Welcome to this yearโs holiday gift guide, also known as the best place to shop for the eaters and readers in your life. This year, if you are so inclined, feel free to leave your best go-to gift idea in the comment section. The author of my favorite one will win a free copy Dinner: A Love Story, Dinner: The Playbook,ย or How to Celebrate Everything. Your choice!ย (Winner selected on Monday, December 17 at noon ET.) Happy Holidays Everyone.
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Swirl Baking Dishes (MoMA, $15-$27) Leave it to MoMA to add one-of-a-kind beauty toโฆa baking dish. The ceramic is hand-swirled, so each one is different. More important: They are oven-to-table and dishwasher safe. (Andy: Are you listening?)
Temporary Tattoos (Tattly, $5-10) Before Phoebe road-tripped for a big cross-country race this past fall, I handed her an envelope that included a you-are-a-badass note and two โBelieveโ tattoos from Tattly (one for her teammate) that I thought might help shave a few seconds off her splits. (Iโll try anything.) She loved them and now I want to give empowerment tattoos to every kid all the time for any occasion. I also really liked:ย Letโs Do This, Believe, Self-Confidence, Warrior Not Worrier.ย That last one is for me. Great for the stocking.
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The Latest Greatest Cookbooks I donโt know about your kids, but mine have this incredible talent for sniffing out a Milk Bar no matter what city we find ourselves in. If yours are the same, theyโll be psyched to open up the neon-lightedย All About Cakeย by Milk Barโs Christina Tosi ($16). For the friend who knows a little something about cooking, go forย Simpleย the newest Yotam Ottolenghi ($21) and 2018โs best entry in the Everyday genre.
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Flour Sack Dish Towels (Food52, $39 for a set of 4) My mom is a woman who prizes utility over beauty for pretty much any circumstance โ When we were growing up, her idea of the perfect gift for my siblings and me were underwear jumbo packs. The good news: I just bought her these flour sack towels, which are both beautiful and useful. The bad news: I love them so much I might have to keep them for myself. Theyโre part of the cool new Food52 product line that crowd-sources development and design ideas. How fun is that? (NOTE: These are currently out of stock until 12/10; check back then!)
What Do People Do All Day ($11) My editor Maria at theย Timesย Book Review assigned me a round-up on what she called โBig Beautiful Books,โ the immersive kind that you imagine (hope? dream? cross-fingers) will suck your kid in for hours at a time on long winter days. You can head over there to find one that works for your kids, but I wanted to make a special plug for the My Big Wimmelbook series, which is great for the 2-to-5-year-old set. Something to note: Wimmelbooks are a standard part of young childhood in Germany and in the review I compared the large-format board-book volumes to the Richard Scarry books we all grew up with. Which made me realize โ hey! What about Richard Scarry who will never ever go out of style? Especially the iconicย What Do People Do All Day, a favorite when I was a kid. So if you donโt have that one, pick it up first.
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Things I Ate As a Kid Puzzleย ($17) A 1000-piece puzzle, via Ben & Birdy, whose gift guide is always a treasure trove of ideas for game lovers.
Homemade Version of a Favorite Store-bought Food. If youโre going in the bake-a-gift direction this year, consider heading down the nostalgia road. My Dad, like all good members of the Bronx post-war Jewish community, loves his Entenmannโs baked goods and passed down that passion to me. I grew up eating their famous, now discontinued, Sour Cream and Nut Chocolate Chip Loaf. A few years ago, I surprised him with a homemade version of it and couldnโt believe how fast it took us back. The recipe, plus more ideas for meaningful food gifts are in my last book,ย How to Celebrate Everything, onย page 19. (Photo credit: Chelsea Cavanaughย for HTCE)
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Pre-assembled Gingerbread House Kitย ($50, Dylanโs Candy Bar) A kit that gets straight to the fun part: The decorating.
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Minding the Store, ($13, by Julie Gaines, Illustrated by Ben Lenovitz) Fishs Eddy is a New York institution and Iโve plucked many holiday gifts from its charming shelves through the years. (My in-laws still drink cocktails from the sweetย Todd Oldham-Charley Harper-designed glasses we gave them a few years ago.) This year, you should absolutely peruse their online shelves for the goods and the wares, but please also check out the graphic novel written by the Fishs Eddy owner Julie Gaines. Itโs all about her wacky family and running a small business โ and Catherine Hong, my favorite source for books and design recommended it, so you know itโs going to be good.
