[madhen]

For the past two years, I have been giving my sister and my mother an advent calendar on Thanksgiving, which they return to me at Christmas. It is a good-sized cabinet, with approx 3.5" x 3.5" drawers, one for each day of December.

I am trying to be creative and not stick the same old stuff in this year (i.e, lip balm, soap, and the like), and I try to fill about 4-5 drawers with candies, and another 2-3 drawers with gift cards or money. But that leaves me with about 18 drawers (x2 cabinets) to fill. Last year, I found some really cool things during my work traveling (which I was doing about three weeks a month). But having been in lock down since March and suspecting that I won't be leaving town much between now and December, I am wracking my brain for unique and fun stuff to put in.

Any ideas appreciated!! My sister is in her 60's, but has a son who is in his 30's, and my mother is going to be 90 this year.

 

[Contrary Housewife]

BedBath has those cute little bottles of hand sanitizer. It's the gift of the year.

How about single serving sizes of tea, coffee, hot chocolate, or liquor shots?

You could include a couple well-wrapped home made cookies.

If they garden you could make seed ball for spring.

Do they have pets? Is a cat or dog toy going to be appreciated?

Holiday themed costume jewelry.

votive candles

Candy you already thought of, maybe something special like old fashioned kinds, or home made. Or if they are diabetic, sugar-free candies.

useful items: coin purse, wipes for glasses, batteries, car air freshener, key chain, manicure set, hair ties/clips

 

[marthamfi]

holiday stamps? festive socks?

 

[madhen]

Great ideas! CH, I got credit last year for putting single-serve Wet Ones and personal-sized hand sanitizers in the drawers. Little did I know how useful they would become! I will definitely be doing the same again, but it won't feel nearly as whimsical as it did last year!! My sister has a huge GSD and some parrots, so I will have to think of something small I can fit in a drawer. Maybe some homemade pet treats. Marthamfi, great idea about the stamps! My mother still sends everything "snail mail," so she will appreciate having some! Maybe I can use one of those services that makes stamps out of your photos and put something personal in there! I did socks last year, so great minds....

 

[Contrary Housewife]

Yeah, I got polite but obviously uninterested 'thank you's in the past when I've given hand sanitizer. I don't go anywhere without the stuff.

another one: bag clips

For younger (under 30 folks): ear buds, USB charging cord, thumb drive, fitness tracker bracelet

spotted all these at the drug store.

 

[madhen]

Thanks, CH. I come from a family of couch potatoes, so I don't think a fitness tracker would go over well. My nephew is an electronics junkie and also a fan of Comic-con, but I have struck out when I have tried to find related gifts. Bag clips would be fun, especially if I found some cute ones.

 

[Contrary Housewife]

Oh, for comic geek fun stuff check JA or HL or Michaels, they have these miniature plastic figures in random bags or boxes near the registers. They have all kids for different movies and comic characters.

examples: https://www.amazon.com/Funko-Marvel-Avengers-Infinity-Mystery/dp/B07DCCNHT4

Sometimes book stores have them too, also look for key chains and buttons.

They also do tons of Lego stuff in blind bags, super heroes, movie characters, Star Wars, computer games, Disney, etc. Try Target and Walmart.

If you have GameStop or Vintage Stock in your area, try them. They'll have lots of gifts or you could get a gift card.

 

[rujerro]

Here are some ideas:

1)subscription to: a magazine, coffee club, food service like Hello Fresh or Gobble (for free magazine subscriptions, go to "RewardBee" and do a quick survey and you can get a subscription to choose from and send it to whomever you want. I use them all the time!)

2)wool mittens or hat

3) A small GPS tracker for keys, a purse or the dog! ( I got one for less than $9 on Amazon called "Key finder Smart Tracker")

4) A squishy stress ball

5) If someone uses yarn or does crafts, maybe thread or floss or glitter glue

6) old coins or junk silver coins

7) make-up or earrings

8) pack of writing cards and envelopes? People make them on etsy or ebay.

9) House Cleaning service (molly maid?)

10) Lottery tickets with a cool plastic scratcher (some places give out the scratchers for free)

 

[madhen]

Squishy stress balls are probably in short supply right now!

 

[CPA-Kim]

How about an IOU for a lunch out, in a safe location.

 

[artist]

For the past two years, I have been giving my sister and my mother an advent calendar on Thanksgiving, which they return to me at Christmas. It is a good-sized cabinet, with approx 3.5" x 3.5" drawers, one for each day of December.

