Post Punk Kitchen Forum

Brother: I also got him a nice young man shirt (so he can meet some cuties)
Dad: Assorted beer glasses, a book about beer
Mom: Pajamas, a book about mid-century modern homes
Boyfriend: Clothes, coffee candies
Cats: TO BE DETERMINED

The collective list of gifts we are giving: Ticket to Ride (board game), set of teeny-tiny kitchen prep bowls, a candle holder that you can stick into a wine bottle, a blanket, a pair of pajamas, Jared Diamond's newest book (pre-ordered), a dvd of Blazing Saddles, and Season 3 of Downton Abbey, also pre-ordered.

Creature Comforts in Nerdville is the theme.

Oh GOD, Bathsheba, YOU REMINDED ME! I CAN'T FORGET THE CATS!

We're getting presents for our dogs today! We're thinking we'll get one of those toys that you put treats in, and that hang on elastic and you hang them from a tree or something. We have bouncy dogs, which we probably shouldn't encourage, but they'll love it.

Also my aunt, uncle and cousin are here from Germany for Christmas! We're thinking we'll get them a huge box filled with a heap of single bottles of different Australian beers. We did this for my dad once for Fathers Day (only with international beers) and he loved it.

I am poor as fork currently, so the only person I bought a gift for is my mom. I got her a pelican made out of wrought iron and a big rock. Sounds kind of weird, but she is big into landscaping and decorating the yard, and she loves animals made out of rocks, iron, and other various things. For everyone else, I'm just baking.

Gah. I go through this every year. My dad's birthday is a few days after Christmas, and I can't figure out what to get him for either one! I'll probably go to Kohl's and look at all the generic man things, but if that doesn't work out, I might donate in his name to charity (which charity?), or combine both gifts and get him a gift certificate to a restaurant he and my mom likes.

Also:
Mom: Alton Brown book
Sister: a bunch of earrings in a nice jewelry box
Grandmother: a necklace made of sea shells I picked up when I was at the shore this summer- she LOVES the beach
BFF: lgbtq pride bracelet and an elephant ornament
other BFF: something Hello Kitty related, most likely
other other BFF: I . . . don't . . . know?

I was going to make cookies for non-immediate family, but it occurred to me that I'm crazy busy every day up until the day I would have to give them the cookies. WHAT TO DOOO? I even bought these cute little Chinese take-out boxes with Christmas print all over them to put the cookies in.

Will you be throwing a party to drink it all afterwards? It might be hard for them to take it home. ;)

All my gifts were donations this year. I researched charities and tried to think of good matches for my various loved ones. I ended up donating to:

Reach Out and Read
KaBOOM
Little Kids Rock
Crisiscenter.org
Ronald McDonald House
Child's Play
St Judes
Vested Interests
Special Operations Warrior Fund
Best Friends

So, all of the grown ups (in-laws, parents, etc.) are getting gift baskets with homemade jars of jam, pickles, etc. I think I'm going to make Carribean Vegan's rum cake recipe into mini bundts and pack that in there too, along with some more of 500 Vegan Recipes' spicy pepita brittle.

In addition to that:
Father in law: Elephant tea pot and elephant book-ends that were supposed to be wedding gifts for him last month, but his fiancee dumped him a few days before their wedding. Ouch!
Mom: pretty gemstone necklace that I bought a few months ago
Dad: lithium ion battery powered tools that he wanted... it's a group gift from all of our immediate family. We're also collectively giving him a new briefcase, but I didn't pick that out.
Brother #1: Video game... not sure which one, but he told my mom that it was a download from Steam so I'm not too worried about it
Brother #2: Case for his Google Nexus. Probably also some jam and pickled jalapenos.
Partner: Not telling! I think sometimes he lurks on here and I don't want to give away any of the surprises! Let's just say that it's an assortment of cool things that I think he'd like since he usually complains that I just buy him boring stuff like clothes. I got him things that are manly and involve fire, things that appeal to his domesticity, and something that is a novelty but also useful.

Edited: Oh, and our med school also participates in a gift program for the children's homes in the area where we each sign up for a kid, so I bought gifts for one of the teenage girls there. I got her a cute outfit, some fuzzy slipper socks, a super soft fleece jacket and some fun nail polish and nail care stuff.

It'll just be a standard evening for them! Our family Christmases are not a terribly civilised affair.

I got that person that I don't like a small gift set of coffees for their birthday and a $25 gift card for gas for xmas. Do I sound too cheap?

I got my poppy a giant thing of peanuts, my friend a Brita water pitcher, and that's all the shopping I've done so far. I'm doing more shopping on my lunch break tomorrow but 90% of the gifts I'm buying are for animals.

Husband: a book that seemed fun, 100 doses of polio vaccine for kids, and I'm thinking of some nice beer, probably buying that tomorrow.
Nephew, 11: Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban.
Nephew, 9: Lego
Nephew, 1: a bouncy ball that is filled with water and glitter, and a snowglobe.
Niece, 13 and niece, 10: gift sets from The Body Shop.
Nephew, 6: Lego.
Niece, 5: a sewing kit for kids.
Nephew, 4: a dart board with velcro balls.
Nephew, 1 month: cute sheets that I hope will be warm and cosy for winter since they're made from jersey.

I'm so glad we're not doing gifts for the adults. I won't be on Christmas Eve when I don't get any presents, but right now I am :D

It's a great gift! Anyone would be thrilled to get this!

We're overly generous and have a big family & lots of friends we buy for--I won't list everything--but the most exciting gifts we're giving are:

Mom/stepdad & sister (are getting the same thing). They're starting Eat 2 Live on Jan 1; so I bought them each a (different) cookbook & tons of spices & other fun stuff to start them on their journey. I also printed out the 6-week plan & maintenance plan on one page to put in the front of a binder, which has printouts of some of my favorite online recipes (with references, so they can find the websites).

BFF--I'm registering us both for our first half marathon! She's been nagging me to do one for about 3 years. 13 in '13!

nephew #1--science experiments. My sister is too, too excited to help him with these. :) He's also getting a Darth Vader sweatshirt with the eye-piece. My husband is jealous, but doesn't know that I found a classic blue Batman sweatshirt for him!

I am giving my brother a dummy artillery round. It's about three feet long and weighs a good 60 pounds.

Also a bottle of bourbon.

I did all my shopping for him at the pawn shop and the liquor store. We are all class round these parts.