An Early Guide to Gift Guides
For those (like me) who shop early
It is already Christmas at my house! Normally we wouldn’t decorate until Thanksgiving weekend, but this year we’ll be traveling for Thanksgiving and we wanted to experience the magic of Christmas for as long as possible, especially with our sweet kiddos—so we bought a fake tree (to save ourselves the clean up of a real one!) and put up our decorations. There is really nothing cozier than a Christmas tree!
And because I’m seeing my family for Thanksgiving, I tried to do a lot of shopping early so I can deliver presents in person. That means I’ve been particularly interested in all of the gift lists and guides that are just beginning to circulate. At this point, there still aren’t a lot of gift guides out yet, but I wanted to share a handful of good ones I’ve enjoyed perusing—and if you know of others you like, please put them in the comments!
Traditional Gift Guides
Modern Mrs. Darcy’s 2024 Holiday Gift Guide
I’ve been following Anne Bogel for years (and I get to meet her in person this weekend at WriterFest!! I will try not to fan girl too much.) and listening to her podcast What Should I Read Next. Her holiday gift guide is one I always look forward to! There are so many options here for bookish folks. That My Job is Books shirt is hilarious! Perfect for the friend who loves Barbie.
The Atlantic Gift Guide
Not sure what to get your boss or that person you want to impress? There are some unique and thoughtful gift ideas here for the more serious people in your life. (Although I will say that pillow slippers are a solid choice for absolutely anybody—if you know their shoe size!)
Oprah’s Favorite Things
You can always rely on Oprah to have some solid and affordable gift ideas! This Amazon list has a nice array from serious to silly, mostly practical gifts if you know someone in your life is on the move and would appreciate something usable. That Scrabble Vintage Bookshelf Edition is a super fun idea! Gift + connection all in one.
Knox & Jamie’s 2024 Gift Guide
One of my favorite podcasts is the Popcast! Knox and Jamie are hilarious, and I rely on them for all of my pop culture news. Every year, they put out a creative gift guide organized by your gift receiver’s binge-watching preferences—my favorite is the Great British Bake-Off Inspired Tea Towels!
Unique Substack Gift Guides:
Needlepoint Finisher Gift Guide for the crafter in your life
Southern Appalachia Gift Guide to support many artists and independent makers throughout the region
The Mindful Designer Gift Guide for “thoughtfully sourced textiles”
A Grief Gift Guide with many great ideas to show your love to someone in pain
A Writerly Gift Guide that has many actually great, not-cheesy ideas!
The Book Enthusiast’s Quiry Christmas Ornaments - perfect for the ornament exchange!
Less Waste, More Connection Guides
Commons Earth Sustainable Gift Guide
Alright—physical presents are fun, but sometimes you want to give something a bit more meaningful, you know? The Commons Earth Sustainable Gift Guide has so many ideas that go beyond consumable products. For example, give the outdoor lover in your life a National Parks pass and make their freaking day!
The Boundary Lady’s No Gift Guide
In a similar vein, you may detest the extravagance and waste that often accompanies Christmas. That’s fair! In that case, I love that Melissa Urban has a countercultural approach in her annual No Gift Guide. She hasn’t posted about this for 2024 yet, but here’s the 2023 run down so you can get the gist and see if this is something that would work for your life.
Giving Back Guides
Now is also the perfect time to start thinking about ways to give back during the holiday season. The Samaritan’s Purse catalog offers you the chance to provide fresh water and other living essentials to people in need all over the world. Similarly, the World Vision Gift Guide features animals you can donate to a family in need. (Every year at Christmas my family chose chickens, part of a cow, or another gift through World Vision and I always enjoyed that!)
We are donating to a few foster and adoptive organizations this year that we’ve been personally impacted by. (And all links mentioned in this section are to 501(c)(3) nonprofits so you can get tax deductions!)
When you get the call to take in a new foster placement, it’s always last-minute; there’s a kid who needs a place to stay NOW. They may have left their last placement or their home in a hurry, and so they arrive with a trash bag of belongings. You may not have time to run to Walmart to stock up on toothbrushes, shampoo, lice shampoo, spare pajamas, underwear, and other necessities before they arrive. So many foster organizations fill the gap, providing backpacks of necessities and other helpful items to make sure kids have what they need and ease the logistical burden on foster parents.
I know that our county is over 400 foster parents short—and the county struggles to hold on to the ones they have. There are a lot of reasons for that, and I’m not encouraging anyone to become a foster parent unless you really feel called to do so. But those who do feel called still often say no or close their home after a short time because the stress is too much. You can help foster parents do the important work they’re doing by donating or fulfilling items on these wishlists helps to relieve that burden.
In our area, the Isaiah 117 House has provided our foster kids with much appreciated blankets, stuffed animals, snacks, and backpacks full of last-minute toiletries. We’ve also done training with the Chambliss Center for Children, which supports many kids in DCS throughout the Chattanooga region. Kids to Love is another great organization that provides clothes and other resources to foster and adoptive families.
Here are some other foster care wishlists you may want to consider donating to or fulfilling items on:
I also highly encourage you to look for some local foster organizations in your area to donate to!
A Gift for Your Favorite Writer Friend
Can I make a shameless plug for Hungry Authors? We’ve heard from so many people that our book has helped them break out of a rut, reframe their thinking around publishing, create a book map, and even write their proposal and get a book deal! The hard work is all them, not us—but we’ve been so honored to hear how it’s helped.
If there’s a writer in your life who wants to make 2025 the year of their book (or if that’s you!) - then Hungry Authors is just the thing they need.
Happy giving, friends!
Ariel
I love gift guides! Thanks for compling these, I'm excited to check them out. Also, so flattered that you included one of mine! Thank you!
Oooh I love the No gift guide! Last year I got my family to draw names for the adults so we only had 1 present to buy instead of 8 and I loved it! Others did not haha. I hate the waste and the time and the stress! I still have to manage the gifts for my kids though.