(Family Features) Stylish, flavorful, healthy, useful for daily life – gifts of all kinds can put smiles on your loved ones’ faces this holiday season. Whether the special person on your list is a fashion expert, foodie, work-at-home busybody or the neighborhood gearhead, these practical presents offer exciting ways to make the holidays memorable.
Visit eLivingtoday.com for more gift ideas to celebrate those nearest and dearest to your heart.
Healing in Style
To make stockings extra special this year, consider a colorful and artistic way to cover and protect your family’s minor cuts, wounds and scrapes. Designed by graphic artist Kendra Dandy, CURAD Flex-Fabric Bandages feature fun, fashionable designs in multiple shapes and sizes. These eye-catching, wearable pieces of art offer multi-purpose protection for everyone in the family, including kids and fun-loving adults. Find more information at curad.com.
The Gift of a Healthier Space
Shine a light on your home office or e-learning space with a solution like the OttLite Achieve LED Sanitizing Desk Lamp with proven, patented SpectraClean technology that safely breaks down harmful bacteria to create a healthier and more productive space. Plus, with two ways to charge your devices (wireless charging and USB port), it’s a gift your recipient can use all year long. Plus, the clean, white light is proven to reduce eyestrain by 51%, making it a valuable way to read, work and study. Find more information at ottlite.com/sanitize-achieve.
A Gift for Car Aficionados
For the drivers on your list, keep them prepared for the road with an option like Michelin Endurance XT Silicone wiper blades, which provide a smooth, streak-free wipe and improved driver visibility even in extreme weather conditions. With 130 years of rubber expertise, this premium blade is specifically engineered to last twice as long as standard wiper blades. Find more information at Walmart.com.
A Smokin’ Good Holiday Spread
Elevate your hosting with Latitude 45 Smoked Salmon from Patagonia’s glacial-fed fjords. It’s the only available salmon smoked within 24 hours of leaving the water. It’s listed in the top 25% of food companies worldwide on the Dow Jones Sustainability Index, and its pure, clean and fresh taste makes for endless pairings options for a crowd pleaser in your holiday spread. Find options near you at latitude45salmon.com/store-locator.
5 Tips to Wrap Gifts Like a Pro
The thought is what truly counts, but a crisply wrapped package shows your loved ones just how much time and effort you put into their gifts this holiday season. For a gift that looks like it was wrapped by Santa himself, consider these tips:
- Keep supplies together: Each year when you’re done wrapping, store your scissors, tape, ribbons, bows and tags together. That way, when it comes time to wrap this season’s gifts, you’re not searching for each item individually.
- Pick the perfect paper: Shop for a few wrapping paper options that complement one another. This aids the appearance of your assortment of presents under the tree, so they provide an array of colors and styles without clashing.
- Work in shorter sessions: Rather than trying to wrap all your gifts at once and burning yourself out, make it a fun experience by wrapping 2-3 presents at a time. Add joy to the task by playing your favorite holiday music or turning on a classic movie so it feels more like an exciting tradition than a chore.
- Use household items as helpful tools: The neater you can keep your wrapping paper, the sharper it’ll look as a finished product. Cut an empty cardboard toilet paper roll down the side then use it as a cuff to wrap around your wrapping paper roll to avoid wrinkling. While you’re wrapping, an item as simple as a paper clip can make things easier – use it to mark the end of the tape on the roll or clip it on to the edge of your wrapping paper roll to keep things neat and tidy.
- Tag gifts as soon as they’re wrapped: Corners that don’t seem as crisp as you hoped might be annoying but wrapping a group of gifts only to forget which is which can be downright frustrating. Once the kiddo’s newest toy is safely wrapped, make sure to immediately put a gift tag on the package before it’s mixed up with grandma’s sweater.
Photo courtesy of Getty Images (Mom and daughter with gift)