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Bearaby; Maude
As fun and exciting as the holidays can be, it’s no secret that they’re also stressful. From buying gifts to planning celebrations, we can all use a bit of relaxation from time to time during this holiday season.
That’s why we’ve gathered a list of gifts that are specifically focused on wellness.
Whether you’re gifting yourself or someone else, we’ve curated a wide selection of gifts that can help anyone feel more relaxed, energized, and relieved.
From coloring books to sex toys and mindfulness card games, these gifts are a great addition to anyone’s self-care routine and alleviating some holiday stress.
Siblings
Some candles aren’t worth the hype, other candles are just right. The latter is how we describe Sibling’s DIY candle kits.
Sibling’s reasonably-priced candles are packaged in a 100% compostable bag, and come with a wick, wick holder, and a gob of wax that you heat up, assemble, and set yourself. It’s arguably a more sustainable way to do candles. And who knows, maybe the start of a new hobby.
For more wicks to burn, check out our guide to the best candle gift sets.
Bearaby
Bearaby, a company best known for its popular chunky-knit weighted blanket, recently released the Hugget, a sensory knot pillow that’ll add a modern touch to any room, whether you keep it on your bed, couch, or office desk. The knot pillow is available in small, medium, and large sizes, with each designed to be a welcomed distraction for stress-relieving stimulation.
Amazon
Acupressure mats are designed to alleviate muscle tension by stimulating large surfaces of the body, and this set from ProSource is a useful self-care tool we swear by. Once you acclimate to laying on a bed of plastic spikes (7,992 of them to be exact), benefits include improved blood flow and relief for everything from headaches to back aches. While it’s not a substitute for the targeted treatment you’d receive from a licensed acupuncturist, it’s a great tool to turn to for all kinds of pain relief.
Therapy Notebooks
There are many benefits to journaling, but if you’re not sure how to start, it’s worth checking out Therapy Notebooks, makers of the popular Anti-Anxiety Notebook. The guided journal can either be used daily or whenever you’re feeling stressed.
The company’s new Sleep workbook is designed to be an accessible six-week program to help you get better rest. There’s a close relationship between sleep and mental health, and the workbook is filled with evidence-based tools, strategies, and tips to help you identify your sleep patterns and give you more insight into your sleep hygiene.
Actually Curious
Strong social relationships are an important factor to positive mental health, and if you’re feeling nervous about socializing in a post-pandemic world, Actually Curious can help.
A card game designed to bring people together, Actually Curious is a deck of 52 meaningful questions meant to spur self-reflection and conversation, whether you use it solo or with others.
Speks
Speks makes some of the most satisfying desk toys we’ve ever tried, and its latest lineup of Blots silicone stress balls come in three fun shapes you can squeeze and pull to your fidgety heart’s content. They look nice enough to display in basically any work setting, and they’re sized perfectly to fit in the palm of your hand.
Sagekind
It’s no secret that caring for plants can have positive effects on mood and mental health. This coloring book from Brooklyn-based small biz Sagekind offers a calming alternative to endless scrolling, all while celebrating houseplants and the people who love them.
Illustrator Aisha Richardson’s follow-up coloring book, Relaxing with Plants, is currently available for preorder, and you can save $5 by bundling both books together.
Amazon
We love weighted blankets at Insider Reviews. They’re comfortable, simple, and good at what they do — with the right weight and size, they can help you relax and potentially ease stress and anxiety. Weighted blankets can be costly, but Luna’s weighted blanket is the perfect combination of quality, softness and weight, while being significantly less expensive than the rest.
Maude
Sexual well-being is as important as physical and mental health and this sleek and stylish Maude Vibe is the perfect budget-friendly vibrator for satisfying one person, or a fun toy for couples. Out of the more than 100 sex toys we tested, the Maude Vibe was one of our favorites for its simplicity, compact size, and modern cone shape that’s perfect for people who want something different from basic phalic-shaped vibrators.
Amazon
Mindfulness is about being present and connected with your immediate environment and comes with a myriad of benefits from reduced stress to improved overall well-being. These mindfulness cards are an easy way to incorporate mindfulness anywhere, anytime. Each card includes a phrase on the front to help inspire you and a short mindfulness exercise on the back to return you from your racing thoughts to the present moment. With more than 50 cards to choose from, this deck is a great way to build the habit of being more mindful on a daily basis.
