Joan Marques once said, “It’s easier to take than to give. It’s nobler to give than to take. The thrill of taking lasts a day. The thrill of giving lasts a lifetime.”

Such truth!

Giving is truly such a gift to all those involved, and it is often on the minds of a lot of people this time of year!

If you need some inspiration for gifts to give this holiday season (or at any time during the year!), check out this list of 10 joyful gift ideas!

#1: Honey, Tea and a Mug

Good For: The friend or family member who loves a quiet night in, slow mornings and peaceful weekends

I love the idea of giving someone some honey, tea, and a mug because it just feels like the epitome of cozy. Who doesn’t love a cup of tea on a chilly winter day?

Ways to Adapt this Gift: Pick a mug that is personalized to that person (think of their initial(s), their favorite flower or animal, their favorite color, a vintage mug, a locally created mug, etc.), buy a local honey and find a tea that is unique (such as tea that is made locally or a special blend that is fitting for the person you are giving it to). If you want to add more to this gift: think about getting a unique teapot, too! Not a tea person—skip it—this gift is still great without the tea!

Some Ideas:

• Nature Trees Coffee Mug (great for a hiking/camping/outdoorsy person!)
• Pottery Mug, Handmade Ceramic Mug (great for an artsy person or someone who loves modern design!)
• Bird Lover 24K Gold Ceramic Mugs (great for a bird lover in your life!)
• Handmade Mugs Flowers Painting in Lavender (good for a flower-loving person/ someone who loves lavender/ your free and wild friend or family member!)
• Comptine Ceramic Creative Terra Cotta Mug (good for an artistic person!)
• miss charlotte: handmade fluted ceramic mug (good for the minimalistic people in your life!)
• Colorado Sunshine Mug (good for people who feel connected to the sun!)
• Handmade Ceramic Coffee Mug (good for anyone!)

#2: A Floral Print and Book

Good For: The friend or family member that loves gardening, nature, the outdoors and a particular flower!

This a really fun gift to give someone who you know they love a particular flower. Help them tap into their own inner joy when their favorite flower is not in season by finding a book about that flower and a flower print to display in their home. A bonus idea: consider giving that person some dried flowers of their favorite flower to put in a vase in their home, too! Or-if the season permits- real live flowers!

If you want to give a flower with the symbolism of joy behind it, check out my post on 10 flowers that symbolize joy!

Inspiration Ideas:

• Lilacs book
• Hydrangeas book
• Peonies book
• Dahlias book
• Discovering Dahlias book
• Tulips book
• Lilies book
• Vintage Roses book
• Lilac Print
• Lilacs Print
• Peony Print
• Yellow Iris Print Set of 3
• California Poppy Print
• Orange Day Lily Print Set
• Set of Four Pressed Hydrangea Giclées V – VIII
• Pink Pressed Rose

#3: A Map of Sorts

Good For: Your adventurous, travel loving family and friends

If you have friend/family that has a love for a particular place on this planet, giving them a map is a great gift idea! It allows them to always have a reminder of one of their favorite places by them! If they just have a love for travel—this gift ideas works for that too! Just go broad and focus on maps of the Earth as a whole!

Ways to Adapt this Gift Idea: Get a vintage map, put the map into a piece of jewelry, get the skyline of a city/place, get a scratch-off map for places they have been!

Ideas:

• Desk Size Scratch Your Travels State Flowers USA Map
• Custom Foil City Map, Any Location Map
• Wooden Map of Any City in the World
• MAINE Flowers State Art Print (available for any USA State)
• Custom City Map
• CUSTOM Vintage Map Necklace. You Select Location Worldwide
• Custom Map Bracelet. You Select Six Cities, States, or Countries. Anywhere In The World.
• Custom Cutout Map Gold Filled Square Necklace
• Earth Necklace
• Coordinates Bar Necklace
• States Disc Necklace
• Passport Disc Necklace
• Maps book (this book is beautiful!)

#4: Seeds or Bulbs

Good For: Your gardeners and plant-loving family and friends

Flowers are such joys to see during the warmer months, plus they provide so many benefits to our Mama Earth!

Giving someone who loves the outdoors and nature the gift of seeds or bulbs allows them the joy of planting their seeds/bulbs and then getting to see them spring forth into life every single year!

Ways to Adapt this Gift: Get wildflower seeds for the particular region that person lives, gift someone a rarer bulb of their favorite flower, or give someone a mixture of varieties of a flower!

Ideas:

• Save the Bees Wildflower Mix
• Texas Wildflower Seed Mix – Premium collection of 23 varieties
• California Wildflower Seed Mix
• Minnesota Wildflower Seed Mix
• Wildflowers of North America
• Peony Lady Alexandra Duff (1 Bareroot)
• Tulip Angelique (10 Bulbs)
• Tulip Bulbs -Apricot Pride- 5 bulbs
• Italian Ranunculus Elegance Rose Chiaro (5 Bulbs)
• Ranunculus Half Clone Marshmallow – 10 Corms
• 3 Bulbs Mixed Color Pre-Grown Water Lily Tubers

#5: A Favorite Book From the Year

Good For: Your book-loving friends and family!

If you read a book this year that has made your list of all-time favorite books, why not gift that book to your friends/family? Perhaps they too will love it, and you can discuss it together! If you need some inspiration, check out my post 10 Books About Living with Joy!

