For those who like to give clothing for the holidays yet are reluctant to do so because you don't know everyone's size, but you just love patterns so much that you feel the need to gift them, I put together a little gift guide for the fast approaching holiday season and beyond:
For the Interior Designer or those that Work Remotely: Most people want their homes to look cozy and unique - a great, fun gift to give are pillows. You can get them with these great patterns or even personalize them and make your own! I once gifted a pillow to someone with a photo of their dogs wearing sweaters and they seemed to love it! If you want to step it up a notch, and you live somewhere cold there are tons of blankets (throw, comforters or duvet covers are great) to gift on Society6. Clocks, towels, mugs, that place has a ton of cool stuff so be sure to check it out! Look at either my stuff or make it your own depending on how much time you have before the holidays. These places can be great for gifting an item for a stay-at-home Mom, a recluse or anyone who is always indoors or just loves being at home.
Pinstripe in Diamond Head Pins Pattern Pillow Sham found here.
More Pillows and Bedding from my Society6 Store can be found here.
For the Foodie: Most people eat food (unless you're a Breatharian), and more often than not we really like it! There are a lot of people that enjoy baking or at least like to try their hand at it so, to me, a great gift to share fun patterns on is an apron! Pair them with cookie cutters, be they fun, personal shapes you make yourself, find on Etsy or you can gift the original shapes we know and love like gingerbread men, trees, etc. You could also decide to gift an apron alongside a tea towel with a matching pattern, or maybe even cookies you baked, or (we've all seen these on Pinterest) a jar filled with ingredients, a list of those ingredients and instructions on the jar. It could be of your favorite cookie recipe or even an old family recipe which would make the gift a lot more fun and personal. Spoonflower had the incredibly cute idea of putting an old family recipe (or one you use frequently) on a tea towel. You can easily make one by uploading a photo/scan or computer document of the recipe on to their site, buying a bit of fabric that has that recipe on it and finishing off the edges with a sewing machine. It's great to have, you can keep it and refer to it often as you bake or cook! You can easily upload that onto a hand towel on Artscow, Cowcow, or Society6 (this Society6 link looks like bath towels but you can order them as hand towels too) as well if you don't feel like sewing or don't really know how. Hand towels can be used either in the bathroom or the kitchen as tea towels, so that should work great! Another awesome thing about an apron is it's designed to keep any mess off of you, so you can also gift it to a crafter or someone who gets messy with their hobby or job. You can make your own version of a full print apron or even BBQ apron here at Artscow. Also, if the person is too small for the apron, they can wrap the waist string around them a few times and/or tie a knot in the neck string (not too tight) if that needs to be adjusted. If the apron cannot tie around a person's waist an easy adjustment would be to get a shoelace or pretty ribbon and use that to extend the apron strings. It's really great for pretty much anyone and a fun encouragement to make our own food in the kitchen. More holiday cookies please!
Waffle Polka Dot Pattern Full Print Apron found here.
Roses Are Neapolitan Ice Cream Hand/Tea Towel found here.
If you would like to find aprons with matching towels please visit my Cow Cow store here and click on the pattern you like best. Then click on the section "Accessories" for that item and then the section marked "Miscellaneous Accessories" and the items should be found together there.
If you prefer buying towels from Society6 they can be found here.
For the Creative/ Organizer: There are a lot of people who like to journal these days and keep track of their daily life. Some people are writers or those with great ideas and need something to write them down. Others are artists and need blank paper to sketch things out. Never under-estimate the power of a paper gift. For someone who is big on D.I.Y. projects or very organized this is a great resource, as most of them will tell you they can never have enough paper. A nice bonus of this gift is you can also use this as part of the foodie gift idea above by either gifting it with recipes you already wrote out yourself inside or you can even gift it blank with that intention but they can write out their own recipes. You can find awesome journal/sketchbook covers here made by myself, check out what other notebooks Society6 has to offer or even make your own by creating a personal Society6 Account.
Chevron Mermaid Pattern Notebook found here.
All other notebooks with my designs on them can be found here.
