Our mailbox has been flooded lately with all the holiday catalogues. Harper has been having fun flipping through some of ones for kids, looking at all the different toys. It reminds me of sitting in my room looking at the JCPenney catalogue when I was young.

For me, online gift guides have become the twenty-tens version of the JCPenney catalogue. I love checking out what other bloggers recommend and find myself turning to their expertly curated lists for ideas. (Joanna Goddard’s lists are always fool-proof!)

So over the next three weeks, I wanted share a few gift-giving ideas; things I have enjoyed giving to friends and family in the past. Today I have five of my favorite go-to gifts.

A camera strap
I love the customized leather camera straps from RSVP Handcrafted. There are so many colors to choose from, so of course, it takes an eternity for me to decide. I have ordered the blue and the light brown and they were perfect. (I honestly don’t think you can go wrong.)

<<< I also love this one from Fotostrap. There are several colors to choose from, and the shoulder pad can be monogrammed. What’s more, they donate 10% of proceeds to a non-profit that gives to inspiring people who are overcoming adversity.

A cookbook
Dinner: A Love Story is a great cooking blog and a fun cookbook to give to anyone who is a parent. The author, Jenny Rosenstrach has even been willing to make special dedications on bookplates, sign and mail them to me so I could add some extra love in the inside cover. We made her chicken pot pie for friends the other night and it was a hit! Also, I have a lot  of friends with boys and have enjoyed giving the cookbook Mad Hungry: Feeding Men and Boys on more than one occasion.

An ornament
My family has a wonderful ornament exchanging tradition with our close family friends. It started years ago, with an ornament from Gumps in San Francisco. Every year since, my mom and our friend JoAnn have exchanged ornaments and every year, one person gets their ornament in the original Gumps box. They write the year and their name in the upper lid of the box. Needless to say, our family loves shopping for the perfect ornament. When Harper was born, I bought this wooden snowflake ornament from Timber Green Woods. I have since bought one for Elliot, my nieces, and practically all of their friends. They come beautifully wrapped.

A water bottle
Fancy, overpriced water bottles are something I know I personally love but rarely justify buying for myself. For likeminded friends, it’s a perfect gift. The Bkr bottles are pretty and look great sitting out on a desk. The mouth piece is small, which is helpful in not getting that GUSH of water down your front when driving or just being clumsy. (I am a champion spiller.) I also dropped this one on my tile floor in Las Vegas and the only thing that broke was the lid and Bkr sent me a new one. Last year, I bought everyone in my family bottles from Swell and the year before, I think we did good ol’ Nalgene.

A return address stamp
Our last neighbors had a wiener dog named Frank. As soon as I saw this stamp, I knew I had to get it for them. (And the shop will hand-draw any breed!) Even if your friends aren’t dog people, there are lots of other great shops on Etsy to order a stamp from. We got one for our holiday cards last year from Paper Street Press.

Coming up next week – my favorite books for the littles.