Sometimes, when trying to come up with the perfect gift for someone, it’s best to think outside of the traditional box – rather than a gift for the home, or something to wear, consider consumable gifts – something that your recipient will use (and love) but not take up more space.
Consumable gifts are best for people who are hard to buy for, have everything, live out of town, don’t have a lot of space, or would rather avoid more ‘stuff’.
Below are some ideas for these types of gifts to help you cross off more people from your shopping list!
Empire Theatre Gift Cards
The Empire Theatres holiday duo is back! Buy a $30 gift card and receive $30 worth in coupons for Empire Theatre. Who doesn’t want to go to the movies and get great discounts? I wrote about this great pack last year and I still think it is an easy, but useful gift for a lot of people on our shopping lists!
You can buy three $10 gift cards to qualify for the coupon pack (and then be able to gift the gift cards and keep the coupons yourself!) and if you buy $60 worth of gift cards, you get 2 coupon bundles! They can be bought online or at the theatre.
Homemade gifts
I do this for a few friends each year. Bake your favourite treats and box them up in a pretty package to give away. I’ve been calling mine the ‘holiday sampler’ and include a few bites of each treat for the family. For some who don’t bake themselves, this is a really special gift!
Want to add a little bit of richness to the gift? Try making these chocolate treats for gifting from Simple Bites.
Crafts
Not sure what to get kids who are hard to buy for? How about a package of craft supplies. Go to a craft supply store and put together some of the most common and fun items that will get used: Glue, googly eyes, pipe cleaners, pom poms, construction paper and other items. Put them in a reusable container to make a great, fun, creative gift.
Not crafty, or the parents aren’t craft? I recently was sent a package from Craft Caravan which will send monthly craft projects directly to your home. It came with everything we need (except glue etc) and has a few different crafts, with instructions on how to do them. This is going to be a great project for us in the next few days as the kids are getting impatient waiting for Christmas!
The crafts are seasonal and very creative. PLUS it has the bonus of being mailed – and what child doesn’t love getting mail?
Museum passes
A great way to encourage people to be tourists in their own town, or for friends/family that have just recently moved to town, museum passes are well loved and affordable.
In Ottawa, check out the museum passes from the Canada Science and Technology Museums Corporation (which include the Agriculture Museum, Science and Technology Museum and Aviation Museum), the Museum of Nature, the National Gallery of Canada, and the Museum of Civilization (which could include the War Museum).
Donations
Gifts that are meaningful capture the true holiday spirit and don’t have to break the bank. A few ideas:
World Wildlife Fund Adopt an Animal
Happy Gift Giving!
Disclosure – I am participating in the Empire Theatre Gift Card Holiday Campaign by Mom Central Canada. I received compensation for my participation in this campaign. The opinions on this blog are my own. The Museum of Civilization is a blog advertiser but I think museum gift cards are a great gift and have given them in the past (and this year!). I am voluntarily promoting the charities mentioned above.