Don't Call Me Midlife
Join Alix and Nicole, the coffee-addicted, wine-loving, Amazon-obsessed mom squad, as they take you on a hilarious and heartfelt journey through the ups and downs of mid-life. With six boys and a knack for keeping it real, these two friends bring you more than just mom tales – they're on a mission to help you reclaim your identity beyond motherhood.
Discover the joy of embracing mid-life with these relatable hosts who are keen to learn, grow, and laugh along with their listeners. From navigating Pinterest-worthy fashion to mastering the art of leggings, from meal planning to avoiding life's chaos, they've got you covered.
But here's the kicker – they don't have all the answers, and they're proud of it. Alix and Nicole are in the trenches right alongside you, sharing their genuine experiences and bringing you along as they learn and laugh their way through life's twists and turns.
So grab your favorite drink, whether it's a trusty Stanley, an oat milk latte from Starbucks, or a glass of Whispering Angel, and prepare to be entertained, inspired, and empowered. Don't Call Me Mid-Life is the podcast where the fun begins, and mid-life gets a whole lot cooler.
Subscribe now and join the mid-life squad on this incredible adventure. Life is an adventure worth sharing, especially in mid-life!
Don't Call Me Midlife
Ho-Ho-Huh? Tackling Holiday Gifts for Everyone on Your List
In this episode of "Don't Call Me Midlife," Alix and Nicole share a hearty laugh, some relatable stories, and practical advice on how to tackle this festive yet frantic time of year. Assuring that amidst the chaos, there's room for self-care, balance, and most importantly, joy. They've got great tips for choosing gifts for everyone in your life. From the perfect hostess gifts to the tricky re-gifting etiquette, they've got it all covered and share their favorite picks and some hilarious personal mishaps that taught them a thing or two about holiday gift-giving.
In this episode, we talk about the following:
1. The importance of finding joy in small, manageable activities during the holidays.
2. Tips for finding the perfect gift for your loved ones.
3. The significance of including a card and wrapping gifts during the holiday season.
Shopping links mentioned in the episode:
https://www.anchortoffee.com
https://uncommongoods.com
https://www.etsy.com/shop/joycreativeshop
Gift ideas:
Nicole: https://www.shopltk.com/explore/TouchofStass
Alix: https://www.amazon.com/shop/everydaywithalix
Join the Midlife Squad:
Want to stay up to date on the Don't Call Me Midlife podcast and community? Click below so we can keep you in the know!
www.itstradish.myflodesk.com/dontcallmemidlife
Hang Out on Social:
Follow Alix on Instagram @everydaywithalix
Follow Nicole on Instagram @touch_of_stass
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Help us expand our mom-tourage! Share our podcast with your fellow mom friends and let's conquer midlife together.
Welcome to the Don't Call Me Midlife podcast. I'm Nicole and I'm Alex, where you're a coffee-addicted, wine-loving, amazon-obsessed mom squad. Think of us as your new besties, but with a podcast. Just like you, we're navigating the Google-defined cast of midlife while wrangling a pack of boys. But here's the twist we're more than just moms and wives. We're on a mission to reclaim our identities beyond motherhood, and we're bringing you along for the wild ride. Now, we don't pretend to have all the answers to life's mysteries, but we're so good at learning and laughing our way through them. So, whether you're sipping from your trusty Stanley, indulging in an oatmeal latte from Starbucks or raising a glass of whispering angel, get ready to hang with us Together. We'll keep it real, have some laughs and remind you that this crazy journey called life is one adventure worth sharing. Hey Nicole, how are you? I'm excellent-ish. How are you? You're excellent-ish. We are knee-deep in the holidays right now. Right, are you feeling it? I mean, I'm a little bit more than knee-deep. I'm like maybe what's like belly button deep I was going to say skin deep, but that doesn't really make sense. Okay, so you know, like you get into a pool and you're like. You're at that point, like around your hips and you're like, oh my, I don't know if I can go in anymore, but I need to just plunge. Yeah, that's more like it. Okay, you're plunging, you're plunging, I'm going to be a life preserver. Alice, please, my organized friends, I'm going to be a life preserver today. So when you're plunging. So tell me what's in