Tomorrow is Thanksgiving and the day after is Black Friday, when many people
will be taking the day off to enjoy an extra-long weekend. Despite the growing
trend toward "pre-Black Friday sales," the Friday after Thanksgiving is widely
considered the kickoff to the holiday gift shopping season and making plans
for the Christmas, Hanukkah and Kwanzaa winter holidays.
With retail stores (both online and brick-and-mortar) competing hard for your
holiday shopping dollars, it's easy to feel overwhelmed by the barrage of
sales messages and holiday gift guides. But the best gifts, the ones that make
both the giver and receiver feel warm and fuzzy, are presents that reflect
your personal connection to each recipient through your knowledge of their
individual likes and interests.
This holiday gift guide reviews a selection of gift ideas that are both
affordable and thoughtful, tailored to the interests of special people on your
list.
Holiday Gift Ideas by Interest
Whether your nearest and dearest friends and family members, teachers and
other recipients on your list are fond of fashion, food, fancy fingertips or
other interests, the affordable gifts in this holiday gift guide are sure to
please!
For Women Who Love Luxury But Hate Cold Weather
One of the best presents I ever bought myself were a pair of VIKIDEER Long, Lined, Warm Leather Gloves for Women With Touchscreen
Fingertips. They're made of soft, luxurious lambskin leather, have a warm, plush
lining, are long enough to keep my arms as well as my hands toasty warm, and
let me use my mobile phone, tablet or Kindle to make a phone call, look
up a bus or train schedule, call a cab, Uber or Lyft or listen to an
audiobook, podcast or music without having to expose my fingers to the cold
winter weather. Read
my product review of these Long, Lined Leather Touchscreen Gloves to learn more about why they make a much appreciated gift for women.
Other cozy gift recommendations to keep her warm in the cold weather include
the Warm, Oversized, Hooded Wearable Blankets recommended by Raintree Annie
and the Affordable, Cozy Warm Micromink Sherpa Blanket reviewed by Barbara (a.k.a. Brite-Ideas) that keeps her family members toasty during the
chilly Canadian winters.
For Podcast, Audiobook and Music Lovers
Any audiobook or podcast lover will appreciate a
Audible Premium Plus Gift Membership. A 1-month membership costs only $15 and allows the recipient to select an
audiobook their choice for 1 credit and gives them access to additional
listens through the Audible Plus catalog. It would make a great stocking
stuffer! There are also 3-month, 6-month or 12-month gift memberships
available.
Recipients with iPhones or other Apple devices can use an
Apple Gift Card to buy AirPods (and other accessories) as well as subscriptions to
Apple Music (as well as apps, games, movies and TV shows) in the Apple App
Store.
If you want to splurge a little on someone special, a pair of comfortable,
lightweight, high-quality, bone-conduction headphones makes a great gift idea.
Check out my product review of The Best Bone-Conduction Bluetooth Headphones: Shokz
OpenRun Pro to learn more about these awesome headphones.
For Women Who Enjoy Pretty Nails
As a former nail biter with weak nails that constantly broke or split, I
used to envy women who had long, strong, beautifully manicured and polished
nails. It is only in recent years that I finally learned how to heal my
weak, ridged nails and ragged cuticles. Now, I love showing off my new,
long, healthy nails with pretty polish colors and nail art designs!
If someone on your list also enjoys having pretty, well-groomed nails (or
wishes she did), check out my product reviews of The Best Manicure Tools for Strong, Healthy Nails and put together a selection in a gift basket, along with a printout
of my article
14 Secrets to Growing Strong, Healthy, Beautiful Nails and a bottle or two of good quality nail polish or, better, yet,
Color Street nail polish strips, which I use and recommend highly. You can
order them from my fellow Review This Reviews contributor Olivia Morris and read her Color Street nail polish strips product
review to learn more about them.
For Current or Aspiring Gardening Enthusiasts and Flower
Lovers
My mother and my sister both got the "green thumb" genes in our family. So,
while my sister grows a lot of her own vegetables and herbs (and even lemons
and limes) year-around, despite our cold New England climate, the only crops
I have been able to grow reliably all year long are Hamama microgreens seed
quilts.
Hamama Microgreens Starter Kits and
Seed Quilt Refills
are designed specifically for indoor growing. Just fill the grow trays with
tap water up to the fill line, place the seed quilts and attached coir fiber
mats on top and press to soak evenly, place them near a window or under a
grow light, wait for them to sprout and grow, then harvest and eat, So easy,
delicious and satisfying, especially for people like me who lack natural
gardening talent or savvy! I have given them as gifts and the recipients
have loved them. Learn more in my Hamama Microgreens Starter Kit and Seed Quilts Review.
