I'm 58; my adult children are 28, 26 and 20. I sew professionally, and every year I make my kiddos a utilitarian bag, usually a backpack, but once a sling bag, and several large overnighters. This year they're getting quite large roll top rucksacks made from waxed canvas with lots of leather trim. I've sourced merino felt to line the leather shoulder straps.
They love their bags, and apparently their friends/colleagues are all a bit jealous. Last year's bag was less complicated than usual (a smaller crossbody bag), and I had some extra waxed canvas, so I made additional bags for each child's partner. Something I didn't expect--seeing these six bags turn up in my IG feed all year long as my kids and their partners traveled and just did IG-y things with their time.
While this is a gift for them, it's also my gift to myself. After 11 months of sewing professionally, December is my turn to sew for me (even if the resulting product goes to someone else).
Oh man, that Oldster necklace! So good 🌟 I’m so happy to hear about your beauty industry suspicions. I’ve always treated my face like an old rug and while I wash it and moisturize religiously (and wear sunscreen bla bla) and the level of water I drink alarms everyone around me (read: enough to sink a whale 🐳) lately my forties have me thinking: “Should I have tried harder? Do I have to figure out makeup now?” Meanwhile my soul screams: just buy an Oldster necklace, lean into your human journey, and chill out, girl.” 🤷🏻♀️
My 33 year old son is a foodie so every year I give him a gift card to one of the top 100 NYC restaurants reviewed in the New York Times. Since he is expecting his first child in April, I will pair the gift card with an offer to babysit the first time he and his wife want to go out on a date. I'm not sure if this is a gift for him or for me.
For you or the person in your life whose marriage is in trouble consider giving them my book "Bouncing Back: How Women Lose & Find Themselves in Marriage & Divorce." The book will help them feel less alone and more hopeful about their future. The Critics Report of the BookLife Prize said "the style reveals deep insight alongside emotional moments that will resound with readers."
I’m getting my bookclub ladies beautiful loose leaf tea and putting it in glass jars with a ribbon. I like to gift eucalyptus shower steamers this time of year and sharing seeds I collect from my native and annual flowers for others to have a go.
I usually go to my health food store or buy from local small business. Some have stronger scents than others, but they are all a nice treat in my opinion!
I'm of an age at which beloved friends and family go missing from one year to the next. I've taken to making a nice-quality photo ornament of them, then pasting a QR code linked to a recording of their saying....something iconic....on the back, so you can scan the code over and over again, and they're right there. Of course, this is a little production-intensive (creating and hosting a clip from a voicemail or other recording, generating and printing a QR, etc), but recipients really appreciate the memento and look forward to revisiting it each holiday. I'm hopeful that our digital age will inadvertently create more 'found' memories for this type of project (Zoom and livestream recordings, social media photos, etc). ❤️
There may be a more discerning method, but I go with Shutterfly or Snapfish, whichever offers the better deal at the moment. Shutterfly’s “luxe” framed ornaments are slightly larger and come in a satin gift bag, making them easy to store without damage from year to year.
Hi! I’m Kirsten and I’m 50. I’m getting my dad a subscription to LetterJoy, which is a snail mail subscription that sends a reproduction of a historic letter once a week for however long you choose (six months, a year). I got their basic American history subscription for him a few years ago, which he really enjoyed, but they have a new science and innovation one that I think he’ll enjoy. https://www.letterjoy.co
For the friend who loves to garden, I buy a gift certificate to Johnny's Selected Seeds based in Winslow Maine so they can start thinking about next year's garden through the darker days of winter.
In addition to the Oldster subscriptions (of course), I will be gifting subscriptions to the newsletter Your House Machine, which is genius, well-written, and offers tactical advice for keeping an organized, clutter-free house (best and most helpful advice I've read on the subject to date):
Not a typical present for the holidays, but for the friend who has recently lost a beloved animal companion, I'm sending The Book of Pet Love & Loss, which I authored and Simon & Schuster published in 2023. Holidays can be hard even when you're not grieving the loss of a best friend, and I hope my book helps her feel less alone:
lol You will love these pens! 0.3 is too scratchy but 0.4 is perfect for me.
Oh, and if you're signing cps of your book, the Zebra Sarasa Dry Gel Pen dries on the spot (also available on Jet Pens). No smudging. Come to think of it: perfect gift for new authors!!