your cup today. Oh, literally, actually. Yeah, I have, okay, I have hot cocoa in Baileys. Wait, I love that combination. I mean, why not? It's the holidays, my kids are going to be home soon. Yeah, I've been out for a very long time, like almost a month, and so I'm just, you know, I'm just taking an afternoon, like I don't have to pick up my kids today, so I'm just going to treat myself. What's in your cup? I love that, I love that. Right now, I just have straight up coffee. Okay, you know I love my coffee. I did get this coffee, though, from Duncan's, and one of my favorite coffees is it's a treat I love. You know, I love, like I love coffee. It's a chai latte. Mm-hmm, me too. I like to put a shot of espresso in it. It's called a dirty chai latte. Oh, an extra one. Oh, that's what it means. Yeah, I like it all. Dirty, dirty martinis. I mean, I'm not a, I just think I need to put this. I'm not a big drinker, but when I just know what drinks I like, so that's why I reference it all, I don't want anybody to think that I have a problem. Okay, so back to your chai. Okay, yeah, so it's just chai with almond milk. You know, in Boston there are so many Duncan. Do you have Duncan out where you are? Duncan, do you know what I'm saying? Yeah, yeah, yeah, oh, okay, I only think it's like a Boston thing. It's in Michigan. I love Duncan. Yeah, okay, okay, so you get that. Yeah, cause I am just on the go doing sort of all the things today. So I'm just super excited about the holidays. I am still excited, you are Okay, I am, that's yes, I'm excited too, I am.
Speaker 1:But you want to know something funny? I recently I was looking at how to manage stress for the holidays and there there's a lot of bad advice out there. So I just I think we should unpack that a little bit and maybe give, give some of you some better, better advice, you know. So you Googled, you Googled like holiday advice. Are you saying, yeah, well, I just Googled emotional stress around holidays. Oh geez, why did you do that? I don't know. I just did Okay, okay, so let's, let's say let's. We're not going to give good advice. This is like we are saying this is bad holiday advice. This is bad holiday advice. Yes, bad holiday advice to not pay attention. So do not Google what to do if you have stress and anxiety over the holidays.
Speaker 1:Right, what did you find? Tell me, nicole, what'd you find? What was the funniest thing you found? The funniest thing I found was to start a new project. No, yes, no, like right now, it's a new project. Yeah, it didn't give any advice, like our tips on like what projects to start, but, you know, start a new project. And I thought that was probably the worst advice that you could ever give somebody during the holiday season. Yeah, that is where we are not starting any new projects. I don't even want to start a new project in January, to be honest. No, no, I mean it's, you know it's hard enough just to get through the holidays and then try to maintain your you know waistline. My project is getting back into like a normal routine, like not starting. Okay, yeah, but that's, that'll be a whole other topic. That's a whole other topic. That's like a New Year's topic. We can't think about that right now. So what? I did?
Speaker 1:Google this too, because I knew we're going to talk about it, and some of the things that I saw is, like you know, there's so many articles on finding the balance and self care and connectedness, and that sounds all awesome, yeah, but right now it's just really hard to manage. I feel like if you haven't scheduled some of that self care which we've talked about before already, sorry, the ship has sailed. Like, yeah, you're not getting an appointment right now, you are definitely not getting an appointment to anything. No, I get that root spray I talk about because you're not getting into your stylist. Yeah, no, no, so go, go go to Starbucks, go to Duncan, go get that fun coffee. That's about what you can do right now, exactly. Maybe it's like good advice.
Speaker 1:Actually, nicole is finding the joy in the little things that you can do. Right, we love that. Yes, yes, like getting the dirty chai from Duncan Donuts, yes, or the Baileys. Or the Baileys yeah, because I know I don't have to drive. Yeah, okay, oh, I have a question for you. All right, ready? Yes, I'm ready. Okay, I think I know the answer, but I want to know if you wrap your own presents. I mean wrap presents for the holidays, yes, yeah, like for your nieces and nephews, you know things like that. Yeah, yeah, I know what you're saying.
