I’m kicking off with my Gift Guide for Her:

That black tee that I said I’d get if I got a gift card, full price $20 on sale for $15. Then there were these yellow polka dotted skimmers that I fell completely in love with, full price $70 marked down to $20 and only left in my size. Finally, the blue leather flats I featured in my I’d rather be in Paris or Parisian Chic post, full price $40 on sale for $20 once again only in my size. If you grab your calculator you’ll see that full price it would come to $130, before tax. But I wanted to see what they’d come to with the sale prices, so I put them all in the cart and they came to $56 including tax, but wait there was a coupon code at the top of the site for 35% off, which made my total $36 and free shipping. I mean really? How could I not. That’s one third of the price.

I, of course am a very happy camper, and will definitely be checking the Gap sales more often.

*Edited to add: I just discovered this is my 200th post! And it’s about shopping…I seriously have a problem.

First up if you’ve got a bit of cash you can spend and he didn’t get one for Christmas an iPad is a pretty sweet gift. They can be a bit pricey though so on the less expensive end of the spectrum I recommend a Nook HD or a Kindle Fire. 

If he’s already got one or he’s one of those rare technophobes then you could go with the always classic guy gift a book. Which book you buy depends on what he’s into though. A big seller right now would be The Hobbit, because it’s out in Theaters and since it’s in 3 parts he might be a bit impatient to see how it ends. If he’s a big reader though he’s probably already read it though, so you could go with something off the best seller list, or a humorous book such as the Ask a Ninja book or  the Monster Hunter’s Handbook.  Those last two are iffy and not very romantic.

A more romantic gift would be a cologne, and I’m definitely recommending Spicebomb by Viktor and Rolf. It’s the companion fragrance to Flowerbomb, and like Flowerbomb it smells absolutely amazing.  If he’s not into Spicebomb, then I recommend Burberry Brit for Men, it’s another personal favorite of mine and if you haven’t then I recommend you go smell it, immediately.

Tickets to a future show it a pretty sweet gift, or if you’re the sort of couple that prefers nights in, then I suggest a “Movie Night In” kit complete with a snuggly blanket, popcorn, and a movie, my husband recommends Kill Bill, but my favorite Tarantino movie is Pulp Fiction.

A skincare set is always nice and you can go for the Core Collection from Jack Black or a classic brush shaving kit from The Art Of Shaving. You may think he wouldn’t use it or he’s already settled into a routine, but you’d be surprised how many men are willing to try something new, and better shaving cream really does make a difference. I bought my husband the Surpreme Clean Shaving Cream in the Jet Set Traveler Kit from Jack Black a while a go and a tube lasts him nearly a year and he says he prefers it to drugstore shaving creams “by far, it’s a whole other level”.

If you’re looking for something simpler, or you haven’t been dating long a nice sweater, or quirky tee from his favorite brand is a good idea because he’ll think of you every time he pulls it on, and whenever someone asks him where he got it. ThinkGeek has some great quirky tees and if you’re looking for a good sweater I’d hit up Macy’s or Nordstrom.

Or you can follow the old proverb “The way to a man’s heart is through his stomach” and give him an IOU to take him out to his favorite place on you, or if you’re handy in the kitchen you could whip up his favorite meal or dessert for him.

Finally if you’re short on cash or none of these ideas are hitting the spot an Itunes, Amazon, Barnes and Noble or ThinkGeek gift card is a great option. It lets him know that you’re thinking of him, but wanted to make sure he could get exactly what he wanted, or if you know for certain he really wanted the new “so and so” album then you can mention that in a note on the Itunes or Amazon card to let him know this wasn’t just a last ditch effort gift. Awhile ago I bought my husband a Barnes and Noble Gift Card so he could pick out his own nook case because I just couldn’t decide.

Bonus Note this is my 100th blog post and I’m quite proud of myself for keeping up with it. For awhile I was really bad about posting consistently but I think Blogmas cured me of that. Now if I go more than 4 days without posting I feel like I’m being neglectful.

So I compiled a list of things that I think will work overall for most people. This list is especially good if you’ve put off shopping for Stocking Stuffers until the last minute.

1. Nail Polish. Really it’s the perfect stocking stuffer, I don’t know many men that wear nail polish but there are nail polish lines for men. While it may not be the best for the men in your life, it would be absolutely lovely for the lady in your life.  There are lots of brands out there but Lancome, Essie, Butter London, Deborah Lippmann and China Glaze are my favorites.

2. Trial Sized Beauty Products. I know this is another one that seems aimed only at women but there are actually trial sizes for men too. Jack Black and Kiehls have some lovely products for men that come in trial sizes, but even most of the full sizes would fit in a stocking. For Ladies, I recommend Caudalie and once again Kiehls has a lot of really nice products and almost all of them come in a small size.

3. Lip Gloss/Chapstick. For the Ladies in the range of lipgloss Stila has some gorgeous glosses. For either gender you could go with Jack Black Lip Balm or Caudalie Lip Conditioner.

