2025 Gift Guide: Traci's Favorite Things
Deep Dives
Explore related topics with these Wikipedia articles, rewritten for enjoyable reading:
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Oprah's Favorite Things
11 min read
The author explicitly references giving gifts 'à la Oprah' and calls Oprah 'one of my favorite things.' This annual tradition shaped modern gift guide culture and has a fascinating history of launching products and small businesses into mainstream success.
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Independent bookstore
15 min read
The article passionately advocates for indie bookstores, noting they rely on holiday sales for 2/3 of annual revenue. The Wikipedia article covers the history, economic challenges, and cultural significance of independent bookstores, including their near-collapse and resurgence against Amazon.
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GivingTuesday
13 min read
The author specifically mentions Giving Tuesday and its donation matching programs, urging readers to set reminders. The Wikipedia article covers this global generosity movement's origins, growth, and impact on charitable giving patterns.
It is gift guide season. Again. Somehow. This year, I am keeping it simple and sharing my favorite things, à la Oprah. Because she is, in fact, one of my favorite things.
What you’ll find out about me and my gift-giving style is that I love a subscription, and I love a gift that disappears. Subscriptions are perfect because they last beyond the season, so you get to treat your recipient long after everyone has moved on from holiday cheer. And gifts that disappear (things you use up — treats, candles, lotion, etc.), because you’re not saddling your recipient with stuff that takes up space in their lives.
It has been a hard year financially for many of us, so I am keeping that in mind here. Not too many big-ticket items. Likewise, many of these gifts are appropriate for casual and intimate relationships. Gifts that work for anyone, from coworker to bestie1.
I didn’t include any books this year, because this whole newsletter is just me recommending books like crazy, so it felt like we’ve been there and done that. Check the archive, or ask in the comments, if you’re looking for book recs.
I do want to plug last year’s gift guide, which was all about giving to organizations/charitable causes and pairing those donations with small gifts. That guide does have books in it, so you can donate to a cause and gift a matching book. I love last year’s guide and can’t top it, so I didn’t try.
Before we get to this year’s list, I did want to share a few things, especially if you’re inclined to gift books this year.
You can gift subscriptions to Unstacked and The Stacks Pack (on Patreon) to the bookish people in your life. I even have printable gift cards (links in the footnotes)2 for gift subscriptions if you like to have something to physically give people. This is by no means the most urgent work of the moment, but paying for the things your favorite creators make does make it possible for us to keep bringing you new stuff, like this gift guide.
If you have a favorite indie bookstore, plan ahead and order from them. Indie bookstores rely on holiday book sales to stay afloat — around 2/3 of their sales come in the last three months of the year. Show some love to the
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