Speaker 1:You would think that would be something that I love to do, like you think I would be that person that like puts on the holiday music and like cherishes that time wrapping, but it's to the no. No, I'm so surprised. I feel like you would have like coordinating ribbon to paper, to like tags and no, you know what that's so funny. I love buying gifts. I love things looking pretty. I love doing that stuff.
Speaker 1:I do have a wrapping room in my house, but guess what? No, I don't not like wrapping. What I do is I have someone help me do it Sometimes. My mother, my mother, is that person. She loves to put bows, she loves to do all that. I barely put a card on the gifts. If I could write it in permanent marker, I would, to be honest, I don't do cards, I mean, I don't do ribbon, I do stickers. I am a very like basic wrapper for when I have to wrap in bulk. Right, I think you know it's just, it's not something that I really, really ever.
Speaker 1:I'm a big bag person. I know that's bad. No, I love a bag. I think they're. I love them, especially if you're going to somebody's house for the holidays, like you just have a little bag and you just give it and it's totally fine. What do you do? What? I don't even know your answer to this. What do you do with all your wrapping?
Speaker 1:You know, when I was a lot more overwhelmed and had littles, I would ask my babysitter to help me while the kids nabbed, and she loved it. She was like good idea. Yeah, she's in her sixties and you know she's loved to keep busy. So I'm like, hey, you know and so. But now I wrangle in the help of my oldest. I just have to make sure he doesn't. You know, we just have to organize it very well. You know what I'm saying. Don't tell his siblings. Don't tell his siblings too. Yes, but Jerry is Jerry's actually really on top of it and he will like sometimes I will go like to walk in the bedroom and the door will be locked. I'm like you can't come in here now. He likes to have everything done in advance so we can relax. Because so many Christmas Eve pasts. We have stayed up until like three in the morning and had a rough morning, you know, because we're extremely. Yeah, yeah, I totally hear that. You know what you're reminding me.
Speaker 1:Jerry sounds like my dad. My dad used to like buy the presents from my mom. I thought this was like the sweetest thing ever and go down in the basement and no one could go. He wrapped a Christmas Eve, though. He did but his cards anyone that is my sibling listening knows this. Literally he had to buy like actual cards for each gift because he would write like a poem or he would write like it wasn't just like two outs love dad, it was like an actual, like real card about why he bought the gift and why he thinks will like it. And it was like I'm remembering this now. I totally forgot it was like the cutest thing ever. So he and my mom definitely like to make it all look pretty, like our tree looked amazing, but I love. I love that Jerry does that.
Speaker 1:Now Do you guys? You got me teary eyed, alex. I know I prevented a cry, so you know I mean it's making me think maybe I will wrap some gifts and do maybe I will getting out of like you said, getting out of the overwhelm in the chaos a little bit. At this age we don't give as many gifts, yeah, right, so it's, it's less is more, and I think maybe I will make a goal of writing one nice card, or maybe just to Alex, yeah, yeah, I think we could try. I think Jerry and I give each other cards, do you do? You guys? I know a lot of spouses, partners, husband's wife. Do you and Jerry exchange gifts? We do, we do love it. Yeah, do you? Yes, absolutely Absolutely. I mean for sure. Yes, I mean yes, I love it.
Speaker 1:Jerry is like the best gift giver on the planet. I, I'm not. Yeah, he's like, he's like you, he's like I. Like he won't take a list from me. If I send it, he'll literally erase it. He's like I want to look on my own and when I see it I'm going to know it's you. I'm terrible when it comes to that. I love that. We're like soul gift givers. Yeah, I think also, as we give him, I think also maybe I need his text, though.
