I love Scout bags and posted about them a week or so ago when I got an email about new patterns. They have accessory bags, wristlets and small coolers that are less than $20. Last year they had a really good Black Friday sale, IIRC 30% off.

http://www.scoutbags.com/accessories?limit=all

Every year I make a round of homemade gifts that I use as hostess gifts and little add-on gifts for the in-laws, etc. This year I'm going to make room fresheners in a few different scents, and use cute little apothecary-type bottles with a sprig of the scent wrapped in a ribbon around it.

Here are some recipes I have found so far.

http://www.theprairiehomestead.com/2013/06/homemade-air-fresheners.html

These may seem sort of pedestrian, but they work together well to be able to reheat items in the microwave without burning yourself or getting spatters on your M/W oven. The holder happens to fit the bottom rim of my plates perfectly in addition to my cereal/soup bowls.

Microwave Bowl Holder

Domed Microwave Cover

This came to mind because I'm using one right now that I received as a gift. I'm a tea lover and have a bunch of different pots & strainers but I most often reach for this one.

You can make a really generous amount of tea in it. The sturdy stainless strainer has a convenient handle for lifting it out once the tea has steeped. (No burning fingers or chipping nails )Then you have that silicone cover to rest the strainer on to drain. The rim is strong and wide so one good bang knocks out the tea leaves and makes it easy to rinse clean.

Mine came from a local tea shop w/ a canister of one of their blends. But I found the pic below on Amazon's site.

AT $2.50, this is more like a stocking stuffer, but they are useful - silicone facial cleaning pads. At Walmart.

Those Bee's Wraps must be the in thing this year. All of a sudden I'm seeing them mentioned in Facebook posts. (When I was a Brownie leader back in the 1970's my troop made them as a gift project, maybe Mother's Day?) they are very easy to make, and very affordable if you know a bee keeper.

I just bought massage balls similar to these, in 2 sizes, at Kripalu. If you've ever given yourself a massage with a tennis ball? They're like that but one size I bought is slightly smaller and one is slightly bigger. DH, DD, and I will all use them, I think.

http://www.shape.com/shop/sporti-sporti-studio-yoga-massage-therapy-ball-set-teal-pa7b2aeeb09a06c0fc3a09a7475ead4f3.html

amck2 that is cool. Do you put yours in the dish washer? We brew tea all the time but dealing with tea leaves and cleanup is kind of a hassle.

For slightly more expensive gifts, I still recommend the Amazon Echo. I still love mine..

Sheeisback,

thanks for the info on bees wax, I just ordered some for gifts.

Beagles, I bought the echo for my teen last year based on something you wrote in another gift thread. I think DH and I love it more than he does. At our end of summer party, guests were having so much fun requesting oldies from Alexa!

Wool dryer balls -- I started using a drop of essential oil with them since DH missed the scent of dryer sheets. The basic ones are on Amazon or in stores -- colors on Etsy.

The bees wax stuff is cool.

As one who is tired of "stuff" (and no place to put it), and other reasons, I'm all for gifting plants, shrubs, trees...for people to plant.

My go to is bayberry candles. the ones that come from colonial type shops and are real bayberry. it is an old traditional handed down. they usually come with a poem:

A bayberry candle burned to the socket
Brings health to your home and wealth to your pocket.

you burn them down on NY eve or christmas eve. Nothing left to store :) when I was growing up my mom would put them in the tub so they would burn out and we could go to sleep.

I feel the same way Tibbie does, I'm tired of stuff, too. Stuff just to have that takes up space, adds clutter and/or is a dust catcher. What I'm doing is gifting edible gifts. This year, it's bottles of flavored gourmet olive oil and balsamic vinegars.

I like Lynn's idea. No offense meant by this -- but I wouldn't want/use anything that has been listed above. (I do use wool dryer balls, but I already have them.) However, I would be happy with (healthy) edible gifts!! :) Oil/vinegar is almost surely going to be used...

I'm also looking at the Echo Dot (2nd gen) as a small gift $50.

Seems to do the same as the Echo only with lesser quality speakers.

I think you have to know your audience for sure. Unless it is family, home made food items would be thrown out in our house. and we don't use oil. or vinegar much. :) I have gotten oil/vinegar many times as a gift. it sits in my kitchen for a year then goes in the garbage!

We don't use anything scented in our house either.

I love those dome covers!

Healthy fruit baskets are always used at my house though. :)

can you get the echo if you don't have Alexa? I thought you had to have Alexa to start. Now i wonder what the difference is.

