This Holiday Gift Guide will help you pick the perfect gift for the foodie, 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 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 or Franklin Barbecue: A Meat Smoking Manifesto. Some of my other favorites include:
I also love my cookbook stand!
Local Products
Share a unique piece of your city with others. Austin has so many talented food artisans, and food is always a welcome gift. Try these local options:
- Chocolate bars from SRSLY chocolate
- Whiskey from Still Austin
- Coffee Beans from Greater Goods Coffee Co.
- Honey from Two Hives Honey
Kitchen Tools
Help a foodie up their game in the kitchen with some new or upgraded tools.
- HipStirs is a local Austin company with cocktail kits
- The Elevated Craft Cocktail Shaker is the perfect gift for those who like making cocktails at home
- Some of my favorite kitchen gadgets: hand lemon juicer, food processor, immersion blender, quality wood cutting board, electric kettle
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.
Favorite Food Products
Your friends will really love these!
- This almond toffee made in Hico, Texas is the most crave-able chocolate/candy concoction
- Fishwife tinned fish so you can host your own tinned fish party
For the Wanderluster
Kindle Fire Tablet
I use my Kindle Fire nearly 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. Also check out my book recommendations on my Bookshop.
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.
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.
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
Candle
Treats
From jewelry to skincare, give your favorite hostess some treats for outside hosting. Some local Austin gift recommendations: SOCO Botanicals Symphony Face Oil or Amanda Deer jewelry.
For the Creative
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‘s online class options.
If you’re looking for places to shop for locally created gifts (lots more ideas!), check out:
- 7th Street Candle Co
- Roommate Collective
- Blue Genie Art Bazaar
- Take Heart
- Atown
- The Paper + Craft Pantry
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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