A Helpful (Mostly Green) Christmas Gift List
Sill struggling over gifts for future sisters-in-law? New babies? How about the guys? If our new friends at Mr. Ellie Pooh couldn’t help you out with their generous 10% discount, then maybe I can give it a shot. Here are some memorable and well-worshipped gifts that earn our family seal of approval. Some are already under our tree again this year:
1. No nasty chemical lotion
I remember the first time I smelled this peach lotion. Heaven! Give it to someone you love, and she’ll forever remember her first time using Kiss My Face lotion, too. We bought this Peaches N Creme one at a local shop (for a few bucks more-dang!). The $8.54 lotion is natural and doesn’t have all those nasty chemicals I’m always protesting about to ya’ll. We should have gotten two…
2. Sweet pine smell without the tree (or candle smoke)
Know anyone who decided to take the leap and go for the fake tree? Chances are they got sick of the pine needles and sap, right? Bring the pine smell back to their house for a mere $19.99 with a Mistletoe scented Yankee Candle product. Our favorite is the Oil Reed Diffuser because there’s nothing like coming home from work to the scent of pine at Christmas.
3. Timeless entertainment – no batteries needed
Martin really got to know my family over this board game. Ticket to Ride is our all-time favorite. The hardest part about moving to Germany was the lack of this fun game (don’t even ask how many times we’ve played it since we got to the US a little bit ago). For ages 8+, it’s $39.17, and it’s so totally going back to Germany with us. It comes with several expansion packs, so it’s the gift that keeps on giving at our house.
4. American-made toys!
I wanted to find some “made in USA” toys this year. A bit hard, but here’s what we dug up…
Wooden Little Engine that Could Train Set for $36.
7″ Organic Cotton Foundling Bunny for $19.99
5. Yummy lip stuff without the petroleum… or, you know, the nasty chemicals I run from
And last, our all-time favorite stocking stuffer. Watch out world! No, it’s only two non-petroleum based lip balms that we gladly tote to Germany: Alba Botanica Vanilla Lip Balm for $1.75 and Burt’s Bees for $1.95. Yum!
So there you have it. Our happy holiday classics.
And just so you know, Amazon will give Making This Home a small percentage of any purchases you make by clicking from this page. You could help me buy Martin some lip balm, which would be really nice. We would be so ho-ho-happy. (I know that sounds corny. But we would.) It would be my first paid writing gig!
And if not, good luck fighting those shopping crowds this weekend!














December 12th, 2008 at 8:25 pm
I love ticket to ride. It is one of my favorite games. Aren’t there a lot of games available since Germany is one of the biggest board game makers? My sisters finance is really into board games and he is always saying that some of the best games come from Europe and especially Germany?
I also love this game http://www.boardgames.com/mamamia.html :)
December 12th, 2008 at 8:28 pm
I’ve gotta add a shout-out for un-petroleum. I *LOVE* this stuff. I have a tube sitting by my keyboard right now actually. I put it on at my nephew’s birthday the other night and he turned to me and said “you smell like pudding!” Lol. How can you beat that?
December 12th, 2008 at 8:58 pm
Kala, thanks for correcting me! Ticket to Ride is sold in Germany. Our other favorite, Settlers of Catan, isn’t there, so I got them mixed up while I was writing. Can I blame the jetlag?
I agree that the best games do come from Germany. :)
Thanks for the game link. My brother is a game nut, too. I’ll have to ask his take on that one. Christmas gift maybe??
Katie
December 12th, 2008 at 12:51 pm
Katie these are all great ideas and I’m so impressed that you’re working with Amazon.com – I sure hope someone buys something off of your site so you can say you’ve had your first paying writing job! I’m sure you’ll have lots more too! I for one have already finished my holiday shopping and don’t have the budget for more, unfortunately! But after the holidays I will take a look at that board game, as we are all big gamers in my family. Love board games, card games and backgammon!
December 12th, 2008 at 7:50 pm
All very cute . :0) I’ve never seen that game – now I must check it out for sure. And that little bunny is so sweet. Hope you have a good weekend, Ms. Katie!
December 13th, 2008 at 1:48 am
Hi Katie, I randomly ran across your blog and thinks it so cute. You have some great ideas. and I love that most of them are green. I too am living in Germany. We just moved here about 5 months ago and I am slowly getting use this living here.
December 15th, 2008 at 7:53 am
Hi Katie:
I have an award for you at my place. Stop by when you have a moment :o)
December 15th, 2008 at 11:18 am
That bunny looks like it would be an instant lovey. So cute. All great picks!
December 31st, 2008 at 10:39 am
[...] I shared some of the green Christmas gifts we like to put under our tree like yummy lotions and the things that bring our family together every holiday like board [...]