As the old adage goes, ’tis better to give than to receive.

Giving can become a bitter burden, however, when it’s a week away from Christmas and without presents for the most important people in your life.

It’s easy to procrastinate, or even panic, when every idea you have just doesn’t seem good enough. Thinking outside of the box proves much more difficult when you’re under pressure to put something worthy in a box. To help out, below you will find more than 50 ideas for gifts and stocking stuffers.

Give an experience

Give a niece or nephew a coupon for a day to hang out doing a few chosen activities. Let them pretend to drive your car. Tell them funny stories about their parents. Make it a day they’ll never forget. Spending time, not just money, is how you can really show you care.

Buy your in-laws tickets to an opera or your spouse tickets to a Ducks or Blazers game.

Set your teenager up with a day of Paint Ball ($55 cloud9living.com) or a bungee-jumping experience over the Crooked River (Central Oregon Bungee Adventures, oregonbungee.com).

Give your college-aged kid a gas card for a summer road trip.

Agree to ballroom dancing classes with your wife or take her to the Columbia Gorge for a guided vineyard tour ($140, cloud9.com).

Find private music lessons for a budding musician.

Give your wife and your mother a day to remember together: a five-hour luxury spa experience at Spa W ($390/person).

Present a project

In the old days, this meant macaroni necklaces from the little ones. Today, in the digital age, we can quickly create projects that are a surprise to the receiver and a gift they can view or experience over and over again. From a simple slideshow with music to a hard-bound photo album with quotes to a short “documentary” film with you as the narrator.

Pull together pictures of the year you met your spouse, the happy childhood of your now hormonal teenagers or use a video-editing tool to make a movie showcasing the recitals, sports highlights and favorite family videos of the past year to give to grandparents. Wrap a note in a present that says, “let the show begin,” or another clever lead-in and be ready with the screen close at hand.

Show you care with consumables

These are for the people on your list who seem to have every “thing” they would ever want, such as grandparents, in-laws or parents, even kids whose toy boxes runneth over.

Instead of giving something people need to keep and store, give gifts they will enjoy right away, use up and be done with in a week or two. Specialty foods, condiments or spices for the foodie in your life or fancy skin care products for a teenage daughter or someone who wouldn’t or couldn’t splurge on these items. For kids, think of art supplies that are used up quickly, such as bathtub paints or sidewalk chalk. And of course there’s always candy — just pick something impressive like a five-pound chocolate Santa or a giant jaw-breaker that’s bigger than their jaw.

Impress with intangibles

Did you know you can buy an acre on the moon or even Mars? ($29.99 lunarland.com)? What about buying the grandkids a star they can name themselves, complete with a star chart and guide to astronomy ($39.99 from buymars.com)? This is another gift that fits into my avoidance-of-stuff-and-things policy, while also being a complete surprise to the receiver. Everyone loves receiving a present that goes beyond the norm.

Make them the giver

Buy them a Kiva Card — a gift that, literally, keeps on giving. Kiva is an organization that matches entrepreneurial but needy people in over 70 countries with people who want to loan them money to go to school, start businesses or otherwise better their lives. That’s right, I said loan. This means the money you spend on a gift could be paid back, and your friend or family member will able to use this money again and again to help real people make real changes. You choose the dollar amount — as little as $25 — and the recipient of the Kiva Card can go onto Kiva.org and search through the stories and people until they choose who to make their first loan to. Everyone wins.

The harder-to-buy for crowd

The Tile tracking device uses a phone finder app to digitally show the location of anything to which the Tile is attached. It’s great for almost anyone, but especially the forgetful person on your list. Attach a tile to your keys or purse and use your phone to find them instantly ($25/tile, or buy a 12-tile multipack for just $15/tile to give to everyone on your list).

Beer-brewing kits are about $100 from The Brew Shop and Kombucha kits are sold at Newport Market for $14.99. For $40, you can buy a gift certificate for a Kombucha class at Humm Kombucha, which includes a SCOBY for their first home batch.

