10 Of The Best Holiday Gift Ideas On A Budget

2020 Holiday Gift Guide!

I LOVE giving gifts! I love it.

I love thinking about the person I'm buying for... I love shopping for them... I love wrapping gifts, making cards and adding to their holiday experience. 

Over the past few years since we moved to New York, our gifting budget has shrunk quite significantly. It's almost non-existent BUT that doesn't mean I still can't enjoy my love of giving gifts.

Here is a fun list of gift ideas I've created that might help you find that perfect gift for someone on your list - even when your budget is a bit tight (and let's be honest... after 2020 that's the case for many of us).

#1. For The Outdoor Lover

The Campo from BE Outfitter is a hammock, rain poncho, shelter, and ground cover all packed into one incredibly functional and packable product. They also sell amazing backpacks AND there is a 30% discount off the entire site right now.

#2. For The Aspiring Chef

The Anamaya Cookbook Membership is perfect for people who love to cook and are trying to be more healthy and incorporate more delicious, plant based meals into their diet. This cookbook membership is all online for one inexpensive, annual price. As a member you have access to articles, videos, and new recipes that are added on a regular basis.

#3. For The Meditator

Mala beads is a string of 108 beads with one Guru Bead. It's a tool to help your count the mantra you are using during meditation. There is also usually a tassel that represents the strings that connect us to everything and everyone. Mala beads have been used by yogis and spiritual practitioners for thousands of years.

#4. For The Yogi

Yoga mats can accumulate a lot of germs, so it's important to clean it regularly. Asutra is a natural and organic yoga mat cleaner that cleans and restores your yoga lovers mat with aromatherapy, and comes with a microfiber cleaning towel as well. Show your mat some love with Asutra Yoga Mat Cleaner.

#5. For The Traveler

I know for many of us traveling has been on hold, but as the world starts to open up to us again - this is a great gift! My husband always brings plastic bags with him in his suitcase, and I shove my dirty laundry in a compartment of my suitcase. A Miamica Travel Laundry Bag is a much better option for many reasons, and makes a super unique gift. One of the design options says "Talk Dirty To Me"! 

#6. For The Chocolate Lover

Hu Chocolate Bars are proudly Paleo, Vegan, Organic, with no dairy, no soy, no emulsifiers, no soy lecithin, no gluten, no refined sugar, no cane sugar, and no sugar alcohols. There are 8 bars included in this delicious pack featuring some of their most favored flavors.

#7. For The Spiritual Junkie

This crystal set is on my wish list this year! This Healing Wand Set includes a Clear Quartz, a Black Tourmaline, a Citrine, Rose Quartz, Tiger Eye and an Amethyst Crystal. Deflect negative energy and activate a balanced and healthy mind, body and spirit with this targeted combination of healing crystals.

#8. For The Journal Lover

I love journaling - and I'm very picky about the journals I use. Pierre Belvedere Journals are my favorite and I love giving them as gifts. They are designed in Montreal and made in Italy. The size is perfect, the paper is amazing quality, they have a ribbon bookmark and are known for their elegance and quality. I have dark blue, light blue, turquoise, deep green... so many different colors & designs, but I'm finding it harder and harder to find them these days. When I do find them I buy 2 - 3 so I don't run out when I've filled up the book I'm currently writing in. 

#9. For The Avid Reader

My favorite book of all time is To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee. This Pulitzer Prize-winning masterwork of honor and injustice is still relevant today and was voted as one of the best novels of the twentieth century. It's a beautiful and heart-wrenching coming of age story, that any book lover would love to revisit or discover for the first time. 

Another book that I cherish is A Tree Grows In Brooklyn by Betty Smith. Another coming of age story (but so much more than that) about a young girl growing up in the Williamsburg slums of Brooklyn, New York at the turn of the twentieth century. The story is rich, the realities of life during that time are beautifully (and tragically) portrayed, and the characters are fascinating and heart breaking. This is a book not a lot of Canadians know about, but it's become one of my all time favorite - I could read every few years. 

#10. For The Retreat Goer

Anamaya is also offering Gift Certificates for the first time - and it's still the perfect gift if you're on a budget. There are multiple denominations you can add to your cart including $100, $250, $500 or $1000. Your loved one can use their certificate during their stay at Anamaya for an incredible spa treatment or to put towards their final bill... or to book their reservation. The gift of "me-time" I think is the best gift at all.