Looking for the perfect gift for someone who really loves your culinary specialty? Give them the recipe. You can package it up with something you use to make the dish such as a wooden spoon or your super-secret ingredient.
Or maybe your recipient has a weakness for a particular type of candy. Get an old-fashioned candy jar and fill it, Mendelsohn says. "It's the most colorful gift in the world."
And if the kids in your family have never seen a $2 bill -- or, like many people, don't even know they're being printed -- that can make a fun gift.
"Get them a couple of $2 bills and a couple of gold dollars," Mendelsohn says. And, best of all, you should be able to find them at your bank.