Top Ten Gift Ideas for Your Adult Children

When our children begin to grow older, buying gifts for them becomes more difficult. Everything they want and need begins to cost more. It becomes difficult to be thoughtful and still have them appreciate and enjoy their gift. The problem can be solved by using these top ten gift ideas for your adult children.

1. Personal Data Safety

Young adults are not likely to think about the security of their personal data, so the perfect gifts would be a shredder and a firebox.

Shredders now come with the ability to shred computer discs and credit cards. You can find them at discount stores for as little as ten to twenty dollars. In today's world, every family must have a shredder, but few buy them for themselves.

In lieu of renting a safe-deposit box, purchasing a good quality firebox will protect their most precious and important financial documents. You can buy a standard firebox for as little as twenty-five dollars, but you will find a new option the next time you visit the store. After several natural disasters, manufacturers learned that water damage is just as destructive as fire. Some manufacturers now have a special line of fireboxes which also protect against water. These are more expensive, but well worth the extra price.

2. Poker Items

The World Poker Tour and The Celebrity Poker Showdown have brought poker to the mainstream. Everyone is playing. Because of poker's sudden popularity, everything you need to equip yourself for a regular poker night can be bought in just about any store.

For under $20, you could buy poker chips and a couple decks of cards, for a little more, you could purchase a nice boxed set. And for under $50, you could buy a felt poker table top which will easily fit onto any card table.

If you want to go all out, buy a card table with chairs, the poker table top and a boxed set of chips and cards.

3. Small Luxury Items

Everyone has their personal luxury items, but we cannot always treat ourselves. Buy your adult children their favorite small luxury items and they will love you for it.

I have my special soap from Crabtree & Evelyn that I rarely buy, but absolutely love. I am also a big fan of GodivaChocolates, but will only buy one piece at a time for myself.

My husband enjoys the occasional cigar, and his favorites are not cheap. He refuses to spend the money on himself, so it's always an easy gift.

4. Storage Solutions

Everyone needs more storage. The trick is to combine storage with decorative touches and you can do this with a thoughtful gift of decorative storage containers.

Storage containers are sold just about everywhere, especially during seasonal changes. For the more decorative containers, look in your local home decorating stores, craft shops, country accents stores and import boutiques. For purely functional organizers, look at your local department and discount retailers.

5. Tickets

Consider giving ski lift tickets. If you live in an area of the country where the ski resorts are within a few hours drive, you do not have to add the cost of an overnight stay to your gift.

Community theatre or dinner theatre tickets are generally less expensive than tickets to a major venue. You can usually arrange for the gift recipients to choose which show they want to see during the regular season, and they will include a theatre schedule with your open-ended ticket purchase.

Advance purchased movie tickets are another great gift for anyone. Movie theatres have made purchasing advanced tickets as easy as picking up the phone.

Check Ticketmaster for concerts tickets that have just gone on sale. Just do not tell them about the concerts you were not able to get tickets to. My daughter has never gotten over the fact that she could have seen her favorite band just before they broke up if I had bought the tickets when I first saw them.

6. Cordless Headphones

For as little as fifty dollars, you can give a gift your adult child will love. Cordless headphones are a great gift for households where people enjoy relaxing in conflicting manners. In my house, my husband uses his cordless headphones to play his video games so that he does not disturb the rest of the family while we watch television or work on the computer.

Cordless headphones have long been used to listen to music, so if that is what your adult child will be using them for, consider giving the next gift on my list as a second gift.

7. Music Downloads

Through one of the many online music download sites, you can pre-purchase music downloads for your adult child. Some websites give special rates for pre-purchased downloads, such as Real offering twenty downloads for $14.99 or fifty for $34.99. At Apple's I-Tunes, you must pick the actual downloads you are giving and then print out a certificate with the codes they need to redeem their gift.

Individual downloads cost less than a dollar each, with Walmart at only eight-eight cents per download.

Since handheld music players hit the scene, downloaded music has become the new music gift to give.

8. Comfortable Computer Chair

This is not a gift everyone would think to give, but with people spending hours in front of the computer screen, giving a comfortable chair to sit in is a very thoughtful gift to give.

Between now and Christmas, every major office supply chain will have several office and computer chairs on sale. If you wait for a sale, you can get a great quality and very comfortable chair for less than $50.00. I bought mine at Office Max for less than forty dollars.

9. Reference Books

Our adult children leave our homes and we realize all the things we still need to teach them. We want them to be polite and thoughtful citizens, so what can we do to further encourage good behavior? We can give them a few good reference books for those times when they need a helpful hint as to what to do.

One of my favorite books is "The Someone Cares Encyclopedia of Letter Writing" published by Guideposts. Because of email, people have forgotten how to write letters. There are many times in our personal and business lives where an email is just not going to cut it. We have to sit down and actually write a letter. Using sample letters, this fantastic books shows you how to write letters for every situation. There are even two great appendixes which tell you where to call or write for information, such as government offices, non-profit agencies and businesses.

A good book of etiquette is also a must have reference book for our adult children. They might not want to call us for advice, but having this book will help them figure out the proper way to do something or handle a certain situation.

How-to books are also great gifts. You can find a how-to book on anything. The best ones to start off with should be simple things like how to do minor home repairs, simple auto upkeep and household budgeting.

If you want to be more creative with your gift, add something in. With a letter writing book, give postage and stationary. With a book of etiquette, throw in a serving platter or cocktail glasses. Tools or a calculator would be great additions to your how-to books.

10. Family Heirloom

To some adult children, the receipt of a cherished family heirloom is the ultimate gift. If the time is appropriate and you feel secure knowing the family treasure will be well cared for, it might be time to pass something along.