Speaker 1:Um, I think also, as we, we can spend a little bit more time now picking out those gifts. Right, because it's not like our. The kids list is not like a hundred little toys that we have to go get. It can be taking the time to do a little bit more of a thoughtful gift, because they are generally right, our bigger gifts now are more expensive gifts that people want, right? Yes, so you have three boys that range from 10 to 15. Yeah, oh, I just want to make sure I got the 10, right? Oh, yeah, so that's a little different too, right?
Speaker 1:Like, remember, when they were little, you had to like make it, make sure everything was even. Even Steven, yes, yes, oh, my gosh. No, alex likes to do that, like, literally, he counts the presents, he counts, and I'm like, oh, my gosh, that's a lot of counting. Yeah, what, what do you guys do? Do you keep it? Even? Like, how do you, how do you manage that process with your three kids? Um, I mean, we used to, especially when they were younger, I feel. I feel like my older two are like 19 months apart, so those numbers are always even. And then the youngest there's a four year gap between the oldest and the youngest and so, like, he wasn't really in, you know, into counting.
Speaker 1:But as they got older and you know, mindset started to shift and once started to shift. You know it was. You know the oldest one was asking Santa for sneakers, which, yeah, added up to all like maybe I don't know 510 gifts that my youngest would get. So you know it has changed. Yeah, I don't know. So now they're just yeah, you right, they're just looking for, like, what they want, right, like our, our teenagers are sort of not really worried about everyone else's stuff right now. They're just sort of like okay, I wanted this PC part or whatever. That's something that my middle son wants. I don't even know what that is and I want to make sure I get it right. So it's like they just want to. You just want to get yes, right, right, no, oh my gosh, john sends me his Amazon gift list every day, every day, his Christmas list, like all year long. I'm like, oh my gosh, this is a little crazy. Oh, john, john is you? Yes, he wants to. He's got like a spreadsheet, right, and his birthday is on Christmas, so that's right. Double duty, right. So we've got that double duty from Christmas into Thursday. So that's super fun.
Speaker 1:But I love that you and Jerry exchanged gifts and I love that both our husbands are good gift givers. Yes, that's nice, Typically Well, have you ever gotten a bad gift? Or not really? No, not really. He's given me more of like an anniversary gift. It wasn't a romantic gift, like I like to follow the whole traditional anniversary gift, and one anniversary just gave me random balsamic vinegar and oil and I was like, well, I love that, of course, but it's not very romantic. So he has not given me a bad gift. I really like it. I'm not just saying that, I really don't think he's given me a bad gift. What about Jerry? I mean, there was only one gift that I haven't liked in all the years and I feel like silly even mentioning it.
Speaker 1:But when he was in residency he worked a lot. They didn't have these hour restrictions that they do now, and I think the only day he had off was Christmas Eve and I do think he worked that morning. So he went out and found something and I think he knew, because he's like you can exchange it, like you know. Was it like an accessory? No, it was a purse. Oh, that just wasn't your jam, it wasn't your style, it just wasn't my style from a store that I never really shopped at. Yeah, I mean it was fine. I'm always grateful. I don't want to sound like I'm not, but yeah, ok.
Speaker 1:So, jerry, if you're listening to this, we are not just saying this have you wait? Have you ever re-gifted anything, nicole? Oh my gosh, I have never re-gifted anything. No, but I have been under the seating Like, what about a hostess gift? You've never re-gifted a hostess gift. No, no, no, no, no, no.
Speaker 1:Well, you know what? I guess I brought wine, like somebody brought, because we're not huge wine drinkers and it didn't get finished at the party and we don't have anything coming up. I'll grab a bottle and bring it. But have I ever brought a candle or something else? Somebody around me know?
Speaker 1:But I had been on the receiving end of re-gifting and I was like, oh OK, how do you know? How do you know that? What do you mean? I only found out because it wasn't my style. So I went to exchange it at the store and they looked it up and it was obvious it was a re-gift. That's all I'm going to say. Ok, ok, no details there, but OK, I can say that, yeah, so I mean, I'm pretty much like nay on re-gifting. Like, unless it's one of those, is it the weight elephant or one of those parties where you're supposed to bring a re-gift. You know, I think, a big negative on the re-gift, I think that's not really a good thing to do. No, I wouldn't personally want a re-gift. I mean, I would be so embarrassed if somebody found out that something was re gifted. So, yeah, I would definitely be devastated.
