Unexpected and Thoughtful Gifts for Everyone on Your List

We stayed at this modern tree house over Thanksgiving weekend. Just search for treehouses on AirBNB and you’ll be delighted what you find.

I like the idea that COVID won’t permeate every aspect of our lives, especially when it comes to the holiday season. Based on conversations with clients and friends, it’s clear that trying to find the ideal gift often also means considering how that relates to our current very strange state of being. As a personal stylist for women, I often tell people that my job is to “see” people. When I meet a new client, I listen to her and try to see what she sees as her aspirational style. Then, using her budget, body type, lifestyle and personal style, I translate that into a strategy to help her embrace her authentic personal style. Uber Wishlists are a solid representation of how I translate her words into actual items. This, my Dear Reader, is essentially spending 8 years of my professional life gifting.

The holiday season is my time to shine. Here are my favs this year. I hope they help you go beyond the gifts of holidays past. Enjoy!

Memorable Gifts for Everyone on Your List

For your Parents

an Airbnb weekend away

I LOVE this gift for the people in your life who have everything they need. If your parents have spent the last couple of years mostly at home, it’s time to help change things up. Head over to AirBNB and find a getaway they they’d adore. Keep it simple and choose something within a reasonable drive from their house and filter for their preferences. Would they like a night out, great restaurants or a private getaway. Present them with a printout of the location with amenities and let them choose the date(s) that are ideal. You’ve done the research and pick up the tab.

This might be ideal on their own or perhaps a weekend away with you or another friend or family member will hit the spot. Just think about what would mean the most (and is possible within the next few months).

A Year in the Life Video and Photo Collection

If your parents live far away from the grandkids, the past couple of years have likely been especially challenging. That’s why I was ELATED when my favorite photographer, Chamonix Browne, shared her recent offering. She will meet up with your family every month over the course of the year to take photos and video. Then, she compiles these digital memories together for a stunning and emotional package that can be shared with your out of the area family as well as an artifact for you.

A Video compilation of your family or friends

If you are looking to get creative on your own, consider making a video for someone you love, like the video I posted up top. My husband made that for me using videos from our phones and imovie.

For Parents of Young or School Aged Kids

A break

For any parent of a child 5-12, December, 2021 will go down in history as the month when their little one could finally get vaccinated. For folks who aren’t in that situation, it’s easy to forget that kids in this age range have likely spent the last two years at home, at outdoor playdates or masked at school and various activities. It’s highly likely that those kids haven’t seen the inside of another child’s bedroom or even house since early 2020. There’s a strong possibility that these parents haven’t had a babysitter or a sleepover since then, either. For the first year or so of the pandemic, when anyone would ask me what I wanted for Christmas, I would say, “a walk with my husband.” At that point, our son was too young to be home solo and without vaccines, he wasn’t heading into any house that wasn’t ours. So, if there’s a parent in your world from this affected group and you are vaccinated, offering to give the kid a change of scenery and his/her/their parents a break is the greatest gift you can give.

If the parents in your world have kids under 5, they are still deep in it. So, check to see their comfort level with babysitting. Even entertaining the little one outside while his/her/their parents head off to a matinee could be a game changer. And, it’s free.

For Your Crafty Friend or Family Member

A Project and/or Video Course from the Crafter’s Box

If there’s someone crafty in your world, you likely think about getting him/her/them a random craft supply every year. Yarn? Canvas? Maybe just a gift card from Michael’s will do, I guess. No, my friend! There’s something MUCH more exciting. Say hello to The Crafter’s Box. Think Portland meets Martha Stewart. Personally, I get so excited to make things, only to discover that I don’t actually want to keep them because they don’t fit my aesthetic. The Crafter’s Box solves that with hip, fun, unexpected projects. Choose from subscriptions to individual projects and digital classes.

For the Vegetarian/ Vegan/ Hipster/ Foodie/ Environmentalist in your Crew

Local Foods Wheel

I bought one last Christmas as a stocking stuffer for my husband (Full disclosure: it does not fit into a stocking) and have been purchasing them like a crazy person ever since. This lovely wheel is about the size of a vinyl record and illustrates the local foods by month. Purchase the appropriate wheel for the geographic area for the giftee and listen to their praise of your thoughtful gifting throughout the year.

Click and Grow Smart Garden

Another big winner from last Christmas, we’re paying this one forward by picking it up for a chosen family member or two. Empower that special someone to effortlessly, and I mean effortlessly, grown herbs, flowers or vegetables throughout the year inside the house. There’s nothing like wandering over to your low maintenance herb garden in the dead of winter to snip some sage for your meal.

For the Twenty Something Urbanite

Knockout Ring

When our niece was set to move to Montreal for college, it was time for the Knockout Ring. This very cool lucite or metal ring has a minimalist, unexpected design that’s just right for that stylish someone. If that isn’t enough, it’s also a self defense weapon, if needed. Poplin clients get a poplin25 to take 25% off your order.

