This idea comes from Kim- I think it's great. I've been mulling the whole gift thing around in my head for days and couldn't quite come up with a word for the type of things I want to start giving/getting in order to keep life more simple. Consumable is the word!

Kim thought of museum passes or movie tickets, zoo passes

How about gift certificates for manicure/pedicure/massage for adults
food basket- I always fill up a basket from Whole Foods for my dad with all his favorite goodies for his birthday

What are some other ideas? These things aren't necessarily cheap/frugal (although some are) but they are simple and won't have to be sold at your next garage sale!

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I don't believe in miracles; I depend on them

For kids:
Chuck E. Cheese tokens
Movie Passes
McDonald's bucks
Amusement park admissions
Museum/zoo memberships
iTunes gift cards (for older kids)

For adults:
Restaurant gift certificates
Coffee lover's basket (or any type of food: Italian, BBQ, or other "theme")
Golf passes (think Dads, grandpas, etc.)
Cooking class
Let's Dish (or other make & take franchise) Gift card

Keep these ideas coming! Now if only I could suggest them to the people who give US gifts...

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Movie rental certificates...or I do gift baskets even for kids with all consuables...a coke or two, a micro popcorn, gummies, and a $5 gift card..all set in a popcorn bowl and wrapped up in cellephane...under $10, unique, and I guarantee it will get used..not thrown out when someone looses a part or Daddy steps on it when it was left out!! LOL

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These are especially good gift ideas for older people, my aunts always did big gift baskets of everyday stuff for my Gramma and she loved them. They'd get her a can of coffee (Gramma drank coffee all day and all night, rarely drank anything else!), a box of coffee filters, some of her favorite snack crackers and cookies, some cans of soup, sometimes they'd throw in a sweatshirt of sweater, some lotion they knew she liked, and usually some kind of candy. She really appreciated them because it was all stuff she'd use. Sometimes they'd just give her a gift certificate to Kroger, and she liked that, too, because she was on such a tight budget, it helped out a lot.

For Christmas last year for dh's brothers and sils we did movie tickets and gift cards for dinner at their fave restaurants, that way they had a free night out sometime. We had recd the same the year before from some friends and just kept the passes and gc until we were broke and got to enjoy a free night out!

car wash tokens for guys is a good one

my kids love bath stuff, fancy soap, bath crayons, paints, shaving cream, bubble bath

massage gift certificates for adults

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College aged/single guys: laundry basket, some good detergent, fab. soft sheets, maybe a certificate for laundromat. (not 100% consumable but practical)

Any kind of home-made goodies--bars, cookies--who wouldn't want a nice cookie tray at Christmas, or a certificate good for a dozen cookies?

Santa gets the kids bubble bath, new toothbrushes, etc.--stuff they would get anyway, but double the bang for Santa's buck

DH- really good chocolate--which is great because he forgets he has it and then I get it

If you can jelly--a couple of loaves of home-made bread and some home-made jelly.

while not consumable--we have had some wonderful family members that are very creative and make us some photo collages for our family--we have loved having the pictures they have taken over the years, very thoughtful and personal.

Breakfast basket...big mixing type bowl lined with a couple of nice dish towels filled with wooden spoon, pancake mix or bisquick, syrup, jelly jam or marmalade, coffee, tea, country ham (doesn't need to be refrigerated), muffin mix, a jar of fried apples or other fruit for pancakes or french toast topping, flavored coffee creamer...well, you get the idea. You can also package this in a cast iron skillet.

We also do the movie basket quite a bit.

Coffee lovers Basket with assorted coffee and creamers, coffee grinder, sugar or sweetener, biscotti or other cookies that go well with coffee, maybe even a coffee maker if they need one.

Tea lovers basket, assorted teas, tea strainer or tea ball (one year I gave my MIL a sterling silver tea strainer/spoon...the spoon part had holes and it clipped shut so when you put the tea leaves in you just stirred it around to steep the tea), tea cookies, sugar cubes (they come in a box at the grocery store), sugar tongs, creamer and sugar bowl...

Wine lovers (SIL loved this) a couple of bottles of wine, wine opener, maybe a wine magazine, some nice wine glasses, since we were giving it to her right away we added some cheeses, nice chocolates, and assorted fruit to go with the wine.

I would like to add that if you are lucky enough to get a goodie basket of homemade cookies or bars, you can freeze these!! You don't have to eat them like mad all through the holidays and gain five pounds. You can put them in the freezer, and come Jan 27 or whatever day you really need a chocolate fix... you are set!

And why, I wonder, do many people feel like a gift card or a gift certificate is impersonal and not a very good gift? Is it because it shows the exact dollar amount? I love them!

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I don't believe in miracles; I depend on them

One year I made popcorn baskets really cheap for all the teachers. I had gotten a bunch of small baskets for about 25 cents each. I bought scheckered dish towels (4 for $1) at the dollar store to line the basket. Put in one or two packets of microwave popcorn, some popcorn seasoning and 1 or 2 bottles of water. They were a big hit!

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~Happiness is a large family~

I like to get art/craft kits for kids as 'consumable' kinds of gifts. I also really like pizza gift certificates. Who doesn't like pizza! Whenever someone I know has a baby, I always send a pizza gift card instead of flowers - much more usable. At my work we can buy discount movie tickets so I will buy those for friends as gifts sometimes but also like the rental gift cards. Lots of great ideas here!!

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Better to give your kids the values you have
than the valuables you can't afford.