Christmas Gift Ideas Part 1: For Women.

No one wants to give a gift that will end up in the dreadful back of the closet to be regifted or forgotten. Or the other extreme, to be labeled “gift card Garrett”, you know the person who gives gift cards for everything year after year. Besides gift cards are out this year as most people are still not comfortable with sitting in a restaurant or shopping in a store. No worries, this year for you, gift-giving is sure to be a hit after you read this article. Here are some gift ideas for the women in your life, your mother, your wife, girlfriend, co-worker, boss, or for a woman you don’t know well. I have everything broken down into 3 categories: general gifts, everlasting gifts, and unique gifts. This is part one of the segment on gift-giving. Stay tuned because I will have men gift ideas next. No need to cover kid gifts because they are going to tell you what they want anyway. I know I did when I was a kid. It was August and I already had my Santa list ready and waiting.

General gifts are gifts that can be given to anyone and they will love them. I will talk about 3 general gift ideas you can give to a woman no matter her role in your life and she will love them. The first general gift idea is candles. Make sure you stick to candles that have a general scent. As in, a scent that is liked by most. Most people like a candle with a vanilla based scent. I would branch out to more of the other smells if you know for a fact that the person likes the scent.

If you don’t know where to start check out the scents from BRX Candles. My favorite scent from BRX Candles is “Love Notes”. The sweet aromas from the “Love Notes” candle dances around the room and up your nose that is sure to have your guest asking how and where did you get that scent from? The candles come in a nice glass jar with a lid for safekeeping when not in use. There is even a sweet note from the owner saying thank you for your purchase. One last thing that I would like to mention is they have an FYI section on their website dedicated to candle care to ensure a long-lasting burn for your candle and a surprise two for one use for the candle. Not only do they make your whole house smell fantastic, but they double as a moisturizer for your skin! A fine bonus for all my budget-nistas and something you will not get with your Yankee Candle.

These candles are such a hot ticket item that the majority of their candles are sold out at the moment, so check back towards the end of September. We still have plenty of time before Christmas and I wanted to get this article out as soon as possible to help with your quest in gift-giving. I promise to update this article as soon as they replenish but you can follow them on their Instagram page @brxcandles to get notifications the minute they come back in stock.

Now that we discussed candles for the inside of the home, don’t forget about outdoor candles. This one pictured below is a great smelling outdoor candle by Torched Products. It is presented in a cutoff beer growler and is a cute decorative touch to any outdoor space. I stick to Sierra Trading Post to get the big 28oz ($39.99) ones for half price. If you sign up for their email subscription list, you can even get FREE shipping on your first order. I own a few of them and better believe these outdoor growler candles keep those pesky mosquitos away.

The next general gift idea is something we all need nowadays and goes with half of the term R&R. The relaxation. Between worldly events and the coronavirus, we can all use a nice hot bath with some great bath bombs or bubble bath to pour in our tubs.

I absolutely love these bath bombs and they are a must-have. They come in other scents as well. Don't forget while you are there if you haven't already sign up for their email list and get 15% off of your order. If you score this during a time where they are running their 10% off curbside store pick up special, even better! Besides smelling great the jasmine-scented bath cube has an enzyme that places your body in the ultimate relaxation space. I’m telling you as soon as I was done with my bath and my head hit the pillow I was out and felt like a brand-new person the next day. You won’t be disappointed. Try these out and let me know what you think below.

The last great general gift idea, especially for a woman you don’t know well, is a cute pen and notebook. You can buy them as a set or you can pair a pen up with a really cute notebook. I love the Rae Dunn notebooks and pens in TJMAXX. Truth is everybody always has a moment in their life where they need to write something down. Whether its idea’s, logging a phone call or taking notes in a classroom, this is a perfect gift and is sure to be used. Since we are in the era of digital content creation, I have one more suggestion for anyone looking for a cute content specific notebook. I have come across this website, shoplovetagency, that has planners for just about every type of platform out there. They have YouTube planners, blogger planners, Instagram planners, etc. These would be great gifts for anyone you know is a small business owner and do most of their marketing on Instagram.

