Stocking Stuffer Guide: Girly

Photo courtesy of Juicy Couture

Good morning lovelies!  I hope everyone is having a fantastic "hump" day.  Well I think the holiday crunch has officially begun with only six days of shopping left.  AHHHH PANIC!!! Well not a panic for me considering I completed purchasing and wrapped the bulk of my presents before December 1st, yes I know I'm CRAZY!  Unfortunately, I left the stockings for last, something I feel like a lot of people do b/c it can be difficult to think of small inexpensive items that a person will actually like and use.

Today's stocking stuffer guide will center around the ladies, ages 15 and up for the most part.  I've seen different versions of how people use the stockings; some go for only putting a few things in there, using them for a small, and often expensive, piece of jewelry, or, like we do in our family, stuff them to the brim.  However you decide to stuff your stockings, I hope this guide will make the whole process a little less stressful.

First up we have the obvious choice for girls: makeup!  The thing with makeup is if it isn't something that the person specifically asked for it can be tricky.  Stick to brands and products you know they like.  Still unsure?  Take a peek through her makeup collection and see if she's running low on something (mascara and the like) and buy her a backup.  When doing this please not the color of the product that she uses.  If you want what I consider to be foolproof makeup buying go for a value set, much like the ones you'll see popping up at Sephora.  These are great b/c you can un-box them and then you'll have multiple items to fill up that stocking.

Photos courtesy of Sephora.com

My personal favorites are the Benefit Sexy Little Stowaways (retails for $34) and the Sephora Tinsel Town Collector's Nail Polish Set (on sale for $33).  I have these products linked to their corresponding webpages, but at this point in the game you're probably better off not chancing the shipping getting it here on time, and should go to the store instead.  These items are both sold in-store at your local Sephora.

Photos courtesy of Sephora.com and Kiehls.com

Next I have something that is PERFECT for just about any girl, whether she's in to makeup or not.  Bath and body products are always a hit and, just like their makeup counterpart, they come in a variety of awesome value sets around the holidays.  My favorites are the Soap & Glory Shower Trip Set (retails for $36 at Sephora; also comes with a great travel bag that can be wrapped separately as an additional gift!) and the Kiehl's Creme de Corps Collection (retails for $64) and the Greatest Hits Collection (retails for $44).  These sets can be broken down into individual items and then placed in the stockings.

Next up we have travel accessories and travel size products.  I'm in consulting so I travel a ton and receiving travel related items is great b/c lets face it these are all things that we need, but we don't necessarily want to spend our hard earned cash to acquire them.  A travel item that people often forget about is luggage tags.  I recently acquired a set of hot pinks ones and they are to die!  The ones I purchased (two for $9.66) can be found at local Bag n' Baggage stores or on Amazon.  Another great travel item is refillable travel-size containers.  I have jelly ones that have control tops to prevent spills.  They've flown many miles and have yet to have an accident.  The ones I have are the Humangear GoToobs (three for $19.99) and can be purchased at your local Bag n' Baggage or Amazon.

Photos courtesy of Amazon.com

Travel size products are so great b/c it takes the guess work out of making sure your liquids are small enough to be carried-on.  Depending on the route you wish to take, many luxury brands carry travel size versions of their products, such as Kiehl's and Sephora.  Both stores have areas dedicated to smaller items; Sephora's is by the check out line or as you walk through the checkout line, and Kiehl's generally has large bins containing travel size items in the center of the store.  Also, if there's a luxury item that you know your gift recipient loves, but it doesn't come in full size, buy the large size and inquire with a sales associate if they can make you a deluxe sample.  You could also buy reusable travel bottles (featured above) and fill them with the recipient's favorite products.  Another great route to go is to visit your local drugstore and hit up the travel size section.  Stock up on toothpaste, mouthwash, q-tips, etc.  These are all items that we need, will use, and would be THRILLED to receive in our stockings.

Photos courtesy of Amazon.com

Last we have what I consider to be the Holy Grail of stocking stuffer items: gift cards!  Now I know some people are against gift cards b/c they can be seen as impersonal, BUT they are great little items to through in someone's stocking.  Ones I really love to get are iTunes, ones to my favorite restaurants, Starbucks, Wawa (for us east-coasters), and one for the local movie theaters (if you're not sure which movie theater the recipient likes, Fandango and Movietickets.com are safe bets).  Movie and restaurant ones are great b/c they are ones that you can do with your significant other, so don't look at them as boring old gift cards, but as an opportunity to have a fun date!

I know this post is pretty long, but i wanted to help everyone out as much as possible with the holidays so close!  If you have any additional stocking suggestions please leave them in the comments below.