Speaker 1:So, speaking of hostess gifts, we're going to talk about some of our ideas. Right for certain gift categories. Right, that's the way our brain's work is thinking about categories. So, and since we'd love to buy shit, no, we're good at coming up with ideas, coming up with ideas, so let's talk hostess gifts first. Right, like you know some people may not know when you go to someone's home, I feel like I was raised and it was polite to bring the hostess gift right.
Speaker 1:Yes, yes, I don't know that we did that growing up. I can't remember. I don't know that we went to a lot of places outside of family, but I just kind of learned it as I got older, like, I think, some of my other friends. That was a thing. And so I was like, ok, that's nice. And then, when I started hosting, it's just such a nice gesture, it is, it is such a nice gesture. This isn't even the holiday time right If you're going and coming over to your house, if I'm staying at your house or coming for a dinner party or whatever.
Speaker 1:So what are some of the favorite hostess gifts? Well, one that you received or two that you love to give. I love getting like what Alex got you like the oil and balsamic vinegar. I love the flavored oils. I do. I'm very sensitive to fragrances, but I do love getting candles. Me too. Me too. Me too Anything but vanilla scent. I can't stand vanilla scent. Yeah, I'm super sensitive to floral, so I just kind of like keep it mild, like if I'm giving a gift Like really cool salt and pepper shakers, I think one.
Speaker 1:One gift I got was it was a bottle opener and you know from like a pop bottle opener, soda or beer or whatever, and it was in an odd shape. It was very useful and it was beautiful. It was like from Nambé. It was like a beautiful metal piece but it looked like it looked like a vibrator. So it was just like oh geez, those are all good ideas.
Speaker 1:I literally like live for hostess gifts. I have to say I have like a closet of gifts that you received or that you are like I'm going to give this to somebody one day, goodbye. Like when I know that I have like an annual. One of my friends used to host a holiday party and I would, literally in October, like think of something that I could get her because I was just so excited about the hostess gifts. My new hostess gift that I love is we have lots of stuff right. So I like what you're saying about the food, like use it Like something that we can do.
Speaker 1:I just this isn't a hostess gift, but I recently just sent my brother for his birthday William Sonoma has really good food and I sent him a bagel and locks kit and he could make that for. Have you sent that to anyone? No, but I you know what I do. I come up with gift guides and I post that and I'm very familiar with all those kits and I love them. Yes, so that bagel kit, I know what you're talking about and I think it's genius. He loved it. I'm going to make it the annual gift. I also sent, I think, hostess gifts. They also have really good mini croissants that I sent my mother-in-law for Thanksgiving. Oh yeah, so that she could have something just to pull out.
Speaker 1:So I love, I definitely love hostess gifts that are food related or if you know that person likes to cook, like you're saying, like something that you mean up by yourself is like a different type of olive oil, flavored olive oil, or something like that. I think it's really really fun. Yeah, I think what I really like is if somebody brings a dish, like if somebody makes a trifle and they they let they're like the bowl is for you, like it's that's usually my favorite to receive, or like a platter they bring a platter of like cookies or something like during the holidays or even if it's not the holidays and like that's for you. So I think that that's a really nice gesture because it's twofold. You know they're bringing something and you get to keep it. You don't have to worry about washing it and getting it back to them Totally, totally or bring, or, if you're doing that, bring something that can be thrown away. If you're bringing something to someone's house and you actually want the platter, take it with you. If you don't take it with you, give it to you, because I love that.
