Favorite Gifts

Holiday season is in full swing now, and every year during this time I find myself searching for little gifts to have on hand. I love finding the perfect gifts for people and one of my favorite activities to force on friends in any given year is a white elephant. Here are some of my favorite little gifts to give that I’ve found over the last several years, I hope you enjoy!

3-D cat playing cards. Seriously, how cool are these cards? They were a gift from my husband when we first started dating and it’s probably the first thing he ever bought me. I love playing cards and especially love any sort of crazy cat lady merchandise so these are totally up my alley. These are a great gift for anybody but especially animal lovers – and did you see, the jokers are dogs!

Diptyque candles. Yes I know they are hideously expensive and yes a tiny part of me keeps them on hand in case Anna Wintour ever finds herself in a “Trading Places” kind of situation which involves having to visit my apartment. But Diptyque honestly has some of the best scents out there, and whenever I light a few up before guests come over, they always notice and compliment the fragrances. Plus the packaging and the little glass candle jars ( I keep my empty ones for all kinds of little storage around the house) are beautiful and classic.

Ticket Stub Diary and Travel Stub Diary. I’m a daily journal writer and have kept one since I was young (if you ever want a good laugh and some guaranteed second hand embarrassment  just read one of my pre-teen angst poetry related entries). Shudder. Anyway, I’ve always loved keeping little mementos of all the events and travels I’ve attended and done, but unfortunately most of my little slips (airline stubs, museum passes, etc) end up floating away never to be seen again. Ever since I found these two little diaries though, all my stubs have found a nice place to live, all neatly organized. I can’t wait until I have full books, I think they’ll be so fun to look through!

Amazon Kindle. I’ve written about my Kindle before but seriously, I love it and take it everywhere. It’s the perfect gift for anybody who loves reading (including yourself!).  Mine goes with me everywhere and fits easily in most of my bags. What more can you ask for?

Botanical notebooks. Really, how pretty are these? SO pretty! Years ago I decided that I was only going to use pretty notepads for work (recently I’ve been lazy and have just been re-ordering the same red Moleskines). It’s a little frivolous but I love having some pretty to write in during meetings and they always look beautiful on my desk. I adore these and they are lined paper inside (so many of these pretty notebooks are blank instead of lined).

And there you have some of my favorite gifts to give! I love, love little unusual thoughtful gifts and hope this was helpful to some of you. Please feel free to share some of your favorites in the comments, I’d love to hear them!