Holiday Gift Guide 2019

Alison Roman has got it going on, and this cookbook is pure proof of that. Her latest book Nothing Fancy is just that – simple recipes that make wonderful food for every type of gathering. I have already tried a handful of the recipes and they have been fantastic and as simple as the title implies. I can’t wait to cook my way through this beauty.

As a midwesterner, this book speaks to me. Shauna Sever did a beautiful job bringing together this perfect combination of the delicious and comforting baked goods of our region. I haven’t made anything from it just yet but I’ve leafed through my copy several times and I can’t wait to make my way through these lovely recipes.

From James Beard awarding winning author Toni Tipton-Martin, Jubilee includes recipes from two centuries of African American cooking. My copy is currently waiting to be picked up from my local bookstore and I can’t wait to cook through this with my kids while also learning along with them more of the important history tied to this food.

I have been a major Carla Lalli Music fan ever since I started listening to the Bon Appetit podcast years ago, so I was positively thrilled when I heard she was writing her own cookbook. This book is a beauty – the photos and layout are gorgeous, her approach is practical AF, and the recipes are wonderful. I haven’t cooked from it nearly as much as I would like to just yet, but soon I will use it for my Cookbook of the Month series and I am excited to become more familiar with it.

I haven’t made much Korean food before but I have enjoyed it in restaurants, so I was very excited to learn of this cookbook through the Bon Appetit podcast. I’m especially interested in the idea of banchan and eager to try some of these recipes.

Zaitoun is a book of Palestinian cooking with a regional approach, with plenty of recipes interwoven with stories from the Palestinians who contributed to this work. I have only made a couple of things from it so far, but I absolutely love this cuisine and am excited to cook through it more.

I don’t yet own this book but I desperately want it after looking through a copy at my friend’s house. (Ahem, gift idea for anyone in my life who is wondering.) I love making layer cakes but often by the time the cake is assembled, I have lost momentum for any sort of decorating mostly because I become overwhelmed by ideas. This book has so many gorgeous ideas as well as recipes for fantastic flavor combinations. No doubt, this will eventually be part of my collection, hopefully sooner than later.

I never feel like I really need another pizza cookbook, but Emily is not just a pizza cookbook. Don’t get me wrong, the pizzas in here (round and Detroit-style, both) are AMAZING. But so are the sandwiches, salads, small plates, pastas, desserts, and cocktails. This is a heavy hitter with so many recipes I’m dying to try and you might be seeing a Cookbook of the Month post on this *very* soon.

I haven’t made much (any) Indian food at all, but I am always interested in expanding my repertoire of cuisines and recipes. I recently bought this book from my local bookstore and I am really looking forward to cooking from it. I listened to some podcast episodes with the author and I loved hearing about her approach to the book and how her family chipped in with a team effort for the recipe testing and beyond.

Tartine is a very special place, and their cookbooks are very special books. They recently released a new edition of their original cookbook with updated recipes as well as some new ones. I haven’t added this to my collection yet but I’m sure I will at some point. The beautiful photography and recipes are too stellar to resist.

I have already professed my love for Now & Again in my Cookbook of the Month series, and I included in my gift guide last year, but I just can’t resist including it once more because I think it is a truly special book that would be an asset in pretty much any kitchen.

I love having friends and family over to gather with good food and drinks, and though I never seem to be polished enough for cocktails on trays, I love the idea of it. Not only for cocktails, trays can be beautiful ways to display or serve all sorts of things. I think this one is just lovely.

I am an absolute sucker for pretty pink glassware and if I had unlimited funds and space, I would have an entire set of this beautiful set from West Elm.

This is another item from my gift guide last year, but I truly can’t say enough great things about Domaine LA’s Naturalist wine club membership. They have the absolute best customer service even though I’m a rando in Indiana, and the wines they send are the best! Something new and different every month but I think I can count on two fingers the number of bottles I didn’t love over the years I have been a part of this club. If you have a wine lover on your list, particularly who is interested in natural/low intervention wines, this is absolutely the way to go!

This gorgeous cutting board would be a perfect option for anyone who enjoys entertaining. I can imagine a gorgeous cheese and charcuterie arrangement on top, a rustic loaf of homemade bread, or even a pretty layer cake.

I love the idea of these reusable cake number toppers and I think I may invest in a set myself. There are other finishes available, but I’m partial to the pink set.

Brotform baskets are a great way to take home bread baking to the next level. If you have a baker in your family who enjoys bread baking, a set of these in a few sizes would be a wonderful gift idea.

I love beautiful glassware (see above) and that includes pitchers. What is better for a party than a lovely pitcher full of a batch cocktail for everyone to enjoy? Nothing, that’s what.