The Water Garden is a small, self-cleaning fish tank that grows food with a closed-loop ecosystem where the beta fish feeds the plants and the plants clean the water. Best of all, it fits right on the counter or a desk. Kids will fall in love with their beta fish (not included) and adults will enjoy having fresh organic herbs or salad greens year-round ($59.99 backtotheroots.com).

Another hit with kids is the Root-Vue Farm, a planting box with an acrylic window to observe the roots as they grow, complete with seeds, grow mix and plant identification labels.

With a molecular gastronomy set, your favorite foodie friend will get to experiment with the fancy techniques they’ve seen on top cooking shows: Encapsulate flavors into bursting beads, use suspension to defy gravity, emulsify or use gelification to create foams, pearls or other unique forms to show off their new-found knowledge ($49.95 www.molecule-r.com).

Sampler packs or gift baskets can follow just about any theme, whether you buy them as a set or put one together yourself. A collection of five gourmet mustards might be nice for a condiment-lover or an assortment of sponges, squeegees and Armorball products for a new driver.

I like to put together baskets with a note that reads: “A few of your favorite things” and then fill it with items demonstrating how well I know the person. A yoga buff may get a new mat, mat cleaner, yoga toes slippers and a new yoga outfit. A craft beer lover may get a collection of hard-to-find 22-ounce bottled beers with a set of pint or pilsner glasses. A crafty niece may get a bead set with some beading wire, a bead organizer and some fasteners.

The point is to make it about them, and show you’ve paid attention to their likes and dislikes.

Personalized presents

A kid would be delighted to unwrap a personalized story book where his name is featured as the main character (prices vary, iseeme.com). Or how about personalized M&M’s? You can print words or pictures of your choice on the classic candies (prices vary, mymms.com).

“Uncle Rick Presents” are presents you give kids that will make their parents grimace but make the children squeal with excitement. My Uncle Rick was famous for presents like fireman hats complete with full-volume fire sirens and the various NERF weapons he’d instruct us to use to shoot our dad out of winter snoozes. A Marshmallow Bow and Mallow fits the bill, designed for indoor use with a bow that shoots marshmallows as ammo ($15 on amazon.com). A Wham-O Arctic Blast Snow Ball Blaster makes it easy to get the kids outside to play in the powder ($60 amazon.com). A children’s coloring book that’s sure to get a rise out of adults but win over children: “Unicorns Are Jerks,” a coloring book by Theo Nicole Lorenz.

Over-the-top gifts

Over-the-top presents are what you give when you want to make a huge impression. A Fighter Pilot For a Day experience is a once-in-a-lifetime memory maker ($1,395 cloud9living.com). For the kids, splurge on a pair of Razor brand Dirt Rocket Electric Motocross Bikes ($399 each on amazon.com).

Games have always been a common gift under the tree, but look for something uncommon this year: Jenga XL is three times bigger than the original ($19.99 toysrus.com). The backyard mallet-and-wicket game croquet is enjoying a comeback, but don’t buy just any cheap set. Look for a cool vintage one on eBay (around $100) or buy a fancier set that comes with a case ($199 L.L.Bean).

Roommate presents can be both serious and worthy of a laugh, like the Original Fridge Locker ($19.95 amazon.com), a plastic “cage” with a combination lock so they can keep their last beer or their leftovers safe from, well, you. Or how about some bathroom reading for the stinker who forgets to turn the fan on? The book “What’s Your Poo Telling You?” by Anish Sheth should get your point across.

“_____ of the month clubs” are one of my favorite gifts to receive. Whether it’s beer, bourbon or coffee of the month for him or a candle, chocolate or vodka of the month for her, these presents are gifts that keep on giving (prices vary, clubsgalore.com).

Gift certificates can feel like a cop out, but when you consider the recipient’s tastes, it becomes personal and very appreciated. Prepay a coffee card at their favorite coffee shop or buy a gift certificate for their favorite department store, home improvement store or online retailer.