We’re not big on bought gifts, preferring to donate money to charity in our friends’ name, or give food gifts we’ve made. That being said, it’s nice to have an arsenal of useful, well-designed, not-too-expensive treats to give on the holidays or otherwise — our favorite gift-giving is just for the hell-of-it when we’ve found just the right thing for someone we love. Mostly those gifts are things we’d love to have ourselves, like these this set of numbered, Bauhausian espresso cups designed by Arne Jacobsen (he also did letter cups; the letter of your choice for $21). They’re available from The Finnish Design Shop which has all sorts of swell stuff. A pack of four is $55.

Although the idea of turning the great Louise Bourgeois‘s fabric drawings into placemats might seem a travesty, the geometric patterns are so beautifull, we’d love to have ’em on our table. $60 for a set of 4 place mats available from Artware Editions:

 

We love this little plug-in nightlight for a kid’s room OR to be a beacon in a dark hallway or bathroom…Your choice: Moon…

 

…or Earth…About $13 at Amazon.

Dese’Rae L. Stage turned us onto the Leaf Cutter Designs’ clever Seed Money, little letterpress-printed pennies, nickels, dimes, and quarters. Filled with seeds, tuck the paper coins in soil to grow colorful flowers and delicious vegetables. It’s “tender for tending”! About $15 per roll at Leafcutter.

Here are some other favorite gifts ideas from past years:
keeping holiday gift-giving ‘real’: our 12 fave gifts to give
xholiday gifts: cheap + fun/useful/cool…
our favorite homemade food gifts to d-i-y
double-duty gifts with heart (and a card)
diy food gift: dried cherries in red wine or grappa syrup
gift: endlessly useful furoshiki cloth…you can even wear it

And don’t forget gif wrap’ + six strategies for cool, cheap gift wrap (d-i-y)

Arne Jacobsen/Louise Bourgeois/night light photos courtesy Better Living Through Design; Yoko Ono photo courtesy Artware Editions; Seed money photo courtesy Leafcutter Designs.