Christmas Shopping? Oh Yeah! Gift Ideas to Make Your Life Easier

Do you like my attempt at making my desk at work more festive?

I felt like I was really ahead of the game when I started my Christmas shopping way back in August when Joey and I were in Niagara Falls. After that I forgot that Christmas was coming. It didn’t dawn on me again until I was in a card shop 2 weeks ago, buying a birthday card and heard “O Holy Night” playing in the background.

Oh crap.

Since then I’ve gotten caught up and am happy to report that I’m nearly 95% complete. Hooray! I know that for some of you reading this post might be your “O Holy Night” playing in the background, so I thought I would pass along some gift ideas for the loved ones in your life.

Every year I have a mini-Christmas with my friends Charis and Zoe. Our tradition started 4 or 5 years ago when I was back in musical theatre school. I didn’t have a ton of money so I bought them a whole bunch of little things like festive socks and candles. Since then our tradition has continued and each year I am always on the look out for really cool ideas that might not be on our elf lists.

Last year I found some incredibly unique items on Etsy that were absolutely perfect. The first were these great book stamps from Terbearco. Both of the gals are big readers and I thought personalized stamps to make their libraries complete would be lovely! I also got them each a fun coloured ink pad to use with the stamps. One of my other favourite finds for the girls last year were these coffee corsets from Jenn Gee. I even bought one for myself and still use it (although I couldn’t seem to find a picture of it!) It’s a great gift for those that you know drink coffee or tea on a regular basis and it’s nice because she has all different styles. Mine is leopard print with a pink ribbon, Zoe’s was beautiful blues & greens and Charis’s had a gardening theme.

There are thousands of amazing vendors on Etsy, each with tonnes of  great gift ideas. Some of my other favourite shops include Seagoddess Jewellery for beautiful handcrafted bellybutton rings, Heather’s super fun tote bags, and beautiful jewellery and fascinators (like the one I won back in the spring) from Ten Things.

Books are always one of my favourite things to give and I’m a big fan of Amazon’s Super Saver Shipping option! I would highly recommend any of the cookbooks I’ve reviewed on the blog this year for the gluten free folk or vegans in your life. Some of my other picks for the people in your life would be Make it Fast Cook, it Slow (amazing slow cooker recipes from Stephanie O’Dea), Gluten Free Girl (Shauna’s wonderful memoir) or Julie & Julia (for a good giggle).

I recently discovered Herbivore Clothing after winning this super cute wallet during Lazy Smurf’s awesome Vegan MoFo giveaway. They’ve got tonnes of great t-shirts, books and accessories for the plant eaters in your life and their shipping is very inexpensive (even to Canada!), which is always a plus when you’re ordering online. A wallet very similar to mine is currently in transit for a special guy I know (because he can’t stop raving about how awesome and small mine is! Shhhhhh don’t tell!! )

As much as online shopping is convenient, I love shopping in my neighbourhood and supporting the local businesses. Some of my favourite shops include El Pipil at 267 Danforth (wonderful housewares, accessories and clothing), iQ Living (amazing kitchen and house stuff), The Big Carrot (natural food and bodycare), Grassroots (green products)and Red Tent Sisters (women-friendly workshops, books and sexy products)

I’m always a big fan of homemade gifts and every year I always do some baking for my friends. Cookies, squares or truffles make lovely gifts especially when wrapped pretty boxes with a heartfelt card. Hannah over at Bittersweet has some awesome ideas for sweet treats to give. I will definitely be making some gluten free vegan treats this year for friends and co-workers as I’m doing my very best to save as much money as possible for school (which starts in 26 days! Eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee) I will show you what I come up with in the coming weeks.

How is your Christmas shopping coming along? Are you always ahead of the game or are you a last-minute Lola?