I'm supposed to send some friends a "family" present. A gift for the whole family for under $20. Any ideas? There are 5 in the family, mom, dad, and 3 kids 5-9.
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For the family gift, what I did one year was to buy a big bowl and some microwave popcorn and arranged the popcorn packets in the bowl. Then I went to Wal-mart where they have lots of videos for $10 or less and bought one that I thought the family would like. I put the video in the middle of the bowl and covered everything with cellophane. This provided the family with a movie to watch together and a snack to enjoy while watching.
Karen, B., Joyce, Janet, Michelle
Last year, I got some baskets from the thrift store and spray painted them red. I, then got some candy from the $.99 store ( 3 for .99 some 4 for .99 - licorice 2 for .99), I put canned soda (you could put a 2 liter with the type of cups you get at the theater), a couple of bags of microwave popcorn, and a movie for the family. To keep the cost down, how about a gift certificate for a local movie rental. If you use the coupon for the movie, you could almost put in a coupon for a cheese pizza.
See if any of the local schools have a community card that gives discounts to local merchants. Many do around here and you could include that in the basket - ours has a buy one get one free for pizza. Our cards are good for all year with only one use per offer per day. So you not only help the local schools, you are giving a gift for the whole year. Ours are about the size of a credit card.
Connie
My first choice would be a family board game. I would get one that the 5 and 9 year old could play and the 3 year old could join in at a later time. You also could get something for the computer (if they have one) such as a novelty mouse cover or pad. How about a gift certificate at a local photographer to have a family portrait made?
C. and Bernadette
How about a board game for that age group? I know our family likes to play some of these games! For example: Tri-bond for kids, Guesstures, or Trivial Pursuit for Kids.
Lisa
Having a family with 3 children, I speak from experience-McDonalds gift certificates would stretch the farthest or from somewhere like O'Charleys where the children would eat for free.
Janet in KY
One idea that my sister-in-law has done for our family in the past is give the gift of a puzzle or two. Try to focus on the family's interests, hobbies or vacation dreams. It's a lot of fun to do as a family when all of the packages are opened and the toys get boring. We love to get some snacks and put the puzzle together in the evenings during the kid's Christmas break from school. It is even easy to recycle! They can then pass it on to another family!
Di - Cutlerville MI
gift baskets really are great, Wal-Mart gift cards, how about babysitting the kids and sending mom and dad out with a $20 certificate? if you are creative/artistic, candy bouquets make your money go really far.(tissue-$1,mugs- $1 or 55 cents at Wal-Mart on the dish aisle, floral foam- $1, 5 packages of 10 mini candy bars-$1 each, toothpicks-$1, tape--$1, shiny curly ribbon- $0.33, pack of lollipops-dumdums-$1) you can make 4-- 1 for mom and dad and one for each kid for about $14. people love them!!!(
Perhaps a movie rental store gift card. Also put together a box or large gift bag of edible items....cookies, crackers, snacks, microwave popcorn, just anything that they can all enjoy eating. Perhaps items they wouldn't ordinarily splurge on.
The best thing for the whole family would be a day trip somewhere. Hire out a big family car so everybody
can sit together, so they can laugh and talk of past times! It's not so expensive to hire a car for the day. It's a great way to get everybody together!
games and puzzles make a great "family"gift. If your not sure which ones they have or have to ship these gifts a gift certificate to their local book store could be fun. Another idea is to buy a membership/gift certificate(depending on prices) to the local zoo, childrens museum, etc.
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