Christmas Present For A Frugal Person

Seanymph

stamps, self addressed printed cards or paper, notelets, envelopes and writing paper.

A whole bundle.

glitterpuss

How about making her a hamper of "finest" products. You could put together a selection of posh biscuits and chocolates, some nice coffee of tea, and a nice mug. Also jams and chutneys, and maybe a small bottle of cava or prosecco?

rach13

M&S voucher? Bit posher than a normal one - maybe she wouldn't normally shop there but could get a few treats? or a new top if she felt like it?

jetplane

My husband had grandparent like this, very generous with one offs but lived her life spending minimum on fuel, food, travel, clothing etc. No gift ever bought brought her pleasure and she to would put in a cupboard never to be seen again. She seemed to derive more pleasure from giving on the occasions that she did.

We bought her books, nightdresses, bed jacket, bed socks even a bed cap to keep her warm as her house was freezing. We paid for professional family photographs, paid for her TV licence one year, we took her on away days all over for example to Beamish, York Museum, Chester, Preston market as it was the one thing she seemed to enjoy.

In the end I told my husband it was his job to choose, buy and deliver as she was his relative.

tesuhoha

How about a nice scarf, gloves or a hat. Or a cardigan. Older ladies like cosy things, even a new umbrella.

Or what about a good book to read or a cook book or puzzle book like suduko.

My mother in law was like this. None of the expensive presents we bought her were used or appreciated until the year I bought her some cheap silk scarves from the market and she absolutely loved them. It may be that something quite small will please her.

emg

what about making your own voucher offering to take her out to dinner/to the cinema/to see a show/on a family day out in the new year. I have an Auntie who sounds similar in that all presents seem to end up in a cupboard. What she really likes is trips out and time with us as she lives alone and doesnt often get to go to new places. I actually did her present early this year and took her out for lunch followed by a carol service and then a mooch around a german christmas market. I had made my own 'voucher' for this and put it in with her card.

sassyblue

A subscription to a magazine she might enjoy reading?

Dunroamin

What about a charity gift through a charity she supports or is interested in?

https://www.google.fr/search?q=charity+gifts&rlz=1CASMAE_enFR525FR525&oq=charity+gifts&aqs=chrome..69i57j0l5.5515j0j7&sourceid=chrome&espv=210&es_sm=122&ie=UTF-8

Nicki

A photo in a nice frame of your family including her young grandchild? My Inlaws and my parents always like that and it needn't cost a lot

mandragora_2

Buy her something you'd quite fancy for yourself, and then suggest she regifts it to you on your birthday or for next Christmas? If she's as frugal as the rest of us, you KNOW she'll have a little drawer somewhere stuffed with gifts waiting to be rewrapped and passed on. Regifting appeals to the frugal side of me (though - perhaps like your MIL - I just simply wish people wouldn't give me things I don't really want, won't use, that aren't relevant to me, such as toiletries, candles; chocs and biscuits; books I've already read; films I've already seen...).

I'd really rather just have the pleasure of their company and know that they haven't wasted money on such things. I do feel guilty about putting things away in a drawer ready to be passed on, but I can't in all honesty think of anything better to do with them. (I know, I could give them to charity, but to me that always seems so sad too. Someone spent money on it, and I'm putting it in a charity shop - it still seems wasteful, and I still need to go out and buy similar items for my own 'I ought to get you something back' gifts)

Ok, I know I'm being stingy, but I'm really not much of a one for seeing Christmas as a time for squandering money on adults, it's a celebration for children, in my eyes. So, when Christmas comes around, if there's something I can pass on, to someone who's not that close but who insists on getting me something every year, I must admit to a secret pleasure in getting something out of the regift drawer that I can pass along... There's always the frisson of danger that you might give someone their own gift back:eek:, but I'm pretty careful to try not to do this.

I don't know, I suppose that idea sounds bonkers, but at some point perhaps you just all ought to sit down and say 'What do we all want to do about this?'.

If she's anything like my mum, her idea of something lovely is time spent with family that she wouldn't otherwise have, doing something she might not otherwise do - even if it's just a day at the seaside with the grandchildren, or as extravagant as a holiday together or a weekend away in London and taking in a show - and the treat is not necessarily that it is paid for as the gift, but that someone else plans it, sorts it and gets you all the best, most thrifty deal possible.

In recent years I've done all of the above with my mum - we've had holidays together; weekends away and spent a day playing with the kids in the garden in the summer. Sometimes I buy; sometimes we split the cost; but my present to her usually revolves around the fact that that I'm the arranger, and she doesn't have to worry about a thing, and I get a real pleasure from using my skills and experience to find us something really nice, bespoke, that no commercial company would know how to put together for her.

I find it very hard, because of the people I''m closest to, I am the most financially secure. I don't want them to waste their money on me, and I certainly don't need more 'stuff'. I think that perhaps you and your husband should just ask her.

Sorry this is so rambling!! I didn't mean to witter on for so long.:o