I gave people the softening socks one year. they seemed to like them. I know they got used for a bit at least :) but then they probably went in the garbage too.

beagles, I've only hand washed mine, so can't vouch for how well the strainer itself comes out from the DW.

The holes in the strainer are very small. That leaves fewer tea leaves getting stuck like they do in my flexible metal mesh strainers or the ball types with larger holes.

Alexa is the free app that runs the Echo.

So you dont have to have the big one to have the little one? are they the same?

No you do not need the Echo..The Echo Dot is just a smaller version of the Echo. Right now the Dot is buy 5 get one free.

Google : Echo vs Echo Dot

As far a being the same, the Dot has a smaller speaker but the ability to connect to your current home speakers.

What I want as a gift from family and friends is to spend some together: a walk on a nice day, meet for lunch or a coffee, even come with me while I run this errand so we can chat. I don't want more stuff, I want to spend time with them. It could be something free or a $$ theater ticket, the thing I like is the shared experience and time connecting.

If a friend doesn't want to or can't make some time to be together, then how much friendship do we really share? If they're far away geographically and time together is unlikely, there's Skype. I would prefer a once a month here's-what's-happening-in-my-world email over a picture frame or collectible ornament.

I understand everyone is busy, I'm not looking for a weekly commitment from anyone. If I can't find time to see the people most important to me, then I'm letting our friendship fade. If they're important enough for a gift, they're importantly enough to make time to see.

eta: sorry, all that doesn't really answer your question. As a gift idea, I'd look for ways to spend time with them. Tickets to an event, schedule a meal date, invite over for coffee.

I like hhireo's idea of time spent together, too. My close girlfriend and I agreed years ago to skip birthday gifts in favor of a long lunch together at our favorite restaurant.

Another gift idea, a gift certificate for pedicures or a movie together. One of my requests to DH and DD this Christmas is for gift certificates for pedis at my longtime favorite salon. I have very high arches and all brick floors, which means my feet hurt a lot. A gift certificate for a 30 minute foot massage with a masseuse would be heavenly.

Another gift idea could be a GC for a facial.

Gourmet food, frozen so that it can be used at the receiver's convenience. We've received a stuffed rolled pork tenderloin, steaks and an appetizer assortment over the years. All of which were much appreciated.

Mimou-GW, glad someone is enjoying the Echo :)

Yes, the Echo Dot is a mini-echo. I have one of those in my media room in my FL house. I like it, and the speakers are decent-isa if you're just looking for music at ambient volume.

We do experience gifts for our close family now, no stuff. We took my in-laws to a tasting dinner at Pineapple and Pearl for their gift last year and to stay overnight in DC. The year before that, we took my dad to Minibar. Not sure what we will do this year.... possibly Waldorf Astoria spa trip in Orlando for MIL (we'll go w/ her).

Thank you for all the ideas everyone! To those who said about it, you're welcome about the Bee's Wrap.

Yes, I agree knowing the audience is helpful. Some people I know would love certain gifts on here and dislike the others.

I also agree spending time quality time with family and friends is more important. Most of the people I'm thinking of, we do schedule get togethers as often as our schedules allow. Most of these people I'm thinking of also really enjoy gifts.

I don't spend much time on pinterest because I don't want to spend hours of my life being sucked into that endless hole! ...At any rate, I did end up making some homemade sugar scrubs and meat seasoning/rub as small extras for a few of our close friends who I knew would enjoy them. I did have fun looking for pretty containers and decking them out.

There was someone on here a few years back that mentioned a couple sites with specialty items. I think the prices were high, but there was some unique gift ideas.

We were at Urban Outfitters today and they had these remastered "classic" Sega and Atari systems but they were modern w/ wireless controllers and the games were built into the console.

For those who grew up w/ these games (or whose kids did), these might also be a cool gift. My DH wanted them :)

http://www.gamestop.com/genesis/consoles/sega-genesis-classic-game-console/124933

I have the Ecco but love my little waterproof shockproof UE roll for music so much better. I take it to the beach, vacation and use around the pool. It's small and flat with a cord to hang if you want. I like that you can double them up although one is plenty for me. The sound these little speakers kick out is amazing.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B00YARCGOC/ref=mp_s_a_1_8?ie=UTF8&qid=1477870824&sr=8-8&pi=AC_SX236_SY340_QL65&keywords=ue+waterproof+speaker&dpPl=1&dpID=51Xuyd%2BBh%2BL&ref=plSrch

Looks like I'll be looking at the UE to hook-up to my Dot for bathtub listening ! (Yes ,I ordered the Dot)

The UE requires a separate device right (i.e. something to provide the music which it connects to via bluetooth), it doesn't independently stream stuff like from Pandora ?

