Mass Gift Ideas

[ghost_warlock]

So, I have a holiday party to attend this upcoming Friday (the 26th). During this party, my extended family (grandparents, aunts & uncles, cousins, etc.) will be doing a gift exchange based on a name-drawing we did back on Thanksgiving. I'm sure many of you know the drill... :smallwink:

Anyway, when I did the name drawing on Thanksgiving, I drew my own name. Being the bastard I am, I didn't tell anyone as they would've made me re-draw, which I didn't want to do because, frankly, I don't really want to participate in the whole ordeal (I have my reasons).

However, now I'm stuck with being the only person there who isn't shelling out cash for a gift the person who receives it probably isn't going to want and will liklely complain about. I am sure to be harrassed about this when my family members find out I've pulled a fast one on them.

The solution I've devised is to just buy everyone a gift. This works out to 20 gifts, I think, if I exclude myself. Because of the circumstances, it'd work out best for me if I don't spend too much time individualizing the gifts (like I said, they're probably just going to complain about whatever I get them anyway).

So, my clever Playground co-conspirators, what should I buy these people? Ideally, whatever it is will work out to ~$5 or less, U.S., apiece. I do plan on spending the time to individually wrap and label the gifts.

[Seffbasilisk]

Last time I did a Mass Gift, I picked up two baking trays and the materials, and just made batches of cookies for everyone.

No one dislikes cookies.

[Mauve Shirt]

It's hard to go wrong with baked goods. Or candies, peppermint bark is pretty easy to make.

[ghost_warlock]

The only issue I have with baked goods and the like is that we're going to be having a Xmas lunch/dinner with excess desserts and such anyway. There won't really be anything to set apart the batches of cookies or whatnot I'd be bringing from the cakes, pies, jello, and the like everyone will already be bringing.

[Mauve Shirt]

Hm... You could make a Christmas ornament for everyone. Using this picture. (http://i461.photobucket.com/albums/qq339/ghost_warlock/katarkukri.jpg) :smallbiggrin:

[Serpentine]

I knew I'd forget a heap of people for Christmas, so I just bought a bunch of big twisty lollipops...

[Hazkali]

I second the above suggestions of sweets, biscuits or cookies. Scrub a load of jam jars (or other glass jars of similar sizes), make some fancy labels using whatever skills/equipment you have acess to, and then fill them with some sort of confectionery or baked goodness.

Because they're in their own containers, they're less likely to be eaten on the day, and more likely to be saved for a time when they'll be a bit more appreciated, and if the jars have been decorated nicely then they'll be useful long after the inner goodness has been consumed.

[thubby]

you realize you are going to end up spending more on the mass gift than you would have on the 1 persons gift card.

[Serpentine]

The lollypops I got were $1.50 each. The really big round ones could be $3 or $4. Still less than $5 per person.

[dish]

I also approve of the home-made confectionary in nicely decorated jars idea.
However, if you still feel that is inappropriate, then here are some non-edible ideas.

Really cheap: buy a huge box of glow sticks. Divide them up so everybody gets 10 or 15, wrap them up, give them out. Providing the gift-giving is in the evening, and everyone has partaken of some Christmas cheer, then they should be well received.
Slightly more expensive: cheap cap guns / potato guns (though I wouldn't go for water pistols - not at Christmas). This only works if it is adults-only and there are no young children to get in the way, but if you have a group of inebriated adults with some toy guns, you can have lots of fun. (We had a competition to shoot out the fairy lights on the Christmas tree once.)

[thubby]

The lollypops I got were $1.50 each. The really big round ones could be $3 or $4. Still less than $5 per person.

for 20 people...

[EmeraldRose]

Though it's been said, my mass gift has always been cookies. Get the pre-cut type you just have to break individual cookies off of to bake. You'll spend maybe $10-$15 on enough for 20 people, then some cute gift bags to put them in.

Or you could just go to the Dollar Store (http://www.dollartree.com/) (or your local version) and get a bunch of cheap Christmas type statues or ornaments or stuff. I've done that before too...

[Serpentine]

for 20 people...Ghost Warlock said less than $5 would be fine. For 20 people, that'd come out as $100. The specific lollipops I bought would come out as a total of $30.

Dish: I like the idea of something everyone can use on the day. If 'tweren't for the whole northern hemisphere "Winter Christmas :smallyuk:" thing, I'd suggest a few bags of waterbombs. Maybe a whole lot of sticky toys, the hands and darts and crawling frogs and that sort of thing? Face paints? Balloon animal balloons? Clay? I was pretty broke last Christmas, so I just took a big lump of air drying clay to the family gathering. Worked pretty well.

[thubby]

Ghost Warlock said less than $5 would be fine. For 20 people, that'd come out as $100. The specific lollipops I bought would come out as a total of $30.

i was thinking more compared to what he would have spent on just 1 person. as in, $25 can buy some nice stuff for 1 person. and god knows the last time i got a $100 gift from anyone that wasn't my parents.

[OzRic_The_Unhinged]

Why buy gifts for them at all ? Say you drew your name out of the hat so decided to give a gift a bit differently this year and it wouldn't have offended anyone this wasy and you gave $25 to Oxfam or another needy charity.
Better than buying for food 'cos we all eat too much anyway at Christmas.

Next year suggest that everyone does that and put together a collection of stuff to send to a charity... like sending toys to a childrens orphanage or kids in Africa...

