When you hit a certain age and a certain income level, gift-giving becomes hard. There is probably someone in your life like this – they want for nothing, or the thing they want most cannot be bought.
So I offer you this list of gifts for the person who wants for nothing.
1. For the animal lover – a donation to Best Friends Animal Society. 
Best Friends is an amazing organization – they have an enormous sanctuary in Kanab, Utah for special needs and abandoned animals, but they also do national and international work and rescue. When you make a donation, you get a subscription to their magazine, which has phenomenal stories about the work they do and the animals they love.
2. For the passionate activist – a donation to the cause that will mean the most to them. Because my mother is a breast cancer survivor, I’m a fan of Susan G. Komen for the Cure, but there’s likely an organization doing work they care about that would appreciate a donation. Often they will offer printable cards telling of your donation.
3. For the person who has to have something to open – A PostSecret book. Frank Warren’s project where people send in their secrets on postcards has been going strong since 2004. You can read new secrets each Sunday, and he collects them in books. A portion of the proceeds go to the anti-suicide organization, Hopeline/Kristin Brooks Hope Center. There are four books available. The secrets were even featured in the video for All American Rejects’ “Dirty Little Secret.”
4. For the global thinker – A gift of livestock or training from Heifer International. “Heifer’s mission is to work with communities to end hunger and poverty and care for the earth.” They give gifts of livestock and training to families to help them become self-sufficient, so you can give someone a flock of chicks, or a tree, or a goat (or even a share of a goat!). Because how many people can say they got a water buffalo for Christmas?
That’s my go-to list of gifts when the person I’m giving to doesn’t need another Snuggie.
What do you give to the person who has everything?
Yummy food gifts – books – books – books!
I have to avoid the food gifts – when I was teaching, we were absolutely inundated with food around this time of year. The Godiva I could freeze, but the homemade goodies were too good to pass up!
And yes, I agree with the books, of course!
I love Heifer International. Have given a whole menagerie over the years. In England they used to have Book Tokens, which were like cash but you could only buy books with them (obviously enough, I suppose.) Don’t know if they still do those, but they were always well-received. NOBODY can have too many books, right?
Heifer International is awesome. I love to give people a flock of ducks. I’m sorry, is there a better present than that?
Are book gift cards not the same thing? My parents have hit the point where I don’t like to give them books anymore because they are trying to downsize. They’re hard to shop for.
Great, great, great ideas!
I usually also go with books for the person with everything — search hard enough and you’ll find the perfect thing.
Have you ever done the Komen 3-day walk for the cure? It’s on my list — such a worthy cause, and it sounds like an amazing experience.
I would LOVE to do the 3-day, but I’m not in good enough shape. It’s one of the many athletic fantasies I have. I content myself with walking the 5Ks. Very slowly. 🙂
My publisher, Skyhorse, specializes in non-fic and I have found great books on just about ANY topic I need from them. It’s nice to support the people who’ve supported me, find a great gift and sometimes even get a signed copy!
This is funny – I just ran into another Skyhorse title and I was like, “Hey! I know them!” Good to support them.
I’ve been in the “please don’t buy is any gifts” camp for several years now, and always plead with loved ones to just donate to charity. What they seem to hear is “donate to charity AND get us gifts.” Drives me bonkers. But I love it when people support my local charities, like my town’s humane society and food bank.
Tawna
Yeah, there is something people have about giving a gift that can be opened. And I will admit it’s nice to have things under the tree. But it also makes me tremendously happy when someone gives a gift to a cause I really care about – don’t know how to make people understand that.
I like to give Time — a special day with just the two of us.
Good one! I have a friend who always gives an experience to her sister as a gift – a spa gift certificate, tickets to a show, something so they’ll be able to spend time together. It’s a lovely idea.
One of the best gifts I ever got was a donation to charity to restore sight to an impoverished person with cataracts in a third-world country. I’ve forgotten many gifts in my past, but I’ll always remember that one.
That is a great idea! Reminds me of Operation Smile – we had a really active club at one of the schools I worked at a few years ago, and it was such a neat idea.
Love the idea of donating in lieu of a Christmas gift. My family did that a few years ago–donating cows, pigs, sheep, etc. to families in underdeveloped countries. I’m forgetting the name of the organization, but it was a great experience for all. xoxo
It may have been Heifer International that I mentioned above – I do love them. They also make a good gift for kids, because they get excited over the idea of the animals, even if there’s not a “thing” for them to have.