If you’re anything like me, you’ve managed to score a deal or two on the people that are easy to shop for. Shopping for my kids is generally simple and straightforward. I find some good deals and am mostly done the first week of December.

But then it comes time to decide what to give our parents, siblings (thankfully we rotate and only do one family per year) and spouse and I get pretty stumped. But being health-conscious and an aspiring minimalist, I try to only buy things that will really earn their keep.

Last night I told my husband I told my husband that my gift to him was that I’d already picked out my own gift so he didn’t need to worry about it. I was only sort of joking, it’s not always a bad way to go for those of us who may not be the most naturally thoughtful gift givers!

Thanks to Amazon Prime, I can procrastinate until a week before Christmas and still get most things delivered to my doorstep (or better, the doorstep of out of town family!). If you’re not already enjoying the beauty of an Amazon Christmas, grab yourself a free trial and save yourself a trip or two to the store and the post office!

Here are a few ideas but things that have made for excellent gifts.

Creating Positive Habits Journal

The longer I live, the more I learn about the amazing power of gratitude. Did you know that research has shown a daily gratitude practice can make dramatic improvements on productivity, mood and overall happiness? This Creating Positive Habits Journal is the brilliant creation of Lori Jackson over at ChoosingWisdom.org.

She brings together the real research of focusing on gratitude and makes a straightforward, daily practice a breeze with this simple journal. It comes in both his and hers, and is such a great thing for the person in your life who always looking to do things a little better. Or it may be the kind of thing you want to hint, hint for someone to buy for you! She also offers a digital version on her website

Games

The gift of quality family time is hard to beat, and with some big time gamers (card, not video!) in the family we’ve found some that we love to play again and again.

Skull King is from the lesser-known but excellent game maker, Grandpa Becks. We’ve played again and again at family gatherings and on our own.  There is quite a bit of strategy which makes it fun for the adults, but my kids also have a great time playing it as they gradually understand the strategy better. Grandpa Becks also makes Cover Your Assets which we also really like.

Qwixx is another great one that quick and easy to learn. It can be played in 10-15 minutes and again is easy to catch on for kids, but has enough strategy to make it fun for adults.

Monopoly Deal similarly captures the fun of Monopoly but it can be played in 15 minutes instead of dragging on for hours. You draw cards and need to complete 3 full sets of properties to win. You can draw a property card or others that allow you to steal or build up your bank account. And for only $5 it makes a great stocking stuffer!

I’ve been playing a decent amount of Dutch Blitz with my 4 year old since his brothers started school and I’ve become his primary playmate! It’s basically nertz, but it’s fun to have the custom cards and has helped him with learning numbers. You can buy an expansion pack to play with up to 8 people and have all kinds of fun in this fast-moving game.

Audible

While it can be hard for many of us to find time to sit down and read a book, Audio books are such a perfect way to get your reading in while you are driving, exercising or working around the house. An Audible gift membership allows a monthly credit for thousands of books.

A few of my most recent favorites: Stress Less, Accomplish More:Meditation for Extraordinary Performance  I discovered meditation several years ago, but have never stuck to one consistent routine. Emily Fletcher not only does a deep dive into all of the research-backed benefits of meditation (everything from improved sleep, help for depression and anxiety, to improvements in physical health) but lays out a straightforward approach that makes it much easier to make it a consistent practice and gain the benefits. I pretty much immediately began sleeping better and worrying less, and I’ve been telling all of my family and friends they need to read this book!

I am also LOVING Atomic Habits by James Clear. We could all use a little more help breaking our bad habits and creating new ones, and James discusses a fascinating approach to actually making it happen. We finally have been able to create a consistent system for our kids to do their responsibilities and can hardly wait to tackle many more habits!

Kitchen Gifts

Of course this guide wouldn’t be complete without a few ideas for the kitchen. If you’ve been around for a while you know I love my high-powered blender, my Instant Pot AND my tomato knife. A few other things that have made my life much easier are this juicer, this handy batter bowl and this amazing rolling pin. Good tools really do make all the difference in the kitchen so if you’ve got someone who loves to cook, these are some great ideas.

Experiences

One of our focuses this year has been to emphasize experiences over things. Our kids never come up short on things they want to do and it doesn’t take much for our basement to get out of control with the excess of toys we’ve accumulated over the years. Gift memberships or passes to a museum, activities on Groupon  or a class of some type can all be great options.

Library (or Piano or whatever) Bags

I debated whether to include a homemade gift on this list, but my parents totally pulled these off for the grandkids at the last minute a few years ago (9 of them!). These bags have been SO nice. I used to take a big bag to the library and everyone put their books in it, but it quickly became overloaded and I was the one hauling all the books! These bags have been the perfect size for each boy to pick out a reasonable number of books and carry them themselves. Using a stencil to paint their first initial on the canvas bags makes it easy to know whose is whose without broadcasting their name to strangers.

Outdoor Nativity

So I’ll be honest, this one was actually a gift to myself, but people love our outdoor nativity and ask me about it all the time! I think it’s our 6th or 7th Christmas with it and it has held up so well in the weather. Every once in a while we’ll have a major wind and we’ll need to stake it down again, but for the most part it has looked beautiful lit up in our yard. It’s very simple to put together and take down and I love the elegant reminder of the true reason for the season.

Gift Cards

We have a lot of creative gift-giving family members, which is awesome. I tend to be ultra practical and always love a good gift card. We all love the chance to pick out that one thing we really want!