Christmas Gifts for the Family That Has Everything (That Actually Get Used)

Every family has one. The one where you ask what they want for Christmas and get "oh, nothing, we're fine." And they are fine. The cupboards are full, the kitchen has every gadget, and last year's candle is still in its box.

Here's the thing I've learned from making a lot of Christmas gifts: the family that has everything isn't short of stuff. They're short of reasons to sit at the same table. So the gifts that work for them aren't more things. They're things that get everyone in the same room, laughing at the same photo, arguing over the same game.

That's how this list is sorted. Not by price, but by what the gift actually does on Christmas Day and after it. Every idea comes with an honest note on when it falls flat, because a gift guide that only lists positives is really just an ad.

Three questions before you buy anything

• Will it come out again next Christmas? If it's used once and stored, it's clutter with wrapping paper.
• Can the whole family use it at once? A gift for one person in a family of six is a gift for one person.
• Could anyone else have given it? If a stranger could've picked it off the same shelf, it needs a personal layer.

A gift that passes all three is rare. Here are the ones that do, plus a few that pass two.

Gifts the whole family uses together

1. A deck of cards made from the family's own photos

Fourteen of the family's best photos, spread across a 54-card deck, with their name or a line of your choosing on the back. It turns up in a tin, and it gets opened after lunch, because somebody always wants to play something once the dishes are done. Then Grandad deals, turns over the four of hearts, and it's a photo of him asleep in a deckchair in 2019. The whole table loses it.

Why it works: it's the one gift on this list that passes all three questions. It comes out every Christmas, every holiday, every wet weekend, and the photos come with it. We make these at Mimies. You send the photos, we design the deck, so it looks like a finished object rather than something laid out in an online editor at midnight. When it falls flat: if all fourteen photos are of the same person. Spread them across the generations, the pets and at least one photo everybody wishes had been deleted.

If you've never ordered custom cards before, our guide to what to check before you order covers card stock, photo choice and the traps with cheaper printers.

2. One good board game, chosen for the youngest and oldest player

Not the game everyone's talking about this year. The game your eight-year-old niece and your 80-year-old nana can both play without a twenty-minute rules explanation. Why it works: it's a two-hour plan for Boxing Day, wrapped. When it falls flat: anything with more than a page of rules, or anything that needs exactly four players when there are eleven of you.

3. A booked day out in the new year

A family lunch, a day at the races, a boat trip, tickets to a show. Booked, with a date, not a voucher. Why it works: December is full, January is empty and everyone's a bit flat. A plan on the calendar gives the family something to look forward to after the tree comes down. When it falls flat: when it's a date half of them can't make. Check two or three people's calendars quietly first, or pick something with a flexible booking.

Gifts made from the family's own story

4. A family recipe book

Get the recipes that only live in someone's head: Mum's trifle, the aunty's pavlova, the stuffing nobody else is allowed to make. Type them up, add a photo of the person who owns each one, get it printed. Why it works: it's the family's history in the form they'll actually use, which is dinner. When it falls flat: when you start in December. Getting recipes out of people takes weeks, so start now.

5. A photo book of one year, not every year

Resist the urge to put forty years into one book. Pick a single year, or a single trip, and tell that story properly. Why it works: a book with a story gets reread, a book with 300 photos in date order gets shelved. When it falls flat: when the layout does all the work and there are no captions. The captions are where the jokes live.

6. A recorded conversation with the grandparents

Sit down with Nana or Grandad, a phone on record, and ask the questions nobody's asked. How they met. Their first house. The worst Christmas they ever had. Get it transcribed or cut into short clips and share it with the family. Why it works: it costs nothing, and it'll be the gift people are most grateful for in twenty years. When it falls flat: when it feels like an interview. Keep it to thirty minutes over a cup of tea, and let them wander off topic.

Gifts that make next Christmas better

7. A camera with no screen, left out on Christmas Day

Put a small digital camera in the middle of the table and let anyone use it. The Mimies camera has no screen, so nobody can check a shot, retake it or delete the unflattering one. You only see the photos when you plug it in later. Why it works: the phones stay in pockets, the photos are honest, and you get the kind of candid shots that never happen when everyone's posing. It also solves next year: the best fourteen shots from this Christmas become next Christmas's deck. When it falls flat: if you want studio-sharp photos. These are grainy and flash-lit on purpose. And someone needs to charge it on Christmas Eve.

8. The start of a family tradition

A Christmas Eve box for the kids (pyjamas, hot chocolate, a film). A photo of the whole family in the same spot every year, framed as the years add up. A trophy for the annual cards tournament with names engraved on it. Why it works: a tradition is a gift that repeats itself without you buying anything else. When it falls flat: when it's too much admin. The best traditions take five minutes a year.

Gifts they'll finish, not store

9. Food from somewhere specific

Not a supermarket hamper. Cheese from the place you stopped on that road trip, coffee from the roaster near their old house, jam from a local market. Why it works: it gets eaten over the holidays, it creates zero clutter, and the story of where it came from is the personal layer. When it falls flat: when it's generic. If it could have come from any shop, it'll feel like it did.

10. Something for the holiday itself

For a summer Christmas: a proper beach umbrella, a new backyard cricket set, an outdoor speaker for the barbecue. For a cold one: good blankets for the couch and a big jigsaw for the dining table. Why it works: it gets used over the break, while everyone's still together. When it falls flat: if it duplicates something they already have. Check the shed first.

What to skip

• Novelty anything. The joke mug is funny for eleven seconds and lives in the cupboard for eleven years.
• Experience vouchers with no date. Most never get used. A booking beats a voucher.
• Things that need a cupboard. The family that has everything has run out of cupboards.
• Gifts for one person pretending to be for everyone. A whisky for Dad is lovely, but it isn't a family gift.

When to order personalised Christmas gifts

Anything personalised takes longer than something off a shelf, and every printer and courier gets slower in December. For our decks, delivery currently takes about two to three weeks door to door in Australia, New Zealand and the UK, and a little longer in the US. Ordering by mid-November means you don't have to think about it again. Order in the first week of December and you're relying on couriers having a good month, which in December they rarely do.

If you're pulling photos together from lots of relatives, start earlier still. Getting fourteen photos out of a family group chat takes longer than making the deck.

FAQs

What do you get a family that has everything for Christmas?

Something they'll use together rather than another object for the cupboard. The best options are shared and personal: a deck of playing cards made from the family's own photos, a board game everyone can play, a booked day out in the new year, or a family recipe book.

What's a good Christmas gift for the whole family?

A gift everyone can use at once and that comes out again next year. Personalised photo playing cards, a simple board game for all ages and a screen-free camera for Christmas Day all pass that test.

What are good personalised Christmas gifts for family?

Photo playing cards with the family's name on the back, a printed family recipe book, a photo book of one year, or a recorded conversation with the grandparents. They work because nobody outside the family could have made them.

How early should I order personalised Christmas gifts?

Aim for mid-November. Personalised gifts take longer to make, and delivery slows across Australia, New Zealand, the UK and the US in December. If you need to collect photos from relatives, give yourself an extra week for that.

Are personalised playing cards a good Christmas gift?

They're one of the few gifts that get used every Christmas after the one they're given. Cards come out after lunch, on holidays and on wet weekends, and the family's photos come out with them. Pick photos across every generation so everyone finds themselves in the deck.

I started Mimies with a deck for my brother when he was living overseas (that story's here), and it's still the gift I'd give a family that has everything. If you've got one in mind, send us your photos and we'll design their deck.