PS. I can't believe I forgot to mention another favorite Substack newsletter, Austen Kleon's – a flow of creative inspiration about art, writing, philosophy, life, etc. – that has changed the way I think in too many ways to count. I will be gifting his newsletter to a friend for the holidays. Like Oldster, a community of good eggs and one of the best town squares on the Internet. The gift that keeps on giving!
I get a variety of gifts for the family and generally follow lists. About 20 years ago I was in Ft. Wayne, IN, and wandered into a chocolate shop. I always give DeBrand Chocolates, or L. A. Burdick chocolates to my friends. They are expensive but wonderful and worth it!
also, locally (just 100 miles away) is Maverick Chocolate, very good!!
Great choice! I live in New Hampshire and try to get to Burdick Chocolates in Walpole -- also home to Ken Burns -- as often as I can to get their chocolate mice!
I first went to DeBrand in 1998 and make sure to return every year. I love most of the chocolates in the "Connoisseur Collection". We love to visit and have a sundae with a chocolate bowl.
I'm 65. Like you my friends and I like to give gifts at anytime of the year when we happen upon that thing that is the perfect gift for them.
I'm going to check out the Glow Juice for sure.
Being estranged from my daughter, hence grandchildren I do miss getting gifts for them. Christmas gift hint - healing and a healthy relationship with my daughter.
I’m 71 and gifting gets easier. Two of my kids always want books and my husband is getting tickets to a play my friends and I decided to not exchange any longer I am so better able to enjoy the holiday
I’m a big supporter of small/local businesses in the community where I live. There are small farms, wineries, independent bookstores, etc. so I gift from these folks. Some of these gifts include the raw honey from a lavender farm, a wonderful read from an independent bookstore, handmade note cards from a card maker, dried beans from my favorite local farm and the choices go on and on. I also enjoy making some special treats around the holidays to share with friends/family.
My husband is super super hard to buy for! (We are 57 and 73). He went to a school in downtown Memphis when he was a little boy -- the building was magnificent but it was torn down for a hotel in the 60s or 70s. So I went to a historical archive, downloaded a photo of it, and had coasters made at Cafe Press.
Another year I went through volumes of back issues from the 1970s and found a photo of him in our university's student newspaper. A friend of his had turned it into a painting for a class exercise, and we had the painting but not the original image.
I'm stumped this year but one thing I have gotten him is a notebook for concerts for the coming year so we can remember what we see at the music festival Big Ears :)
I’m 59 years old. I enjoy gifting experiences and sometimes also taking part in them. Last year my husband and I took our two oldest grandsons 15 and 13 to an NHL hockey game as we happened to all be in Vancouver . This year I am taking my daughter, stepdaughter and granddaughter 7 to see the Nutcracker ballet. Otherwise cash for teens, books for the kids and adults. Moving away from buying gifts for our adult children. We have 4 grandkids under 7 years old and I am grateful to spend time with them and share their joy in the season. I’m going to gift myself an Oldster t-shirt!
I'm 58; my adult children are 28, 26 and 20. I sew professionally, and every year I make my kiddos a utilitarian bag, usually a backpack, but once a sling bag, and several large overnighters. This year they're getting quite large roll top rucksacks made from waxed canvas with lots of leather trim. I've sourced merino felt to line the leather shoulder straps.
They love their bags, and apparently their friends/colleagues are all a bit jealous. Last year's bag was less complicated than usual (a smaller crossbody bag), and I had some extra waxed canvas, so I made additional bags for each child's partner. Something I didn't expect--seeing these six bags turn up in my IG feed all year long as my kids and their partners traveled and just did IG-y things with their time.
While this is a gift for them, it's also my gift to myself. After 11 months of sewing professionally, December is my turn to sew for me (even if the resulting product goes to someone else).
I love this, Paige. 🧵🪡
This is simply amazing!
O yes, this is incredible.
Holy craumoly, these are amazing gifts! What lucky kids.
I like giving experiences. I've gifted pottery classes, glassblowing, tickets, horseback riding lessons, etc.
I think experiences make great gifts!