Speaker 1:Two categories that I think you have to be really careful when you're getting hostess gifts and I get a lot of these are cocktail napkins and kitchen towels. I love a fun. I love a fun kitchen towel. I've given those before. They're so fun. You know which ones I'm talking about. Like like time for you to leave now, or you know them. Yes, yes, I think I'm a plain kitchen towel type of gal. Yes, I just mean like the fun one, you know. Yes, yes, I just think you have to know your audience, because there are some fun kitchen towels out there that may or may not be your hostess, or cocktail napkins. Know your audience. Know your audience. Okay, I love all those ideas. You know what's also a good hostess gift? What is my cookbook? Oh, yes, absolutely, I think a good cookbook if you know that person really likes to cook.
Speaker 1:I think that's a fun idea to bring something like that, something easy. And you know, do you wrap the cookbook or do you put it in ribbon? Do you put it in a bag? How do you present? Well, if someone buys it for me, yes, I have a lot of wrapping. Even though I don't like to wrap, I do like the experience of opening a gift. Okay, so I will say that, yes, but if you're giving a gift, like if you give wine, do you just bring the wine, do you put it in a bag, like? Do you have, like a? Am I putting you on the spot with all your questions? Well, I'll be fine. So I have said I don't like to wrap, but guess what, when I have a one-off gift, I do. I have these little tags that are personalized. When we give a bottle of wine that says cheers, love Alex and Alex, like.
Speaker 1:I definitely do a little bit, a lot of effort into wrapping a gift, and you know what you're making me think of, nicole. When does a tip? When you cause? I host a lot of parties, people give me lots of gifts and I always thank everybody. When you give a gift as a hostess gift, put your name on it or put a card on, because I have gotten so many amazing gifts just for my cookbook launch party a couple weeks ago and there was an amazing gift and someone did not put a card in it. I had no clue who it was from. So make sure, buying cute tags, buying something so that you know you've spent the time and the money buying that gift for someone, that you let them know that it's from you, because they wanna thank you, and I think maybe not necessarily with wine or whatever, but like when you're actually picking out a gift, put a card on it, yeah, or just get your tags from them Because that person wants to know yeah, they do wanna know about it. My tags, you know, I get them from all over.
Speaker 1:I love the container store tags. I think they have a lot of good tags. Do you ever go there? Okay, I'm gonna put this out there into the world. I may be the only person I have never stepped foot into a container store. I don't know why. I love it. I love organization stuff, but I don't know. Maybe you know, maybe I'll save it for when you come here and we'll go together you can show me all the amazing things. Oh my gosh, you are hilarious. I also love. I think Target has really good lines of wrapping and tag stuff and you know things like that.
Speaker 1:My favorite one online, I will say is the Joy Creative. Look at them up on Instagram. They have really, really cute wrapping. They have good stuff like that. We have to put that on the show notes. The Joy Creative we will. Let's put all these links. That's perfect.
Speaker 1:Okay, we can talk about Hostess Gets Forever, but let's go on to a harder one. I think this is gonna be harder, nicole, is what do you think it is? Mother and Loss? Oh, mother and Loss, yes, oh, mother's. Yes, I mean we're excited about buying them things, but it is Mother's right. I think I'm gonna say that about us. We're gonna be Mother and Loss one day. We love our mothers, I do. I love my mom. I love my mom too, and I love shopping for my mom, cause guess who likes to buy more shit than us is my mother, andrea. I wanna go shopping with Andrea, yeah, yeah, maybe she needs to come out.
Speaker 1:So let's start with Mother and Loss. You know, I always feel like I want to buy. My mother-in-law is so sweet and I always wanna buy her something useful. Again, it goes back to like we have everything we need, you know. So I always wanna get something that she's actually gonna really like. Yes, I like a sentimental gift. Oh, like what? That's a good idea. Maybe like a beautiful Like a frame with a picture, like a frame with the kids or yeah, yeah, I mean, my beautiful mother-in-law is no longer with us, but I would like she and she was older, but she loved anything like with flowers or crafts. So the kids. I would have the kids make something or we would get like like the garden stone and like their little hand. When they were younger she loved like she had pictures all over the house. So I mean, yeah, I forgot about that stuff. Like when our kids were little, I used to do like crafts with them. Like that, oh my gosh, yeah, we need like an older version of a craft that our kids would actually do.
