2022 Holiday Gift Guide

I heard someone recently describe this time of year as “the Most time of year.” Not The Most Wonderful like we’ve always been taught, but just, The Most. It seems like we feel everything a little more this time of year, both the magic and the heartache. I appreciate this reminder. It’s ok that everything feels wonderful and also a little tender. The feelings are all heightened around the holidays.

You’ve probably seen about a million ads and links by this point, and it can feel noisy and overwhelming. This list is intended to simplify, just if you need an idea, or a springboard to help you think creatively about your unique person. I’m a strong believer that you know your child/spouse/BFF/mother in law best and therefore are the expert in gift giving for them.

Also: there are a million ways to care for someone and sometimes the very best ones cost only time, not money. I try to keep in mind that how magical my kids remember their childhood Christmases is not directly proportional to what’s under the tree.

Here are some thoughtful ideas for giving and getting. Special Note: the children’s gifts here are organized by gender for simplicity’s sake, but of course any gift can be for any child. This is meant to be an all-inclusive, anything for anyone, kind of list. Happy gifting!

FOR GIRLS

American Girl. So nostalgic for me! Blaire is getting some of my American Girl items I had as a child, and her big gift this year is a new doll, the 2019 girl of the year, Blaire! I had to really hunt around for it because that doll is now retired and not in production anymore. I love the quality of American Girl, the connection to reading, and the stories of strong girls. Some places to shop for secondhand, retired, or new in box dolls at a discount: OfferUp, Facebook Marketplace, Mercari, Poshmark, and Ebay.

Piggy paint. Best non-toxic nail polish for girls.

Modern dollhouse. I found this one on OfferUp.

Velvet tiny box for treasures or jewelry. $8! A similar version is an Oprah favorite this year.

Bows, hair clips, hair ties

Stick on Earrings. So 1999.

Crazy Aaron’s Thinking Putty in Fairy Sprinkles Gift Set. We love putty for the tactile sensory input. There are lots of kinds! Costco has a gift set right now for $19.

Brown Toy Box. Puzzles and games for all kids, featuring culturally diverse children in STE(A)M professions! If you can see yourself in it, you can be it.

OG Doll Hairbrush. Target’s line of dolls and accessories similar to American Girl, Our Generation, has similar items for less. This wire hairbrush can be used on doll hair and won’t frizz like other hairbrushes.

EOS lip balms. Costco had a pack of 7 these on sale recently for $12. Great in a stocking.

FOR BOYS

Harry Potter Lego. Combining two favorites here.

Loog Pro Electric Guitar. Three strings, expensive, but have heard such great things about this one for learning how to play. Comes with free video lessons.

Laser Tag. Controversial, I know. This was an asked for gift this year. We are strategic about our language around it, calling them “blasters” instead of guns, and “darts” instead of bullets. Similar to nerf, but without the cleanup. Every family has different boundaries around this kind of play though, and I think our main idea is to be thoughtful and intentional about it.

Kiwi Co Subscription Kits. We really love these kits. Trey has his eye on a robotics one. $10 off with this link here.

Crazy Aaron’s Thinking Putty. For your favorite fidgeter. Find it at Costco for a deal!

OgoSport. An indoor safe active game, with koosh balls (remember those from the 90s?)

Walkie Talkies. Our gifts for the cousins last year. Rechargeable and long range! This was a fun one.

FOR FRIENDS/SISTERS/MOMS

Stocking stuffers: Elf cosmetics. Cheapest clean beauty around. I love the putty blush, bronzer, eye brow, and the multi-stick. Also: This 8.99 wallet, and fancy salt.

The fancy hotel candle. This candle by Alixx is the scent of one of our favorite luxury hotels. The medium sized is plenty big, and gives the most amazing relaxing scent.

A crossbody purse. I wear this everyday. Perfect for moms, the handsfree upgrade to the fanny pack.

Musee. This may be the coolest company on this list. A woman owned bath line, supporting vulnerable employees, and the packaging is gorgeous! From their website: “Musee makes handcrafted, natural bath products in Madison County, Mississippi with the mission of restoring lives by providing dignified work for vulnerable people in our community. We primarily hire women in recovery, people with disabilities, and people who have lived in chronic poverty. Our products are handmade in the USA with ethically sourced, natural ingredients. Our bath balms are cruelty-free, paraben-free, and sulfate-free and safe for all skin types.” So great, right? If you’re shopping for a tween who loves face masks, see their new sister line, Pretty Inside.

