Let's gift...the girlfriend swag bag

Hello, July - how did you sneak up on us so quickly?! 'Tis the season for beach trips, girlfriend getaways, bachelorette weekends and weddings, so today I'm sharing a gift idea that can be customized and used for your gal pals for any occasion!

The "girlfriend swag bag" can be customized to your recipient and/or occasion. Image southern giftologist.

The base of your gift would be a fun cosmetic or make-up bag - then you can fill it up with general necessities (such as mine above) or make it more focused to a particular theme: makeup, hair, nails, luxe toiletries - be creative! The possibilities are endless! The best part is you can go as low-end or high-end as you like to fit your budget.

Happy Summer and Happy Gifting!

What's in my bag, above: Essie nail polish, Herbivore Botanicals body oil and after sun spray, gum, face blotting papers, fun keychain, designer bandages, blister bandages, pill case (with Tylenol and Advil), Emi-Jay hair ties, mineral water face spray (great to keep in your cooler by the pool or beach), Scout cosmetic bag, rollerball perfume, Nash+Jones natural lip balm and Marvis toothpaste. 

Let's stuff those stockings!

We're in the final days of Christmas shopping and many of you may be at the "stocking stuffer stage" - your remaining gifts are fun, little things for the stocking. This past week on Instagram and Facebook, I shared some of my favorite stocking stuffer ideas which I will recap below, along with some other fun ideas. Hope it helps someone with their final holiday shopping!

Fun pens or pencils

Moonshine Boot Wax

Local bath or hand soaps - Little Seed Farm, Music City Suds or WOW Soap

Paper coasters and/or paper straws

Small pottery bowls for rings, keys, decor

Fun coin purse with a gift card, cash or coin assortment (great for vending machines at work!)

Notepads, list pads or sticky notes

Travel-sized candles

Fun box of matches

Cocktail napkins

Jewelry

Fun keychain

TruBee lip balm or honey

Bang Candy Company marshmallows, caramels or syrups

Cocktail mixers - Walkers, Eli Mason or Barsmith

Roux Maison travel-sized stain remover or detergents

Local snacks/seasonings/chocolates - Batch Nashville store at the Farmer's Market has an abundance of fantastic gifts that will fit nicely in those stockings

Room spray from Music City Suds (love Conway Minty!)

Fun socks

stocking stuffers! image southern giftologist

Happy gifting!

The $10 - $15 gift challenge

A friend of mine recently asked for help coming up with hostess gift ideas for 6 ladies that were throwing her a shower. Easy, right? Well, not so much when she says that her budget is between $60 and $70 in total. At that point I could have easily pointed her to the $10 Starbucks gift cards but that's not the southern giftologist way, and I knew we could find something local and/or creative within this budget. At some point we all are faced with finding gifts in this price range - hello, white elephant or secret santa gifts during the holidays?! And so I present 5 ideas for gifts that come in at $15 or less - for those times we need to gift on a smaller budget:

1. Tin candle from Southern Firefly. The Grapefruit Mangosteen is one of my favorites, but they have several scents to choose from. These candles can also be found at several stores around Nashville or on Southern Firefly's website. Pair with a decorative box of matches to complete the gift!

2. Travel-sized laundry products from Roux Maison. Elevate the laundry game by gifting a couple of these trial-sized products. Sold in sets of 3, you can order a couple and mix and match depending on the recipient. Choose from stain remover (supposed to be one of the best), scented detergent, delicates detergent or swimwear detergent.

image southern giftologist

3. Fun office supplies from Poppin. Yes, I realize this is my second post to mention this company and no, I don't work for them, but they ARE one of my go-to sites for gifts. And who doesn't love office supplies in bright, fun colors?

4. Shopping lists or notepads. I love the ones from Rifle Paper Co. and Southern Fried Design Barn both of which I have seen at Green Door Gourmet. Add a recyclable grocery bag, tote or a decorative hand towel and you have yourself a useful gift.

Hand towel and notepad from my personal collection

5. Last, but certainly not least, consider giving the gift of local food products. There are so many wonderful companies out there making delicious products that could (and likely will) fill an entire blog post alone, but for the sake of space on this post I'm only going to mention a few. Two of my go-to places for local products are the Batch Shop at the Nashville Farmers Market and Green Door Gourmet. 

• Box of Willa's Shortbread cookies or bag of Nola Granola and a fun snack bowl from West Elm or Anthropologie
• Jar of Nashville Jam Company jam or TruBee honey accompanied by a pretty spreader, spoon or loaf of fresh, artisan bread
• Bag of Soberdough bread mix and a bottle or two of local beer (one for the mix and one for drinking while the bread is baking!)
• Six-pack of local beer with a bag or two of Sweet Meat Jerky (great guy gift!)

Local goodies I purchased at the Batch store

So there you have it - some of my ideas for gifting on a budget. If nothing else, I hope I've helped spark an idea or two of your own or introduced you to a new product or store that can be a resource for your gifting needs.