In the past, I always gave my family artwork that I created. It was expensive to buy the supplies, and it was very time consuming to then create each piece, especially because I have a large family and I would do one for each person. I would start in June or July in order to be done by December.

Last year, I finally stopped doing that. Not because of the expense, but because of the amount of time that was necessary and because my body was becoming less able to do all that work.

Last year, I got everyone a different wooden puzzle box. I forget where I got them, but they are small wooden boxes that look like regular decorative boxes that someone would use as a knick-knack - but these boxes didn't open like regular boxes, and in order to open them you had to know the trick - it was like a puzzle... and I looked at the solution and opened the boxes and put money inside and then closed them up again

On christmas day, everyone had fun trying to open their box and then trying to figure out how to open everyone elses box. It was fun, and it was a good way to give money in a fun way.

The boxes themselves cost between $10 and $20 depending on the style... they all came from the same catalog and I wish i could remember the name of it... it might have been the Bits and Pieces catalog because they have a lot of puzzles, but I forget.


This year I am getting all of my siblings a gift certificate to their favorite store and putting them in those clear plastic holder puzzles where you have to move the marble around to the right place to get the box to open. Making them work to get to their money or gift certificate makes it more fun and makes it more exciting than just opening an envelope.... my siblings are all much younger than I am (I'm 31, the 5 sibs are between 22 and 17) so they still enjoy puzzles and fun.

In addition to the gift certificate and puzzle thing, they are all getting new gloves with matching scarves, hats, and socks in colors that compliment their winter jackets. I found the sets at Walgreens and they are all made from that really soft and fuzzy material.