Consumable gifts

[jodi]

For the past year or two, I have really been on a kick to give consumable gifts (what I define to be anything that can be used up and not laying around the house for years to come). I think it all started when I began to realize how many gifts I had received that I didn't want, need, or have the space for. Unless I know for a fact that someone wants a particular item, I try to stay away from buying them objects or trinkets.
Here are some examples of recent gifts:
- a gift certificate to a favorite restaurant and 5 boxed cake mixes (which I will make throughout the next few months) for Father's Day
- a dessert of the month (made by me) for my notoriously hard to buy for brother, or an ingredient wrapped up with the promise to make an item (i.e. chocolate chips for cookies, cherry pie filling for a cheesecake)
- gift certificates to bookstores (SIL), department stores (teenage nephew), day spa (Mother's Day)
- jalapeno jelly, granola for stocking stuffers
- a box of recordable DVDs with the promise to transfer old VHS tapes for my parents, and a photo album with the promise to help my mom sort her many years of photos

Anyone else have some good ideas for consumable gifts? I would love to get away from the food or gift certificate themes, but I'm not really thinking of anything else.

[Hez]

One consumable gift that I DON'T like is chocolate! It seems to be a food that goes with any holiday or occasion, and I have no willpower when it comes to sweets so I hate getting chocolate.

But on with the good things...for birthdays, my friends and I often take each other out for dinner and pay for the birthday boy or girl. It's never anywhere fancy, and I like it because hey who doesn't love getting a free meal? Plus, what I value most is the TIME spent together, I think that's the best gift!

Another idea would be to take the person on a mini-vacation, even if it's just going to the next town over to browse around the shops then stop for ice cream.

Or, if you know the person can be responsible with it, another great consumable gift is booze.

[Coleroo]

my mom is the queen of consumable gifts - its all she ever wants!! she hates "stuff".

flower / plant arrangements
homemade soup in a cup concoctions
powdered "magic milkshake" mix (courtesy of hillbilly housewife! i give it as "reindeer mix" at christmas with a cute story attatched)
bathsalts / bathing products
food gift baskets (cheese & sausage, coffee, picnic stuff, etc)
unique hand lotion
gift certificates to places the person wants to go but usually wont spend their own money on (spas, manicure / pedicure, fancy restaurants)
gift certificate to walmart / target
free babysitting

[Daylily]

Thanks for posting this. I LOVE consumable gifts - both as the recipient and as the giver. I really hate buying 'stuff' that is not going to be used. Equally, I don't like receiving 'stuff.'

Here is an idea that I haven't seen mentioned yet:

A year membership to the local zoo or science center or whatever. This is what I gave my brother's family this year.

Movie tickets?

Netflix membership?

[My English Castle]

My older parents really liked grapefruit gift boxes. They were hesitant to buy grapefruit in the store, especially at $1 each, but really enjoyed that on winters that they were home.

I also buy them magazine and newspaper subscriptions, jam--and my dad's favorite: a roll of postage stamps!

My next purchase for my mom: a service to help her with cleaning.

[Joan.of.the.Arch]

Gifts of weekend work visits to my out of town mother:

Once or twice a year for the purpose of cleaning out her gutters. A little dangerous for her to do anymore and difficult for her to hire someone.

Once to harvest her elerberries and help her to make jelly, which then became gifts to her own friends and other family.

Every 3 or 4 years for garage cleaning.

Once to install a front door peep hole and security latches on her first floor windows.

Two weekends in a row to paint the house interior.

Once with a rented truck to take a large piece of furniture from her house to the house of someone who wanted it, but was being slow to come pick it up/ get it out of her way.

Once to limb up the oaks in her yard which were making it difficult for her to mow.

These arethe kinds of things people do for their aging parents anyway, but for me, since it is a 5 hour drive away, it is a big deal and special event to be there.

[Gruntina]

I really try to avoid food as gift! It seems food is what brings people together at parties and holidays etc. This is not great when it comes to my family who loves to eat and find happiness when we eat (we are a family that is congested with heart diseases and diabetes on the very strong side and many of us are overweight). I try to give support to find something enjoyable that is not food related unless someone is sick and need soup or menus made up to cope during hard times. I notice a lot of us have tended to food when we are both really happy and sad as it if we were somewhat of an emotional eater at both high and low ends. I am trying my best to not snack during a movie at home because I associate fun time with food.

My mom has given me a subscription to reader's digest for many years and that is something I truly enjoy. Magazine subscriptions, quality time together, gift certificates or entertainment tickets, even flight tickets for visiting are cool but can be pricey.

A great birthday gift from a local friend I received was she took my car out for a car wash and vacuumed inside. That was a nice surprise.

[zetta]

I second the magazine subscriptions -- there are two that my grandmother gives me each year and I love them.

Amusement park tickets
Movie tickets
Tickets (or season passes!) to plays, symphony, concerts, etc.
Flower seeds, plants, gardening supplies (ie fertilizer)

[Scanner]

Don't forget the net junkie in your life:

Amazon gift cards
Itunes gift cards

Especially the last one - I wouldn't want to spend $.99 on myself but if someone gets me a gift certificate, I love downloading music.

[cschin4]

Yes, I think we all have way too many knicknacks and junk that none of us want or use. In recent years, I am getting more and more annoyed feeling that I am "obligated" to buy gifts, etc for certain occassions. So, we generally give restaurant gift certificates.
I do like magazine subscriptions. I think alot of people don't subscribe but would enjoy them. At least, I would like that.
Other things:
- a pound of premium of coffee from Starbucks, etc.
- a bouquet of fresh flowers (enjoy for a few days and then they are gone)
- a nice plant or some fresh herbs in a nice pot, etc.
- Lottery Tickets - My dad used to buy all of us scratch off lottery tickets and we all had fun scratching those off and winning a few dollars. He is no longer here to do that but we do have fond memories.
- "yearly" gifts - I always bought my dad a fruitcake and a bottle of Aqua Velva. That is all he ever wanted and no Christmas was complete until he received his yearly gift, even though he always knew what it was. So, you can start your own traditions.

[LuxLiving]

For Father's day, my sweet lil'Dadio got new fundies, new socks and 2 packages of Oreo Double-stuffs from me and a funny gift card that talked about how he'd raised us to not waste money on fru-fru gifts.

No dust, no muss!

He was happy as a clam - mostly as he just enjoys us coming around, the practical gifts that he can use are just gravy.

[PrincessPerky]

I'll ditto TIME..could be 'work' (yard work, cleaning,
ect) IF you don't think doing it for them will be accepted (or are to far away) buy a gift cert for maid work (set up the time yourself, make it when you are planning to visit with a nice cup of tea..or rum..whichever)

Or more fun IMO a day out doing something (or an hour) We really like taking the nieces and nephews out for fun...doesn't have to be expensive either, movie, arcade, park, whatever.

Art supplies for the young are cool, but make sure the parents will let them use them.

[mom-from-missouri]

I got a movie basket one time for Christmas and loved it! It had lots of microwave popcorn, several boxes of mints, 10 DVD's (looked like they orginally came from the library sale), soda, and a GC for 2 to the movie theatre.

[jodi]

Great ideas! I had forgotten about a bunch of those that I have done in the past. We did the Netflix subscription for my 17 year old nephew this year for Christmas and it was quite well received
I would love to get just about all of these gifts (my birthday is November 28, btw )