Pattico - Found this. All the sites I found used silk petals. Hope it's helpful. "Buy silk rose petals (the kind used at weddings), or you can buy them on the stem and clip them off the stem. Melt about 1/2 cup of clear glycerin soap base. When melted, add whatever scent you have on hand (approximately 20 drops or until you achieve the desired fragrance. I like to use a Rose Garden fragrance. Using a pair of tweezers, dip rose petals in the melted glycerin soap. Dip one at a time, shaking off the excess soap, and place the petal on waxed paper to dry. As they start to dry, gently turn them over to keep them from getting a glob of soap underneath them." This was another site that told how to make them: http://www.candlesupply.com/how2soappetals.html

I have three of these brothers. Christmas is always a fun time. (Not.) Does he have Netflix or Hulu Plus? You can give him several months of streaming video, if he likes to watch TV. A "luxury" brand of something he uses often? Like gourmet coffee or chocolate or nachos? If he has a favorite movie or TV show, something related to that? I knitted one brother a Doctor Who scarf last year and he loved it. Even though he's not into gadgets, what about one of those emergency radios? The ones with a flashlight and charging port, that run on batteries but can also be hand-cranked. Nearly everyone has power outages at some point, and needs some emergency gear. Two places I've found good gifts for my brothers: Restoration Hardware and ThinkGeek. Check out RH's gift section--look at the stocking stuffers. There are a lot of ideas there. ThinkGeek does have a lot of techy stuff, but there's some useful home gadgets there as well. In addition to a cat hammock that my cats just love. (Would he like a gift for the cats?) It's a good place for outside-the-box gifts. Granted, he is probably not going to want the Zombie Apocalypse Garden Gnomes, but they have a lot of iPhone and iPad accessories, desk/office stuff, and a lot of things related to coffee and bacon, which a lot of guys seem to like.

I think sometimes the Scrooge in me might be coming out too often. Or maybe it's the pragmatic part of me. I'm getting more and more convinced that sometimes it's far more thoughtful to *not* give a gift, er, trinket. Many good points here. But a couple thoughts. First, if people are truly trying to declutter, the trinket stuff has got to stop. And much has to go. Some are concerned about overfilled landfills, waste of resources, etc. Second is privacy, security and junkmail. I'd be upset if someone subscribed me to a magazine and gave out a lot of personal information which they often require. When I send for things I use name variations so I can tell who's selling my name, address & phone # to other sources. Magazines are notorious for selling mailing lists. You'll commit that person to a lot of junk mail. At least, I'd see what their opinion is of it before doing that and maybe let them fill out the card. I know about the difficulty of throwing out something that's been personalized. I had a gift once of a fold out frame with pictures and a clock. I didn't need another clock but put it on the desk. Eventually the clock and frame both broke so I tossed it. And was put on the dew-dew list when she saw it was gone. Course this is the same gal who kept giving me clothes that were too small. (Was it a hint?? LOL) What a waste! Hard to throw but I eventually gave a big stack to charity. I would have rather had a case of beer or a home-cooked meal. I've been doing much more of the give a gift when I find the perfect thing at any time of year. Pay for a cell phone for a while, pick up the tab at dinner, nice bottle of wine, get a snowplow, or lawn mowing service for a while, etc. Pet food if they have pets (cat litter for a cat is also great) or possibly pick up some energy saving bulbs if they're trying to cut their electric bill. Weatherstripping items would be a great gift if needed, and help doing it would be much appreciated too. A gift doesn't have to be something that clutters. And sometimes instead of costing as time goes on (as in an electric clock they don't need) it can save them some funds (for example, the CFL bulbs). If a gift can truly keep giving, that's great in my book. And through the year I keep notes if I see that they need or truly WANT something. Watch for a deal on it and enjoy the smile. And I smile that I didn't compound their feelings on things like clutter, waste, etc.

I would not give a food gift to someone who sells food - either you buy the food from him (and then are giving him something he already has) or you buy it from one of his competitors, and that might be offensive. If someone gave me a Starbucks gift card, I would regift it. If you live in a small village there might not even be a Starbucks where you live. In fact, I regift all gift cards that I receive. Personally, I think that cash is the best gift in this case, as it will be the most useful gift. You can put it in a very nice card and hand write a personal note to tell him how much you appreciate him. If I were the store owner, this would mean to most to me. I see this as somewhat like giving a tip, as you might to your pool maintenance person or house cleaner.