The Best Self Care Gifts (2023)

The holidays can get very busy, which makes it even more necessary to take some time to rest and relax. For some, that means a candlelit evening at home doing a face mask and sipping a sparkling beverage out of a pretty tinted coupe. For others, the best days start with morning rituals like blending up a revitalizing smoothie, sipping on a green juice, or mixing up a matcha before heading to work. Whatever your self-care nonnegotiables, we have 18 gifts to help you—and everyone on your shopping list—unwind and take it slow amid the chaos of the holiday season.

A Gift-Worthy Mocktail Kit

Ghia’s noalcoholic aperitif is herby, bright, and comes in a bottle worthy of being front and center on your bar cart. Unwind in style with the Ghia Cocktail Box, which comes complete with everything from a bottle of Ghia to a fancy pour spout to a handmade Totem Glass designed in collaboration with Sophie Lou Jacobsen.

An Emergency Dark Chocolate Stash

No nighttime routine is complete without a few squares of dark chocolate, and the fair-trade organic dark chocolate bars from Hu are among the best you can get. Gift your favorite chocolate obsessive Hu’s Dark Chocolate Variety Pack, which offers a sampling of flavors like almond butter and puffed quinoa to crunchy mint. You might just have to order an extra one for yourself—for quality-control purposes.

This Cult-Favorite Tinned Fish Set

Fishwife’s Tinned Fish Serving Set has you set up for perhaps the most low-effort, high-reward snacking board to ever exist. You’ll select three tins spanning from smoked rainbow trout to sardines with hot pepper (my personal go-to) and then use your utensil trio to serve your esteemed selections on a fish-shaped cutting board, both designed in collaboration with design studio Fredericks & Mae. Voilà—girl dinner (or anyone’s dinner for that matter) is served.

Some Stackable Stemware

Whether you’re drinking a cosmopolitan or your favorite N/A beverage, the Our Place Party Coupes will make the experience that much more luxurious. They’re stackable and dishwasher-safe for that friend who loves to host but hates cleaning up. Pro tip: They also make a very good vessel for an ice cream sundae, granita, or parfait.

A Matcha Starter Pack

Chamberlain Coffee’s Matcha Starter Pack is the perfect gift for someone who aspires to become a barista at their local wellness café. The set comes with a mason jar, stainless steel straw, electric frother, and of course, matcha. It’s a cost-effective, sustainable way to make a matcha that tastes just as good as an $8 coffee shop version.

A Superfood Latte Blend

I’m that person who takes a sip of caffeine after two o’clock in the afternoon and is destined to have a bad night’s sleep. That’s where Golde’s turmeric and cacao turmeric latte blends come in handy—for that afternoon inclination to drink a warm beverage without sacrificing much-needed R&R. Both of Golde’s blends have coconut milk powder in them and require only some additional hot water before you have yourself a dreamy superfood-boosted latte.

A Cocktail-of-the-Month Club Without the Booze

Anyone who’s looking to try exceptional booze-free craft cocktails should definitely join the Curious Elixirs Curious Cocktail Club. Members get to sample a rotating assortment of four flavors infused with herbs and adaptogens and have exclusive access to preview the brand’s new releases. Gift a membership to someone who is constantly running out of their favorite canned mocktail.

Functional Mushroom Chocolates That Actually Work

Alice mushroom chocolates are the ideal gift for someone who loves to try every single wellness trend. The brand is delivering the supposedly magical powers of functional mushrooms (no, not the kind you put in risotto, and no, not the psychedelic kind) in the form of organic dark chocolate. One of the varieties is chocolate bites for “deep sleep” with ingredients like chamomile and L-theanine. As recommended, I ate one square of the rich chocolate an hour before I planned to sleep and was thrilled to not only sleep through the night but also to wake up the next morning feeling refreshed and not at all groggy.

An Aesthetically-Pleasing Blender

The Beast Health Blender is ideal for your family member who loves to blend up a nutrient-packed shake by day and a booze-filled frozen margarita by night. It looks sleek, takes up minimal counter space, and comes with a storage lid, drinking lid, and carry cap so they can always have their emotional-support smoothie on hand.

A Kale-Infused Skin Care Set

Youth to the People’s Superfood Daily Duo was made for your cousin who still sports the collegiate-style KALE sweatshirt and orders the same leafy nutrition superstar salad for lunch on a daily basis. Thanks to you they’ll be able to put kale (along with green tea, spinach, and vitamins) on their skin too.

A Natural Wine Bundle

For your aunt who went to a wine bar once and now will only drink natural wine, The Waves has expert-curated natural wine bundles fit for holiday gifting. Play it safe with The Red Classicist, three reds they claim to be “funk-free” or seek thrill with The Wild Bunch, a pét-nat, an orange wine, and a chillable red. All of the wines feature organically farmed grapes and no synthetic additives. Because of you, your aunt will forever be known as that fun wine person in her friend group.

An Olive-Oil-Infused Moisturizing Set

If your cooking fat of choice is always extra-virgin olive oil, this Kosterina head-to-toe glow set is for you. Keep your skin hydrated and glowing while smelling like the Mediterranean seaside. And no, you cannot use the same oil to dunk your crusty sourdough in—you’ll need Kosterina’s Original EVOO for that.

A Cookbook That Makes At-Home Cocktail Nights Feel Very Doable

Here’s a book for that friend who will spend anything for an exceptional craft cocktail but could use a hand in attempting to recreate them at home. The team behind Maison Premiere, a New Orleans–inspired spot in Brooklyn’s Williamsburg neighborhood, has them covered with a primer on absinthe (yes, people still drink that), recipes for toddies and punches, and a tutorial on how to shuck oysters at home.

A Post-Weekend Reset

The holiday season is all fun and games until you find yourself at work on a Monday after one too many holiday parties and not enough hours of sleep. Pressed Juicery’s Post-Weekend Rescue Pack can nurse you back to life with its blends meant to hydrate and re-up depleted electrolytes and vitamins. Do yourself a favor and have this bundle waiting for your future self in the fridge—you’ll be rejuvenated and ready to go again once Friday rolls around again.

A Beach Day in Candle Form

You might not be able to instantly transport yourself to a beach where you’re sipping a refreshing minty, limey cocktail whenever you want to relax, but you can light this Malin + Goetz Mojito Candle. Get this for the travel obsessive in your life who yearns to bask in the tropical sun yet chooses to live somewhere with a brutal winter.

A $20 Gift That Turns Any Shower Into A Spa

Allow your partner who goes to the gym or spa just to use the steam room to experience that same “me time” at home with these eucalyptus lavender shower steamers. You just place one essential-oil-infused tablet on the shower floor and poof: Your at-home spa moment has begun. Just don’t get angry when they won’t leave the shower after 20 minutes and have used all the hot water.

This Saffron-Infused Skin Serum

There are lots of products that promise to brighten one’s skin and fade away dark spots, but none are as luxurious as this saffron serum. It’s not cheap (saffron is rare and expensive), so we suggest starting with the mini, but you’ll find your skin glowing as bright as this Sunny Saffron Butter Pasta.