Similarly, Thistle Farms. Providing healing and hope for women survivors of all kinds of trauma. My mom sent me a gift box that included their all natural, essential oil bug spray last summer and I really loved it. Great products and a great mission equals a great gift in my book.

Magnesium bath salt flakes. More bio-available than Epsom salts, magnesium is a natural relaxant and makes a wonderful addition to a bath. Pair with a natural bubble bath.

Loop earplugs. For moms in loud households! A friend has these and I’m trying them out this year

FOR MEN

Air Tags. Keep track of everything, from keys to luggage (to your kid, put one in their backpack!)

Beats studio buds. I run with these daily. Great sound and stay put.

Rechargeable Lighter. Never look for a match again! No batteries needed. We light candles with it every night now that it’s dark so early.

This wallet. Chances are he has a wallet already, yes. But we both use this bare minimum one, it comes in a million colors, it’s only around $13, and we both love it. Great in a stocking.

Car water bottle expandable holder. Random, but I did not know these existed. To keep a larger width water bottle upright while driving. Genius.

Spike Ball. If he’s into backyard sports and games, this is a good one.

Klask. Fun tabletop game that he probably doesn’t already have.

FOR THE WHOLE FAMILY

Games! Some of our faves and some I want to try: spot it, headbanz, Otrio, throw throw burrito, taco goat cheese pizza, and a surprise to me for this age, chess! Chess club at school has been a fall highlight.

Indoor/winter gym: mats, a foldable balance beam, wedges. This would be a great basement playroom gift idea.

SUMMER ADVENTURING WITH THULE

We’re ready for summer adventures! Our favorite outdoor adventure brand, Thule (commonly mispronounced, but in case you’re curious, it’s “too-lee”, not “th-ool”), sent us two accessories we needed. This post is shared in partnership with them.

First up, this bike rack. It’s the highest weight capacity Thule makes (necessary for e-bikes!) and also works with standard road bikes as well as smaller kids’ bikes. It comes fully assembled and was easy to install, and I can attach or remove it on our hitch by myself without tools. It also folds when not in use, saving valuable garage space. The bikes are secured with multiple points of connection and locking, giving us total peace of mind when on the road. Bonus: it’s in stock right now. If you are looking to carry 4 bikes at a time I was also looking at this with the add on.

One of the best features of this bike rack: full trunk access even with bikes loaded. It folds down like this.

Next up: this cargo box. Originally planned for skis, but also for anytime we need extra space when road tripping. This is the luxury version of cargo boxes. It’s felt lined, opens on both sides, is quiet, and is even outfitted with LED interior lights for access at night. It’s glossy black and very pretty (things I never thought I’d say about a cargo box). We love it. Like so many things right now, do you have to wait a while to get one in stock. At the time of this writing, I found a similar style Thule cargo box currently in stock here.

We are entering the start of the reason why so many people love the pacific northwest: summer. It’s hard earned here, and well deserved. The proximity to the water, lush greenery, all the nearby trails and all our friends ready to play are our reward for making it through another winter.

Thanks to Thule for partnering with me so many times over the years. More on the jogging stroller we still have and use and love and that never fails us, even 6 years later, here. Best suitcases that we use every time we travel here.

GUIDE TO SAN DIEGO

B E S T B E A C H E S

what we come for

Coronado. Our favorite with small kids. Spaced out, long shoreline, small waves, ample free parking. There is a paved path by the main life guard station all the way to the beach, which is a lifesaver if you’re pushing a double stroller. So many places to walk to for lunch. We were here all the time.

Mission Beach/Pacific Beach. Another favorite with kids. Shorter walk to the ocean from a paved path. Mission Beach connects to Pacific Beach, and together they make up a giant stretch of shoreline with a two mile boardwalk for running/walking/strollering along the water. I ran it many days and the kids loved it. Also near our favorite playground.

La Jolla. A few beaches in La Jolla and tide pools and seal watching. La Jolla Cove Beach is small area with a beautiful view, lots of scuba divers and swimmers to watch, and a cool cave to explore. We also loved Windandsea Beach, soft sand, wide open, not too crowded, and little cove areas acted as kind of natural separation for people to keep their distance. We tried Wipeout Beach on another day and found it is aptly named, great for the views, but I don’t recommend it with little kids for the wave size and hard to get down there with all the boulder climbing.

Ocean beach is also fun but a little more grungy. We tried it one foggy morning and watched some surfers. Home to a really cute tiny local ceramics shop MAEK.

