Gift Ideas for family I'm staying with while I heal.
December 14, 2014 8:09 AM   Subscribe

I'm pretty immobilized while I heal from a complicated broken leg, and I'm staying with friends while my SO is out of town. They are waiting on me hand and foot. I'd like to get them Hanukkah gifts, nothing too fancy, and a birthday gift for one of them.

Hanukkah gifts, nothing too fancy, and a birthday gift for one of the folks hosting me. These almost definitely need to be Amazon-orderable.

The birthday boy is a smart creative type in his late 50s. I know he's planning to rent a batting cage for his birthday gathering, so a baseball themed idea would work. Maybe a batting glove? (The things I see online seem cheap/generic; is there a "cool" one that's not too pricey?) I don't know baseball, and I'm not even sure if there's an MLB team he roots for--I could ask. He's also a serious vegetable gardener, does a lot of DIY work on his house and rental properties, and is fairly serious about Jewish history and culture while being basically secular in outlook.

As for Hanukkah, his partner is also brilliant, a bit younger, also in the arts. We live in the midwest but they are both multi-coastal, cosmopolitan, at home in the country but very worldly. They cook well and like good food but are not "foodies." They like a good glass of wine or scotch but are not big drinkers. Their house is very cleanly furnished with great but not flashy taste--so decorative items feel kind of hard to do. Their kid is great: about to start High School next year, multi-sport athletic, quiet, funny, vegetarian.

Looking at my description I can't imagine having any useful advice based on that--sorry! For Hanukkah, if you can suggest a series or a set of something, I think that would be fun. Or something broken-leg appropriate without being merely a gag. I'm willing to drop a bit of coin for a really perfect something, but quite inexpensive things would be fine as well--the thought really will count here.

Thanks for any help!
posted by Mngo to Shopping (9 answers total) 3 users marked this as a favorite
 
If you're in the U.S. (and especially in the northeast), and if the Amazon-orderable isn't a 100% necessity, an order from Zabar's would be a nice Hanukkah treat for everyone. They have tons of delicious Jewish and New York food gifts (the babka! the bagels! the black-and-white cookies!). They have a couple of Hanukkah-specific gift baskets too.
posted by dayintoday at 8:21 AM on December 14, 2014 [1 favorite]


Response by poster: dayintoday, that would be an automatic best answer (though something I'd have thought of myself) if the house wasn't full of already ordered babka, rugelach, etc. when I got here! Too bad, cause that would be perfect.
posted by Mngo at 8:24 AM on December 14, 2014 [1 favorite]


So much for the Zingerman's idea; could you get them an experience they might not otherwise have? If they go to NYC, is there a chance they would get to Cooperstown? Tickets to the Baseball Hall of Fame? A tour of the Tenement Museum? If I were in their position, I would be charmed if you presented me with a gift certificate for a lovely home-cooked meal on a mutually agreeable date. That's something you could fancy up or down as much as you liked and represents giving of your time and care. Heal up - and good luck!
posted by deliriouscool at 8:46 AM on December 14, 2014 [1 favorite]


I'm going to push the Zabar's again with the specification that you go for one of the breakfast baskets that come with bagels, cream cheese, and smoked/cured fish. I strongly question whether the house is already filled with lox and fresh New York bagels, and these are always well taken.
posted by telegraph at 9:15 AM on December 14, 2014 [1 favorite]


What about a gift certificate for a cool restaurant that they can go to after you go back home, as a family? Or heck, an offer for you and your partner to take them to the restaurant once you're mobile again. Along the lines of, "you fed me while I was laid up, now let me feed you!"

If you want a physical object that is Amazon order-able and could be here for Hanukkah, how about movies or music? A box set of a really good TV show, or a set of old movies you really love, or documentaries, or whatever you like. Rear Window is broken leg themed, so maybe a Hitchcock box set could be a little funny and also a really good gift. But choose something you like, that you think they might like too.

And for the kid, what I liked best back when I was a smart, quiet kid, was when adults shared things with me that they liked, and then talked to me about those things like an adult. So again, a book you love, or some kind of kit, like a model or a puzzle or a science experiment, that you can do with him. Anything that you really like, and that you're excited to share with him, and that you want to talk with him about like adults talk about things they like. (Or just get the kid an Amazon gift card, since who knows what kids really want, other than that we know that they want the independence to pick out their own stuff!)
posted by decathecting at 9:21 AM on December 14, 2014


Based on a recent post requesting books that are also games, I've purchased the following as gifts:
Ready Player One - good if you grew up in the 80s and like video games.
Building Stories - art, book, mystery all-in-one, looks very cool. Might be fun for all of them.
Eleventh Hour - illustrations, art, mystery, for young and young-at-heart.
S - haven't received this yet but so excited (gift for me!).

Current - Unbroken is an amazing book if they like to read that comes out as a movie this month.

There is also a coupon code for 25% off one book right now: BOOKDEAL25 .

Let us know what you get! And, best wishes for quick recovery!
posted by RoadScholar at 9:24 AM on December 14, 2014 [1 favorite]


You could buy the gardener a columnular apple tree to expand his harvest, though you might have to get 2 to cross pollinate. Actually you could get each family member one and have three varieties.. My local nursery has them along with a 1 year guarantee, you could probably buy now and pickup later and maybe make sure they can use the money for something else if they'd rather.
posted by BoscosMom at 9:41 AM on December 14, 2014 [1 favorite]


Oops, forgot the link... Columnar apple trees
posted by BoscosMom at 9:53 AM on December 14, 2014


You don't mention if you're familiar with Jewish gift-giving traditions (no matter how basically secular).

Present-day Hanukah gifts are generally very modest; commonly gold-covered chocolate Hanukah Gelt and oranges.

In my experience, the one gift that always fits is also always appropriate: money. If you know of eight places/organizations/endeavors where your donation could honor your friends' excellent hospitality and kindness, it's definitely appropriate to giveĀ "in honor of ..." The amount should be appropriate to your financial situation, not theirs.

Given the holiday is right upon us, all you need Amazon (or conspire with the youngest one to find) is a box of 10 nice-looking cards. In your finest hand (the legs are busy) for each day of the holiday you can offer thanks for a particular element of their hospitalty, and the news that you've donated in their honor to X, X+1 ... X+7.
posted by Jesse the K at 12:06 PM on December 14, 2014 [3 favorites]


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