A Gift Guide For Someone Who Is Exactly Like Me

I adore Tiny Tags’ personalized jewelry, and own a whole bunch of it. It’s just perfect: Beautiful and stylish and so well-made. (My children’s names are not Austin and Bowen; this is a shot by Diane Mizota for the Tiny Tags video I shot earlier this year, and which remains one of the loveliest and most intimate projects I’ve ever worked on.)

My personal favorite idea, if you’re not a wear-your-children’s-names-on-your-person kinda gal: Pick a word that means something to you, and only you. I, for example, have a Tiny Tags necklace that I double up to wear as an anklet…and what is the name on it?

Stella.

…

…

…’Cause I got my groove back. (Sorry.)

This is the single most beautiful gift I can imagine giving to…anyone, I suppose. Certainly anyone who you wish you knew more about.

How Storyworth works: The gift recipient gets sent a question each week for a year – you can use their suggested questions, or customize them however you like – and their answer is shared with you. And then, at the end of the year, they receive a bound book with every story they’ve written.

I only wish that this had been around when my grandparents were alive; the stories I can imagine they might have shared, if only I’d asked.

Christmas, IMO, is not complete without a new set of pajamas and a new pair of slippers. These sheepskin slip-ons are totally my Platonic Ideal Of Slippers, what with the covered toes and the cozy lining and the dark grey that hides the fact that I definitely just spilled coffee on them.

You know that person in your life who is impossible to shop for? This is what you need to get them: A custom paint-by-numbers kit featuring an image that you think will speak to them personally (tip: steal it from their Instagram). The gift is both functional (wall art!) and fun (painting!) and therapeutic (painting!). I cannot tell you how much I enjoy my nightly painting sessions (and yes, I’m still working on the one pictured here. It’s BIG, yo).

Oh my god, this book is so good. It’s a crazy, topical story that reads like a spy thriller. Everybody will like it.

(Well, OK, not your Uncle Fred who thinks Devin Nunes is speaking God’s truth. But everyone else.)

Sunglasses – like shoes – are one of those things that depreciate immediately upon purchasing. Which is why sunglasses- like shoes – are an item I buy almost exclusively from TheRealReal: They have virtually every style you’ve ever dreamed of, and cost a fraction of what you’d pay for a new pair. Por ejemplo, I cannot afford Linda Farrow sunglasses like the ones pictured here. But can I afford Linda Farrow sunglasses from TheRealReal?

Oh, I can.

(And they usually come with the case, dustbag, etc, so your gift recipient won’t be shortchanged in that department.)

Baublebar has an incredible selection of massive statement earrings happening at the moment – and they’re all vastly more affordable than they look (because Baublebar). I’m obsessed with these pink resin dahlias – they’re over 3″ long and are the kind of thing you build an entire outfit around.

Another personal favorite: The sunflower safety pins also pictured above.

But really, I love them all. Like literally all.

While we’re on the topic of Baublebar, here is the very most emininetly giftable piece on their site: This six-piece rainbow ear cuff set, which you can mix and match as you wish, and which is inexplicably on sale for just FOURTEEN DOLLARS right now.

It is so embarrassing to say that these things have changed my life, but you know what? They did. Because I have suffered from a case of The Terrible, Horrible, No-Good Nails for my entire life, and everything I’ve tried to make them look all lovely and long and elegant (gels, acrylics, serums, whatever) has failed me.

And now? I spend $14 and get a set of press-on nails that are stunning, come in a variety of 1000% natural-looking shapes, and pop off after a week or so with next-to-no damage to your nails…and they can be re-used. And so now I spend a fraction of what I used to spend on manicures, and I have the kind of nails that people stop you in the street to exclaim upon (this is a real thing; it happens to me now).

For some inexplicable reason, given that I have been an insomniac for the greater part of my life, I do not yet own a weighted blanket.

Wait…ok, the reason is that weighted blankets – or at least the ones I’ve encountered – tend to be kinda…ah…ugly. And I am a fancypants about my bedding situation.

Enter: Bearaby’s Napper. While most weighted blankets are filled with glass or plastic beads, Bearaby’s weight comes entirely from knit layers of sustainable cotton, cooling Tencel, or  velvet (each material comes in a 15-, 20-, and 25-pound version). Instead of a therapy device, it just looks like a handmade, chunky throw blanket.

P.S. LOVE the yellow.

This falls into the category of “Things I never knew existed, and now adore.” Snarklets makes engraveable bracelets, key rings, tokens, pet ID tags, and so forth, but my favorite product of theirs is the Wallet Card. I had one made with a quote that I want to keep in mind always, wherever I go…and then I had a bracelet with the same quote made for my son. He wears it always. Everywhere he goes.

These structured handbags are perfection…and while I’d ordinarily say “get the red!” I feel like mayyyyybe the emerald green is the way to go here.

I don’t know how it is possible that I don’t already own one or 70 of these.

ADORE.

(They come in different colors and different positions, including “rock on,” “fingers crossed,” “OK,” and the ever-popular “F you.”)

An everyday, everywhere, all the time convertible day bag – with way more personality than your average tote.

I’m obsessed with Tetra’s elegant stick lighters. One in every room of the house, please.

Ummmmm……….

It me.

My car smells like feet. My son’s feet, specifically. I need this. (Also these llama diffusers are very extra.)

P.S. I don’t know where to put this, but a llama-shaped emery board exists.

When I spent a couple of days in Occidental this fall, I stumbled into the most wonderful boutique, Boho Bungalow – and fell in love with…well, everything they sold. But especially these oversized brass earrings.

Every time I go into Urban Outfitters to sign my books (which I do far too often; whatever, it’s fun), I hover around these blankets, petting them and trying to convince myself I don’t need one. They feel like an actual hug.

I cannot decide which I love more: These nesting ceramic measuring cups, or the matching pinch pots. (And if you’re thinking ‘Who in their right mind would ever require something called a pinch pot?’…the answer is ‘me.’ I own a couple of much-less-cute ones, and use them constantly for both cooking and serving.)

This roll-on perfume smells like the actual beach. It’s incredible, for real. It’s also made with avocado oil and coconut oil, and is paraben and phthalate-free, so you can feel virtuous while also smelling delicious.

At my new place there is a very long, narrow porch situation that is screaming out for a couple of these. Naps by the sea, yes.

You need this. Everybody you know needs this. I wrote the thing, and even I need it.

Holidays, wheeeeee.