Ways to Adapt this Gift: Gift a book that reminds you of them (for example: if you have a friend that loves bookstores, consider giving them a book all about bookstores around the world), give a travel book all about someone’s new city/state if they just moved, or a vintage book of someone’s favorite classic book!

#6: Printed Song Lyrics

Good For: Anyone who loves music!

Do you have a dear friend or family member who has a song that just resonates with them? Perhaps they even tear up when they hear it? Or they immediately start busting a move when they hear it?

Consider giving them the gift of getting that song’s lyrics printed and framed so they can hang it up in their home! If you have someone who can read music, think about giving them the music to that song!

Inspiration:

• Vinyl Record Song Lyrics
• Wedding Song Print
• Custom Song Lyric Print
• Custom Song Lyric Print
• Wedding Song Print
• First Dance Song Art
• Personalized Song Lyric Pillow

#7: Something Historical

Good For: Your history loving friends/family

If there’s a history buff in your life who loves a particular historical moment or time period, consider giving them something from or representing that historical time.

Some examples:

-if you have a close person in your life who loves elections or a particular president, consider giving them campaign buttons from that election

-Gift a framed print/picture depicting that historical moment or time period

-Coins are a cool idea that are available for different time periods in history!

-See if you can find a newspaper print of that moment in history

#8: A Meaningful Ornament

Good For: Anyone!

My cousin, everywhere she travels, buys an ornament as her souvenir. The reason? She says it always brings her such joy every holiday season when she puts her ornaments up. It reminds her of all the places she has been!

A joyful gift idea, inspired by my cousin, is to give someone a meaningful ornament or ornaments! Every single year it will bring a little smile to them when they get to hang it up!

Here are questions to ask when thinking about what kind of ornament to get them:

-What food does this person love? (if they love love love tacos—get them a taco ornament)

-What kind of hobbies do they enjoy? (if they love to hike—get them a hiking boot ornament)

-What’s their hometown? (get them an ornament of something specific to the city)

-What’s their favorite book? (Find an ornament—like the one below!—where you can get an ornament of someone’s favorite book)

-What TV shows/movies are their favorites? (get them an ornament of the main character/depicting the show/movie)

-What’s their favorite music? (gift an ornament of the singer or of the lyrics! Check out the Song Photo ornament below!)

-Are they taking a trip/or did they just take a trip? (give them an ornament to remember their trip)

-Do they love a particular animal? (think about giving them an ornament of that favorite animal)

-What was something they loved as a child? (gift some nostalgia by getting them an ornament to remember those times—like if they loved Scooby Doo, get them a Scooby Doo ornament)

Ideas:

• Custom Mini Book Holiday Ornaments (good for someone who loves a certain book/author)
• Custom Song Photo Ornament (for the people who love a certain song or just got married and had their first dance to a certain song)
• Personalized Map Ornament (good for a newly engaged couple! Or someone who just moved into their first house)
• Wedding Cake Replica (good for newlyweds! Or a couple celebrating a landmark anniversary)
• Ornament Holiday Housewarming (good for someone who just moved)
• Zodiac Constellation Christmas Ornaments (good for your free spirited and spiritual people)
• Felt Peace Sign Ornament
• Yoga Mat Ornament (good for your Yogis)
• 2022 Photo Frame Ornament (good for anyone)
• Shaka Ocean Wave Ornament (good for your surfer friends and family)
• Globe Ornament (good for your globe-trotting friends and family)
• Personalized Christmas Ornament (good for anyone)
• Cardinal Gourd Ornament (good for bird-lovers, someone who has a special connection to the cardinal or someone who lives in a state with the cardinal as their state bird! Hint those states are Kentucky, Ohio, Illinois, North Carolina, Indiana, West Virginia and Virginia)
• Hummingbird Mosaic Ornament (for people love to see hummingbirds outside)

#9: For the Birds

Good For: The nature and bird lovers!

It’s quite funny how seeing birds outside your window, makes nearly everyone stop and pause for a moment to watch them!

Birds just remind us of the power of slowing down and being in the moment!

If you know someone who enjoys being outside and/or loves bird watching, consider giving them something for the birds outside their window!

Inspiration Ideas:

• Blown Glass Hummingbird Feeder
• Hummingbird House
• Bird Nesting Ball
• 2 Bluebird Nesting Houses
• Hand-painted Wood Garden Birdhouse
• Pottery Birdhouse bottle for wrens finches and chickadees
• Purple Martin – White – Bird House
• Ceramic Hanging Birdbath
• A Set of Two Handmade Cedar Single Chamber Bat House (not technically for birds but still a cool idea!)

#10: An Experience

Good For: Anyone!

If I had to pick one gift out of this list that offers the greatest ability to tap into people’s inner joy, it is this one— giving someone the gift of an experience!

For so so so many of us, we—in reality—have enough, and often times we don’t need anything!

Yet, often, there’s a particular restaurant we have been wanting to try, a concert we would love to see in concert or a museum exhibit we would love to see!

Consider gifting someone these experiences—whether that be through tickets, gift cards, a dinner invitation to make their favorite meal, etc.

I think, for most people, the gift of getting to experience something joyful truly is one of the best “things” they can experience!

If you want to have something for people to have when giving an experience, consider giving them an ornament to represent that experience to go along with the experience! They will remember their experience every year when they put their ornaments up!

Do you have any additional joyful gift ideas to add to the list? Share below!