To tell the truth I just got my UE to play my music off of my downloaded Amazon play list from my iPhone. I'm not sure what else it does. I'm not very techie.

Beagles~ It's just a speaker..I assumed she was using it with her phone. It will, however, stream from the Echo.

OK, just wanted to make sure. Because I am looking for a waterproof type echo thing I can keep outside in FL and NOT have to go and get my phone to stream music off of. We have whole house speakers but I want to just be able to say "Alexa, play X" and not have to get up from the hammock or have a phone or iPad w/ me #lazy

Beagle~ I guess the problem with an outdoor Echo would be your neighbors ordering things from over the fence ! LOL

I heard he'll clean the pool as well.

LOL. Can anyone tell me where to order an Alex? Preferably one with a striking resemble to Jamir Dornan or Tom Brady ?

You you can get these Alex's on sale on Amazon but the reviews aren't that good. Lots of complaints on shipping costs. They do come in some cool colors though.

I would wait till next year when they come out with the EnergyStar models.

My mother would also like an Alex this year. Someone post the link, please? ;-)

I like this thread because I am learning about products I never knew existed, like the beeswax paper and the Echo.I can think of people on my list who would love both of those things--and the Scout bags, too!

I've started shopping already-- which is pretty unusual for me. It's not a concentrated effort but I found a few things that were perfect for some of the people on my list and I decided not to hesitate or wait to see if I found something better. The truth is, I think the best gifts are those that make you THINK of them as soon as you see them.

One of my sisters loves adult coloring books as a stress reliever-- she loved them even before they were hot. I found this lovely hardbound Swedish adult coloring book Summer Nights. I am very pleased with it--it's very gift-worthy as coloring books go.

I am also planning to put together a "funky veg" seed package gift for a niece who this year had her first garden. She tells me "funky" is her second favorite F-word (we DO share that in common!) so this caught my eye. I suspect this kit has been on the shelf at amazon for awhile as they are sold out in most stores here in the US. I think I will put together my own using heirloom seeds.

Another small gift that was a hit with the 20somethings.. cappuccino stencils. I kept getting text messages with shots of their homemade lattes/cappuccinos. You could make a more substantial gift by adding espresso beans, a cocoa shaker and a milk frother-- or just the stencils make a great stocking stuffer!

The cheese discussion made me remember a gift idea that I'm using this year. The little brie baking pots from le Creuset are cute, but on Etsy I found more unique ones in handmade pottery. I ordered two for friends and will add some recipes for baked brie and toppings.... mmmm, like this one!

I also bought a couple of these Fishbellies to give as gifts -- the small size (although I am pretty sure I paid $20, not $30). They're functional but also really cute! The store where I found them had them all piled up on a shelf and it took me forever to pick my favorite fabrics. Got one for myself, too. :-)

Ok I bought that coloring book and a fishbelly. So cute.

One gift I came up with for Mr. Impossible is One Day University. They have a lot of interesting programs all over the country. http://www.onedayu.com/

I came across it while planning a trip to Tanglewood with friends.

One question. Has anyone seen plain, simple enamel lockets like these? I really like them but want something 14k gold. http://www.troispetitspointsparis.com/

I've never seen an enamel locket but those are precious. I love their simplicity!

My brother has commented a few times over the years how I've stopped giving him "great socks". I picked it up again this year with a nice selection of dressy and casual socks in combinations of chestnut, teal and a few other colors that will package together nicely. When shopping for him, I found these Cufflinks, inc socks to go in stockings for the bf's and fiances of my nieces. I got Spider-Man, Darth Vader and Captain America.

Those socks are great!

We bought our outdoorsy oldest DS a national and a state parks pass. He goes camping and backpacking several times a year, so hopefully he will use them!

Mtn--Thank you so much for posting about One Day University. I, too, have a Mr. Impossible to buy for, and this is a perfect idea for him!

Thanks, bf, I think the idea is pretty intriguing, even though the one I got for him was on the Founding Fathers (:::yawn:::). But I have been wanting to take some course, do something to keep the synapses firing, and this is a very easy substitute.

Texan, perfect!

Terrific idea on the One Day University. My DH and I did the One Day University at University of Washington in October. We really enjoyed it!!