This is a gift guide for those of you who have older kids who have learned about really high-end brands (often via memes on Tiktok or Instagram) and are really into that whole world. If you know someone who aches for the luxe life even when it’s out of reach, I’ve collected the most affordable items from the fanciest brands — mostly from their beauty and skincare lines. Yes, a $4000 handbag or $2000 trench coat is out of reach for pretty much all of us, but pulling out a Gucci lip balm from your backpack still feels like a mini-luxury.
Your #1 most requested gift guide category? Teens! This gift guide includes 49 options — 28 of those are $20 or under, and 8 of those are $10 or under. Lots of great stocking stuffers too.
My own teens were a huge help figuring out what to put on this list. They started with last year’s list, got rid of anything that was no longer available (or no longer worth including), and then we added tons of new ideas.
There’s something here for every type of teen you can think of. I’ve got all the Breakfast Club stereotypes covered, and a whole bunch more as well. : )
Tis the season to read holiday books while snuggled up on the sofa. Here’s a list of our top family favorites — and a few new-to-us titles too.
Some of these books are good for older readers (even grown ups) and some for the littlest listeners. Some are religious and sentimental, others are completely secular. But altogether, I think they make a really good collection.
For each title, I’m including links to Bookshop.org. Best-selling author Luvvie Ajayi recommends it as an ideal online option that supports local independent bookstores. I’ll also include an Amazon link for each title, because I know some of you have credit there you’d like to use.
A great book-related idea: My sister-in-law Erin wraps up 25 Christmas books and uses them as an advent calendar — her kids unwrap one each day and read it as a family. (If you don’t have 25 Christmas books, you could start with what you have and add one or two each year, or borrow some from the library.)
You’ll notice this list is focused on Christmas books — because that’s the holiday my family celebrates, and it’s the one I know best. But obviously, there are lots of winter holidays that are celebrated across the world, so if you have recommendations for non-Christmas holiday books, I’d love to learn about them. Feel free to add links or titles in the comments.
Hello Friends. How are you? How was your week? We had a happy, simple Thanksgiving here at home. All the usual foods, but no guests, which makes everything feel like much lower stakes, you know? We missed our big kids who were in the U.S., but we had a lovely family video call and we’re grateful we could connect. It definitely felt like one of our most relaxing Thanksgiving holidays ever.
As I’m sure you know, Thanksgiving isn’t a holiday here in France, but our kids took the day off from school on Thursday, and then they went back on Friday. Oscar was out early on Friday so he helped me pull out the Christmas boxes and set up the Nativity so Betty & Flora June would be surprised when they got home from school. We had spices simmering on the stove, and Christmas music playing, and when everyone was home it felt like the official start of our Christmas Season.
I know this is a big shopping weekend. If it helps, I’ve shared a few shopping guides over the last few weeks, and there are a few more coming.
For Small Business Saturday, I shared 50 terrific companies on Instagram Stories — all owned by Black Women or Indigenous Women. I included links to their websites and their Instagram pages.
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In the mood for some weekend links? Here are a few things I’ve been wanting to share with you:
I just finished prepping our 2020 Advent Calendar. The way we approach it is assigning a holiday-season activity to each day. We start by making a list of all the things that feel like Christmas-time to our family. We try to imagine school starting in January and we’re looking back — what would we regret not doing before the tree comes down? (Like: Christmas is over and we didn’t watch that film? Or read this book? Oh dear!)
The Advent Calendar becomes a good way to pace ourselves over the holiday, and gives the kids a small surprise to look forward to each day.
The activities are mostly simple — like reading a particular book, or making toffee. In a non-pandemic year, our activities would also include visiting local shops, going to holiday concerts, checking out the Christmas markets (that are so popular in France and throughout Europe), and other community-minded events. This year, we are focused on staying home, so we adjusted the list a bit.
Here’s a list of stay-at-home Advent Calendar ideas in case you want to try something similar with your family. There are more than 24 items on this list, and of course, all the books and movies can be switched out for your family’s personal favorites. Sometimes we’ll double up and assign a movie AND baking on one calendar day, or listen to a certain Christmas album WHILE decorating the tree. You can adapt this as to your own situation as needed:
Design Mom is all about the intersection of design and motherhood. I'm Gabrielle Blair (some people call me Gabby), a designer and mother of six. I think you're going to love reading Design Mom.
