Thanks for the link to Sunchowder's website - I'm getting my mother in law a whole heap of her gorgeous-sounding jams.

Unimaginative? Not if they're Mardi Gras beads.

Um, I always give my wife jewelry. Is that unimaginative of me?

For my mother-in-law, I am giving her gourmet tea blends (Creme Earl Grey, Coconut Chai) packaged in decorative tins, jam (blueberry lavender this year), and shortbread from my bakeshop. My husband spends about half his time in Europe, and he usually procures chocolates and specialty ingredients which we also give to our family and close friends. This year, we are giving friends small bottles of Vin Santo with homemade amaretti. Last year, we did British baskets for close family, with Yorkshire Gold & Earl Grey Tea, Lyle's Golden Syrup, and small Christmas puddings.

Everyone, you are all AWESOME! I like all the suggestions for males and females! What creative! luvcoobooks...is there a new Laura Ingalls Wilder "Little House" cookbook out there? I have the original Little House cookbook (a copy sadly) produced in the 70's. I used to cook literally from Farmer Boy and the Long Winter.

sorry i included gifts for males, didn't read pickle carefully

Send my mom and dad a Dean and Deluca gift. Send my brother Wilmar's chocolates, a chocolate store in my hometown of Appleton, Wisconsin that ships online. Got the book Fairy Tale Feasts for my son, combines fairy tales and recipes (think Stone Soup) but has some erudite info about both fairy tales and food so as not to offend his 13 y/o self. Got a new recipe book about Laura Ingalls Wilder to add to my collection of Laura Ingalls Wilder cookbooks. Send my somewhat hippie cousin food from Zingerman's. Love E.A.T. gift baskets but haven't sent one. Manhattan Fruitiers sends beautiful fruit and flower baskets, do that some years. One year scoured New York City and gave a chocaholic friend a large selection of brownies, one each from many bakeries. Got the kids a Hanukkah gift from Aroma Espresso Bar, a hot chocolate basket with two mugs, chocolate disks for the hot chocolate, cocoa to dust over the top of the hot chocolate, and a thermometer to heat the milk to exactly the right temp.

Wow, thank you everyone for your wonderful suggestions! I should have said that I am making chocolate for my family (homemade graham crackers coated in chocolate, espresso truffles, and chocolate caramels). I love all the jam and preserved ideas and corresponding websites/recipes. That's why I asked all of you, we are such a wealth of knowledge and of course class.

I did jars of boozy fruit (recipe compliments of Melissa Clark, http://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/22/dining/22apperex.html?_r=1&ref=dining) for family. We had Concord Grapes growing in our yard this year, so I preserved them earlier in the fall. They are steeping in brandy as we speak! I am in love with my digital scale, so I got my mom one. I also do food related gifts, mostly locally produced stuff from British Columbia, where I now live. The only caveat is that it has to be easy to ship to the States -- this year I am doing freshly harvested hazelnuts, homemade raspberry and black currant jam, and Babe's cranberry honey,

Theo Chocolate sipping chocolate:
https://www.theochocolate.com/store/products/specialty-chocolate/sipping-chocolate

It's heavenly, easy to ship, and mixes with dairy or non-dairy milk. Also, some homemade things such as almond toffee, espresso toffee, brownie mixes, apple sauce, and hot-frosted gingerbread. I also make little jars of chipotle salt (freshly ground chipotle mixed with sea salt and allowed to cure a couple of weeks). I guess I pretty much only give food-related gifts, lol!

wow...just checked the sunchowder site....gorgeous, gorgeous, gorgeous!

Just, please, don't buy an immersion circulator for "sous vide at home."

Sunchowder's jams are amazing!! And so beautifully packaged! I second drbabs' recommendation.

mmm jams and aprons are fun!! Last year we did a wine of the month club (you can pick the caliber of the wine and red/white/both) and then it gets charged to you and shipped to whoever! The wines arrived each month with some literature about them and what flavors to look for etc.

Not sure what we will do this year- a special pan or knife is always a great gift I think, or a lovely cutting board (old or new), or a gift basket with special things for the kitchen like some saffron with a couple of recipes, some great vanilla and vanilla beans, jams, pretty hand towels, teas, etc.

I think Good to the Grain with some interesting grain flours would be great gift.

aargersi, will do late tonight. I have another amazing, truly one-of-a-kind gift for my parents that's not food related. I'll post about it, with an illustration, this weekend, if my client work permits. (Five end-of-year deals at once are making everything else in my life a lot more challenging . . . . and I'm still working on the gift.) ;o)

I made aprons for my nieces, and am giving them kids cookbooks.

I got my co-workers and friends all gift boxes of jam from Sunchowder--Wendy Read--a Food52 member. Her jam is awesome.
http://sunchowdersemporia.com/
For my family, I had photo books made of our last vacation together.

AJ tell me too K?

Well, jam. For starters. Lots of jam. My mom collects cool bowls (I inherited that) and we bothj garden so she get a new bowl, some cool tomato seeds, heavy duty hand cream for gardener's hands, Her BIRTHDAY is Christmas day too so I still need a BDay gift as well. I am a big fan of PJs too .... (for me and for others)

I will send you a note privately about this, because the lucky recipients are likely to be reading this . . . . ;o) But this is such a great question!!!