Two thousand fifteen, you have been a doozy of a year. We’ll get into this more later (I know. Get excited. It’s just what you wanted for Christmas – me harping about the last 365 days) but for now let’s just acknowledge that maybe things didn’t go as planned for you this holiday season. Perhaps you found yourself a tad bit overwhelmed and a hair underprepared and now you are very close the ‘F it’ stage of holiday cheeriness. Should you find yourself in a similar predicament, here’s a handy gift guide for those of us that are down to the wire.
DIY
Source: knitting
Chore Coupons
Everyone loves having someone else do the things they would rather not do. (Ten points if you followed that thought). Some coupons could be cooking dinner for your takeout junkie, tour guide of a new/infrequently visited neighborhood for your new to the city bud, a night of babysitting for your post-knocked up loved one, and cleaning/organizing a room for your messy bestie.
Dinner + A Show
Two options with this one – you can go all classy and choose a restaurant followed by a show that requires you to sit in a theater (I call dibs as your date if you can manage to find tickets to Hamilton) or you can do my personal favorite of popcorn, favorite candy (if you don’t choose sour patch, you’re dead to me), and some quality streaming. If you choose the latter, you can spruce it up a bit by wrapping up a jar of popping corn (stove popped > microwave popped) and a bottle of booze.
Arts + Crafts
Nothing says love like something homemade, right? Right. For those of us that aren’t too artistically inclined, knitting a scarf is pretty straightforward. You don’t even need needles. Also this gives you a reason to plop yourself in front of some Christmas classics all in the name of giving. If you’re short on time, throw some salt and essential oils in a jar and call it bath salts (1/2 c sea salt + ½ c Epsom salt + ¼ c baking soda + 10 drops of essential oil). My favorite is lavender - it looks extra pretty if you happen to have some dried lavender to mix in with the salts. Or if you have a succulent lying around, bedazzle that jar instead and throw a clipping or two in it. Just be sure to include instructions on how to care for it, i.e. don’t leave it in the closed container.
REDUCE, REUSE, RECYCLE
The Classics
You know that book sitting on your shelf that you’ve read at least seven times? The one that’s quoted all up on your social media? That you enlighten others with its wisdom after one too many drinks? Write a thoughtful note in it, wrap it up, and gift it to someone you think will appreciate it as much as you. Embrace its worn cover and dog-eared pages. These are just signs of love. Also if anyone questions your motive of gifting a hand-me-down book, just explain to him or her that it’s for Mother Nature. No one can argue with that.
Refined Apparel
We all have those articles of clothing taking up space in our closets that we swore we would wear. And by we I mean I but maybe you do too? As I type this, there is a secondhand Rag & Bone sweater that has never left my closet since it arrived here 3 months ago. Pieces like these are begging to be packaged up and gifted to someone who will love them properly. You can even call it vintage and then congratulate yourself for cutting out the middleman. Look at you being thoughtful and thrifty.
FOOD
Sources: hot cocoa, gingerbread folk, honey
Christmas Cookies + Hot Cocoa Mix + Marshmallows
Some crowd-pleasing favorites include Dipped + Crisp Peanut Butter Cookies, Gingerbread Folk, Chocolate Crinkle Cookies, and Snickerdoodles. You can pair your platter with the ready-made, prepackaged hot cocoa or be all fancy pants and put together your own mix. You can even do the same with the marshmallows - I have holiday date with this recipe.
Tea + Honey + Biscuits
I came across this recipe for infused honey and I now have big plans for a couple of special ladies in my life. Pair it with your favorite tea and biscuits for a complete treat. If you have some time to twice-bake, you could even skip the biscuits and made some biscotti instead.
THE GREAT OUTDOORS
Hit the Slopes
If you know of a fellow slalom aficionado, perhaps someone you would even want to snuggle up next to after a day on the slopes, a lift ticket is the perfect gift. This can be a pricy gift, so consider hitting up smaller mountains. For example, a day at Killington is $94 but around the corner at Pico it’s only $72 (ha, I know… only). Be sure to claim your student discount should that apply to you – 15% off is no joke.
Daytripper
There are numerous hiking trails within an hour or two train ride of NYC that are practically begging to be explored. Create an itinerary complete with trail map and mix. If you need some trail suggestions, check out our previous trips or pretty much anything from this dude.
Boulders + Booze
Ideally, you would have your own gear and head out into the woods to scramble up some rocks and follow it up with some congratulatory drinks at a local bar or at the very least a swig from your flask. In case the cooler temps and damp weather have you wishing for something indoors, there are a multitude of climbing gyms to visit with gear to rent. Chances are beer can be found nearby. I recommend Brooklyn Boulders followed by a cold one at Threes Brewing.
Merry Christmas, folks!
notes:
you may notice an abundance of jars being used throughout this post. maybe you have a collection of weck/ball/mason jars in your home or you can be savvy and pull that tomato sauce jar out of your recycling. give it a good scrubbing before gifting it though – no one likes the tacky glue residue. no one.
need more gift ideas? check out last year’s guide here. or check out our pinterest if you prefer to visually peruse.