I feel very strongly that everyone should own a set of these champagne stoppers to keep their bubbly wines bubbly even longer. Sparkling wines are my favorite always and these are a necessity for me. Not to mention, it is quite an economical gift option.

I have owned and cherished many of Lindsay’s handmade, one of a kind porcelain pieces for several years and I am constantly adding to my collection. Her work is genius and I simply can’t get enough of it! This baroque platter would be so perfect for entertaining.

As an avid home cook and baker, I adore my set of mesh sieves. I use them frequently and I love having a range of sizes to choose from. These would be a great option in particular for any burgeoning young cook who maybe doesn’t have a well equipped kitchen just yet.

My brilliant, beautiful, and crazy talented friend Rana happens to create some of my favorite jewelry. Every time I look through her shop to choose something for the gift guide, I’m completely overwhelmed by so many gorgeous pieces. Good luck narrowing it down!

I am in love with pretty much everything in Aliya Wanek’s shop and even though I mostly make my own clothes these days, I am hoping to invest in a few of her pieces when they fit well into my wardrobe. I think this shirt is a perfect staple item that could be styled so many ways, and I’m also deeply in love with her Opal dress. She has such talent and I love the care and attention clearly poured into this collection of polished neutral pieces.

I love a good sugar scrub and I love even more that this is made locally in Indy, all packaging is recyclable, and a portion of their proceeds go to another local organization working to help save the bees. Excellent work, excellent products!

I shared all about the Trace Fashion sweatshirt blazer a few months ago so be sure to read that post to get all the details on this beauty. The TL;DR version is: super comfy blazer that feels like PJs but looks polished, designed in Indy, and creating positive change by working with a local nonprofit organization that helps provide transitional employment to women looking to leave the sex and adult entertainment industry.

I rarely wear any sort of tights, but I recently learned of this sustainable hosiery company and found so many pretty options. I bought a few pairs for the colder months to layer with my dresses including the pair pictured here, and I love them!

It’s no shocker that jewelry from Erin McDermott landed on this list. I absolutely love her style and her beautiful creations. While many of her more fanciful earrings are some of my favorite statement pieces, these basic gold studs were my favorites this year. For the minimalist on your list, these would be perfect.

THIS IS THE BEST BRA IN THE WHOLE WORLD. I know that’s a bold statement but I and my boobs stand by it. In fact, it is so popular and the company so careful with their production that they are often sold out and there is a waitlist, but fear not – they really aren’t too hard to get. I’ve acquired four and I vastly prefer them to all of my other sports bras. I also love them for any form fitting clothing because they have a smooth profile and don’t show strap marks or bulges.

I love lingerie and other underthings, and this year I have been glad to expand my findings of ethical and sustainable lingerie companies. I adore this lace romper and would love to find it under my tree!

I am not in need of winter boots but if I was, these would be at the top of my list! I have other pairs of shoes from this company and their quality is unbeatable. Plus, these are so stylish and would look cute with so many outfits.

It may seem crazy to be thinking about swimwear as a holiday gift (depending on where you live, anyway), but well made, ethical, size inclusive swimwear is something to be glad for all year round. Nettle’s Tale has so many wonderful styles to choose from and it was hard to pick which one to feature in this guide. Be sure to browse their shop and consider a gift card so your recipient can get exactly what they would like best!

A good everyday bag is a great gift idea, and the pieces from Winter Session are incredibly well made and meant to last a very long time. I have one of their larger bags (the weekender) and it travels all over the world with me. The Felix bag I have linked here seems a perfect size for everyday use.

I am pretty selective about my holiday decor, but I think these jingle bells are so adorable! Plus my lovely friend Amy runs this shop and she has so many lovely custom offerings. I think the zodiac and monogrammed necklaces are also super cute!

As someone who lives with the effects of anxiety, this mug really struck a chord with me. Be sure to check out Emily’s entire shop because she has incredible talent and it took me forever to settle on a single item to share. (I also ADORE the book* wine tote bag.) So many items that would be perfect gifts for so many on your list.

This past fall I visited NYC and was fortunate enough to dine in many incredible restaurants. In addition to all the great meals, we noticed that one thing almost all of them had in common was this excellent soap in the washrooms. I am planning on using this in my home when my current soap runs out, and I love that this is also available in refill bottles.

If you follow me on Instagram, you are well aware of my love for the Strange Planet comics created by Nathan Pyle. They are so funny, clever, and have me rolling with laughter frequently. Our whole family has fallen for them and we have some t-shirts, the book, and art prints. Find the right comic for the right person in your life. Here are just a few more of my favorites because it’s impossible to pick one!