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Instant Potย ($70 for 6-quart) Know any hold-outs? (Besides yours truly?) Now that the craze seems to have officially settled into Here to Stay, it might finally be the time.
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Sloth Mugย (Urban Outfitters, $15) Wrap it up with your favorite hot chocolate (this one is tops) and a bag of marshmallows and your teenager will love you forever โ or at least for, like, 10 minutes.
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Harmonica ($35) The perfect procrastinate-ACT-studying tool. Naturally, my high school junior is obsessed.
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Cheese Knives (CB2, set of 3, $15) For your friend who hosts the best holiday party every year. Or even for the friend who doesnโt.
Fox 8ย by George Saunders (Random House $11). For people who like George Saunders (by now you know we sure do!) and for people who have kids who are older than 10 or 11 and are ready for a little darkness to go with their charming animal stories. This one is narrated by a fox (named Fox 8) and beneath the fun misspellings (โreeding my story bak just now, I woslike: O no, my story is a bumerโ) and ingenious narration is a powerful story about our lesser angels and our responsibility to the world and our environment. Added bonus: it fits right into a stocking.
In the span of about two hours this past weekend, we planned a five-day trip to Austin, Texas between Christmas and New Years. (As usual, recs welcome!) Only after I told the girls about it, did I realize I missed an opportunity to do the surprise plane-tickets-under-the-tree reveal like Liz did a few years ago. If you still have the time to plan, Iโd say go for it.
Other DALS guides through the years:
Gift Guide 2017
Gift Guide 2016
Gift Guide 2015
Gift Guide 2014
Gift Guide 2013
Gift Guide 2012
Gift Guide 2011
UPDATE: The giveaway winner has been notified. Congrats Hannah!
Happy Holidays!
I love the tea towels and zipper bags (and pretty much everything else) from Erin Flett Home. Her hand printed and sewn designs are so vibrant and fun, and at a very reasonable price point for such high quality.
I, too, have not succumbed to the InstaPot craze, but if DALS makes it work, I might just give it a whirl. Iโll be watching/reading!
I succumbed and then sold the dang thing. HATED it!
This yearโs go-to gift: reusable metal straw with a tiny cleaning wand and carry case so you can throw it in your bag! All my co-workers are getting one. There are lots to choose from on Amazon. Giving it along with a Starbucks or Dunkin gift card.
My go-to gift for kiddos is a doll from Cuddle + Kind. The dolls are adorable and for every purchase, 10 meals go to someone in need. Win win!
This list is so entertaining! For me, board and card games are fun festive presents.
My teenage daughter has been eyeing that sloth mug! Although I beg to differ about the hot chocolate. Iโm sure the Scharfenberger cocoa is amazing, however have you ever tried Williams-Sonomaโs? Itโs made from Guittard chocolate shavings, not powder, and โ take it from a serious, Colorado-dwelling hot cocoa lover โ it is incredible. For adults, my favorite holiday gift is that hot cocoa with a bottle of peppermint schnapps โ still my favorite wintertime treat.
With all of the ordering and deliveries that come to the house, my boys were always more obsessed with the cardboard boxes than they were what was inside. This is one of my favorite finds for kids that love to build things and play with cardboard. From a company called Makedo, they have cardboard construction sets. They are little fasteners and screwdrivers and a child-safe cardboard saw for putting things together. Hours and hours of fun guaranteed. Ages 6+ https://www.make.do/collections/all-products
Iโll be making carmels (Grandmaโs spelling) this week to send with my gifts. This is a tradition in my family dating back to my great-grandmother. And Christmas wouldnโt be Christmas without them. To make it even better, I inherited my grandmotherโs plastic canvas โCarmel houseโ that always held her carmels so I get sentimental every time I fill it.
My go-to gift for my parents and mother-in-law is a calendar made with photos of the grandchildren and themselves throughout the year. I usually use one of the online photo websites (like Shutterfly or Snapfish) and I love that they get to see the memories of the past year into the next year. It is also so cool to see how the kids grow!
I used to live in Ann Arbor, and my favorite gift to both give and receive is anything from Zingermanโs (which as a bonus comes in a gorgeous printed cardboard box good for all your boxing needs). So many good options, but the Rueben Kit rules them all.