Outdoor gardening enthusiasts will definitely appreciate the gift of a high
quality tool, such as bypass secateurs. Check out my savvy gardening expert
Raintree Annie's review of her favorite Wolf-Garten ByPass
Secateurs.
For someone with a deck, consider giving a City Pickers raised garden bed recommended by Tracey (a.k.a. The Savvy
Age)
along with some good quality potting soil.
Several of my fellow Review This Reviews contributors are talented nature
photographers who have turned their photos into various products on Zazzle.
You'll find beautiful flower-themed photo mugs, t-shirts, decorative pillows
and other gifts on
Mary Beth Granger's Beauty in Nature Zazzle shop
and
Raintree Annie's Raintree Earth Designs Zazzle shop.
For Cooking or Baking Enthusiasts
There are so many wonderful gift ideas for people who love cooking, baking
or both! Two that I can recommend highly that are also very affordable
include my pick for The Best Powerful, Lightweight Stick Blender With Versatile
Attachments and an assortment of handy, easy-to-clean, nonstick pan friendly
silicone kitchen tools.
If you want to give your favorite home cook a gift they would love to own
but might not buy for themselves, also check out the equally
versatile Ninja Foodi Grill reviewed by Sam Monaco.
And for your favorite baker,
Treasures by Brenda recommends these pretty and practical pink
cupcake-themed aprons and
adorable, festive gingerbread man-themed aprons
that would make perfect Christmas gifts.
For Coffee Lovers in a Small Household
One of the Christmas gifts my husband requested last year was a coffee
maker that could make just one or two cups of really good coffee that would
taste as delicious as a larger 6-, 8- or 12-cup batch (for when we had
company) and could be programmed the night before to brew the next morning,
so he (or we) could wake up to a freshly brewed cup of java.
After a lot of research, I finally chose the Ninja CE251 Programmable
Brewer with 12-cup Glass Carafe and it was a huge hit. Read my product
review to learn why we think it's The Best Affordable Programmable Large- and Small-Batch Coffee Maker.
If your gift recipients are the only coffee drinkers in their household or
if the want to enjoy delicious, freshly brewed coffee when they travel,
check out
Sylvestermouse's review of the Keurig K-Mini Single Serve K-cup Coffee
Maker.
For Regular and Herbal Tea Lovers
I and many of my friends are avid tea drinkers. While I enjoy a cuppa good
Darjeeling or English Breakfast, I also love flavored teas, such as peach,
apricot and blackberry. Although I never liked the grassy flavor of most green
tea or chamomile, I have been exploring flavored herbal teas and discovered
quite a few that I enjoy even more than traditional black teas. Flavored red
rooibos teas, in particular, have become some of my new favorites. I
love The Republic of Tea's Restore and Reset SuperAdapt Herbal Tea, which is organic, caffeine-free and infused with cocoa and reishi
mushrooms, adaptogens (which the Cleveland Clinic describes as
"plants and mushrooms that help your body respond to stress, anxiety,
fatigue and overall wellbeing") that give it a delicious, slightly earthy chocolate flavor, and
The Republic of Tea's Strawberry Chocolate Tea, which I have reviewed in detail (An Unusual, Delicious Strawberry Chocolate Tea With 0 Calories).
To enhance your gift, consider adding the pretty and practical
McIntosh Van Gogh Fine China Tea Mug with Lid & Infuser reviewed by
Cynthia Sylvestermouse, a perfect gift pairing with the tea of your choice for your favorite tea
lover.
For Healthy Chocolate Connoisseurs
As a chocolate connoisseur who has
lost a significant amount of weight on a ketogenic diet
and now follows a delicious, healthy low carb lifestyle, I have tried most of
the no sugar added and sugar-free chocolate brands and products on the market.
There are many great choices now, but my favorite chocolate candy bars are
from The Good Chocolate and ChocZero.
The Good Chocolate is expensive but has the best mouthfeel of any no sugar
added dark chocolate I have tried (they also offer vegan milk chocolate
treats). Check out my review of The Good Chocolate 100% Organic, No Sugar Dark Chocolate.
I also love ChocZero's sugar-free keto bark, which contains no sugar alcohols.
The
ChocZero dark chocolate peppermint keto bark
with bits of crunchy, sugar-free peppermint candy is my husband's favorite
holiday candy. Both these chocolate bars are also high in fiber, which is a
nice bonus.
