Since 2016, I’ve documented what I gave/received for Christmas on my blog, starting with my now retired Buzzedforbeauty.blogspot.com blog. It’s tradition that I do these posts every year, but last year, I was missing bits and bobs from the content I wanted to put together, so my post never went up. 🙄However, I think (in the spirit of the holidays), I should show you guys what I gave, even if it is incomplete. Here it is for your viewing pleasure:
Philosophy Wiggle Into Winter Set – As a one-off gift, I decided to purchase this festive wintry bath set during Ulta’s 21 Days of Beauty sale. It’s nicely packaged and for 50% off, I was able to buy this and have money leftover to pair it with something else. This went to my friend Judy!
Starbucks Gift Card – My coworkers and I pooled together to buy a $50 Starbucks gift card for our supervisor Rick. He loves his Starbucks (tea especially) so this was a no-brainer.
Gift for my grandmother’s home health aide – This is a little gift set I put together for my abuela’s home health aide (whose with her Monday-Friday for about 3 hours a day). Out of respect for her I thought it would be fitting to get her something, so I ended up buying a Godiva chocolate set, a Starbucks gift card, and two hand lotions – it all looked super cute when it was packaged together.
Julie – My grandma’s neighbor and close friend Julie is always looking after her and cooking food for her and having her family check in on my grandma, so I thought I would go all out and buy her several gifts I tied into one beautiful gift basket. Included was a Godiva chocolate gift set, holiday mug from Michael’s, a Body Shop gift set, and a Dunkin Donuts gift card. It’s the little things, you know?
Hannah – Usually each year I give my younger cousin Hannah a gift card (for instance, last year’s was Madewell) along with some other trinkets. This year, I decided to give her cash AND an Erin Condren LifePlanner with a sticker book. She likes blogging, photography, and journaling, so I just felt it was a perfect fit. I even customized the front cover with photos from her Facebook and Instagram. she goes to Cornell so $30 in cash
I also got her this sticker book from The Happy Planner which has since been discontinued at Michael’s.
Maxine – I convinced my coworker Maxine to get an Erin Condren LifePlanner, and fitness is one of her goals for the upcoming year, so what better gift to give her than something to help her track her progress? I got her this cute Healthy Hero Sticker Book from The Happy Planner.
And I also got her this sticker book from The Happy Planner, which is similar to this one available on Amazon. It’s basically a more functional sticker book that allows you to track everyday living, special occasions, and everything in between.
Nehal – The practice manager where I work has a psychology background and loves reading about morbid criminology and serial killers just as much as I do. So for Christmas, I bought her this book I found on Amazon – The Big Book of Serial Killers – An Encyclopedia of Serial Killers.
Dr. Gohar – Dr. Gohar, founder of the practice I work at, loves dark chocolate – the more intense, the better. I went to the iconic Dylan’s Candy Bar in NYC and got him a couple of dark chocolate treats to enjoy.
Diana – My sister is probably the person I spend the most on for Christmas. She and I both love shopping during the holidays, and equally appreciate the art of thoughtful holiday gifting. I usually buy her a variety of gifts, including stocking stuffers. She has been struggling with dark spots and hyper pigmentation, and I’ve heard really good things about this Clinique Fresh Pressed 7-Day System with Pure Vitamin C.
Diana and I love instant cameras, but from my own experience with the flawed Instax Mini, I decided I would be willing to pay for the best instant camera available on the market as a Christmas gift. However, the more I researched, the more I realized that the technology was lacking. Instead, I decided to go with the HP Sprocket Photo Printer.
The HP Sprocket is an instant portable photo printer that connects with your smartphone, allowing you to print polaroid sized 2 x 3-inch photos from your photo gallery and social media accounts, including Instagram and Facebook. Within the HP Sprocket App, you can decorate your photos with filters, stickers, and text before printing. Your photos are printed on special sticky-backed photo paper, allowing you to paste them into a journal or photo album, or treat as regular polaroids by not removing the sticky back.
Friendy – My friend, Friendy, is really into the Marvel universe and all of its characters, so for Christmas I got him this Funk Pop collectible figure of Venom.
Wilson – I gave my cousin Wilson a $40 Target gift card and an American Eagle sweater which I wish I had a picture of, but don’t. Whenever I buy gifts like clothing I always include a gift receipt in case they’d like to exchange it for a different size or a different item.
Hopeton – I always try to put together an assorted “man box” for my cousin-in-law Hopeton. I don’t know why, but it’s something I enjoy doing. One of the items I bought is this hand cream called “Bloody Knuckles.” He works in construction so I felt like he might need this haha.
Christina – This is a little stocking stuffer I put in my cousin Christina’s stocking this year. It’s a pair of festive socks that I bought from The Dollar Tree. I also gave her a Torrid gift card, OPI nail polish, a Bite Beauty lip set, nail stickers, and some cash.
Coworkers – I love buying holiday beauty minis. LOVE. There are so many gorgeous giftable sets and they’re tiny and affordable! My favorite place to find treasures is Marshalls, followed by Sephora and Ulta. This year I rounded up a ton of small items and assembled them in an acrylic tray, and went around the office letting my coworkers pick one item each.
Abuela – My grandma is from a different generation and she sticks to what she knows. She has a powder compact from many moons ago that she wanted a refill of. Her beauty preferences are so specialized that this makeup line can’t be found in department stores, but luckily, Walmart has this product online.
Diana – This is a novelty stocking stuffer I purchased for my sister. It’s a golf table top game from Michael’s. I think she may have asked for it specifically, because it’s not something I would normally pick out.
Madison – My cousin’s daughter, Madison, is three years old and it’s so fun shopping for gifts for her. This is just a sampling of everything we bought her, but we made a little gift basket of assorted items. The colored pencils were from Michael’s, and I think we purchased the Peppa Pig game and playdough online. I have a hunch that the playdough was on her mother’s -my cousin Christina’s- wish list for her.
Nick – I chipped in $200 for a graphics card that set Nick back about $400 – yikes. As is tradition, I also picked him up a couple of nice fall/winter pieces to stock in his wardrobe. I like to shop at J. Crew and Abercrombie and Fitch for his clothes.
custom gift basket for nick
Work buddies – I put together goody bags for the girls I’m closest with at work. Ulta is amazing for stocking these five for $1 items during the holiday season. I picked out some lotions, hair treatments, nail files, and nail stickers and packaged them in goody bags I bought from The Dollar Tree.
There are so many other gifts that I didn’t document, like the gifts I gave for my mom, dad, cousin etc. I usually give a few gifts per person, so I’m also missing other gifts for my sister, grandmother, etc. This holiday season, I’m going to take photos of EVERYTHING and upload them into one long, glorious blog post. Where do you like to shop for your holiday gifts? I’d love to know your recommendations. Please leave a comment below!