How fantastic are these? I’ve seen them around the internet for a while, and we even discovered our favorite restaurant burning them on the tables one evening.

If you have a puzzler in your life, do them a favor and get them a great puzzle. As an avid puzzler myself, I’m always on the lookout for great puzzles and puzzle companies when I visit bookstores and such. I recently came across this brand and I love so many of their designs. I also love that they have so many 1000 piece offerings because those are my favorite kind.

Holly Oddly is a talented artist with an excellent sense of humor and wit. As an Office fanatic, this print is perfect for me. She also has excellent options from other favorite shows and movies like Game of Thrones and Parks and Rec, and tons of other clever offerings.

I know dryer balls aren’t the most exciting gift in the world, but they are very useful and that’s my personal favorite sort of gift. Anyone you know looking to make more eco-friendly lifestyle shifts can do away with dryer sheets and use these instead!

Another less than exciting but very practical gift option is a nice set of reusable bags. I’ve had my RuMe bags for somewhere around 10 years now and they are still going strong. I absolutely love them and would recommend them to anyone.

I’ve been working hard to unlearn the gender constructs society has been teaching me since day one, and I’m also doing my part to help my kids have a greater understanding of the wide scope of gender, gender identities, and inclusivity. Books like this are so important and I’m glad they are available to help change the narrative.

Vashti Harrison does it again with an addition to her Little Leaders and Visionaries series, this time focusing on exception men in black history. These histories are crucially important for our kids to know, not to mention the need for more representation of people of color in children’s literature and beyond.

Another book to further representation of who we see written about (and who is writing what we read), Ghost is a young adult book about a boy used to running for other reasons who ends up on a track team and finds much needed community to help him during the uneasy time of adolescence. We loved reading this as a family and I can’t wait to read lots more from Mr. Reynolds in the future.

This book tells the story of an adolescent girl at the time of the partition between India and Pakistan in 1947, separated from her mother as a result. I learned of this book while listening to a podcast and realized this was a time and a historical period I know nothing about. I’m currently reading this with my kids and we are really enjoying it so far. Beautiful writing and vitally important information.

Kids may not always find clothes to be the most exciting gifts, but they still need them one way or another. These sweatshirts from Aliya Wanek are stunning and simple, as well as ethically and sustainably made. I am in awe of the beautiful items in her shop, and I’ll be buying some of these for the little ones in my own family.

I recently learned of this subscription box for snacks around the world, and I think it is such a genius idea. I was with my friend and her family as she opened the box with her kids and they tried all of the snacks. It was really fun and the boxes came with interesting educational materials to help the kids learn about the other countries as well as enjoy some of their common snack foods. I am seriously considering getting this for my kids!

I love crafty gifts for kids and Fair Play Projects has many excellent options to choose from. This necklace kit would be fun for so many kiddos, and is a concept with enough flexibility to really let them be creative.

I am so fascinated by punch needle and I think this is just the cutest design! Since my Caroline loves bunnies, this would be a perfect gift for her. Craft kits are so much fun to give and I just love this idea.

For the little ones still in need of separate dishes, I love this adorable set of recycled bamboo dinnerware. This would also be a great gift for expectant parents, or parents with a newly minted toddler.

We are huge fans of the Rebel Girls book series, and these lovely art prints would be great for the rebel child in your home! The hardest part is choosing which one to buy, but I think they would also look amazing in a set of three or four.

We are a Lego family and we love this book! While the vast majority of Legos we own have come with elaborate sets over the years, this book gives all sorts of inspiration for other things to do with the bricks beyond the original designs. I’m always thrilled when a book can hold my kids’ sustained interest and this one does exactly that!

Fun pillows are precious and add a touch of whimsy to your child’s room. These ice cream cone pillows in particular are just the cutest, but I also love her monogrammed cloud pillows!

One of the very best things I have read this year, and maybe ever. This book is a collection of essays from a wildly talented writer with brilliant intellect. I want everyone to read it.

This was one of the most enjoyable reads of the year. I admit I was a bit skeptical about it due to its massive popularity, but I loved the story and never wanted the book to end.

For me, there is little better than Roxane Gay’s writing, and this book was no exception. Made even better by the fact that I had the opportunity to meet her in person this year, Bad Feminist is a collection of essays on many facets of what feminism means, what it is, and what it should be. A true treasure of a book that I know I will read again and again.

This novel features a gender fluid main character so I learned quite a bit from it because this aspect of gender identity is something I was previously unfamiliar with. Not only did I learn a lot, but the story is so charming and beautifully done. I listened to the audio version and would really recommend it because the narration was perfect.

