Unique gifts for Christmas (or whatever you celebrate)!

If you’re like me, buying gifts can be great or torturous. Great if it’s for my mum — she likes everything from earrings to bath salts to wacky dishtowels. Torturous if it’s for my husband — he likes expensive watches that I can’t afford! So, I decided to put together a list of unconventional gift ideas. Feel free to add your own in the comments section!

For parents of young children

• membership to the local children’s museum, zoo, or science center (check to see if they have reciprocal agreements, where one membership can get you in for free or half price to other museums)
• yoga classes to exercise and de-stress!
• for new dads, a subscription to The Rad Dad Box (started about two years ago by my friend Michelle and her husband after they had a baby) 
• specialty magazine subscription about something they love but wouldn’t spend money on (exotic cars, cottage living, teapot collecting, dollhouse furniture, miniature railroads, model planes, book reviews…)

For all grown-ups

• creative writing lessons (a very good online course for beginners is www.writingclasses.co.uk)  
• membership to a local museum, especially if membership includes free tickets to events at the museum (such as movies, music shows, and special exhibitions)
• beer or wine or spirits made locally
• concert tickets for a group they love but haven’t seen for years (one year, I got my dad tickets to The Moody Blues, one of his all-time favorite groups)
• car wash/detailing coupons (okay, kind of boring, but my husband likes this)
• gifts from stores that support good causes, such as Kiva’s store, Ten Thousand Villages, and more listed on this site
• something handmade and unique on etsy.com

For kids

• a tent for camping in the back yard or in the living room (I’ve heard that Ace Hardware has affordable, easy-to-put-up ones!)
• magazine subscription (some good ones are Ranger Rick, Highlights, Muse, OWL, Dig, chickaDee, and Upfront)
• subscription to pixton.com, where they can make their own comic strips

Gift suggestions from my kids  

• unlimited amounts of toys and candy
• a toy train
• a “secret box with a password to get in”
• a “kit to make Barbie doll clothes”
• kits to make monster trucks and race cars
• a science kit “to make potions” and “experiments” and volcanos
• a pretend dentist kit for kids “to fix someone’s teeth”