AlexawineDesigns – cocktails & gratitude

Holiday Gift Ideas

As I’ve gotten older, I like to focus on gifts that involve an experience. Since travel and public experiences (like a spa day) are limited now, below are some ideas for stay-at-home experiences. (Click on blue text {NOT photos} for more details or to purchase.)

Hand / Foot Treatments: Between the constant hand washing and the cold temps, everyone could use extra hand cream. Buy a package of white cotton gloves and a few tubes of thick hand lotion. (The cotton gloves will warm up hands to help the lotion soak in – also there won’t be greasy hand prints on everything.) Fill several small gift bags with a pair of gloves and one tube of lotion, now you have little gifts for all your girlfriends. To elevate: Include a foot mask with a thick pair of socks and a lip balm.

Manicure / Pedicure: I love these cute polish and top coat ornaments from Olive and June. To elevate: Fill a plastic storage container with a polish remover dispenser, cotton rounds, a fingernail file, buffer and orange sticks.

Spa Time: Include a favorite face sheet mask, bath salts and body lotion. To elevate: Include a facial steamer, a cooling roller and under eye masks. I love this face steamer and cooling roller (store the roller in the freezer and roll over your face and eyes to reduce puffiness and brighten your skin.)

Build Your Own Pizza Night: A pizza stone, a pizza cutter and a pizza peel. To elevate: Include Italian beer or wine and a gift certificate to a local Italian market for gourmet supplies.

Charcuterie Board: Order a custom cutting board and combine it with small serving bowls and a set of cheese knives. To elevate: Add a bottle of wine and assorted shelf-stable charcuterie items like: fig jam, Marcona almonds, olives, cornichons and gourmet crackers or include a gift certificate to a local cheese shop.

Cookie making: A new mixing bowl, cookie sheets, spatulas and cookie cutters for an afternoon of baking. To elevate: Include a Kitchenaid mixer an apron, pot holders and / or a family favorite cookie recipe.

Hallmark Christmas Movie Night: A mug or two, hot chocolate, marshmallows, crushed candy canes and a set of Christmas movie bingo cards. To elevate: Buy glass canisters for the hot chocolate fixings and a handheld frother to create a fluffy hot cocoa. This frother almost doubles the size of your drink, so leave lots of room in your mug!

Book Basket: Fill a basket with your favorite books or an assortment of best sellers. To elevate: Include a monogram book embosser and embossing stickers or a Kindle with a Kindle Unlimited membership. Consider sending the same book to multiple friends and setting up a virtual book club date in January.

Bulb Garden: You can purchase a bulb garden or kit online or from your local garden store. To elevate: Make your own kit with a pot that matches the recipient’s style, a gallon baggie of potting soil or stones, a paper bag with paper white bulbs and don’t forget to include potting instructions. Once planted, the bulbs will bloom in about four weeks. Everyone could use flowers during the January gloom.

Movie Night: Put together a basket with classic Christmas DVDs and treats including popcorn, flavored popcorn seasoning, traditional movie theater candy and bottled sodas. To elevate: Include popcorn bowls and a cozy blanket or a subscription to Netflix, Hulu or Amazon Prime video.

Game Night: Choose a favorite board game like Life, Monopoly, Trouble or Scrabble, add a deck of playing cards, Uno or Skippo, then add some sweet and salty snacks. To elevate: Send snack boxes and a game like Yahtzee to multiple households and schedule a Zoom call for a virtual game night.

What are some of your favorite stay-at-home experiences? I’m always looking for more ideas.

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Click on the three lines to the left of the word “lifestyle” at the top of this page and enter your email address to receive notifications by email when I post something new on this blog. Also, follow me on Instagram at cocktailsandgratitude for photos of cocktails, flowers, my pets and, eventually, more travel.

Well, we finally made a trip back to Chicago. This was our first trip in four months. We were a little nervous but with a few precautions it almost felt normal. (Click on any blue text or the photos below for more information.)

Mask – I don’t want to get into a debate about wearing masks; but since it’s a requirement to wear one when flying, I’d prefer to wear one that has a chance at decreasing transmission. For traveling, I like a cloth mask with at least two layers and a filter pocket. The Tory Burch masks above are a pre-order item so I haven’t received these yet. However, I found several masks on Etsy, just search for “face mask with filter pocket.” Even if you don’t use a filter, this will ensure you have at least two layers of fabric.

Filter – These filters are available on Amazon. You can wash and reuse these a few times but after a few washes you should replace the filter.

Hand Sanitizer – I washed my hands every chance I had at the airports and every time we got back to our apartment in Chicago. However, for those times when I didn’t have access to soap and water this Intelligent Nutrients hand sanitizer is my favorite. They are out of stock online, but look for a local salon that sells Intelligent Nutrients to see if they have it in the store.

Delta Airlines – We flew Delta to and from Chicago and we were very impressed with the cleanliness of the planes; the individual packages with snacks, water and Purell; the designated empty seats on the plane and the loading and unloading procedures. From everything I’ve read and everyone I’ve talked to, this is the airline to fly on right now if you’re concerned about traveling.

Grocery Store flowers – Almost every week I buy a bunch or two of grocery store flowers and combine them to make my own floral arrangement. If you follow me on Instagram @cocktailsandgratitude you’ve already seen my flower posts. Having fresh flowers in our house or apartment makes me happy.

Desk Coaster – This wonderful wood coaster on my desk not only has my blog name on it but it reminds me of our daughter and her new business. Visit AlexawineDesigns to order your own wood designed items. They are always adding new designs to their inventory and you can request a custom design.

Skort – I’ve been wearing these Jude Connally Sonia skorts when walking with neighbors and friends. These skorts pull on, have front pockets and built in shorts. If you machine wash them on delicate and hang to dry, they will last for years.