My 2012 Holiday Gift Guide

If you're like me, you often leave some of your most important holiday shopping until the last minute. Do you still have a few people on your list? You know who I'm talking about - those hard to buy for people that you'd really like to acknowledge this year?

Today, I'm sharing my own La Maison Boheme gift guide.  I love reading the gift guides in magazines and on popular blogs, but I often feel like everything is a little out of my range.  For instance, while I'd love to bring "the hostess" a set of German porcelain egg cups as one such magazine suggested or luxury shearling ear muffs for "the girlfriend" as suggested by another fashion blog I enjoy reading, it's just not in my budget.

So here is my budget-friendly gift guide for some very specific people on my Christmas list. Who knows... you may have these very same people on your list!

Here's a little something for those wonderful family friends with little ones.  You know - they're the family that cloth diapers, and showed you how to stake your tomatoes properly. And then they brought you that meal when your husband was having surgery.  Give them a year's subscription to Taproot.  Cost: $30

This is for your chill brother who likes to accompany himself on guitar while singing a classic Neil Young song after dinner and a few beers. You know - he's the brother who wears mala beads, kindly takes his cigarettes outside so as not to expose your kids and has that wonderful full-throated laugh. He'll enjoy THIS guitar pick punch. Cost: $25

This gift requires a little planning, but doesn't have to cost a lot. Pack an overnight bag for your lover - you know, hes the one who listens to you whine about the Christian Right and rocks your babies to sleep. He's also the man who stood up in front of you, the officiant, your family and the entire Pacific Ocean and announced he would love and cherish you forever and ever. Your man deserves a little of your time. Grab his overnight bag out of the closet and pack it with the following items:

Towel

Shower Gel

Shampoo

Deodorant

Tissues

Toothbrush

Toothpaste

And maybe a book... maybe

Whisk him away for a few hours this holiday season.  You both need a little break away from the hubub of the holidays. Take time for each other. Cost: depends on where you go. But whatever you spend, it's worth it.

 

Here's a lovely little something for your girl crew.  You know - these are the awesome ladies you met and bonded with at the early childhood PTA. They're the same ones who meet every month for margaritas at the neighborhood taco bar and watch your kids when you're in a pinch. They will love THESE gorgeous beaded necklaces. Cost: usually $39 for all three, but currently on sale 65% off at $13.95 for the trio.

Here's something for the maternal figure in your life. You know - she's the one who sent you care packages in college and slipped you a hundred dollars just when you needed it most. She's also the one who doesn't want you to get her anything extravagant for Christmas because she worries about your precarious finances. Here's a little tip: do what she tells you to do (mothers love that) and don't spend a lot. Instead, write a poem for her about how she has nurtured and comforted you. Then take her out for a cup of coffee and a conversation. Present her with the poem and hug her.  Cost: 7 dollars for two lattes.  Or $8 if it's my mama because she loves a mocha during the holidays.