What I’m getting my friends for the holidays this year [2022]

Every year I struggle with the best format to deliver this quasi-gift guide. Ultimately I just want something that you can scroll through quickly to see if any of my gift ideas resonate with the people on your list, and hopefully this fits the bill!

For a friend:

You’ll notice that I love gifts with repeat uses, like ceramics that they’ll reach for every morning or a sauce they’ll use at least one a week. I also love “treat themselves” gifts — maybe your friend wouldn’t splurge on a particular item, like a fancy lotion or a candle, for themselves but as a gift it’s perfect.

Kitchenware

I love adding one or two nice pieces to my friends’ ceramic’s collection for the holidays and there’s so many great ceramicists to choose from! Shopping from West Elm, Crate and Barrel, and CB2 is also a great idea for gifts. Some of my favorites are the East Fork Pottery Everyday Bowl, Sarah Kersten Petite Bowls, FERM ripple glasses, and CB2 wine glasses. I also love the idea of gifting a fun coffee mug from a local ceramicst, like this wave mug. For a more practical kitchen approach, I’m big on Material Kitchen’s reBoard cutting boards.

Prints

I’d never thought to give a print before until last year, when I received a print for a Christmas gift. This was a print I had been eyeing for a while but had never moved forward with purchasing myself. Since then, I’ve gotten *quite* into collecting prints and love these for gifts: Menminmade Asian Sauces and Poppy Soy Sauce print, Brenda Chi’s MSG Girl print, and Daisy Vibe’s gorgeous watercolor travel prints.

Foods and Drinks

Condiments and sauces are always fun, I continue to love sharing Fly by Jing’s Zhong sauce with people and would not be mad if someone gifted me Graza squeezable olive oil. I’ve recently been into non-alcoholics and continue to be into aperitifs, both of which make fun presents — definitely check out Mommenpop’s aperitifs and Kin Euphorics non-alcoholics.

Other things

This is the random category of other things I think would be fun to gift and also nice to receive! AZN Flush is a drinking card game that’s super fun to play, and they offer a few different pack options depending on how spicy you want to get — it’s a nice addition to anyone game cabinet, and this link gives you 15% off the game. Areaware’s Gradient Puzzles also make a great game cabinet addition.

For some, Aesop products are a household staple, but as I am not yet in that era of my life and still view it as a treat-myself-splurge purchase, I think it makes for a nice treat-themselves present for a friend! Their holiday gift bundle includes hand soap, hand lotion, and sanitizer and is a pretty reasonable price point. As for other nice home furnishings, I’ve been tempted to get this candle warmer lamp for myself or an essential oil diffuser.

For my parents:

With my parents, I’m 100% in the practical gift-giving era. Upgrades of things they have or splurgey items that will make their day to day better or easier. And given how much time they spend in the kitchen, especially post covid, upgrading cooking and kitchenware with a Fellow Electric Kettle and a Made In Carbon Steel Wok was a no-brainer.

Last holiday season, we got my dad an Autonomous Ergonomic Office Chair because he’s worked from home since 2020 but has never upgraded his chair situation. He didn’t want to spend too much money on a chair and told us that if we bought one for him, he’d refuse to use it. Lo and behold… we bought it for him and he refused to use it for 3 months!!! until we moved it into his office and threw out his old chair lmao. Stubborn dads smh. This holiday season I’m contemplating a Bissell steam mop or a Dyson cordless vacuum cleaner but.. that seems almost too practical? I’m very positive my mom would love it though!