Christmas Gift Ideas for Family of Five

I don't know which state they live in but something I did for a family of fice in the Chicagoland area is to buy them a gift certificate for Medieval Times, which covered their basic dinner/show fee for all five. If they wanted to upgrade then that was up to them. Something that I have asked for my family is a year's membership to various museums. That is a gift which we use all year long. We can go as a family or more often than not, without my husband. We always have fun when we go and we get to see different exhibits and museums are great for all ages. Alternatively, if you know that they are saving up to buy a large ticket item, you can buy one gift card for the whole family from the particular store they plan on buying that big ticket item and that will definitely help to offset their costs. Hope some of this helped.

How about a gift card to a portrait studio. The whole family can get a nice picture done! That way you don't have to pay to ship a gift, and it's a unique idea!

I bought family friends a kit to make a snow man once and they loved it. I can't remember if it was lillian vernon catelog(sp?). It had plastic coal eyes and buttons, carrot nose, hat etc. We also buy board games for families. We buy a gift card to a rental movie place (netflicks is an awesome gift for a few months), movie candy (like those big boxes of dots and junior mints, milk duds) or we'd buy them the newest family movies. Including popcorn from popcorn company sometimes.

Board games are always a hit! Cranium, Apples to Apples, Scattergories, Pictionary.

Or maybe some DVDS, bags of popcorn, candy, etc so they can have a family movie night.

If your friends are originally from here, then maybe some food item from here (like Portillo's, Fannie May, Lou Malnati's pizza -- I know they all ship out of state). Otherwise google their address and find businesses near them that are national chains (like Blockbuster or whatever) for gift cards you can buy here and ship. My brother lives in AZ and I live here in Chicagoland, but we are originally from Pennsylvania so every year I send him something from Hershey.com (usually his childhood favorite -- chocolate covered pretzels). If you can think of anything like that with some personal signifigance to your friends, I'm sure it would be appreciated.

Maybe a new camera? Or a membership to a children's museum or a zoo.

hi D.,

We have lots of nieces/nephews out of state and what we do is decide how much we are going to spend altogether, divide that by number of nices/nephews and then send each a money order in a nice Christmas Card. They seem to enjoy receiving it, and it really makes things much simpler. We stopped buying for other adults a few years ago (except our parents) - and asked them to stop buying for us as well and they now only buy for our kids; we think Christmas gifts should be for the kids (just what we do, maybe it's helpful for you)

cheers,

W.

Craft type kits. Like all the dry cooky ingredients put together in a jar..with instuctions about how to finish them.

Or ornament materials for their tree..

Maybe gardening supplies they can begin thier garden before the weather breaks..

Stuff and make your own Doll kits.

When I was a child (1 of 6) we had blocks..similar to Legos.. that we were allowed to pour out on the floor occasionaly and build with together, Although when fights started over prize peices..the blocks were put away.

Send plaster or better yet finger paint, paper and frames to create paintings of thier own.. and let them know you want pictures of the finished products.

Easy to make bird feeders with a book to identify the birds they attract.

There's a few for you.. hope it helps.

Check to see if they have a blockbuster and a pizza hut near them and send them a gift card to both so they can have a family movie night. If they don't have a blockbuster, buy a board game and the pizza hut card and they can have a family game night. If they don't have a pizza hut (or other national chain) send a box of snacks and the board game to create their own game night or movie night. Be creative and have fun with it!

S.

Maybe movie passes, or tickets to the theater for a "family-friendly" play with dinner out. without really knowing how much you spend, it is difficult to recommend something. Maybe an overnight at a hotel near you so they could come to visit!