I have been doing quite a bit of work to unlearn the BS “beauty” standards that society and more accurately, a few multi-billion dollar industries have put in place for us. This excellent book is a great place to start for anyone tired of feeling unhappy with the disconnect between their body and the world we live in. This is another book I chose to listen to the audio version and I loved the narration for this book as well.

Though I haven’t read it yet, I did purchase my copy of Elizabeth Cline’s latest book The Conscious Closet. She is the author of the book Overdressed which was a truly life changing book for me, and I cannot wait to read this follow up with more info on ways to shift to a sustainable and ethical wardrobe.

It’s hard to know exactly what to say about this book except that it is SO great and I wish everyone everywhere would read it! Sexual hang ups and all manner of challenges in relationships are so common yet none of us talk about them nearly as much as we should. The approach in this book is extremely accessible but contains lots of great scientific information regarding sexual pleasure. It reinforced a lot of what is working so well for me in my own relationship with science, which is a great feeling (pun intended.)

I included this in last year’s guide, but I’m including it again because EVERYONE NEEDS TO READ THIS BOOK. At least, all white people need to read this book. Got white peeps on your shopping list? This book is perfect. People who think they are colorblind and “don’t see race”? People who think they don’t have white privilege because they are disadvantaged in some other way? They REALLY need this book. If you are unclear on what exactly is cultural appropriation and why it is bad, or how microaggressions take massive tolls on BIPOC, you also need to read this book. There is so much we all still have to learn and this book is an excellent tool to help unlearn racism we have all been steeped in.

How freaking cute is this?! I love embroidery kits and this craft is something I would love to get into more. I am going to gift this one to myself and then it will serve as a festive decoration in my home for years to come.

Have a sewist in your life? Get them a fabric gift card to Blackbird Fabrics. I promise, they will LOVE IT.

Another idea for the sewist in your life, any of the adorable and sometimes cheeky labels from Kylie and the Machine. Her designs are so perfect and they add such a lovely finishing touch to any handmade garment.

My Body Model is a genius site where you input your measurements and they provide custom croquies for sketching all of your handmade wardrobe inspiration. I have my own crocuses and I absolutely love sketching on them. It gives me so much creative inspiration and I love having croquies that actually look like my body!

If the budding sewist in your life doesn’t already have a Seamwork subscription, I can’t think of a better gift for them. This site has been an invaluable resource for me to learn new techniques, better understand fabric choices, and of course choosing from their extensive and ever growing pattern library. There are multiple levels of subscriptions to choose from and there is something for everyone.

Visible mending is such a cool art form, and something we could all stand to embrace considering the ways in which fashion is contributing to the climate crisis. This book has a wealth of information and inspiration for visible mending techniques. I have checked it out of my library several times and recently completed my first visible mend, which turned out beautifully! I hope to one day add this to my own library at home (ideally with a used copy, in keeping with the ethos of the book itself.)

I have been wanting to learn calligraphy for quite some time, and Hoopla Letters will absolutely be the way I learn when I do! I have included her online course in a past gift guide but I think this physical kit is the way to go for me personally. I am really hoping to receive one of these so I can practice this beautiful art form.

To brighten up the crafting space of the maker in your life, these art prints are just the thing! I am currently transitioning my sewing space to a new (dedicated!) room in my house, and I am planning on adding a few of these to make it feel like home.

For the knitter in your life, a cowl or blanket kit from Purl Soho is a lovely idea. While many of their kits are semi-outrageously priced, the kit for the gradient cowl is fairly reasonable and the finished product is definitely something I would love to wear. With so many lovely color ways to choose from, narrowing it down to just one is the hardest part.

This particular cause is very near and dear to my heart. Coburn Place is local to me in Indianapolis and I cannot begin to articulate how amazed I am by the work they do. I have recently begun volunteering there and I am humbled to be a tiny part of this incredible organization. If you have enjoyed any of the content you have consumed on my site over the years and would like to donate as a thank you for my work, I would be enormously grateful. Thank you for considering!

There is no question that the number one most influential factor in my own ongoing efforts to un-learn white supremacy and embrace true racial justice allyship is Rachel Cargle. Last year for her birthday she began a campaign to raise money for funding therapy for black women and girls, and ever since it has been quite successful. I have contributed multiple times and think this is such a brilliant way to may lasting impactful change. I also have a friend who has been able to receive funding for her own therapy through this foundation, and that makes me even more thrilled about the whole concept.

Another local non-profit that is dear to my heart, Indy Reads Books promotes and improves the literacy of adults and families in Central Indiana. The profits from Indy Reads Books go directly Indy Reads to improve the literacy and English language proficiency of adult learners in the community. This is another place I would love for you to consider a contribution to if you have enjoyed the content on my site over the years!