2021 Holiday Gift Guide

This Holiday Gift Guide will help you pick the perfect gift for the foodie, activist, wanderluster, hostess with the mostest, and the creative in your life!

When it comes to gift-giving, I’m starting to follow a minimalist gift-giving guideline, which focuses on giving experiences, consumables, or charitable donations. But it’s also fun giving items that are useful and/or meaningful. No matter how you approach holiday gifting, remember that quality time goes a long way, and gifts that endure time and memory have the biggest effect.

This post is full of ideas, especially lots of local Austin companies to support!

For the Foodie

• Culinary Class
  What better experience for a foodie than learning tips and tricks to create incredible dishes? This Austin culinary class list I put together is a helpful guide for class options.
• Restaurant Gift Certificate
  If your city is like Austin, it has an abundance of restaurants to visit and try. A gift certificate to a new restaurant can help cross a restaurant off the “to-try” list. Barley Swine, Dipdipdip Tatsu-ya and Uroko are some of my favorites. I also can’t get enough of Juiceland!
• Cookbook
  There are so many beautiful cookbooks out there and more come out every year. Locally, check out Thai Fresh: The Cookbook, Bread on the Table (from Easy Tiger), or Franklin Barbecue: A Meat Smoking Manifesto. I’ve cooked through The Smitten Kitchen Cookbook and Smitten Kitchen Every Day, and recommend both. Go classic with The Joy of Cooking (one of the most published cookbooks in the U.S.) or fun with Cravings by Chrissy Teigen.
• Austin Food Guidebook
  Two of my friends have books about Austin restaurants. Check out Kelsey’s Austin Food Crawls and Jane’s Koko’s Guide to Austin. These are great for people who love Austin and/or want to visit.
• Local Products
  Share a unique piece of your city with others. Austin has so many talented food artisans and I think food is always a welcome gift. Try these local options:
  • Chocolate bars from SRSLY chocolate or Madhu Chocolate
  • Whiskey from Still Austin
  • Coffee Beans from Greater Goods Coffee Co.
  • Pie from Tiny Pies
  • Honey from Two Hives Honey
  • Hot sauce sampler from Yellowbird
  • I also like the idea of making your own six-pack of local beers at HEB. Austin has some great breweries!
• Cocktail Kits
  Make it extra easy for those who need fresh cocktail ideas. HipStirs is a local Austin company.
• Tickets to a Food Event
  We love our festivals in Austin and food events happen year-round. Here’s a list of a few of them. From Austin Food & Wine Festival to the Texas Monthly BBQ Fest, there’s always an opportunity to eat with other foodies.
• Wiseman House Almond Toffee
  This almond toffee made in Hico, Texas is the most crave-able chocolate/candy concoction I’ve ever had.

For the Activist

• Apparel
  Help your activist friends share their passions with things like shirts, hats, and buttons. Check out Radical Girl Gang, Ponytail Mafia, and Strong Athletic.
• Gifts that Give Back
  Here’s a list of gifts that give back, such as TOMS shoes. These companies give a portion of the purchases back to great causes.
• Charitable Donation
  A donation to your favorite or their favorite non-profit is a meaningful gift. You could include a small trinket to represent your donation or a thoughtful card. Here are some Austin organizations:
  • Central Texas Food Bank
  • Urban Roots
  • Notely Tide
  • Multicultural Refugee Coalition
• The Giving Keys
  This company gives back to the homeless by taking old keys and breathing new life into them through an engraved word. The idea is when you’ve embraced the word on your key (words like dream, brave, courage), you’re ready to pay it forward and give your jewelry to someone who needs it.

For the Wanderluster

• Kindle Fire Tablet
  I use my Kindle Fire every day and it’s a must-have when I travel.
• Books, Movies, and More
  Feed the wanderlust by gifting travel-themed books, movies, and other media. I have some recommendations in this post.
• Getaway
  Gift a wanderluster what they want most: the experience of travel. Maybe it’s plane tickets or a hotel reservation. Maybe it’s an excursion (like this one with elephants in Thailand) or a food tour on their upcoming trip.
• Scratch Off Map
  Help a wanderluster keep track of where they’ve been with a scratch-off map. These come in a variety of colors and some map out U.S. states and Canadian provinces in addition to countries. See all the options on Etsy.
• Map Art
  These blueprint-type maps from City Prints help commemorate an unforgettable trip. You can customize these, which makes them really special.
• Photo Book
  We take a lot of photos when we travel but a lot of times, the photos stay on our phone or cloud storage. A photo book is a fun way to reflect, share your memories, and decorate your coffee table. I recommend using Mixbook.
• External Charger
  A semi-boring but very useful gift for travelers is an external charger. I’ve used this compact charger on several trips when my phone battery gets eaten up by maps and apps. I also like this powerful, sleek one from Belkin.

For the Hostess with the Mostest

• Serving Board
  Every hostess needs a beautiful serving board to serve cheese or appetizers. Personalize a wood one yourself like we did or buy a white marble one that is also great for photos.
• Cute Vase or Ceramic Piece
  As someone who loves fresh flowers at my celebrations, I recommend a unique vase for your number-one hostess. Bonus points for including a beautiful flower arrangement with the vase. In Austin, I like Eliana Bernard and Karacotta Ceramics.
• Succulent, Herbs, or Other Potted Plant
  Cut flowers are beautiful, but potted plants last longer. Pick up a succulent or house plant at Succulent Native and get a handmade pot from Plant + Vessel.
• Linens
  You can never have too many cloth napkins or tea towels, especially if they’re cute! I like the ones by Fisk and Fern and Kimball Prints. My friend Kathy also has some great options.
• Candle
  Gift something to brighten up a hostess’ home. A good-smelling candle is always in season. I love the ones from The Burlap Bag or make it yourself.
• Treats
  From jewelry to skincare, give your favorite hostess some treats for outside hosting. Some local Austin gift recommendations: SOCO Botanicals Symphony Face Oil, Moonfinder jewelry, Amanda Deer jewelry, or RESTART CBD products.

For the Creative

• DIY kit
  For your crafty friends, gift a DIY kit to help them explore their creative side. Locally, The Paper + Craft Pantry, Brico Craft Studio, and CRAFT have options. Wool and The Gang has knitting and crochet kits. (We used their kit for this DIY party.)
• Creative Workshop
  If your city is like Austin, you’ll find class opportunities for a wide variety of interests. Here we can learn how to make a succulent arrangement, play an instrument, and more. Check out this BIG list of options in Austin.
• Local Art
  Find a piece of unique art. One thing I’ve noticed about creatives is that they love surrounding themselves with things to inspire their creativity. Here are some of my local favorites:
  • My friend Kathyphantastic makes beautiful watercolor items
  • Ornaments and cutesy things from Stipple Pop
  • Art prints from Catie Lewis or A Lil Scribble
• Online Class
  If your creative friends need a little more guidance than what a DIY kit provides, gift an online class. I’d recommend Skillshare or Brit + Co‘s online class options.

If you’re looking for places to shop for locally created gifts (lots more ideas!), check out:

• The Paper + Craft Pantry
• Slow North
• Blue Genie Art Bazaar
• Take Heart
• Atown

I hope this holiday gift guide gives you some ideas. Happy gifting!

What’s your favorite item to gift? What gift ideas would you add to this list?

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