The Hardest Person to Shop For

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Have you ever had that person that is just impossible to shop for? I'm sure you've been through this at Christmas, but I can always somehow come up with pictures of my kids for Christmas gifts arranged in some special manner (mouse pad, calendar, tattoo) to appease most relatives. My in laws like calendars, my parents like pictures in big, fancy frames and my lips are sealed on the tattoo.

My biggest challenge came a couple of years ago when my father-in-law turned 60. He truly has everything. Book light? Check. Musical tie that plays the theme to Top Gun? Check. A shamwow? Well, probably not at the time, but CHECK, now, I'm sure. My mother-in-law got him a car if that tells you how far she had to reach to find something for him. And he even already had one of those.

Seeing as how the car wasn't in my budget (and was already taken), I had to go with something a little less mobile. The day before his party, I came up with an idea to list 60 things about him that we love. I got together with my husband and my sister-in-law and her husband (on speakerphone traveling over for the occasion) and we easily came up with 60 funny stories, inside jokes, quirky things and special meaningful things that make him who he is. I wrote them all on a poster board and wrote at the top: "60 Reasons YOU are the Greatest Dad and Grandpa in the World". I did measure so the lines would be even and wrote in different colored markers, but other than that, there isn't anything special about the poster board and paper. But, the memories on there are priceless. They range anywhere from, "Jumps like a kangaroo" (what he did for our baby at the time to entertain him) to "Always leads his family in prayer before meals". This poster board would have made Hitler cry. I love to give a gift to make someone cry and this one is right up there with my best!

Following suit, we easily did the same thing from my mother-in-law the next year, but the big challenge came this year!

My husband's grandmother turned 90 years old. ( There is a whole side commentary here waiting to be hashed out: I don't know if I WANT to be 90. She makes 90 look good, but I'm afraid I'll be hanging on to my blue hair and my walker with one bad arthritis-ridden hand. Back to the topic...) To say that there is nothing to get for her is an obvious understatement. She already has the Top Gun tie, too.

So, I was enlisted to make a poster for her with all her children and grandchildren contributing and this is what it looks like:

The writing had to be super tiny, but I was able to fit it all on there. Oh, and the heel on my right hand looked like my palm used to look when I'd hold on to Skittles (hoarding them from my sister) in the summer. Be careful of the smudge.

So that is what has worked for me in the past and I hope you are able to use the idea for your next hard to shop for person!

That is, if they don't have a shamwow.