Sally Kaplan/Insider
These pillow slide slippers may come from TikTok but they are legit! They feel like you’re walking on “squishy clouds” and are great for a stroll around the neighborhood, a quick pop to the grocery store, or just for lounging in your home. They also come in 10 different colors and are an affordable gift at just $16.99.
Jakub Porzycki/NurPhoto via Getty Images)
Give the gift of ad-free music and podcasts with a Spotify gift card. If you’ve ever felt down or off and turned to your favorite song for a pick-me-up, then you know the power of music as a mood booster. There are also plenty of podcasts on mental health and wellness led by psychologists and other certified experts.
Amazon
Back pain affects an estimated 80% of people at some point in their life, and one of the leading causes of back pain is poor posture from sitting for long periods of time. That’s where the Shark-Tank-inspired BetterBack Support Belt can help by improving your sitting posture. And we can say from experience that it works. One Insider who suffers chronic back pain from two slipped discs described the relief like “angels singing in a choir from above, children throwing flowers at your feet, suddenly a whole new person type of pain relief.”
Amazon
This hat can help keep you cool when temperatures are hot. Just get it wet and it will cool you down immediately. We tested it out on a hot summer day. The hat was 77 °F when dry and dropped down to 54 °F after we got it wet. This is the perfect gift for the friend who doesn’t tolerate heat well and would enjoy a stylish addition to their hat collection.
Leon and George
Cast iron plants have a dark green color and are difficult to kill, making the perfect for houseplant beginners. The plant is also pet-friendly and tolerates a wide range of light conditions — just don’t put it in direct sunlight or total darkness and the plant should be happy. There’s nothing like a gift of green to bring a little more vibrance to someone’s life.
Greetabl/Facebook
Greetabl is an excellent way to show someone you love them with a double mental health boost: a thoughtful card and a small gift. Everything from the box to the treat that’s inside of it can be perfectly catered to the recipient. From tasty treats like Sugarfina to cozy socks, Greetabl is an adorable and tailor-made way to put a smile on their face.
Amazon
Squishmallows are a popular children’s toy, but a high quality hug can improve mental health at any age. These super soft and absolutely adorable plushes are cornering the stuffed animal market right now, and with good reason.
Uncommon Goods
Let’s be clear: there’s more to self-care than lavender and affirmations. In reality, self-care can be challenging and exhausting, even if it’s rewarding in the long run. That said, this gift set might be the exact temporarily release they need in order to continue to commit to self-care long term: Shower steamers, stress putty, hand soap, and an affirmation card deck are all included.
Little Words Project
These beautiful bracelets allow for support in two ways: They remind the giftee of a daily affirmation on their wrist, and 25% of the proceeds will support a nonprofit. Featured mental health nonprofits include the National Alliance for Eating Disorders, the Loveland Foundation, and National Coalition Against Domestic Violence.
Goldbelly
Sometimes the best pick-me-up is a taste of their hometown, college town, or favorite city they’ve lived in. With Goldbelly, you can ship meals and desserts from eateries all over the country, allowing them to feel a bit more connected to a place they love.
Amazon
Supporting others is a great way to boost your own mental health, and sending these postcards with sweet friendship anecdotes is a quick and easy way to make someone’s day. These personalized, witty postcards read with the same quirky yet humorous tone that friends often speak in, and something about snail mail feels a bit more special than the usual “checking in” text message.
Amazon
As implied by the title, “Zen as F*ck” is an anxiety journal that strikes a balance between empowering, effective activities and a refreshing depiction of what anxiety feels like at its peak. The tone is just snarky enough without ever being unkind, providing an authentic space for readers to work through productive prompts among brightly colored drawings.
Amazon
While stickers, of course, are more supportive than they are healing, they’re making a difference nonetheless. A public display of mental health awareness — especially in this package that normalizes therapy and uses communally powerful symbols like the semicolon — increases visibility and community among the many of us who experience mental health challenges.
Amazon
For the dog or cat lovers in our lives, the presence of a pet really does go a long way. This take on the mental health card deck utilizes the cuteness of dogs (or cats) to motivate recipients into completing self-care tasks. Prompts range from body scanning to thought journaling, with 50 care techniques included.
Wool and the Gang
Anything that requires using your hands (and that does not require a sceen) is great fo reducing stress, and embroidery certainly falls into this category. Wool and the Gang’s kits vary in level from beginner to advance, so it’s an excellent gift for both novice and experienced embroiderers.