Holiday Gift Guide: Eight Ideas for Everygirl

Gift Guide 2013

I'm honestly not the best gift giver. I've always obsessed over whether or not someone will like something, whether they already have it, or whether they'll throw it away the moment they get home. And if it's someone I don't know particularly well—forget about it. Luckily, I've figured out a few basic gifts that just about any gal—including myself—would be happy to receive.

1. A fancy candle. It's one of those things that most of us are hesitant to buy for ourselves, but that's so nice to have.
2. Pajamas. Who doesn't love a cozy pair?
3. Notebooks. Because it's getting harder and harder to find a page to scribble on these days.
4. Drinkware. Whether they like to sip Moscow Mules or bubbly, choose a vessel that's perfect for their favorite beverage.
5. 2014 Planner. The new year is here. We all need to stay organized.
6. Fancy soap. Again, most people won't spend $8 on a bar of pretty soap, but they'd be happy to receive it.
7. Jewels. This is a bit harder to pick out, but Baublebar always has a bevy of sparkly—and cheap—options.
8. Books. One of the best things to give, I think.

dude gifts.

Guys are so hard to buy for. I know I'm not the only one who thinks this. So since Todd's birthday is a few weeks away, I've started stressing about what to get him. He says his favorite gifts are experiences — trips, an amazing dinner, a major league baseball game — but below are a few things I think most guys (or Todd, at least) would be happy to unwrap.

Dude Birthday by ericajackson

What's been your most successful dude gift? For me, I think it was the ukulele I got Todd for Christmas, but the deep fryer came in at a close second.

wrap stars.

I've been quite the procrastinator this Christmas, waiting until this week to buy most of my gifts. And half of them aren't even wrapped yet. At this point I doubt I'll even put much effort into wrapping, but if I had a little more time, I'd be all about making them so pretty you wouldn't even want to unwrap them.

simple but pretty.

put a name on it.

I love this because it's reusable after unwrapping!

How could you even consider unwrapping these? They're little works of art.

santa's goodies.

1, 2, 3, 4.

1, 2, 3, 4.

I've yet to be bitten by the baby bug (knock on wood), and I think it's because I have so many nieces and nephews to give me my fix. Shopping for presents for them is so much more fun than for anyone else, and Etsy is just full of cute little gift ideas.

What was your favorite Christmas gift when you were little? Mine was probably a microscope (nerd alert!) and the big dollhouse my parents made me.

Speaking of kids, how cute are these ones? That's me and my sister in 1990ish. The funny thing is, I recently thrifted a little brass rocking horse identical to the one on that shelf and it's sitting on my TV table right now.