My standard housewarming gift is a First Aid kit. I canโt tell you how many people have told me that someone got hurt (fill in the blank โ fell, the knife slipped, sprained an ankle, etc) and I remembered the first aid kit you got us and it saved the day.
I love to give bacon samplers from nueskes! Cause who doesnโt love bacon. If I want to go all out I add my favorite pancake recipe and good maple syrup.
Love these ideas!
We have a several lovely spice, tea and olive oil shops/stands in town and I love to get something for friends who wouldnโt buy them for themselves. Typically, people donโt buy the fancy pack of spices for themselves!
As for Austin, my mom and I were just there in October for a wedding! We loved Taco Deli (itโs a chain so thereโs several), Amyโs ice cream (seriously, the BEST ice cream Iโve ever had), and the Farmacy. Itโs an old pharmacy that was going to be torn down when the neighbors got together to keep it alive and running. They serve amazing farm to table food.
*gasp* Those baking dishes are gorgeous!
My husband and I got married a few months ago, so our go-to gifts this year for everyone (and I mean everyone) have been framed wedding photos โ the big family photos are my favorite. Although I am seriously considering getting my husbandโs face printed on a giant fleece blanket and giving it to his dad. Someone talk me out of it!
Sadly, those Food52 towels have been out of stock for a few weeks. Maybe theyโll be back by spring for my birthday!
Back on 12/10, Nancy!
Loro-In Austin. Itโs such a unique โAustinโ sort of place; an asian smokehouse. Itโs a collaboration between Aaron Franklin (Franklinโs BBQ) and Tyson Cole (Uchi); affordable, delicious, casual and PERFECT.
I second Loro! Very awesome place with delightful food.
For a hostโs gift or for someone with a new baby or who is sick, I like to make a batch of cookie dough, scoop into cookie portions and put them in a freezer bag. They can have fresh cookies whenever they want โ always a hit!
We live in and love Austin. Not to be missed- the chance to leave your mark on Austin at the graffiti park, hopecampaign.org. Gospel brunch at Stubbs BBQ (book early to get a seat by the band), spinning under the Zilker Holiday tree, catching the sunset over Lake Travis at the Oasis, Skyspace at the University of Texas wheres sunrise and sunsets drift through the art installation. To eat- Elizabeth St Cafe and Trattoria Lisina where you can dine by one of the many Texas wineries. Enjoy.
My go to: homemade almond clusters from a melted down Trader Joesโs Pound Plus and almonds (sometimes throw in TJโs dried cherries). Flaky sea salt on top or Sugar in the Raw. They look impressive but are so easy and inexpensive.
Happy Socks! (https://www.happysocks.com) The onze gift everyone in my family looks forward to all year!
This year we are also giving books to everyone.
And I just bought this adorable and easy Miffy crochet kit as a gift to myself (https://www.stitchandstory.com/collections/kits/products/classic-miffy-amigurumi-crochet-kit)
Thank you for the recommendations and happy holidays!
I have 2 little boysโฆand Iโm trying very hard to encourage my family to focus more on experiences rather than things so Iโm getting my kids tickets to see a Monster Truck show along with pit passes to see the trucks and drivers up close before hand. I hope it is something they remember for a long time to come!
I love to give peanut brittle! That is my go-to. I just recently discovered an Olive oil shop near my house though, and I am excited to give a bottle of delish oil to my coworkers!
Austin โ Mostly known for BBQ (are you doing the Franklinโs line? โ its worth it) and Tex Mex โ check out the Asian dining scene: Ramen Tatsuya, Uchi or Uchiko (great happy hour). Breakfast tacos โ Veracruz. I highly recommend Launderette. And for a real outdoor dining experience and fabulous cocktails โ Contigo.
My favorite gift these days is a Cork Pops wine opener. Itโs a CO2 bottle opener. It is oddly fun and satisfying while reducing the risk of a cork splitting.
Jenny, I wanted to let you know how much I love your blog, and particularly your book How to Celebrate Everything. My mom was a first-rate celebrater when we were younger (and she still is; it just looks different now that weโre out of the house!). For Christmas this year Iโm giving her a copy of the book, and Iโm adding little notes with memories of traditions that she established in our family. Iโm so excited to give it to her and have her read your book!
Thank you Alyson that means so much to me!!! Tell her to make the chocolate chip sour cream nut loaf first! ๐