When it comes to marketing on Instagram, you need to strategically plan out all of your content. I even have my eye on their vision board planner as I do a vision board every year. If someone is reading this and they are in the market for a Christmas gift for me, I would like a vision board planner, hint hint. You all know I love when I get a bargain on shopping, you can get 10% off of your first order if you sign up for their email list.

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Next up on the list is the everlasting gift. The impactful gift that makes a punch. If you are in the market for giving a gift that has the everlasting effect, I have a couple of solutions. The first gift I have that I love is the photo cubes offered at Artpix 3d. The cube is a personal photo crystalized cube. They offer necklaces, wine stoppers, and keychains as well with personal pictures in crystal form. If you shop now they have 20-25% specials going on depending on your needs. You can purchase an optional solid base, light up base, or gift them as is.

These were given to me for Mother’s Day. Every time I turn them on people always want to know what they are and where I got them from. I have added the original pictures for comparison on how great these turned out.

Another gift that gives an impactful punch is a Picture blanket. You can get a very nice one from Zazzle and they are constantly running 20-25% off sales of their merchandise so head on over if you are in the market for a personalized blanket. The site that I did want to mention that has phenomenal quality and deals on personalized blankets as well is The Personalization Mall.

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The last breakdown in gift-giving for Christmas is the unique gift. These can be pretty cool gifts that aren’t given out on every occasion and I feel mainly because there is a little more work involved. You have to buy each element separately to have one complete gift. For example, since we are in the social distancing era and people still are not comfortable going out to eat, instead of buying someone a gift card to The Melting Pot, purchase them a fondue pot and the ingredients to make a chocolate fondue dessert. You can make this as elaborate or as simple as you would like. If you are in a pinch for spending, consider buying one or two of the pairings, strawberries and pound cake, for it instead of a whole line up. It doesn’t have to stop with just a fondue night in a box. For Wine lovers, have a wine tasting in a box. For all of my adventurous art and crafters, a paint in sip in a box. Anything they like in a box. For someone, you don’t now well you cannot go wrong with a paint night in a box. Leave the wine out of the gift, in case they don’t drink. If they do have wine all they have to do is add it to their gift when they get ready to use it and that it will not be a problem. If it is a work gift you have excluded the alcohol so it shouldn’t be a problem.

Finally, my last suggestion for a unique gift is a cute coffee mug or a cute tea storage container. Everyone who knows me knows that my husband and I are coffee mug junkies. We have a ridiculous collection of coffee mugs from batman and wonder woman to the green and chocolate M&M personality mugs.

I love the coffee mugs from Shopmugaddicts. My order came fast and was package well so the mug wouldn’t break. They are all-inclusive to you as a customer by giving you the option to personalize your mug. They certainly cater to the customer’s needs as they have a selection of mugs that are made for left-handers. You don’t see that…. Ever! I love the nifty and creative sayings they have on their mugs. You will not find mugs like these in TJMAXX or Marshalls. The quality of the mugs, definitely second to none. I plan on adding a few more from Shopmugaddicts to my collection. You can give these mugs as a gift to anyone and put tea or coffee from around the world in it. They have a nice variety of mugs that have so many cute sayings to choose from.

My favorite mug is the “Dear Mondays” mug. Mondays are always the toughest for me especially coming off of a fantastic weekend and it helps to continuously read and laugh at the saying on this mug as I am navigating through Monday. I want to point out that you don’t get a double-sided mug with a lot of other personalized mug companies. Other companies I have come across usually only print one-sided or one design in the middle of the mug.

I hope this article helps you in your quest to give that perfect gift this holiday season. These gifts can also be given any other time of the year for just about any other celebration that calls for a gift as well. I know during this time it’s hard to be creative with your gift-giving and get out to the store. The best part about my suggestion of the businesses I mentioned to buy is you don’t have to leave your home to access them. Let me know in the comments below if you plan on purchasing any of these products and how things worked out for you. I would love to hear your stories. Until next blog.

XO

-Ashley

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