I am trying to be creative and not stick the same old stuff in this year (i.e, lip balm, soap, and the like), and I try to fill about 4-5 drawers with candies, and another 2-3 drawers with gift cards or money. But that leaves me with about 18 drawers (x2 cabinets) to fill. Last year, I found some really cool things during my work traveling (which I was doing about three weeks a month). But having been in lock down since March and suspecting that I won't be leaving town much between now and December, I am wracking my brain for unique and fun stuff to put in.

Any ideas appreciated!! My sister is in her 60's, but has a son who is in his 30's, and my mother is going to be 90 this year.

I got one, one year that had different kinds of tea bags behind each door. It was wonderful.

 

[CPA-Kim]

If you want dozens of ideas from people who celebrate Christmas all year long, join this site (My Merry Christmas.) People from all around the world visit and it's very active every day. If you want a free premium membership with all the benefits use this link.

https://mymerrychristmas.com/forum/?referrer=14751

 

[bookwormpeg]

Kim love the Christmas site....thanks for the link....

 

[artist]

Different flavored teas bags

 

[MsMarieH]

I love these cute bags of hot cocoa with Peanuts characters on them. I can get them at my local farm & fleet. The bags are so festive. https://www.amazon.com/Peanuts-Chocolate-Hazelnut-Stocking-Certified/dp/B00PAEB1N6

These are also cute: https://www.amazon.com/Gingerbread-...HEFG/ref=pd_lpo_325_img_0/130-6653617-3086330

Mini peppermint candy canes

What are their hobbies? There are some super cute usb flash drives available on amazon. I got a cute little sewing machine one for my mother in law who is a quilter. Try searching there with "hobby name usb flash drive" and see if something comes up.

Gift cards for things like $5 at starbucks, an ice cream cone, etc.

Shower steamers if they don't take baths

A pair of cute pattern ankle socks

A necklace pendant or cute holiday pin like a reindeer or snowman

Here are some cute squishies: https://www.amazon.com/Nutty-Toys-Squishy-Free-Sticker/dp/B077BJC36S?ref_=ast_slp_dp

A keychain flashlight

Good quality cuticle trimmers or nail clippers

Individual facial masks/scrubs

Novelty character "poop" https://www.amazon.com/Novelty-Char...ords=stocking+stuffers&qid=1600192494&sr=8-54 (you can probably find something similar cheaper at a local Walgreens)

Colorful mini sharpie markers

Some of these little toys are really fun. https://www.amazon.com/Big-Mos-Toys...ords=stocking+stuffers&qid=1600192708&sr=8-56

Sam's Club sells boxes of mini slim jims (short ones)

A mini travel sewing kit for their purse

Microfiber mini cloths for cleaning their cell phone/glasses, especially a nice little kit for eyeglasses.

Mini eyeglass repair kit (the ones with a small magnifying glass, screwdriver and a few tiny screws) that would fit in purse or car glove compartment

 

[madhen]

Love the idea of a keychain flashlight!

 

[CPA-Kim]

I also have two wooden advent calendars to fill, thanks to this thread. The first one is for a 64-year old man and the second one is for a 78-year old woman. They are both active. Here's what I have so far:
gourmet chocolate covered liquors
cat clip that meows
silver lottery scracher
lottery tickets
organic lip balms
face masks
key finder
save the turtles bracelet
Republic of Tea single serves in three flavors
Fit Bit fitness tracker

I figure I'll stock the small drawers with wrapped candy and a lottery scratch off as some of my drawers are small while others are larger. I might have to wrap some of the items separately and just put their number on them because I really don't want to take things out of packages.

Still needed: gift certificates and maybe one or two unique things yet to be found.

 

[madhen]

Nice, Kim!

I give my sister and mother their calendars on Thanksgiving, along with 25 little gift cards, each in an envelope with a number on it. When they open Drawer 1, they open gift card 1, and find a little sentence from me as to why I picked that specific gift, or where I got it, or sometimes just something like "Enjoy!" written on it. They both seem to really like those little cards! I *have* been known to destroy packaging to get an item to fit!

 

[CPA-Kim]

I thought about destroying the packaging. Some things are very OVER packaged.

 

[madhen]

I included some of those little wafers you use to clean out stainless steel water bottles. Since the box was far too big, I removed a "sheet" of the wafers and then just cut the instructions off the back of the box and stuck it in there.