No sugar added, low carb chocolate hazelnut spreads would also make a great
stocking stuffer for a health-conscious Nutella lover. My
side-by-side comparison of the Best Keto-Friendly Chocolate Hazelnut
Spreads with No Added Sugars
will help you choose.
For People Following a Keto Diet or Low Carb Lifestyle
In addition to the healthy sugar-free and no added sugar chocolate suggestions
above, you'll find loads of other wonderful presents for health-conscious
recipients in
my Keto Gift Guide: The Best Low Carb Keto Gift Ideas.
For Women Who Appreciate Handmade Gifts
A gift you make for someone is truly a gift from the heart. Even if you are
new to making jewelry, you can quickly and successfully create a beautiful and
memorable gift of handmade jewelry for a special woman on your list to
cherish. Just follow my easy, step-by-step jewelry tutorial,
How to Make a Stylish Beaded Coil Wrap Bracelet.
If jewelry making isn't your thing, consider getting one of the
crochet, knitting, sewing, felt, quilting or other craft kits recommended
by Pat Austin (a.k.a. Wednesday Elf)
that come complete with all the materials and tools you will need to complete
your handmade gift projects.
If you prefer cooking to crafts, homemade baked goods are always a treat. For
someone who prefers savory foods to sweets, you can buy some pretty lidded
glass food storage jars and fill them with a batch of refrigerator pickled vegetables recipe using Tracey Boyer's
quick and easy recipe that doesn't require canning.
If your gift recipient's household includes a beloved cat or small dog owner,
you can follow this
Upcycled Drawer Pet Bed Tutorial by Diana (a.k.a. Renaissance Woman)
to turn an old dresser drawer into an elegant, luxurious bed for their
precious pet.
For Scale Model, Jewelry Making or Hand Tool Enthusiasts
My husband is both a "tool guy" and a "car guy" who loves building scale
models as a hobby and doing electonics and automotive repairs. One of the best
gifts I've given him is a durable, compact tool roll that keeps his many files
and other precision hand tools organized, protected and easy to find. I've
been tempted to buy another for myself for my jewelry making tools. Check out
my in-depth product review to find out why
The Best Tool Roll Organizer To Store & Protect Your Tools makes a great gift.
Consider pairing it with a Grypmat, a handy silicone tool organizer that
sticks to and protects work surfaces and comes in a variety of sizes. It's
perfect for automotive repairs and other mechanical work, jewelry making and
DIY projects. Learn more about it in
Dawn Rae's product review of the Grypmat: the Ultimate Tool Mat.
For Women or Men With Long, Thick or Damaged Hair
Drying long or thick hair can be time-consuming unless you use a blow dryer,
which can damage tresses if overused, which can lead to damage. Using blow
dryers or heat styling tools, such as curling irons and hot brushes, for as
short a time as possible is important to keep hair healthy and prevent
additional damage to colored, processed or fragile strands.
For the person on your list who has long, thick or damaged hair, a
high-quality, absorbent hair towel that glides over vulnerable, wet tresses
without stretching or pulling them is a wonderful gift. I highly recommend the
VOLO Hero or VOLO Hero Plus (for long, thick locks), which I've written about
in my
VOLO Hero Premium Microfiber Hair Towel Product Review.
A good "wet brush" designed to slide through tangles without pulling,
stretching or breaking wet strands after a shampoo would make a great pairing
or stocking stuffer. Check out my article on
The Best Wet Brushes for Detangling Your Hair Without Damage in addition to the Crave Naturals Glide Thru Detangling Hair Brush for Wet or Dry Hair, my new favorite daily brush for hair that's already damaged or fragile.
For People Who Love to Smile
I recently treated myself to a new sonic toothbrush that works as well as
my previous Philips Sonicare and Oral-B brushes that cost much more. The
bristles are gentle on the gums and clean very effectively, and the brush
comes complete with a travel case and lots of extra brush heads, all for a
remarkably low price. Unlike my previous ultrasonic toothbrushes from the
big-name brands, the brush head refills are also delightfully
affordable.
Read my product review of
The Best Dentist Approved, Inexpensive, 5-Mode Electric Toothbrush to learn more about why this set makes a wonderful gift for yourself
or a loved one with a beautiful smile.
Have You Made Your Holiday Gift List (and Checked It Twice)?
I hope this holiday gift guide helps you choose thoughtful, affordable
presents that will continue to delight both you and the recipients long after
the holidays are over.
Happy holidays!
Holiday Gift Guide: Thoughtful, Affordable Gift Ideas They Will Love by Margaret Schindel
Read More
Gift Ideas
From Our Review This Reviews Contributors
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