What Excellent Gift-Givers Actually Give
The Gift Edit: Smart, useful and a little unexpected
Welcome to The Outline, a weekly letter for people building a business and a life they actually enjoy. Each issue shares one idea to help you work better, feel better and grow in a way that feels good.
Subscribe to get the next edition in your inbox. 💌
Admittedly we’re in peak-gift guide and Black Friday chaos right now. This is a gift guide for people who care more about how life feels and how they work.
Here’s what I keep coming back to as principles:
Smart (we’re looking for ROI in what we purchase)
Useful (making life simpler/easier/better daily)
A little unexpected (the things you didn’t know you’d love)
Build
For the person who loves systems, good tools, and the feeling of getting their life together.
I’m obsessed with these pens. They write really nicely, are erasable (the crossword just got better) and I particularly like the sand beige colour which is a neutral brown.
A workflow audit hour. Get someone to review where your time waste is and set up automations. It’s honestly a game changer if you’re building or growing your business.
A surprisingly good light upgrade is a floor standing light (with a warm glow bulb) next to your desk. Turn off those overheads and make your workspace cosy.
A Notion subscription - upgrade your workspace and get organised. You could do this and then get help in setting up your system and automations.
A website build session. Looking to actually make a start on that dream, or encourage your friends? You can prompt your way there yourself (guide here) or you can get someone to do it for you.
This laptop stand has been the best for out and about. Lightweight and folds down.
Flow
These are the gifts that create ease - the things you use daily without thinking.
Are you a manager? Please be the best boss at this year’s Secret Santa and gift your team some no-meeting days.
I love the Hatch alarm clock. Look, any sunrise alarm clock I would massively advocate for. Leave your phone downstairs and let the light do its work. This one nails the evening red light and custom routines including, for me, a mini meditation post my 30 mins allotted reading time.
These tiny earplugs are great if you also like to keep noise to a minimum on your compulsory days in office.
The best tea I’ve had in years I picked up in NY recently but you can get a variant here. Makes you feel virtuous with a side taste of chocolate. Mind blown.
Read
You know what makes the perfect gift? Books.
They are thoughtful, they are convenient, they’re cost effective… and easy to wrap. No one dislikes receiving a handpicked book. And they’re easy to pick up when you’re in a pinch and need something really quick.
Here’s a round up of the best gift fiction books and you can subscribe to get the upcoming best non-fiction.
My go to gift picks: Still Life by Sarah Winman, The Light Years by Elizabeth Jane Howard, Ex-Wife by Ursula Parrott, Excellent Women by Barbara Pym.
The best books I’ve read this year: Write Useful Books by Rob Fitzpatrick, The Brain at Rest by Joseph Jebelli, Learning from Silence by Pico Iyer, The Camomile Lawn by Mary Wesley or Background for Love by Helen Wolff.
My favourite discovery has been 831 Stories. Romcom style novellas - think When Harry Met Sally style stories. I’ve loved Erika Veurink’s Exit Lane and also Grape Juice, and I have Set Piece, Hardly Strangers and Comedic Timing on the way. At 200 pages they’re the perfect evening read.
If you’d rather skip the guesswork altogether, Verse Subscriptions do the same job, but better. Each book is pre-loved, hand-matched, and chosen to feel like the perfect recommendation from a friend.
Gift great books - a great secret santa gift too
Elevate
Things that make life better, and that you’d quite happily keep for yourself.
The best walking shoes - it’s not often you can put on a pair of boots and walk 16k steps on day one. Plus, they’re rain proof. Happy stomping.
A custom matchbox cover is, I grant you, slightly extravagant. However its often small things you don’t need that bring you joy. And I love using it to light candles daily. A custom engraved one from Matilda Goad would be my pick.
I picked up a kujten cashmere scarf recently when in Paris and it’s been so handy. It’s small enough to fold into a bag, you can tie it in many variations around you neck (or bag, or if like me, a tiny dog who gets cold 🧐). It is surprising how warm this tiny piece of material can make you.
The Rhode lipliner goes with me everywhere. I have never been a lipliner girl before, but what can I say… I’m obsessed.
Into your skincare? My favourite facialist and client Hadda Akrim has done the gift guide of all gift guides - outlined by skin type. This is the gold you only used to get by seeing her in clinic.
The Soft Services buffing bar is amazingly good if you have dry/rough skin concerns. There isn’t a problem this thing can’t tackle. If you can get it near you please do.
The Citizens of Soil gift subscription pack would make the ultimate luxury gift for any food lover or cook.
Incense - the best (in my very extensive tried and tested opinion) are Aesop Kagerou and Papier d’Arménie in Arménie.
There may be Tik-Tok inspired queues for the cult French pharmacy Officine Universelle Buly, but you can order this toothpaste online. Tastes amazing.
This retinol remains my best of the year (also a Hadda-influenced pick).
The Return on Investment (ROI) Index
If I had to measure gifts by the return they give someone throughout the year, this is how I’d score them:
Highest daily ROI: Setting up an evening red light filter on your phone. The smallest change that makes you put your phone away and resets your evening focus.
Most unexpectedly useful: This very unglamourous upright ergonomic mouse. I didn’t expect to love it as much as I do.
Best emotional ROI: Always a book. I keep returning to Company of One by Paul Jarvis
Best energy ROI: My favourite ever electrolytes. Liquid > powder, always. This has been the best energy reset.
This isn’t really a guide about gifts. It’s about paying attention to life, to what made your year better and what may make someone else’s better too.
Happy gifting x
If you enjoyed this, the best support I could receive would be if you ❤️ it, restacked it or shared it with a friend.
From the archives:
👋 If you’re designing your next chapter—your week, your work, or wider business—I offer 1:1 support. Connect or message me below.
PS - If you liked this kind of curation, Verse is my other love letter to great books. There’s even a subscription that sends books straight to your door.