Oh man, that Oldster necklace! So good 🌟 I’m so happy to hear about your beauty industry suspicions. I’ve always treated my face like an old rug and while I wash it and moisturize religiously (and wear sunscreen bla bla) and the level of water I drink alarms everyone around me (read: enough to sink a whale 🐳) lately my forties have me thinking: “Should I have tried harder? Do I have to figure out makeup now?” Meanwhile my soul screams: just buy an Oldster necklace, lean into your human journey, and chill out, girl.” 🤷🏻♀️
😂 Do it…
Oh Kara, that cracking around my mouth at age 59 made me question my younger self's sunbathing choices !!
I have my dad to thank for all the sunscreen nagging 🏆
Give yourself the gift of CTFO this year!
My 33 year old son is a foodie so every year I give him a gift card to one of the top 100 NYC restaurants reviewed in the New York Times. Since he is expecting his first child in April, I will pair the gift card with an offer to babysit the first time he and his wife want to go out on a date. I'm not sure if this is a gift for him or for me.
For you or the person in your life whose marriage is in trouble consider giving them my book "Bouncing Back: How Women Lose & Find Themselves in Marriage & Divorce." The book will help them feel less alone and more hopeful about their future. The Critics Report of the BookLife Prize said "the style reveals deep insight alongside emotional moments that will resound with readers."
Happy everything!
Oh, wow. What an interesting sounding book.
Thank you.
I’m getting my bookclub ladies beautiful loose leaf tea and putting it in glass jars with a ribbon. I like to gift eucalyptus shower steamers this time of year and sharing seeds I collect from my native and annual flowers for others to have a go.
Ooh, what shower steamers do you recommend? I need a new one.
I usually go to my health food store or buy from local small business. Some have stronger scents than others, but they are all a nice treat in my opinion!
Yes, I love to add eucalyptus and grapefruit essential oils to my shower.
I'm of an age at which beloved friends and family go missing from one year to the next. I've taken to making a nice-quality photo ornament of them, then pasting a QR code linked to a recording of their saying....something iconic....on the back, so you can scan the code over and over again, and they're right there. Of course, this is a little production-intensive (creating and hosting a clip from a voicemail or other recording, generating and printing a QR, etc), but recipients really appreciate the memento and look forward to revisiting it each holiday. I'm hopeful that our digital age will inadvertently create more 'found' memories for this type of project (Zoom and livestream recordings, social media photos, etc). ❤️
Wow. How cool.
neat. what store do you use for photo ornaments?
There may be a more discerning method, but I go with Shutterfly or Snapfish, whichever offers the better deal at the moment. Shutterfly’s “luxe” framed ornaments are slightly larger and come in a satin gift bag, making them easy to store without damage from year to year.
Hi! I’m Kirsten and I’m 50. I’m getting my dad a subscription to LetterJoy, which is a snail mail subscription that sends a reproduction of a historic letter once a week for however long you choose (six months, a year). I got their basic American history subscription for him a few years ago, which he really enjoyed, but they have a new science and innovation one that I think he’ll enjoy. https://www.letterjoy.co
What a neat gift!
I'm Sara, I'm 54 years old.
My family might be reading this so I will keep their gifts to myself but here are a few others. :)
This is my favorite pen, the Pilot Juice Up Gel Pen .4. Fine point but not too fine and it lays down a nice smooth ink. Great stocking stuffer.
https://www.jetpens.com/Pilot-Juice-Up-Gel-Pen-0.4-mm-Black/pd/18163
For the friend who loves to garden, I buy a gift certificate to Johnny's Selected Seeds based in Winslow Maine so they can start thinking about next year's garden through the darker days of winter.
In addition to the Oldster subscriptions (of course), I will be gifting subscriptions to the newsletter Your House Machine, which is genius, well-written, and offers tactical advice for keeping an organized, clutter-free house (best and most helpful advice I've read on the subject to date):
https://www.yourhousemachine.com
Not a typical present for the holidays, but for the friend who has recently lost a beloved animal companion, I'm sending The Book of Pet Love & Loss, which I authored and Simon & Schuster published in 2023. Holidays can be hard even when you're not grieving the loss of a best friend, and I hope my book helps her feel less alone:
https://www.simonandschuster.com/books/The-Book-of-Pet-Love-and-Loss/Sara-Bader/9781982134310
Thank you for asking us all to contribute. I can't wait to read the Oldster gift guide!
Oh, I need pens! PS This IS the gift guide, right here in the comments!
lol You will love these pens! 0.3 is too scratchy but 0.4 is perfect for me.