[UnrulyPoets]

I like a variant on the jarred baked goods idea, but it doesn't necessarily need to be BAKED goods... do cookie ingredients, and print out on the computer a cute Christmas-y label that has directions to turn the cookie mixture into cookies by adding oil and eggs and the like. My sister did this last Christmas, and it was great in September when I was craving cookies, but feeling lazy!

Suggestions on how to make them here (http://familycrafts.about.com/cs/giftsinajar/a/122099a.htm)

Good luck!

(Edit: Holy grammar check!)

[Isle]

Pens, chopsticks, candles, luck charms, little pieces of (hand)soap, shaped like various animals, stars, or something like that. None of them are expensive, if you know where to buy it.

[ghost_warlock]

Hmmm... I'm really liking some of the ideas you've all come up with so far. :smallsmile: Keep 'em coming, though! :smallcool:

For the record, it was supposed to be a ~$15 exchange. Since I have some disposable income this year (somehow :smallconfused:) I can easily afford to drop $100 give-or-take for the sake of the shenanigans. :smallbiggrin:

[SilentNight]

Martinelli's cider, extremely cheap but still slightly fancy. And seriously, who doesn't like cider?

[Alarra]

I got practically everyone on my list a blanket, they were $1.99 at mernards and very cute and patterned and stuff.

[Tirian]

I like the idea of a charitable donation in the family's name, because it keeps to the spirit of the budget ceiling, which (at least in my family) is sacred.

Another option, depending on where you live, would be buying a $1 scratch-off lottery ticket for everyone. I'm not a fan of lotteries on most days, but it's really entertaining when everyone in the room is playing and you know that there will be several winners in a medium-sized crowd.

[BizzaroStormy]

hmm...a gift that can be appreciated by all? I got it!

One, cut a hole in a box. Two, put *gets hit in head with shoe* Ow...fine fine.

Scratch off tickets seem to be a pretty good idea.

[Boo]

Buy everyone an umbrella. Everyone loves umbrellas! ...right?

[Mauve Shirt]

My aunt got everyone scratch-offs for everyone one year. I won $4!

[paddyfool]

Another option, depending on where you live, would be buying a $1 scratch-off lottery ticket for everyone. I'm not a fan of lotteries on most days, but it's really entertaining when everyone in the room is playing and you know that there will be several winners in a medium-sized crowd.

I did this once, but I made a mistake in going for the high stakes, low probability of winning option. Better to go for the reverse, ie cards that give out lots of small prizes and a very small chance of a big one. Of course, someone in your family may be very much against gambling. If so, maybe go for the charitable donation to avoid ye olde yuletide family bust-up.

[_Zoot_]

The Donation idea is the a good one,

1 it means that some of less fortunate gets something

2 It is easy to keep a price limit on.

3 You feel good about your self after wards.
Well, you might, i always feel like a fool that just gave away money but you know.....

[ghost_warlock]

Update

Okay, so I'm a bit of an impulsive person sometimes so after reading the replies to this thread last night I went to the local Wal*Mart (I was going there anyway) and took care of things.

And the 'winner' is.....

Alarra :elan: Wooo!

Well, and Isle, too, really. :smallsmile:

This is what I ended up getting:

For my grandparents, who are leaving for Texas on...Sunday(?)...I got a $20 gift card, figuring that the best gift for them is one they can use whether they're still here in Iowa, on the road, or down where they're going. :smallsmile:
For my cousin's 5-year-old daughter, I got a purple plastic recorder (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Recorder):smallamused:, a can of purple silly-string, a ~6" plastic dinosaur, and a ~6" plastic tiger.
For everyone else, I got fleece throw blankets.
It dipped down to -31oF the other day here (with windchill) and winter's just begun... :smalleek:

[SilentNight]

hmm...a gift that can be appreciated by all? I got it!

One, cut a hole in a box. Two, put *gets hit in head with shoe* Ow...fine fine.

Scratch off tickets seem to be a pretty good idea.

NO! Bad PirateJesus!

[Mauve Shirt]

For my cousin's 5-year-old daughter, I got a purple plastic recorder (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Recorder):smallamused:

Not a fan of your cousin? :smallamused: He will not come out of that sane.

[ghost_warlock]

Not a fan of your cousin? :smallamused: He will not come out of that sane.

He only has her every other weekend. A few hours after the party it'll be the mother's problem. :smallamused:

[silent shade]

Well, now it's probably too late, but
-why don't you just buy yourself a nice present and keep it all secret. As long as everybody get's a present nobody will suspect anything and if somebody asks you - just refuse to tell who you drew.

[Felixaar]

Fake your death, move to a new country and get a new family.

[ghost_warlock]

Well, now it's probably too late, but
-why don't you just buy yourself a nice present and keep it all secret. As long as everybody get's a present nobody will suspect anything and if somebody asks you - just refuse to tell who you drew.

Because doing that would not be subverting their expectations of me. They never expected me to refuse buying myself something and, instead, getting everyone else at the party something. :smallwink:

Of course, now they're going to watch me closer next year when we do the name-drawing to prevent me from pulling these shenanigans again. Or so they think... :smallamused:

Oh, and the gifts ended up being a pretty big hit. My grandparents will definitly use their gift card when they're down in Texas on vacation, my cousin's daughter loved the recorder (as did a couple other family members in attendence), and the throws were well-liked by all. A couple people ended up wrapping up in the blankets and falling asleep during a lull in the festivities after dinner. :smallbiggrin: