Tons of No CLUTTER Gifts Ideas Your Loved One Will Enjoy

When giving gifts, it's essential to consider the person's needs and wants. They may want something that will not clutter their home. Whether you need to bring a hostess gift or want to purchase presents early, here are some fantastic holiday gift ideas that will not clutter your loved one's home while also showing how much you care about them. In the extensive list below, some require planning; others are quick, last-minute gift ideas. I hope they help you find the right gift for your loved one.

NOTE: If you click through, I will receive a small commission if you buy something on Amazon (Affiliate Link).

Fantastic Ideas for Clutter-Free Gift Ideas

Jump to:

• Create a gift that recipients can eat or drink. 
• Homemade Consumables - Cooking / Drinking mixes
• Spice Seasoning or Samplers for meats and vegetables
• Mason Jar Cookie Gifts
• Cookie Baking Gifts
• Homemade Pasta or Sauce
• Homemade Cakes Gifts
• Wine and Beer Gifts
• Create a Heritage Scrapbook
• Food of the Month Clubs
• Membership Clubs
• Give Donations to Nonprofits on behalf of the loved one.
• Give Experience presents. 
• Other gift ideas

Create a gift that recipients can eat or drink. 

This gift requires planning. I have several nieces and nephews; over the years, I created themed gifts for them.  Here are some of the themed gift ideas I did.

Cute Fruit baskets (Amazon (Affiliate Link) Affiliate) are an excellent option for family, friends, coworkers, and bosses.

You can even buy baskets designed explicitly for your recipient's dietary needs. These gluten-free gift snacks (Amazon (Affiliate Link) Affiliate) are perfect for teens and college students who are gluten intolerant.

Places like World Market have everything you need to create customized gift baskets (Affiliate Link).

Assorted nuts gift baskets or a variety box set (Amazon (Affiliate Link) Affiliate) are also great options! Make sure these people are not allergic to nuts.

Homemade Consumables - Cooking / Drinking mixes

Another option is to make consumable gifts. Purchase herb mixes, Chai Tea Mix, and tools (Affiliate Link), and make a small basket. Check out our few DIY projects that you can give to people below.

You can buy unique gifts through Etsy's Small Handmade Gifts Collection.

Spice Seasoning or Samplers for meats and vegetables

Another option is to make them a homemade rub seasoning or a sampler for their vegetables and meat. You can make your own by getting the ingredients for your favorite made-from-scratch rub mixes and including a grocery store or butcher gift card. You can buy a cookbook of rub recipes and make them in batches for several recipients.

Whether your loved one is a meat-eater or a vegetarian, they will love these gifts.

If you don't want to make your version of a rub for meat or vegetables, just buy a sampler pack to send as a gift. Some options are Taste of America, featuring different areas of the country mixes, Popcorn mixes, Flavor-infused Olive oil mixes, and BBQ sampler options. If you click through, I will receive a small commission if you buy something on Amazon (Affiliate Link).

Mason Jar Cookie Gifts

These mason jar (Affiliate Link) cookie gifts were always fun when I made them for my nieces and nephews. Mason jar (Affiliate Link) cookie mixes can be made, or you can buy them.  I like to make them myself and customize them for each person.

You can make your own by buying a cookbook that provides the ingredients and quantities for the mason jar (Affiliate Link) gifts.

If you don't know how to make them, check out these how-to mason jar cookie gift cookbooks I found on Amazon (Affiliate Link) (affilate).

Cookie Baking Gifts

I love making cookies during the holidays. So, we would create plates and hand them out to our neighbors and the kids' teachers. Here is my Cookie Baking Grocery list for those marathon baking sessions.

If you are giving out a bunch of cookies to different people, buy some disposable holiday or clear plates and cover them with Colorful plastic wrap or plastic bowl covers that fit the size of your plate/bowl.

I love to give cookies each year, so giving them on unique cookie plates is a nice touch and shows you care. Here are some cookie plate options they may love from Amazon (Affiliate Link) (affiliate).

Homemade Pasta or Sauce

We have made pasta from scratch and given it out as a favor with tomato sauce (Affiliate Link). Here's one I love to give as a gift with a bottle of homemade tomato sauce. HOMEMADE GNOCCHI RECIPE LIKE MOM MAKES.

If you don't want to cook, you can buy sauce and already-made pasta and add it to a set of pasta bowls (Affiliate Link) or a serving pasta bowl (Affiliate Link). Pick a pasta brand(Amazon (Affiliate Link) Affiliate) you have tried and enjoyed. If they are gluten-free, be sure to take that into account when buying your pasta.

tomato sauce

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Pasta Bowls Set - 30 Ounce Ceramic Plates

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Pasta Bowls, Ceramic Salad Bowls of 6, 32 oz Large

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(Affiliate Link)

I've done this for my nephew, who started living alone. It was a small can of tomato sauce, pasta, and a cute pasta bowl with a gift card for $50.00 from a nearby grocery store. And, he loved it.

Homemade Cakes Gifts

I'm not a baker, but people really appreciate homemade cakes. Bunt cakes and pound cakes are excellent options and can easily be taken with you—there is no need to worry about refrigeration. If you are an avid baker, you can make a special recipe you enjoy to give to others. We made a small panettone cake recipe (an Italian fruit cake) and gave them as gifts. I added a link from a Food Network recipe.

Wine and Beer Gifts

If you do not care for cooking or baking, you may want to share a bottle of wine or a variety pack of beer. Customize the type of wine and beer for each person, or make your own wine and beer and give it as a gift. Check out the beer bread DIY gift idea: A GREAT GIFT IDEA FOR MEN

Create a Heritage Scrapbook

Another no-clutter gift idea will take some time to set up. This one involves gathering all the photos of your loved one's relatives and setting up an album called a Family Heritage Scrapbook (Affiliate Link). Including things like photos of parents and grandparents, plus extended family, works nicely. Check out the one I made for my family.

Food of the Month Clubs

This no-clutter gift idea is great for those last-minute decisions for the loved one who has everything. This is fun for anyone who wants to give a gift all year round.  I posted about this on my sister's blog; click on Gift Ideas for Clients. I found another article online about what food-of-the-month clubs you can give as gifts. 15 Food Of The Month Clubs To Gift Your Food-Loving Friends (So, Everyone) from Delish

Some options for the Food of the Month clubs could be:

Wine
Tea
Coffee
Meat/Cheese
Cheesecake
Dessert
Cookies
Bread
Fruit Baskets
Snack box - great for college students

Membership Clubs

You can also give the gift of membership places. Below is a list of gifts I have given, and they appreciate them.

AAA membership
Audible membership for a year or 6 months - Affiliate link
Children's Museums - like the Please Touch Museum in Philadelphia
Disney+ membership
Science Museums - like The Franklin Institute in Philadelphia
Pennsylvania Horticultural Society
State or National Parks - America the Beautiful - National Parks & Federal Recreational Lands Annual Pass
Pool membership
Gym membership

Give Donations to Nonprofits on behalf of the loved one.

This is a great last-minute gift idea. Donating to a non-profit gift is excellent for people who don't like gifts and don't want them.  It shows you care, but they don't need to receive anything but a piece of paper that says what you have done. Here are some great places to donate this Heifer International - dedicated to fighting world hunger, and Habitat for Humanity-dedicated to helping the homeless. Here's an article for more information: Need a last-minute gift? Make it a charitable one.

Give Experience presents. 

Another no-clutter gift idea is to give the gift of experience. This can be a last-minute gift idea, and many require planning. These are gifts that the recipients can use to do something instead of adding clutter to their homes. Here are some suggestions for this type of gift:

Affordable Gift Ideas

• Movie tickets - The Movie Tavern offers gift cards for their movie theaters for the perfect date night.
• Oil change gift card - Jiffy Lube offers gift cards for auto services.
• Gas gift card- Wawa gift cards, Shell gift cards, and Exxon gift cards
• Video Game Gift card - this could also be online games like Minecraft or Steam.
• Take-out restaurants - Grubhub offers gift cards.

Vacation/Unique Dining Out/Day Trips

• Unique or Theme Restaurant gift cards like Melting Pot (fondue theme restaurant) or Fogo de Chao (Brazilian Steakhouse)
• A Hotel Stay - Hotels.com offers a gift card option to give to others.
• A Moms night out - wine and art night session
• A Girls' night out theme experience
• A Boys' night out theme experience
• Cruise Gift cards - Carnival has gift cards you can buy.
• Theater tickets - Broadway productions - Broadway productions gift cards are available at Broadway.com.
• Ski trip tickets - ski.com and Expedia set up ski vacation packages.
• Spa Day tickets - buy gift cards from SpaFinder and send them via email.
• Sporting events like a major league baseball, hockey, or football game - MLB shop is where you can buy gift cards for baseball games. NFL Shop is the place you can go to find gift cards for football games. NHL Shop is where you can buy gift cards for hockey games.
• Trampoline park tickets - Skyzone is an option if they are near you. They offer memberships too.
• Water park tickets - here are a few options if they are near you. Splashlagoon.com or Camelback Resort.
• Zoo or Aquarium tickets - you can easily get a gift membership to your loved one. The Philadelphia Zoo offers a gift membership.
• Purchase a City Pass in different cities so they can explore the different attractions

Lessons

• Food classes like baking, cake decorating, and cooking - Sur La Table (affiliate) stores offer wonderful cooking classes for the entire family!
• Foreign language classes/lessons
• Learning something new classes from The MasterClass.com site.
• New sports lessons - swimming, tennis, yoga, YMCA membership
• New hobby lessons - voice lessons, guitar lessons, art lessons, photography classes, quilting classes
• Flight lessons - American Flyers offer the gift of flight beginner lessons.

I hope this post gave you some no-clutter gift ideas for the holidays.  Now, you need to organize your holiday gifts; here is a post I wrote about just that. It includes a free checklist (Affiliate Link) to help you manage your gifts.

Now it's your turn. What do you like to give that doesn't create clutter in the recipient's home? Please leave thoughts below. 

Please note the links above are affiliate links through Amazon (Affiliate Link), and at no additional cost to you, I will receive affiliate fees if you click through and decide to make a purchase.

Other gift ideas

Below are some of our other DIY gift ideas posts; feel free to check them out.