For your Vaccinated Friends

A Sleepover

I listened to a conversation between Maria Shriver and Oprah once. They referenced one of their sleepovers. I will never forget it. Why do we have sleepovers when we visit a friend out of town, but not with our loved ones who are closer geographically? We live on the north end and we have friends on the south end. When our kids were small, we’d just plan a family sleepover to spend time together. Those sleepovers were crazy fun, much less stressful than driving back and forth and created lovely opportunities for deeper conversations and a whole lot more fun. So, give the gift of a sleepover to another family or friend that you’ve been missing lately. It’s another present that doesn’t cost a thing and you’ll wonder who is giving and who is receiving here.

The Twelve Days of Christmas

We’re social creatures and spending too much time isolated is rough on invdividuals and pretty hard on society, too. As I said to a friend the other day, “I feel like so many people are cracking.” If this rings a bell and your friend or family member would REALLY appreciate a big party but doesn’t feel now is the time, consider multiple smaller parties instead. I vote for the 12 (or whatever number speaks to you) days of Christmas/ Hanukkah/ Kwanza/ etc. Commit to a small gathering of folks to perk up their holiday season. Yes! You sure could host 12 different small gatherings. But, you could also ask friends to join in the festivities by hosting their own small gatherings to increase the number of people feeling included and loved this holiday season. Of course, you’ll want to check with everyone about masks and tests, etc. but you know all of that. Here’s the thing: some version of this is likely to be around for a very long time. So, if you want to reach out to a friend, there’s no time like the present.

For the Eternal Giver

Walk and Talk

Few things decrease stress as much as a good old fashioned walk and talk. Schedule some time to meet your loved one to chit chat while seeing the outside world. Be sure to account for the shorter days this time of year, when scheduling. It’s free. It’s great for brain development and for your relationship.

Some auto-recurring self care

Whether you know one or you are one or both, the eternal givers out there have been depleted this year. We often think to gift a massage or a pedicure to this person in our life, and to be clear, that is a SOLID idea. For holiday 2021, consider going a step further with an automatically recurring gift. Yes, your thoughtful self care gift is technically the gift, but really, the gift of not needing to schedule is a gift that keeps on giving. Some forms of self care can be at least partially covered by insurance: think acupuncture, massage, therapists. So, just getting the ball rolling for a friend or loved one is the gift. You can also pick up value packs online and take it to the next level by scheduling a monthly recurring appointment that can be changed.

Services that actually decrease her workload

You’re going to want to trust your instincts on this one, because these gifts get pretty personal. But, there are few things that can bring more joy than discovering a chore you were planning to do is no longer on your to-do list. My favorite examples include paying a housecleaner to take a load off, giving a gift certificate for a local fluff and fold laundromat so she can skip laundry for a week or two, ordering a healthy pre-made dinner for the family so she can skip cooking a few times a week. Tutoring for a child helps the parent and the kid. Getting the gutters cleaned, helping to put up a fence, offering to watch the dog when your friend goes out of town, all of these are stressors that can weigh down the ones you love. The massage feels amazing, but it only works if she didn’t visualize her responsibilities multiplying while she was on the table.

For the person missing the gym now that they work from home

Support from virtual personal trainer, Casey LaFran

The general consensus is that working from home, at least part of the time, has some real advantages. Celebrating more time with the family and less time in the car does not preclude us from acknowledging that this new arrangement also brings some challenges, especially when it comes to exercise. I’m a big fan of the virtual personal trainer. Our family adores Seattle-based Casey LaFran. Casey comes for one home visit to help establish a reasonable routine and then the virtual relationship evolves from there. (In person visits are optional for an additional fee.) We pay a monthly fee for Casey’s services with no obligation and ongoing access. Each week, Casey sets up a new personalized fitness routine and tracks his client’s progress via a fitness tracker. If someone in your life needs an accountability partner with ideas and expertise around fitness, this is an incredibly helpful gift.

For that Someone Who Could Use a Good Laugh

Campy Wrapping Paper… or socks

I cannot get enough of this. Our niece is a big Harry Styles fan. So, I searched for Harry Styles Christmas wrapping and found some! It’s incredible and so hilarious that I was tempted to put it on gifts for my father in law and other folks who likely don’t even know who Harry Styles is.

Last year, my husband ordered socks for our son with photos of our cats all over them. Again, hilarious. Sometimes, it’s best to just go with your imagination and Google. You’d be shocked what’s out there.

For the

Last, but certainly not least, for the woman who wants to love getting dressed again or for the first time

A Poplin Style Gift Certificate

Photo shoots are fun. Updating your look is fun. It can all be fun, productive and long lasting with Poplin. Check out all the details for holiday gifting here.

I’m sure you can tell that I can do this all day…. For now, let’s hope it inspires your gift giving. Enjoy yourself. Happy Holidays.

P.S. Did you know you can enter to win a $500 gift card from Poplin Style?! Now’s the time. Details here.