Stopping at 50

Dear friends,

I've decided to just stop at 50 gift ideas this year. This gives me time to focus on my winter holiday related activities like eating desserts, cheering on Adam while he shovels snow, staying cozy in my house, tackling my own gift list and working on next year's recommendations.

plasticann

50. Vintage glass bowls

Fish & Eddy's is one of my favorite stores and last time I was in NYC, I stocked up on these vintage floral glass bowls. I was admiring them at MGDub's apartment so I marched over the next day to buy my own. They're very cute and make my bland looking leftovers appear cheerier.

49. My favorite pens ever

I love these Hi-Tec-C pens and I use them exclusively since they actually make work more fun and colorful. I recently tried the MUJI pens, but they're just not the same so I just ordered myself a fresh batch of Hi-Tec-Cs today. They come in fabulous colors and any pen addict will appreciate them as a gift.

48. Honey on Tap

Corinna and I stopped by "Follow the Honey," the cool new honey store in Harvard Square. They offer hundreds of different honeys from wild killer bee honey to volcanic Hawaiian honey, etc. You can taste the honeys before you buy, just ask at the counter. The coolest thing is you can buy honey from a tap in little mason jars and they offer a different honey very week. I bought a pint of a local Massachusetts honey from Deerfield for $7...poured it from the tap myself. Great store for offbeat gifts that are universally appealing. Kind of like showing up with a bottle of wine, but a little more interesting.

47. Give them their first author page

IlluStory kits are a great option for kids who love books because now they can write their own. Plus, you know they don't have this book already because they haven't written it yet. Perfection!

46. 2012 Snow and Graham Calendar

I've been loving my awesome accordion calendar from Snow and Graham at work this year. I find it hard to use the calendar on my computer when I'm working out the nitty gritty details so an adorable compact calendar makes planning a little easier. Snow and Graham offers a big variety of calendars featuring their awesome designs. They're all super cute, but I'm partial to the little one for a sweet stocking stuffer.

45. Hello Kitty on a Shelf

There's a brand new game that's all the rage here at the Zakun household. It's called "Hide the HK" around the house. It's actually super fun because I'm surprising bad at finding them. I blame it on my height because Adam hides them super high and I never seem to look high enough so it takes me days to find the HKs and usually Adam has to give me lots of hints. The latest genius hiding spot was above the lamp, it's been there a week. I guess it's kinda like that holiday hit from last year, "Elf on a shelf," but way cheaper because you can just wrap up some random action figure can call it "Green Lantern on a shelf." Cost: $0.