Housewares for serving up food and beverages are a good place to look when gift shopping. These are the items people use every day and that add comfort and pleasure to a meal or snack. Things like mugs with fun sayings printed on the ceramic exteriors and seasoning shakers that stay out to add spice to meals make useful and thoughtful presents. Serving plates and bowls dress up the table, and tote bags and tea towels are handy for moving all kinds of things around and washing up after a meal.

Decorative gifts add beauty to the recipient’s home or office. Pieces like lights, candles and scent infusers illuminate a room with gentle light and add elegant scents to an area. Vases and planters are lovely gifts for the person who enjoys bringing a touch of nature indoors. Decor pieces are crafted from a variety of materials to complement different styles. Materials like brass and carved stone add a stunning touch to a counter, dresser or night stand. For the avid reader or book collector, a set of book ends to hold up the books displayed adds the perfect adornment to a bookcase shelf.

Choose a gift that is useful for the bar area to give your beverage loving friends. Edgy coasters are useful for protecting counters and the finish on both indoor and outdoor occasional tables. Fun, shaped ice cube trays are useful as gifts for your loved one to fill with juice or water to add a chilly touch to drinks. For taking the party outside, things like drink floats and pool toys are helpful gifts, and play up the bright colours with accessories from a mixed drink kit in bright colours that complement the pool toys.

Being organized and knowing where your things are helps to reduce stress and establish a sense of peace. Give the gift of less stress and more peace with things that help the people in your life stay more organized. Offer the gift or organization with things like desk organizers, jewelry organizing pieces and wall hooks. Choose a desk organizer in a material that matches the recipient’s desk lamp or favorite pen set for a beautiful themed look. Choose colourful decorative trays and ring holders to go on the dresser or bathroom counter, or pick out a set of colourful wall hooks for hanging up jackets and bathrobes.

Choose lightly scented soaps and lotions as gifts for someone to set out in the bathroom. These items are created from natural cleaning, exfoliating and moisturizing ingredients. In addition to being good for the skin, they provide the fresh, delicate scents of organic herbs. These soaps look lovely displayed alongside a set of LED votive candles, art sculpture pieces, or coral and seashells to create an outdoorsy beach themed bathroom. Matching hand towels to the colours of the soaps, and positioning a mirror to catch the light and draw attention to the display of decorative soaps and lotion bottles is another way for the recipient to enjoy the gifts.