4. Gift Cards are amazing for stocking stuffers you could easily pick up an itunes card or one for Amazon or Barnes and Noble, they’re easy and they work for anyone

5. Earbuds are also awesome stocking stuffers, they’re tiny and everyone can use a pair. Apple has amazing ones but you can always get ones from Sony. Or Marc by Marc Jacobs and Kate Spade have earbuds as well depending on your price limits.

6. Ornaments are good, and they’re best when they mean something so I’m not going to recommend any but really think about the person and scour the internet and stores until you find something you know they’d adore.

7. Moleskine Notebooks. They’re perfect for anyone to put in their purses or to carry around with them in their pockets. Great for the listmaker or writer in your life. Bonus- They also come in larger sizes if you want to use this as a bigger gift.

8.Small silly toys are always good. You could go in store build a Lego Minifig that looks just like them or nothing like them, if they’d like that sort of thing. A yoyo or a slinky may be exactly what they need to bring back childhood memories and put them right back into the Christmas Spirit.

9. If you know their favorite Candy I say fill it to the brim. Almost everyone has a favorite candy or snack that’s tiny enough to fit in a stocking. Multiples of this are best.

10. Hair Bobbles. Emi-Jay makes some great ones that I swear by. There’s sort of a craze surrounding them and lots of copies, but I still maintain that the Emi-Jay ones are the best, and they make pretty cute bracelets too.

11. Socks. The more crazy the pattern the better. You can find them anywhere from your local Target to Kate Spade/Jack Spade.

12. Iphone Wallet. Perfect for the guy that doesn’t want to carry anything but his phone.

13. A Mug. Barnes and Noble has some cute ones, as does Anthropologie. This is another gift that’s pretty personal since you want it to become their favorite for their morning cuppa.

14. DVD. These are perfect stocking size, you could pick out a Christmas movie to be watched that day, or one that’s been recently released. Also a surprise Netflix subscription would be adorable.

15. Keychain. This is another sort of sweet gift that you want to put a bit of thought into. You want the person to like it enough to hang it from their keys and it’ll going to remind them of you whenever they use their key.

So for Blogmas Day 2 I’m posting my Christmas Wishlist that I showed a picture of my sneak peek post yesterday that I already have the start of 10 or 11 posts written in that little book, and I may or may not have filmed some Tag Videos to go along. Okay I totally did, so those will be coming soon. But not too soon as it seems my hard drive in my laptop gave up the ghost last night. Here’s to hoping my super programmer husband can manage to fix it.

This is kinda my ultimate wishlist, and I hope to find at least one or two of these items underneath the tree this year, but I really don’t expect to. I‘m fully away that several things on this Wishlist are very expensive, impractically so. But that is the spirit of Wishlists, so here we go!

First of all, it is not a good idea to buy a small child a toy just because it makes noise. I know it’s fun, but really all the parent ends up doing is taking out the batteries when the child isn’t paying attention. Toys that have small pieces usually just get vacuumed up, sometimes on accident, sometimes on purpose. Also you should make sure the gift is age appropriate. There’s a reason there is an age range printed on the box. it’s for safety reasons.

For young children Lego Duplo blocks are a great gift. Even if they end up with multiple sets it’s still great because then they just have more to build with. They have sets that are aimed at girls and ones that are aimed at boys. Perfect for ages 2-5.

For slightly older children about ages 3-7 it’s a bit harder, this is when they really start getting into different things. But you can usually be save with something Disney Princess related for girls and superhero for the boys. All though there’s always some cross over, where the girl would be more happy with the spiderman, and the boy totally has a thing for Belle. If you know that it makes it much easier to shop. And of course once again Legos are still a good option, but if they’re a little older say closer to 7 than 3 it really opens you up to a lot more of the awesome playsets they have.

From ages 7-10 you should probably try and ask the child what their interested in, at this age generalized gifts are a bit harder, but you can usually get away with the latest movie, or toy craze.

Children are very easy to shop for, most of the time you can buy nearly anything aimed at their age range, and if the child is picky than I’m certain their parent or the child themselves will have some ideas for you.

Are they are Reader? Try this crazy adorable bookworm and a gift card to Barnes and Noble.

Total Music Junkie? Then try these earbuds, these headphones which are also in Mustard, Raspberry and Grass or even better this completely adorably amazing earbud splitter.

What about a hardcore Tea Drinker? How Sweet are these infusers? Seriously a heart or a robot, totally precious. Then there’s also Tea for Two sets and a whole bunch of adorable, floral, buggy, and more tea cups.

Then there’s the world traveler.  You could pick them up a cute, vintage, luggage tag or one of these toiletries travel bags.

Maybe your love is saving up for a Rainy Day, totally obsessed with Audrey Hepburn, or baking all about fashion, or wondering how certain dresses may have changed the world.

I know all those links except one link back to Modcloth.com.  No, they didn’t pay me to write this blog post, I just really love the site and how versatile all the stuff on the site is. These are obviously just suggestions I also notice that most of these gifts are geared towards the ladies, that was kinda unintentional but the same concept applies.

There are tons of different kinds of people, and there are a bazillion different ideas.  Just think about all the things you remember your partner doing and chances are if you remember it then it’s something they do a lot and most likely like. You can base your gift off of that.

Happy Shopping Ladies and Dudes.