The holidays can get very busy, which means it’s time to invest in some self-care gifts. It’s even more necessary to take some time to rest and relax during this time of year. For some, that means a candlelit evening at home doing a face mask and sipping a sparkling beverage out of a pretty tinted coupe. For others, the best days start with morning rituals like blending up a revitalizing smoothie, sipping on a green juice, or mixing up a matcha before heading to work. Whatever your self-care nonnegotiables, we have 18 gifts to help you—and everyone on your shopping list—unwind and take it slow amid the chaos of the holiday season.
A gift-worthy mocktail set
Ghia’s non-alcoholic aperitif is herby, bright, and comes in a bottle worthy of being front and center on your bar cart. Unwind in style with the Ghia Cocktail Box, which comes complete with everything from a bottle of Ghia to a fancy pour spout to a handmade Totem Glass designed in collaboration with Sophie Lou Jacobsen. And if you’d rather take your Ghia to the outdoors, picnic with Le Fizz, the brand’s newest aperitif with a refreshing, tart strawberry and orange blossom flavor. Le Fizz is meant to be shared and this set comes with two bottles and four Ghia spritz tumblers.
An emergency chocolate stash
No nighttime routine is complete without a few squares of dark chocolate, and the fair-trade organic dark chocolate bars from Hu are among the best you can get. Gift your favorite chocolate obsessive Hu’s Dark Chocolate Variety Pack, which offers a sampling of flavors like almond butter and puffed quinoa to crunchy mint. You might just have to order an extra one for yourself—for quality-control purposes. If milk chocolate is more your thing, there’s a variety pack for you too.
Some stackable stemware
Whether you’re drinking a cosmopolitan or your favorite N/A beverage, the Our Place Party Coupes will make the experience that much more luxurious. They’re stackable and dishwasher-safe for that friend who loves to host but hates cleaning up. Pro tip: They also make a very good vessel for an ice cream sundae, granita, or parfait.
A superfood latte blend
If you’re that person who takes a sip of caffeine after two o’clock in the afternoon and is destined to have a bad night’s sleep. That’s where Golde’s turmeric and cacao turmeric latte blends come in handy—for that afternoon inclination to drink a warm beverage without sacrificing much-needed R&R. Both of Golde’s blends have coconut milk powder in them and require only some additional hot water before you have yourself a dreamy superfood-boosted latte.
A juice-infused skincare set
Look at the ingredients list of any Juice Beauty product and you’ll wonder whether you got lost in the produce section on your way to the skincare aisle. Their farm-to-beauty approach involves using potent, organic ingredients like olive oil, pineapple enzymes, goji berries, carrot seed oil, and more. Their Juicy Delights set is a great gift for the sustainability-minded skincare obsessive on your list, but if you’re going to splurge on something for yourself, it’s hard to beat their Pre-biotic C-Boost moisturizer. It has a rich, whipped texture that goes on smooth and gives you an instant glow.
An alarm clock that makes waking up a little less hard
If your morning zen ends as soon as you pick up your phone to turn off the alarm, it’s time to get a Loftie. With this techie alarm clock, you’re woken by a two-phase alarm of your choosing—a wake-up alarm that goes off for 30 seconds and the get-up alarm which goes off nine minutes later if you choose to snooze. The clock also has soundscapes, soundbaths, and a Magic Story Maker all built into it for nights where you want to fall asleep to storytime. Plus, it’s even calming to look at.
A post-weekend reset
The holiday season is all fun and games until you find yourself returning to work on a Monday after one too many holiday parties and not enough hours of sleep. Pressed Juicery’s Post-Weekend Rescue Pack can nurse you back to life with their blends meant to hydrate, detox, and supply depleted electrolytes and vitamins. Do yourself a favor and have this bundle waiting for your future self in the fridge on Monday morning—you’ll be rejuvenated and ready to go again once Friday rolls around again.
Flowers to keep on your kitchen table
There’s nothing better than receiving flowers and Farmgirl makes it impossibly easy to send a designed, hand-tied bouquet to a friend’s (or your own) doorstep. The VBFF also comes with a goody bag and you can add on bonus items like Valerie Confections Chocolate Covered Toffee and Big Heart Tea Co.’s Spicy Pumpkin Box.
Some waffle-weave cozy essentials
Brooklinen’s Dreamweave waffle collection is so soft and comfortable, we’d happily spend all winter hibernating and eating waffles in bed under a waffle-weave blanket in our waffle robes. If you want to go all-out on a linen closet refresh, spring for the robe and slipper bundle, a set of bath sheets, and the plus bed blanket that’s perfect for hot sleepers during the cooler months.
A luxurious set of scented candles
It’s always a good idea to keep several very-good-smelling candles handy, especially if you live in a small apartment. This mix-and-match three candle set from DS & Durga means you can light Breakfast Leipzig on a slow weekend morning, Dream Lychee on a dreary afternoon, and Pasta Water for when you ordered in Italian but want your apartment to smell like you made it instead.
This soothing oil to calm your nerves
Get this for the person in your life who has trouble unwinding and could use something to help melt away their stress (aka me). You’ll dispense a few pumps of this calming oil, inhale it deeply, and then lightly massage along both sides of your neck and behind your ears. The scents of chamomile, lavender, and juniper bring upon a state of pure relaxation—something we can all use, especially during the holidays.
Functional mushroom chocolates that actually work
Alice mushroom chocolates are the ideal gift for someone who loves to try every single wellness trend. The brand is delivering the supposedly magical powers of functional mushrooms (no, not the kind you put in risotto, and no, not the psychedelic kind) in the form of organic dark chocolate. One of the varieties is chocolate bites for “deep sleep” with ingredients like chamomile and L-theanine. Our editors tested them over a few months and were shockingly pleased with the results.
This tomato-scented bath set
Nothing says luxury quite like Flamingo Estate. This Tomato Bath Set, complete with hand soap, lotion, and a candle, will leave your skin and any room smelling like your favorite late summer produce. Gift this to your friend who prefers the finer (and more beautiful) things in life.
Some low-key witchy supplements
Anima Mundi’s plant medicine products allow you to dabble in herbalism without having to be a real expert. There’s this butterfly pea flower, which offers a beautiful blue hue and support to the nervous system, or this dirty rose chai collagen booster, which I mostly do use the taste (though sure, I’ll take any beauty benefits it supposedly promises). They’re equally great in chia pudding, overnight oats, or tea.