Oh, and if you're signing cps of your book, the Zebra Sarasa Dry Gel Pen dries on the spot (also available on Jet Pens). No smudging. Come to think of it: perfect gift for new authors!!
Love it! A waiter at a French restaurant here once let me keep his Zebra pen because I liked it so much after signing my credit card receipt.
Great idea about a seed company gift!!
PS. I can't believe I forgot to mention another favorite Substack newsletter, Austen Kleon's – a flow of creative inspiration about art, writing, philosophy, life, etc. – that has changed the way I think in too many ways to count. I will be gifting his newsletter to a friend for the holidays. Like Oldster, a community of good eggs and one of the best town squares on the Internet. The gift that keeps on giving!
https://austinkleon.substack.com
I love his newsletter too!
I love that newsletter, too.
Oops, mean to type Austin not Austen but got the link right!
I'm Bruce, and I'm 81 years old.
I get a variety of gifts for the family and generally follow lists. About 20 years ago I was in Ft. Wayne, IN, and wandered into a chocolate shop. I always give DeBrand Chocolates, or L. A. Burdick chocolates to my friends. They are expensive but wonderful and worth it!
also, locally (just 100 miles away) is Maverick Chocolate, very good!!
We give restaurant gift cards to our kids.
Great choice! I live in New Hampshire and try to get to Burdick Chocolates in Walpole -- also home to Ken Burns -- as often as I can to get their chocolate mice!
About 8 years ago we lived in Ft Wayne! I had forgotten about DeBrand’s chocolate. Really, I had forgotten 😉
I first went to DeBrand in 1998 and make sure to return every year. I love most of the chocolates in the "Connoisseur Collection". We love to visit and have a sundae with a chocolate bowl.
I'm 65. Like you my friends and I like to give gifts at anytime of the year when we happen upon that thing that is the perfect gift for them.
I'm going to check out the Glow Juice for sure.
Being estranged from my daughter, hence grandchildren I do miss getting gifts for them. Christmas gift hint - healing and a healthy relationship with my daughter.
<3
I'm so sorry you are estranged and that you don't have access to your grands. Healing beams to you and your beloveds.
Thank you Tiffany.
Ugh, Frances, that's sooo hard! Maybe consider "adopting" a local needy family to meet that urge to buy and give fun fun toys?
My mother used to do this, anonymously.
Gifting my love, joy and presence to those that matter!
Presence as a present. Fantastic.
I’m 71 and gifting gets easier. Two of my kids always want books and my husband is getting tickets to a play my friends and I decided to not exchange any longer I am so better able to enjoy the holiday
I’m a big supporter of small/local businesses in the community where I live. There are small farms, wineries, independent bookstores, etc. so I gift from these folks. Some of these gifts include the raw honey from a lavender farm, a wonderful read from an independent bookstore, handmade note cards from a card maker, dried beans from my favorite local farm and the choices go on and on. I also enjoy making some special treats around the holidays to share with friends/family.
Books for everyone always, and only from indies or Bookshop!
Yesssss.
My husband is super super hard to buy for! (We are 57 and 73). He went to a school in downtown Memphis when he was a little boy -- the building was magnificent but it was torn down for a hotel in the 60s or 70s. So I went to a historical archive, downloaded a photo of it, and had coasters made at Cafe Press.
Another year I went through volumes of back issues from the 1970s and found a photo of him in our university's student newspaper. A friend of his had turned it into a painting for a class exercise, and we had the painting but not the original image.
I'm stumped this year but one thing I have gotten him is a notebook for concerts for the coming year so we can remember what we see at the music festival Big Ears :)
Such thoughtful gifts!
I’m 59 years old. I enjoy gifting experiences and sometimes also taking part in them. Last year my husband and I took our two oldest grandsons 15 and 13 to an NHL hockey game as we happened to all be in Vancouver . This year I am taking my daughter, stepdaughter and granddaughter 7 to see the Nutcracker ballet. Otherwise cash for teens, books for the kids and adults. Moving away from buying gifts for our adult children. We have 4 grandkids under 7 years old and I am grateful to spend time with them and share their joy in the season. I’m going to gift myself an Oldster t-shirt!
Thanks Sari!
Oh, nice!!! Thanks for ordering an Oldster Tee! I hope you enjoy it.