The holiday season is here and usually I’m a little on the bah humbug side, but this year I’m all for bottling up all the joy we can handle! I’m the type of person who likes to get my holiday shopping done early so I don’t stress or worry about having to get last-minute things. I do a lot of my shopping online, so when I shop in stores I can really enjoy the whole experience. The decorations are so spectacular this time of year if you’re there to just enjoy the magic. Over the next few weeks, I’ll be putting out my gift guides and I hope they’ll help you find some unique and thoughtful presents. I have some from past years that might still help you if you’re looking for some Seattle local goods or other things.
Today, I’m starting you out easy with some things I buy to keep around the house for the holidays just in case I need an impromptu gift, a gift for a teacher or a hostess gift. The key to this kind of gift is the bag, or wrap you use for them. I do keep an assortment of bags and other wrapping accessories around the house for this time of year. Target usually has some fun gift bags and I spotted these fill your own Mason Jar containers that look adorable too!
I was also sent something really ingenious for wrapping gifts too! I love that these Lilywrap stretchy gift wrap bags are reusable and can be used to quickly wrap my odd-shaped gift selections nicely.
I use a lot of soap and love handsoaps that have nice packaging. I was sent these Method Home soaps from their holiday soap collection and I like that they are reasonably priced, smell good and have a modern, clean design that looks nice in my bathroom. The Rebecca Atwood collection online looks really pretty and I really love the Orla Kiely styles too. I love that soaps that are a consumable good that people can use and be done with so they don’t clutter their lives.
I also like books as gifts. This Flora Forager book made by a Seattle artist is a journal but also has gorgeous floral art inside and I love all the whimsical collages that Bridget Beth Collins creates. This book pairs nicely with soap and chocolates as a care package or with a nice pen. For pens we love the Pilot Frixion pens in our house because they are erasable and write really smoothly- we used to only find them in Japan but we’ve had luck buying them on Amazon lately too.
If you’re going to buy chocolate and you want it to do some good, Seattle Chocolates Jcoco brand gives a serving of food for every chocolate bar sold and the chocolate I’ve pictured uses coffee flour, an ingredient I’m really curious about made from coffee and it’s supposed to have some kind of nutritional value. The extreme dark truffle bar Seattle Chocolates makes also gives 100% of net profits to fight women’s breast cancers so this is a gift that gives in so many ways. Finally if you use social media and tag #chocolategives from November 1st -December 31st Seattle Chocolates donates to Northwest Harvest, and Boston, NYC and SF food banks and I love companies that help their communities so of course I’m totally loving this brand.
There is also something to be said for giving every-day useful things as presents because they’re things that get used up and allow people to try things they might not usually try. I have some gluten-free family members who appreciate things like this gluten-free muffin mix from Bob’s Red Mill. I also have a lot of Canadian friends and family who love Trader’s Joes and I can’t believe how many pumpkin spice things they have right now so I always grab a few new-to-me products that look unusual or fun. Have you tried these pumpkin spice toaster pastries????!! So over the holiday season I collect these things while I shop and plan to put them in baskets or bags. A friend a long time ago brought over a giant box of toilet paper as a funny hostess gift and it was such a thoughtful thing, I just bought a bunch of “Who Gives A Crap? individually packaged toilet paper rolls that give toilets to places that don’t have them to stick in some holiday gifts too.
I love that in nice packaging anything can make a great present, especially if it’s thoughtful and something that you or your recipient loves.
Do you have any go to gifts for the holiday season? And I’m so curious if you shop online or in stores.
(PS. I did receive some of the products above for review purposes but the thoughts and opinions on my blog are my own.)
Terumi Pong is a Seattle-based family travel writer and mom of twin teenage boys. She loves coffee and pastries, shopping local and looking for greener ways to live. She is also known as Scout’s mom (Scout is a 5ish pound little black yorkie-poo)