For those that love Fashion: The winter looks lovely when it first starts snowing, when the snow has been untouched and sparkly, but let's face it, that magic doesn't last long and sometimes we end up staying inside more, so many of us get S.A.D. Syndrome. I personally love to wear something fun and cozy to boost my spirits, so when someone gifts me a new fun scarf for the holidays, I get pretty happy! You can also gift jackets or cardigans for the winter months ahead if you know someone's size, but remember this blog post is about getting stuff if you don't know everyone's size and normally scarves fit people very well. Another great gift idea if you don't know someone's size is a purse, grocery bag or computer case. Bags are a simple and fun accessory or fashion statement so why not make it with an awesome design or personal touch. I almost forgot ties! They're a great little accessory to give someone to add pizzazz to their outfits and you don't need to know someone's size to gift them. You can make your own if you want to as well on Zazzle!
Plaid Pencil Crayon Pattern Tie found here.
Scarves can be found if you go to my Cow Cow Store here and click on the pattern you like best. Then click on the section "Accessories" for that item and then the section marked "Scarves" and the items should be found together there.
Coats and Cardigans can be found under the same Cow Cow store link given in scarves but when clicking on your desired design go to the section labeled "Classy" for women and then you can find those items under "Tops". Men can find Sweaters and Jackets under the sections titled "Chic".
All Bags can be found under the same Cow Cow link listed above under your chosen design and then click on the section "Accessories" and then "Bags".
All Ties can be found at my Zazzle store here.
A note on making and shipping: If you're ordering a special or personal gift online, be sure to give the manufacturers ample time to make those gifts so you can get them on time. One thing I've learned from making more personal presents in the past is that the sooner you can order them the better. I like to give myself well over a month to receive my gifts just in case, since the holidays are a very busy time of year for the manufacturers and the post office so you don't want to be caught giftless. Plus you want to give yourself some time to wrap the presents too. Who likes scrambling at the last minute to wrap stuff? Not me! Well, I'm sure some people do, but I'm definitely not one of those people.
If you worry about shipping, perhaps you waited too long to order something, or there are problems with the post office, some of the stores I work with offer gift cards. You could always purchase them, send them via e-mail to someone or print them off and gift them in a cute box. Make sure you highlight what you intended to gift them if you had something in mind, so hopefully they can see what you meant to get and that you put some thought into your present idea for them:
Society6 has a gift card here.
Threadless has a gift certificate here.
Zazzle has a gift card here.
Spoonflower has a gift certificate here.
Pick a print they will love all year: I also recommend getting people something they can use long after the holidays are over. It's nice to give people something that they can use to get in the spirit of the holidays, especially if you know they will break it out next year, but if you happen to give someone a present on the day that is meant to be used on that special day (for example: Christmas time) then they may just use it that day and then put it away for the rest of the year and forget about it. It's just a good gift-giving practice to get into to really think about what that person will hopefully love and use when the Holidays are over. Get a print that perhaps highlights that person's interest. If the person really loves doing stuff during the holidays then perhaps a gingerbread apron will actually suit their needs, but try to gift that only if that person expresses interest in that idea or you know that's something they might enjoy.
Kneading Gingerbread Houndstooth Pattern apron found here.
Caught without a present for someone during the holidays? This sly trick has you covered: So what if you forgot to give someone a present for the holidays but they got you a little something? The nice thing about these gifts is a few of the prints are gender neutral patterns, and the gift ideas listed here are easy enough to give to pretty much anyone. You just have to gift something according to their interest. If anything you can buy a few prints that your friends may be interested in, either on a pillow, apron, notebook, scarf, whatever! Wrap up the presents with a blank tag, put a piece of washi tape on the tag stating what is in the wrapped present. Put it in your gift hiding spot of choice. So when someone gifts you something instead of saying, "oh no! I don't have something for you!" You can go and find a present from your stash that suits that person (since you labeled everything and pre-wrapped it) all you have to do is pull off the washi tape (normally washi tape can be easily removed from paper, it's a low-tack decorative tape) and you can write the person's name on it you are gifting to and some well wishes from you. It may be a sneaky move, perhaps, but hopefully one that will save you from embarrassment when someone surprises you with something. You'll look more prepared.
These tips are good to have all year, even for birthdays, so hopefully this makes your gift giving and online shopping a little less stressful!
Happy gifting!
