

We are not well off by any means, but feel the need to get them something for Christmas. Any ideas either for gifts for the children or one gift for them as a family would be greatly appreciated. We don’t want to be caught empty-handed, especially if they bring our children gifts.

Peace.

+JMJ+
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DH has a lot of younger siblings who still live at home, but who also don’t really “need” much. What we like to do is give them a board game or two each year, and then spend time playing it with them while there. It doesn’t take up much space (a big plus with larger families!), and encourages us all to spend fun non-screen family time together.

Keep an eye on pre-Christmas sales. There are usually bargain and more deluxe versions of these board games, and if you wait and watch, you can often get the latter (much nicer box/game pieces/board) for the same price, perhaps give or take a couple of dollars, as the former.
 
UbiCaritas said:
DH has a lot of younger siblings who still live at home, but who also don’t really “need” much. What we like to do is give them a board game or two each year, and then spend time playing it with them while there. It doesn’t take up much space (a big plus with larger families!), and encourages us all to spend fun non-screen family time together.

Keep an eye on pre-Christmas sales. There are usually bargain and more deluxe versions of these board games, and if you wait and watch, you can often get the latter (much nicer box/game pieces/board) for the same price, perhaps give or take a couple of dollars, as the former.
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This is a great idea! I think I’ll steal it. 😛
 
If gift giving is an important part of your holiday, you could find inexpensive yet luxurious gifts for them and wrap them beautifully. Black Friday sales, Overstock.com, outlet stores, estate sales, and holiday sales at ordinary brick and mortar stores could offer gifts that you will be happy to purchase for them because you have gotten them at such a reasonable price. Happy holiday shopping!
 
How are you doing for time? Cookies, “jar gifts,” and the like can be fun. (This is things like hot chocolate ingredients layered in a jar, usually with a special ingredient like peppermint, or bath salts, stuff like that). I was going to suggest these along with a board game for the whole family 🙂

ETA: forgot to write just run a search for jar gifts and you will find too many for me to have chosen one to link!
 
jmj777 said:
Here’s the rundown:

Brother and wife and 6 children coming for a week the day after Christmas. They live 12+ hours away and come once a year. They are financially very well off and are not in need of anything. They’re staying at our parents’ house.

We are not well off by any means, but feel the need to get them something for Christmas. Any ideas either for gifts for the children or one gift for them as a family would be greatly appreciated. We don’t want to be caught empty-handed, especially if they bring our children gifts.

Peace.

+JMJ+
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Perhaps the gift of a wonderful Christmas memory?
You could take them all ice skating, or Christmas caroling with a homemade feast to enjoy after your excursion. Perhaps a local high school is putting on " A Christmas Carol" or your Theater is showing a Christmas classic? Ballet companies sometimes have discount nights for “The Nutcracker” and smaller companies offer less expensive tickets.
Some churches and/or museums offer Christmas around the world exhibits ( the different Nativity sets at a local church were a real treat a few years ago and I still remember the decorated trees at a museum I visited many years ago.
A sleigh ride followed by cocoa?
the best of luck and a very merry Christmas to you and your family.
 
Creating Family memories (or even memories with those who are not Family) is the best! I remember those more than the gifts I ever received.

I just made a Fresh Cranberry Walnut bread from scratch as a Christmas gift for a friend to take away for Thanksgiving and the whole family enjoyed it! “Little” things like that make big memories!

It is about Him and about Family! Enjoy the company of each other! Soon those children will not be kids any more! What would you want them to remember?

Merry Christmas!

Luz Maria
 
Ice cream sundae gift basket with several topping options. Or gingerbread house kits? I have some nieces and a nephew that live out of town and who I don’t generally see for Christmas and I just send the whole family a card with a Chuck E Cheese giftcard.
 
jmj777 said:
Here’s the rundown:

Brother and wife and 6 children coming for a week the day after Christmas. They live 12+ hours away and come once a year. They are financially very well off and are not in need of anything. They’re staying at our parents’ house.

We are not well off by any means, but feel the need to get them something for Christmas. Any ideas either for gifts for the children or one gift for them as a family would be greatly appreciated. We don’t want to be caught empty-handed, especially if they bring our children gifts.

Peace.
I see my nieces and nephews enough to where I get them things throughout the year. Last year though, I got my brother (who is older than I) a Darth Vader. He loves it. I don’t know the ages of the kids, so I don’t know what to suggest.
+JMJ+
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Buy them some affordable CDs/Books/DVDs from Lighthouse Catholic Media. Or support the Carmelite Monks by buying them Mystic Monk Coffee.

You can use the links below in my signature block.

God Bless!
 
Six kids and plenty of stuff? Being from a family of eight, I’d say the greatest challenge is keeping the children occupied during the whole week at Grandma and Grandpa’s and not accruing more stuff to take back than what will fit in the car or van.