P L A Y G R O U N D S

besides the beach, our favorite places to play

Pro tip: hit the parks early, like before 9am, and on a weekday to avoid the crowds. Many times we were the only ones there.

Maruta Gardener Playground. Mission Beach in Bonita Cove. New as of November 2020, beautiful, and amazing! So many things for various ages and ADA accessible. There is a paved path that I ran with the kids in the stroller to South Mission Beach, and it is exactly one mile from the playground. This was our very favorite San Diego park we found.

Waterfront park. Big and updated. Really amazing view, right by the water. Lots of slides and swings and things to climb. Walkable if you’re staying downtown.

Pepper Grove. Right in the center of Balboa Park. Large free parking lot nearby, two structures.

6th Avenue. The other larger Balboa Park playground. One updated climbing area, another older playground.

Tweet Street Linear Park. Tiny little park hidden in downtown. Feels very city life with lots of apartment dwellers and dog walkers.

Linda Vista Skate Park. Trey requested this one afternoon. This park is only three years old, and the second largest skate park in California! Better for older kids but still fun to watch, and a playground nearby.

City of Coronado Skate Park. Not actually a skate park! But we found a little playground next to the water here. Spreckels Park on Orange Ave in Coronado is a neat little grassy area with a little playground too.

E A T S & D R I N K S

AKA all the best tacos, coffee & ice cream

Oscar’s Mexican Seafood. Two locations, we got take out from one in Pacific Beach. Ceviche is $7. Loved it.

Ocean 57. Medican Seafood food truck that’s changed hands a few times, confusing to find online. Located in the Target parking lot in South Park, just a block south of the second Communal Coffee. I loved it. $1.80 fish tacos (can you ever beat that?), I had the fish ceviche and the shrimp, and the fish was the best - just $3!

Clayton’s Mexican Takeout. Coronado. Next door to Clayton’s Coffee, which is more of a diner. Carne Asada tacos are $4. Love their green salsa and they gave us a lot which is my favorite.

The Taco Stand. A few locations, the downtown one is just a few blocks from us so I walked there one day. Another one with $4 carne asada tacos and with lots of salsas, the best.

Fat Fish. Pacific Beach on Mission Blvd. A daily HH that changes. We had the $2.50 fish tacos on Thursdays (not GF) and the $4 (!!) margs. A block from the beach.

El Chignon. In Gaslamp Quarter downtown. We walked here one night and it was really fun. The Gaslamp district is closed to cars for a few blocks right now so that restaurants can do all outdoors seating in the streets. So nice with a double stroller. Our kids did surprisingly and amazingly well for eating out, and they have some great HH specials. We had $6 margs and $5 rolled tacos, and our kids were thrilled about the bacon wrapped hot dog. Free chips and two house made salsas too.

Tahini. Our friends ordered take out from here for a park picnic and it was so great. Featured on Food Network, authentic Middle Eastern street food made from scratch, no cans! I had a chicken schawarma salad and loved it.

Communal Coffee. North Park is the original (with the “COFFEE + FLOWERS” painted side that you may have seen on Instagram) and then their second location in South Park. South Park is my favorite! All outdoor seating, and you order from a remodeled little white camper that looks like it maybe could be a wedding venue. Great with kids. There is a darling, curated, local shop they also own next door full of pretty things.

Moo Time Ice Cream. Coronado. My kids love the “silly vanilly,” a bright blue vanilla. Sugar cones are free.

Salt and Straw. Doesn’t feel entirely local since we have one in Seattle and there are multiple locations, but there is one downtown in Little Italy, and it was fun and novel for us to get to walk to ice cream. A few vegan options and lots of unique flavor combinations.

Babboi Natural Gelato. We went to the one in La Jolla, there are two others. Our favorite! Organic and amazing flavors and they’ll split a scoop in two cups for free. We took ours to the grassy park overlooking the ocean just a block away.

The Donut Bar. Downtown. Walkable for us which is super fun. Award winning donuts, not GF, but big and uniquely designed. Trey picked out a giant unicorn one and it just about made his whole life.

Baked Bear. We went on a different trip a few years back, and it’s still there! In Pacific Beach, a fun ice cream sandwich shop.

Trader Joes’s. We joke that the success of our vacations depend on the proximity to a Trader Joe’s. We love it there! So nice being able to cook when traveling. The Liberty Station one near Point Loma is my favorite, followed by the Westfield Mission Valley, both have lots of parking and wider aisles. There is also a University Ave one, but it’s much smaller.

Enjoy! We loved our time there and look forward to being back someday.