Things your Sim collects should go to your Sims inventory, not the family inventory. What kind of things to do you mean exactly.
The gifts are a whole other issue. They are buggy but the latest patch did help with those.
What is your base game version right now ?
To find out, open your launcher and hover over the little base game icon in the lower left part of the launcher. It should say 1.50.
More Details can be found here: http://sims3.crinrict.com/en/2011/01/tutorial-how-to-find-your-game-version.html
For Macs: http://bluebellflora.wordpress.com/the-sims-3-on-a-mac/checking-which-patch-version-youre-running/
