Whether you are shopping for yourself or for someone else this holiday season – I have some ideas that make great gifts and also encourage others to take a step back and focus on their self-care. This time of the year is stressful and busy. There’s bad weather, crazy holiday scheduling, winter blues, family stuff being dredged up, holiday shopping, winter colds, and a ton of other stuff. It’s even more important this time of the year to take a break and take care of yourself.

The Self Love Workbook + Accessories

Firstly, let me recommend my famous Self-Love Workbook + Planner! This would make a great gift for yourself or for the women in your life. It encourages women to look at their lives in celebration and in reflection. It helps organize, it focuses on self-care and this year there are multiple add-ons.

Sober Life focuses on recovery from drugs and alcohol. It contains the 12 steps and a spot to celebrate your sobriety milestones.

Biz Life has a place for you to plan your blog posts and product launches. It focuses on making goals each month for traffic and social media.

Mom Life has a weekly spot for Parenting Wins so that you can be reminded how awesome you are on those difficult days. It encourages you to come up with self-care plans that incorporate your whole family.

Mental Health has a Medication and Mood Tracker. Each month also has a Treatment Plan which can be anything from traditional things like therapy and medication or tracking alternative methods like vitamins, diet, and self-care.

Witch Life is all about embracing your spirituality. There’s a place for keeping track of your full moon plans, your spell-work each month, and how you’re spiritual connection is feeling right now.

I also recommend getting fun accessories like stickers and glitter pens.

Books

I think that books make great gifts, bookworm that I am. A book can completely change the way that we think about issues and about ourselves. Here are some of my favorites. Also, let me betray those beautiful smelling paperback books that I love. I got a Kindle for Christmas two years ago and I love it. I have Kindle Unlimited (you can get a 30 day free trial) and it gives you thousands of books AND audiobooks. You can “borrow” 10 books/audiobooks at a time and when you’re done, you return them. I listen to an average of 12 audiobooks a month for just $10.

Body Love: The Body Sacred tackles loving your body from a witchy perspective. It was such a healing book for me when I first started my journey.

Inner Work: I’ve just started Journey to the Dark Goddess and if you’re going through a tough time, a dark night of the soul situation, I recommend it for helping you process those wounds and trauma that are causing that feeling of going within.

Life Improvement: You can’t go wrong with books by SARK! She encourages you to look on the brighter side of life while still acknowledging and accepting those things in your life that are dark and difficult.

You Can Heal Your Life is a great book for anyone that’s struggling to change their mindset on life and themselves.

Stay in Bed And Read All Day Reads: One of my favorite acts of self-care is curling up in bed with a good romance novel. Julia Quinn, Tessa Dare, Courtney Milan and Sherry Thomas are my favorites.

Relaxation

We are so stressed out in today’s world. Here are some of my favorite things to relieve stress, lessen anxiety, and overall calm the hell down.

I could not live without my heated blanket. Not only will it warm you up on cold days but it also helps to soothe everyday aches and pain, especially if you’re on your feet for work all day like I am. I also have weighted blankets on my wishlist. They’re supposed to be amazing for anxiety, stress, sensory-overload, autism and a lot of other things.

Eye pillows are great for taking a moment to relax, adding extra indulgence to a nap, helping with a headache, and helping to relieve stress. You can put them in the freezer and use them as a cold compress or heat them for a few seconds in the microwave for a warm one. I found an embroidered handmade one on etsy years ago, and I still use it.  The scent is now very faint so I just put a drop or two of essential oils on it and I’m good to go.

Bath products also make great gifts. Epsom salt contains magnesium which helps lower blood pressure and anxiety. And look at these awesome bath bombs!

Atmosphere

I bought a Himalayan salt lamp last year and I absolutely love it. The light is warm and comforting and makes the perfect night-light. The salt lamp releases negative ions into the air, creating an effect similar to an ionizer, purifying the surrounding air and improving air quality. Let me tell you a story about how it works too well. When I first got one of these I decided to put it in my bedroom. My bedroom smells heavily of incense because I have a ritual of lighting some every day before bed. I love that it smells just like an occult shop. Within three days I noticed something was off – the incense smell was completely gone. So it works! I’ve since moved it into my living room so that I can have my good smell-y bedroom back.

Essential Oils can be a complete game-changer when it comes to your self-care. I have a lot of Gurunanda essential oils. They’re very affordable if you’re on a budget. I use a small diffuser to fill my home with the scent of calming lavender.

My favorite candles are the Tru Melange brand that I get at my local Sprouts. They smell delicious and they come in cute tins you can re-use afterward.

Fun Socks + Soft and Fuzzy Things

You really can’t go wrong with socks or comfy, fuzzy, pajama pants. What kind of monster wouldn’t love that for Christmas? Textiles actually have quite an effect on depression and anxiety. Give the gift of warmth and fuzzy things with a dash of humor. These “I Have Mood Swings” socks are great.

Also, who doesn’t love a nice pair of fuzzy pajama pants?

What’s the best self-care gift that you’ve ever given yourself or someone else?