Christmas List Carnival: Ideas for What to Get Those Hard to Buy for People

So...some ideas of unique gifts....

1. Probably the most unusual gift I have ever given was a dreadlocks wig to my 60 year old father. For his 60th birthday I wanted to purchase him the latest Willie Nelson CD. When I went looking, I discovered it was a reggae CD, instead of his normal country music. Then my husband had the fun idea to get my dad some dreadlocks. I have to tell you it was the hit of the party! My dad also got his motorcycle license that year and he said he was going to wear it under his helmet, but I don't think he ever did.

2. A Bag of gifts.... on several occasions, I have put together a bag of gifts. For a new mother, I bought a diaper bag and filled it with things like rattles, desitin, and the like. For my best friend's 40th birthday, I gave her a bag of goodies and the reasons for them (things like chocolate, a devotional book, a pair of gardening gloves). She got a kick out of that and enjoyed the effort I put in.

3. Old time radio shows on CD. We love listening to audio stories in the car because we travel a lot. A couple of years ago, I went to ebay and bought several classics, but the biggest hit was a radio show called "Cinnamon Bear". We all really enjoyed it and even though my son is ten, we are listening to it again this week. And check out this guys store, he has lots of classics available.

4. My mother is always saying not to get her anything and quite frankly, there isn't anything she really needs. So last Christmas we took the money budgeted for them and we gave 1/2 of it to a church Christmas prison ministry, and we sent the other 1/2 to an overseas orphanage. Then we told Mom and Jim that we had done these things in their name and it was our Christmas gift to them. They were tickled over the whole idea. So pick a charity and make a donation in the name of someone this holiday season. Two people benefit that way.

5. My mother-in-law has two things that she likes me to get her. Tea towels...she loves tea towels and it is neat to her to get ones someone else has picked out. If you think about it, that is one of those items we will use until they are rags, and getting new ones is a nice pick me up that we can enjoy regularly. She and Johnny also love McDonald's gift certificates. They are doing okay in their retirement, but they stil enjoy the fact that they get to go out and get a free treat at McDonald's, then they can use their other money for other things they want or need.

6. Last year we sent my son and his roommate a huge basket of stuff from Harry and David. It was something they would never have bought for themselves, but they enjoyed having the unusual goodies and they could share them with friends (though I am not sure they did).

7. One Christmas I gave my husband a gift certificate towards flying lessons. He had always wanted to fly, and this began his training.

8. One of my most cherished gifts from my husband was when he bought me the complete collection of Six Million Dollar Man and Bionic Woman shows and movies. They were my heros when I was a child and he actually had to get this on eBay from out of country. You cannot buy them in America because reproduction rights were never given here. So see if you can find an old cherished tv show for your loved one.

Go share your unique gift ideas with Rocks in My Dryer readers!