We went to charitable giving in their names.

Would any of these work?
a roomba,
a panini maker,
a really, great, expensive blender for smoothies,
a movie theater gift card for a year's worth of movie dates...

How about a leather bound or collectible copy of one of their favorite books (Folio society, etc)?

Raising hand here! My oldest son is in his 30s, and I swear if he doesn't get a toy of some sort he looks sad all day long. lol.

He also has a 3 year old son and he's really getting into his son's toys.

GS is getting a remote control car from his aunt, so I bought a "big boy" remote control car for my son this year. It works in and outdoors, and was under $30 I think, on Amazon.

Last year we gave him an indoor remote controlled helicopter (very popular now)and he had a blast. So much so he bought another one when that one finally crashed pretty bad. lol.

I agree with Arcy. Years ago in my side of the family - it had gotten to the point when we could no longer come up with gifts for each other. It got to where we were handing out money or gift cards. We didn't enjoy that. My mom always did stockings for all kids - even as adults. That was more than enough. My poor grandparents, they had drawers of unused stuff that we gave them. We started giving to a particular charity or adopting a family or several children. We benefitted as much as the recipient, feeling that we were helping another family have a merry Christmas. Especially children that might not get anything otherwise. All I want is to share the day and yummy food with my family.

tina

Last year we set a $30 limit per person and each person had to write out 3 favorite foods, 3 favorite colors, and 3 things they'd like to have. It worked wonderfully! DD2 had listed a Chanel
lipstick, DH a book he wanted, and I requested warm socks. All things we could have purchased ourselves, but didn't for whatever reason. And everyone was thrilled with their gifts.

We also do the stockings and everyone had to bring a $1 or less filler per guest, and THAT was a real blast. One kid loves baby corn so he ende up with a stocking full!

In addition to the charitable giving, I suggest magazine subscriptions (if there's one they'd really like) or the food-of-the-month thing. I really appreciate the hassle-free life these give me. Yes I could go out and buy that pound of Peet's coffee, but it's more fun and easier to get it in the mail! There are monthly food clubs for all sorts of things, and you usually don't have to give a whole year's worth.

What are you looking to spend?

How about something practical? For my son; work boots or work pants; JC Penney's sells flannel lines jeans.

Something I'm finding really useful is a flashlight pack from Depot; it came with 4 or 5 flash lights that aren't too big or too small; one a good size for the car. Cost me $10 & I can keep one in all different rooms.

As far as charities; that's not easy to decide these days. I was reading that Susan Komen has gotten so large that a lot of their staff is paid- it was disgusting what is actually spent to help people. One we like that has so far used the funds the way we like would be Stand Up 2 Cancer.

My parents know that DH & I love art. Every year they send us a check and we go out and buy a piece of art for our home, put a big bow on it, take pics of it and then another pic or two of it placed or hung. We send them all the photos with our thank you card. We also tell them all about it when we call them on Christmas Day.

Another gift that really was appreciated was a GC to Williams-Sonoma. DH & I love to cook and we were like two kids locked in a candy store with that GC! We made a special evening out with it, having a dinner at a restaurant nearby afterwards.

Last year, DH's employees gave him a gift certificate to a wonderful, professional theater down in Albuquerque. Loved that gift! We can choose what production we want to see, on what evening that fits with our schedule and choose the seats we like best. We're planning on getting tickets for the Lion King when it comes to town.
Lynn

My grown kids love getting GC to their favorite restaurant or dinner theater. Movie tickets are always nice. Fishing, hunting, wood working magazines are cool gifts if they are into any of that. Also, they love GC to book stores like Barnes & Noble.....

We always give at least one book and something silly, too-last year was a goofy metal dog sculpture for the garden. Since we all give through KIVA or the Heifer Fund, I usually give them money to spend on Kiva and a donation in their name to H.F.

Cam, my adult kids love gift cards to their favorite restaurants, B&N, Amazon, and a movie theatre.

Scratch-off lottery tickets are fun because you never know if you are going to win anything. I also like splurge-type consumable gifts like pure Kona coffee, Veuve Clicquot champagne, real truffles (not the candy), etc. and clever items that you don't see everywhere. One of my favorite sites to browse for interesting items is UncommonGoods.com.

You sure have offered some awesome suggestions, problem is thru the years, the majority have already been tried, sometimes more than once.

Since I have quite of bit of stock in a trust, and after speaking with my 'financial guy', i've decided to give them stocks. They can keep it as long as they want, or cash it in little-by-little. They won't even have to pay taxes since the trust is set up in 2 parts, with the stock coming out of what would be part of their inheritance anyway. This is going to be an easy Christmas! Now for the grandkids.......;o)

Grandma, is that you? hee hee hee.

I see you've already decided, but for future years you might consider doing a "memory" book. Ie use photos from their growing up years and add in comment and memories from those years. You could split it up into several years. There are companies you can use online to create an actual book that is printed and it isn't super expensive.

I know I would appreciate this a lot and so would my DH. Great to have those memories that won't be around forever and if we got something like it from our parents it would also be great to share with our daughter.

Of course this all depends on if your kids care about some of these sentiments.

Here's what I'm giving to my adult niece who loves movies...especially Harry Potter so I hope she/her family finds this a fun gift.

p.s. the price just jumped, I paid $67 for it just a week ago, so if you like it do what i do and put the item in the cart and then check it every day to see the price fluctuate. Amazon changes prices constantly, that's why you should always put the item into the cart ahead of when you plan on buying and then wait for the price to meet your target. I wonder how many people are aware Amazon does this?

Here is a link that might be useful: Magic Wand remote control

Here's another item I think could be fun (I want one!)
It's the Boogie Board (again, it's at a higher price right now on A, I've seen it at $27). I first saw it at Brookstone (or was it Sharper Image? get those two stores mixed up).

BTW Brookstone/SI are two stores good for finding unique gifts for people who have everything.

Another idea is to get them a Christmas decoration, a fancy ornament for the tree for instance.

When my MIL was alive she was the hardest person to buy for, didn't seem to like or want anything. Until I stopped looking inside and turned my attention outside. The only time I made a hit with her with a gift was the stone puppy dog I bought for her garden. Never occurred to me before to buy her a garden ornament but it was the one thing she didn't have.

I have lots of ideas for hard to please people because I've got plenty of them in my family. ;-)

If you know what they like to eat you can usually do pretty good with gift baskets of specialty foods, the gourmet kind that they haven't tried before.

Here is a link that might be useful: Boogie Board

OOps, I didn't see your last post about giving them stock.
That's definitely something you can never have too much of!