Making these baskets for my neighbors: need suggestions!?

Question

Okay, so I decided to do this challenge, and in it I have to give my neighbors little baskets of stuff.
So I have the following people:

A family with a 13 year old girl and 10 year old boy, and a mentally ill boy who I think is 12.

An elderly woman with no husband.

An ederly man and his wife, who doesn't like me very much. I don't know why.

Two little boys.

That's it. I need suggestions. Cheap, please?

Answer 1

Think about something fancy but not expensive to eat, like a few nice choclates or canned fish, jam or some candy. Luxery items in small packagings!
Maybe some guest soaps, candles or so.
Make padding out of a pack of paper serviettes (the kind with print you take to bbq's.) Maybe also a box for tisues or an other bit of bulky but cheap luxeries.

For the family with the kids you can add a board game, in the summer they often sell the travel kit sizes for a friendly price.
Or balls in different sizes so the kids can play outside with them.
Sometimes you can find cheap torches / flashlights.

For the woman alone maybe some teabags for one cup or luxery coffee.
Maybe you can add fresh flowers just before handing it to her, hand picked wild flowers if you live in the country, garden flowers if you have a garden. Silk flowers if you can not get fresh.

Same for the eldery couple, but try to get some things that show you know there are two there, like a cup and soucer for him and one for her.

For the little boys, leave out the candles and soap, but add toys right for their age.

It is perfectly alright to use things from the dollar store, (poundland) or the asian trading company, as long as you show that you have spend time and thought on the basket.

And make sure it looks nice, arrange the things like they are flowers, if you can get clear foil, wrap it in that, or shiny plastic coloured foil.

Answer 2

To Kacky...I usually love your answers but not this time. The mental ability of the 12 year old may not be a factor in gift giving, but then it most certainly could be! It would depend on his motor skills, his reasoning, and sometimes it would have to do with small parts. If he is on the level of a toddler (we don't know) then I wouldn't give anything with small parts.

Also, MOST, if not all, of the young girls I know have been brought up to respect their elders. They are NOT little Parises in training. One thing I have learned in my life is that "nothing is personal." This means that the couple who seems to not like Miss Sparrow may be going through some rough times. They may have lost a relative, or gotten bad news about the health of one of them. Maybe their finances aren't so good. Or maybe they lost a daughter at a young age and seeing a young, healthy and vibrant girl brings back bad memories. My point is, you just don't know why they seem to dislike her.

And jelly bellies? Sugar? OK what if some of these folk who will be receiving the baskets happen to be diabetic? Or maybe they just don't like having candy around because is isn't healthy?

My suggestions for the baskets.....crafts, of course! Wooden models for the boys, regardless of age or ability. Most are made with large pieces and are simple to assemble. You can find them for a buck. For the 13 y/o girl...jewelry kits, or scrap booking, knitting, sewing kits, also resonably priced. For the couple, how about a puzzle or picture frames that you've decorated yourself? And for the elderly woman who is alone....certificates for yard work and other chores, flowers, a poem that you wrote yourself and framed?

Whatever you decide to do, if it comes from the heart it will be received well.

“The greatest gift that you can give yourself is a little bit of your own attention.”
Anthony J. D'Angelo

“The spirit in which a thing is given determines that in which the debt is acknowledged; it's the intention, not the face-value of the gift, that's weighed”
Seneca

Answer 3

First of all, mental illness should not even be a factor. take it off the table and just deal with him by age.

The elderly lady may not like you because face it, adolescent girls can be obnoxious. I know I was. I have met one or 2 serious ones, but you know and I know that more often they act like Paris Hilton in training. So you just have to be polite and prove her wrong.

Anyway, you can't go wrong with jelly bellies.
.

Answer 4

Everyone might like bubbles. You know the kind you blow! They are cheap and lots of fun for all ages.

Answer 5

Tiny safe stuffed animals.

Note cards, or coupons to mow her lawn and trim for her.

Note cards, something from your garden.

Play doh, crayons, tiny tablets of paper.

Answer 6

make everyone cookies