I’d say go for a) food, b) an experience, or c) both.

For instance, if you know how to make your mother’s famous divinity, ask your mom if you can teach the nieces and nephews how to do it. You can also bake cookies fresh with them while they are in town. Make certain you take pictures, particularly if they are in the kitchen with one or both of their grandparents.

In our area, we have a Festival of Lights at the Grotto, which in addition to lights in the outdoor gardens has a petting zoo and Christmas choirs from all over the region in the chapel every night. (The Grotto in Portland, Oregon, is actually the National Sanctuary of Our Sorrowful Mother; so this is an entirely religious Christmas display.)

I’d come up with a laundry list of ideas of that nature and call the in-laws for feedback on what would or would not be acceptable. You might find that one of you might take the older ones on one outing and the other might take the younger ones on another outing.

If you get them “something,” ask about getting them gift cards for the movies or something of that nature. You want something that will fit in the glovebox or that you are going to mail back to their place, if you need them to.

You can also ask the parents if there are things you could mail for gift-opening on Christmas Day that they can use to make the trip more pleasant. A book on how to tie knots that comes with string would be an example. Some of those little water-containing puzzles would be another; these are not usually expensive, but go to a VERY GOOD toy store to buy them because the cheap knockoffs are very disappointing Do some brainstorming on “how to keep kids occupied” on the internet, so you’ll have ideas to offer when you call. Thinking of something to keep the kids occupied is part of the gift to the parents!
 
The best gift I ever received as a child was when one aunt came at Christmas for the first time. All her kids were grown so she was excited spending it with a full house again. Christmas morning we woke up to her singing Christmas carols and making a French toast breakfast with eggs, sausage, bacon and hash browns. Homemade hot chocolate and fresh orange juice to drink. Later in the day she took us all out caroling in a fancy neighborhood across town. It was so much fun watching the expressions on people’s faces after they asked which church group we were with and us answering we were just one family (there were about 50 of us altogether with nieces and nephews, inlaws and a couple cousins and foster siblings). Her gift to us was her time, affection and tons of very dear memories.

As an adult I think the best gift I got from someone other than my husband was from my oldest sister. She found an old bottle from somewhere. It was just a green bottle of some sort. She hand wrote a note on heavy paper, soaked it over night in tea to yellow it, burnt the edges, rolled it up and put it in the bottle. She put a cork in the bottle, wrapped it in brown paper and tied it with twine. That was about 10 years ago and I still take the note out occasionally to read when life gets tough.

I just asked my kids what their favorite presents have been and they all said, “the civil war chess board.” Games would probably go over well for the kids then.
 
A coffee mug filled with candies and maybe a packet of hot chocolate. Then either wrapped in cellophane or put into a Christmas stocking.

Often dollar stores will have Christmas stockings this time of year. One year I found ones with iron on letters, so they could be customized with the recipients name.
 
A family pass to a local museum or local attraction.
A sleigh ride.
 
Allegra said:
Well they’re delicious anyway.
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I can’t speak to truffles, but toffee is surprisingly easy.

Heat butter and sugar over low-medium heat while stirring incessantly. For the love of all that’s holy, do NOT stop stirring. When it hits 285 degrees, stir in vanilla, and then pour it onto a wax-paper-lined baking sheet. Add chocolate, nuts, etc as your heart desires. (To make peanut brittle, stir in a few handfuls of peanuts before pouring the toffee out.) Cool, then smash gleefully with a rolling pin before -]pigging out/-] bringing it to the neighbors.
 
UbiCaritas said:
I can’t speak to truffles, but toffee is surprisingly easy.

Heat butter and sugar over low-medium heat while stirring incessantly. For the love of all that’s holy, do NOT stop stirring. When it hits 285 degrees, stir in vanilla, and then pour it onto a wax-paper-lined baking sheet. Add chocolate, nuts, etc as your heart desires. (To make peanut brittle, stir in a few handfuls of peanuts before pouring the toffee out.) Cool, then smash gleefully with a rolling pin before -]pigging out/-] bringing it to the neighbors.
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You have to keep stirring and have a good candy thermometer. I have a real hard time making candy on my electric coil range. Someday, I dream of owning a gas stove or even one of those fancy stove tops like the kind they have in the middle of the table at the Melting Pot, where you just set the pot on the circle and it only heats the pot! My favorite candyish holiday treats are cornflake cookies. They are SUPER easy. You melt chocolate chips in the microwave along with two squares of semisweet chocolate. Then you pour in raisins and pecans and a whole much of cornflakes. Then you stir until it’s all covered in chocolate and dump it into little mounds on wax paper. My family LOVES them.
 
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