What Present to Get Someone Who's Hard to Buy For

We all have that person in our lives (or maybe several of them). You know, the one who has everything and/or doesn't want anything. This is usually not a problem as these people tend to be rather low maintenance. Then a holiday like Christmas hits and you need/want to get them a present. Now, you have a problem.

MSN Money has a few suggestions to help you. They offer 10 gift ideas for the person who has everything/doesn't want anything. Their suggestions:

• Event tickets
• City passes
• Classes/Camps
• Trip
• Club memberships
• Magazine subscriptions
• Investment
• Charitable contribution
• Food
• Paper shredder

The person who fits the "hard to buy for" description in my life is my dad. He has everything he wants, doesn't want anything else, and he has virtually no hobbies or interests. And yet, I need to get him something each year. Here's what I've found to be useful gifts from the items above as well as some of my own suggestions:

• Magazine subscriptions -- My dad's a TV watcher and a BIG NASCAR fan. So a few years ago, I got him a subscription to a NASCAR magazine. He LOVED it. There's no way I could get him to read a book (more on that later), but he (and anyone) can leaf through a magazine. Plus, a magazine comes once a month so it's the gift that keeps on giving!

• Food -- My dad (and everyone else I know) eats food. In fact, he eats a lot of food, especially the bad-for-you kinds they sell around Christmas. So many years we've bought him a pack of nice meats and cheeses. The side benefit: he opens them up immediately and shares with us all. ;-)

• Personalized calendars -- I've talked about my Costco calendars before and EVERYONE (including my dad) loves these. Who doesn't like to see pictures of themselves and their grandkids on a calendar? And again, this gift keeps on giving as it's used throughout the entire year.

• Gift cards -- I may not know what my dad wants for Christmas, but he does (deep down, somewhere he does, I'm sure.) So we often get him a gift card to Home Depot or a similar store. he then gets to putt around the store (his favorite pastime) deciding what he wants to get. He seems to love the hunt as much as the gift itself.

• Audio books -- There's NO WAY I could ever get my dad to read a book. He simply has no interest in books. But he's a trucker and has a lot of time to listen to music and books on CD. So I often pick out a book I think he'll like and get him the audio version of it.

• Picture books -- While he won't read a book, my dad will look at pictures. So I sometimes get him books like "Ali's Greatest Fights in Pictures" or "Super Bowl Champions in Photos" -- you know, those over-sized books with huge pictures (and plenty of them.) He really likes them (as does my son.) ;-)

How about you? What do you get those hard-to-buy-for people in your life?

Comments

[Rick]

I go the route of giving gift cards, usually to somewhere generic like Best Buy, Walmart, or Starbucks.

But I think it's sad we as a society have come to the point where we must give people gifts, or we're thought of as uncaring or even rebellious. I don't know if anyone has read "The Five Love Languages." Some people definitely do accept love as receiving gifts. For these, giving gifts for Christmas, and even year-round, is a good thing, and it's probably even easy to determine what they want. But many other people, myself included, couldn't care less about receiving gifts (Christmas is more than just gimme, gimme, gimme, after all). For these, other love languages, like quality time or physical touch, is more important. But how exactly do you give "quality time" for Christmas, especially without being seen as "being cheap" by others?

This is why I don't like Christmas.

[Hawkmoon Nine]

A couple more: 1) A photo of you (& loved ones) in a nice frame. My wife and I are giving an 8x10 to my grandmother this year because she doesn't want any "stuff" and the picture she has of us is 4+ years old. 2) Movie tickets for the movie lover - although I guess this could fall under the Event Tickets above.

Rick: I would say that it's all in the attitude, give gifts for others that want to receive them, but throw in a "coupon book" that you make up. Fill it with things like spending time together, events, etc (like "1 meal alone together cooked by me" for a significant other). That way when you give them something, it's really for both of you, and something you get to "spend" more than just Christmas morning.

I love Christmas, but I really don't care too much about getting, sure presents are nice and I do enjoy them. Even more though, I love to get other people gifts, spend time at the mall/stores looking around, brainstorming, and just thinking about what my loved ones would like. What they could use, what frivolous thing the might enjoy. Helping them decorate is fun too!

[magazine-lover]

I've been reading several posts about magazine subscriptions as one of the christmas presents. And I love the thought of it. I'm a fond reader of various magazines esp. about fashion.

I think it is also the cheapest gift with the thought of love and apperciation. Btw, I also love to have a personalized calendar... =) nivce list, anyways!