It’s that time of year again my friends! Whatever “that time of year” may mean for you. For me, it’s about holidays – taking the time out to rejuvenate and reflect on the year passed. It’s a time for sharing, and giving – spending time with my family and friends. For those of you who are new to the (blog)house, my enhance the everyday holiday gift & decorating guides are a week-long series of posts, where I’ve put together ideas for your holiday gift giving, and holiday decorating. But it’s also a little more than that… perhaps you’d like to know what makes the enhance the everyday gift guide different to other gift guides out there?
It’s simple: everything you will see in the next coming days are not only la classe, which means they are totally hip and stylish and chosen at the hand of a professional stylist BUT… and here comes to best bit… everything you see will fit all my necessary requirements for consumer items: that being vintage or handmade with recycled/renewable/biodregradable material and therefore sustainable.
Why? Because all ‘things’ should be. It’s as simple as that.
Last year’s gift guide says it all, you can click here to read more about it.
Before we get started though, I would like to share some simple gift shopping tips for you. Follow these tips and you will not only find the best gifts you have ever given, but you will also be helping our economy and environment:
1. shop locally: Support your local boutiques and artists + craftspeople. Most homewares boutiques these days stock vintage or locally handmade items so ask for these items when searching for gifts. Use my upcoming holiday gift guide as inspiration, and for the past one click here.
2. two words: Kris Kringle. If your family and friends don’t already do so, suggest ‘kris kringle’ from this year on – host a bbq or small get together now (thanksgiving is usually perfect for this) and have each person pull out a name from a hat. Each person then purchases a christmas gift for the person they selected from the hat, and only spend the amount allocated. The gifts are much more thoughtful and valued.
3. Create a wish list.To save on buying (and unfortunately receiving) gifts that are unwanted and therefore end up in the trash, make a wish list and pass it to those who you know will be buying you a gift this year. That way you receive what you want and your gift-giver is content to know that you will love it. You can also then be selective on your wish list and pick items that are sustainable.
4. Vintage or handmade with love. Last but not least, source out vintage (ie second hand) or items made with renewable/recycled/biodegradable materials. This might seem restrictive but there is so much scope in this that you may not be aware of including food (hampers!) and wine. Etsy and Dawanda are just two fabulous online sources for finding such goodies, and I have picked out some of my favourites from these great web boutiques, as well as from a few of my favourite boutiques around the world. And since I have readers in both the Northern and (sunny) Southern Hemisphere, I have tried to give you a selection that incorporates both warm and cold holiday climates, and local shops.
Happy gift giving, mes amis!
Next up: gifts ‘for the home’ (click here and here to go to last year’s ‘for the home’ gift guide!)…
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All photographs and styling by Pia Jane Bijkerk. Props include: a crap crab! apple branch, baker’s twine, vintage French lace ribbons, turkey feathers, vintage wallpaper for gift wrapping, and baby silver baubles.
oh! so fantastic!! i cannot wait to click all of these links 🙂 i am in total agreement with your tips, my dear…and i can’t sign off without letting you know that your teeny tiny typo “crap apple branch” gave me just the belly giggle this girl needed on a stormy monday morn! happy happy holidays pia!
December 7th, 2009 | #
Lovely post Pia,
Looking forward to seeing the rest of the this weeks posts.
December 7th, 2009 | #
thanks cassandra!
leslie – I had no idea what you were talking about until I read over my typo. What a classic!!! I totally meant “crab apple”. Haha! But now I’ve had a good laugh too. Thanks for pointing it out!
xx
December 7th, 2009 | #
:)!!!
December 7th, 2009 | #
Oh goody goody! Can’t wait to see what you have in store for us this week!
December 7th, 2009 | #
i need to get my feathers out from last year! lovely, pia. also, i’ve been listening to lior ever since you mentioned him!
December 7th, 2009 | #
we are looking forward to your gift guides pia, and we love your ethics when it comes to buying gifts – we very much agree, handmade, locally, recycled, vintage – we wish everyone would buy their gifts this way.
December 8th, 2009 | #
I am excited to see what you have in store. There are so many things out there that make great gifts and support local and not so local artists! Happy Holidays!!
December 8th, 2009 | #
[…] Jane Bijkerk knows how to create a gorgeous looking gift. I’m swooning over these chocolate brown and white pretties with feather and red and white twine accents. Pia’s entire blog, Enhance the Everyday, is […]
January 8th, 2010 | #