Gifts for Those Who Have It ALL

OK So I am trying to help my mom with a birthday gift shopping. The challenge is: The pre-teen birthday girl comes from a well off family and she tends to get really nice and lots of gifts from family. 

What is your solution for shopping trips like this? I have the same problem for a few people who tend to buy what they want or need when they want or need it.... can you say PAIN IN THE BUTT to shop for?

Anyway this was a couple ideas I found for my mom and her pre-teen gift:

* Nail Polish

* Toe Separator

* Polish Remover

* Nail Gems/ Stickers

* Lotion 

* Journal

* Gel Pens/ Color Pens

* Cute Socks/ Flip Flops

* Round Beach Towel

* Hair Ties/ Head Bands

I told her to skip the makeup because you never know what another mom wants her child to wear or if she is ready for her daughter to be seen out and about with it on. Leave that one to mom, After all that's how she was with my 2 sisters and I. 

Another hard person I have to shop for several times a year are my in-laws. What ever we get we have to ship or have delivered to them. I am a crafter and love to make things personalized so having to buy it off Amazon and then ship it is hard for me, Although Nate Loves it because it costs WAY LESS. So how do we shop to fit them? 

We try to shop their interests, for my father in law he loves Harry Potter so we have bought HP Swag. The kids call him PAPA so we have done the PAPA Bear Shirts. My Mother in Law loves the Beach and anything relating to it so we have made a beach themed wreath. She also loves photos of the grand kids around so she now has several photo holders she can change the prints out of. 

My parents have a lot of remodel work at their home so we try to find something they need for a project they are working on or something to go with the project. We've gotten tools, supplies, kitchen items (several got lost in a move). 

So to recap Shop the persons:

* Age (check with Mom and Dad for littles)

* Interests/ Hobbies

* Nick Names

* Photos

*Projects 

* Things They Lost

When all the above fail and you can't think of anything unique buy a visa gift card or a card to their favorite store, gaming system or movie theater and put it into some kind of fun packaging.  

What are your tips and tricks for shopping for your difficult people?

Cards and Gifts Prep for the Month

GIVE THIS A TRY:

OK with the Summers being a crazy time for us I try to pre-prep as much as possible the rest of the year I will do this one month at a time. Now I am talking about birthday, anniversary, graduation, housewarming, baby/bridal showers ect. I then place everything in one place where we can grab and go. No last minute scramble to buy a gift or bag, no rush to find a card. Some of my tips are posted below. 

1.) Buy cards in bulk and at Dollar Tree

We buy our cards at Dollar Tree. I know cheap. But they have a lot of cute ones and I would rather take the extra $2-5 I would have spent on a card on the gift. When I buy cards I will take a list of who/what I need. This last trip was for May, June and July because of the baby coming so I had 15 Birthday cards (a mix of ages for kids and adults), 2 bridal showers, 1 wedding, fathers day, 10 graduations and 1 housewarming. 

I take the cards once they are sealed and write the persons name on it. On the back I will write the date, time and location of the event. This is such a nice hack to have so you are not digging looking for the invite for a party to find the address. 

I keep our invites taped in my planner on the week of the event  for family history but so having written if Nate drops the kids off or goes without me he doesn't have to take it out

2.) Find a gift that can fit in the envelope or slip both into a cute bag and tie it. 

For graduations I typically give a nice journal to the graduate to have to record their new adventure. Sometimes I will tuck in some cash or a gift card for them. For our Nieces and Nephews we have been just doing cards for birthdays so we add in some fun stickers or activity pages for them the play with. 

3.) Keep a Stash

 Keep a stash of kids gifts on hand for your kids to "shop from" without the stress of the store and having to argue over prices. This is a newer one we have been using. With B (our 7 year old) he loves to shop and has good taste on what his friends and family would want but he usually will go for things outside our budget. When we go to the store we will tell him you have x amount to buy a gift. He then takes FOREVER to shop. So we have the mommy store now that he can pick from. I will pick up things on sale, dollar store, yard sales ect that I can store in our tote. Our younger 2 love this too because they get to pick a gift and help wrap it. When you keep your eyes open you can finds some great deals on gifts. NOTE: Make sure you set a limit and are aware of what you already have tucked away. Also LIMIT the space you are allowed to use. We have 1 tote. That tote holds our birthday favors, gifts and a handful of knit hats (we give these away at the holidays) 

4.) Keep Gifts in One Place

 Finally any gifts we are giving to anyone or that come in for us go here till the day needed. That way those gifts are where we need them when we need them. We stack our kids gifts here for their birthdays as packages come in the mail. They love opening up the mail and boxes so this is one way we can let them know that they couldn't open it because it was for their birthday. Not to mention it creates a lot of anticipation for opening gifts time.