Speaker 1:You know, a great place to shop is it's called uncommon goods and they have so many sentimental, fantastic things that, yeah, that you can get engraved. I mean, probably not at this point in the game, but they do have a lot of great options and you can probably get it shipped overnight. But nothing, nothing personalized. I love that. I thought only uncommon goods had like weird silly stuff. I didn't realize they had like so many sentimental stuff. Yeah, really Okay, you gave me a little tip. I love that. So, mother-in-law, you like sentimental.
Speaker 1:My mother-in-law, I try to do. You know, what I try to do actually is when I'm with her I try to like poke her with questions and see what she likes. You know so that I'm not going to say what I got her, but it was something, because if she's listening, it was something that she saw at my house that she liked, and I'm like boo, it's done and just, yeah, things that she says, oh, I like that, yeah, you know, you just have to be mindful, yeah, but you're right, it's really, it's really hard when people have things, a lot of things, and you've really got to like, pay attention and be like, ok, oh, she said she liked that. Like, I got, I got to remember that, put it in your phone. Or sticking out All year long, like, even if she comments on, like you know, I think, like a shade of lipstick or something. Like I feel like I tell my mom at her age and like, ma, you cannot walk out of the house without lipstick. So, like, I like to find things like that for her. Right, it's like your accessory, the statement piece, the, you know, the little things sort of spoil them in, things that that our generation loves, that they wouldn't spend necessarily the money or the time on. Right, it's those little things I like for mother-in-law Do you think your mother-in-law would like a Stanley Cup?
Speaker 1:Wait, I should get her one with her monogram. Yeah, that would be funny. Yes, yes, I love that idea. Yes, a Stanley Cup would be fun. Yes, something like that.
Speaker 1:And also, I love things for mother-in-laws or father-in-laws or, you know, moms, to make them feel like with it. Yeah, you know I use that term a lot Like, yeah, do you do a gift for each of them or do you do like a group gift? We do Like a Suka Santa with all the siblings. Yeah, oh, a group gift for my mother-in-law. You mean, yeah, like, do you give an in-law gift or do you give a specific gift for your mother-in-law and one for your father-in-law?
Speaker 1:I don't have a father-in-law, but for my mother-in-law sometimes it depends what she wants. One year she wanted, like dishes for her house, so we all went on it, okay. But I gotta tell you, nicole, even though you know I will contribute to that, I still get her something just from from me it's not even from Alex Like I give her something from me because I like that. I just, you know, if you, if you like your mother-in-law, you know, even if you don't give her something, you know because she's a special person in your life, same with your mom, father-in-law, dad, you know all that type of thing. So, yeah, no passive, aggressive gifts, just no, just be normal, just be normal, be kind, like it's the time of year for that, like they, they do a lot for us, so like let's, let's give it back.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yes, family dynamics are hard, but that's we're lucky. Yes, we are. Um, okay, who else? On to a different, on to a different? I think this category is super hard right now and we've touched a little bit upon this. But teenagers girls, boys, doesn't matter.
Speaker 1:Oh, yes, yeah, I'm not as fun. It's like, yeah, it's not. It's a lot of gift cards Like I, I struggle myself and even sometimes I'll ask my sister-in-law. It's like hey, what do your kids want? They'll be like hell, I don't even know. Like, they're just like right, I mean, it's like it's just.
Speaker 1:I mean, besides John Mackey giving me like a gift list, you know, walker, my middle one, who's 13, is like how about a gift card to DoorDash? I'm like that is not fun. That is, that is like not really that fun to me. I know, I know my, my middle one found something on eBay. I'm like eBay, like what is this? This is like somebody's used Like, yeah, no, you know what. You know where Walker wanted something. Speaking of like eBay, he says there's a TikTok store now and I'm like, okay, first of all, that stuff is fake or not real or not going to show up Like we do not buy things from TikTok stores, right? No, so he wants merch, he wants merch, merch, merch. What about Interesting? Yeah, okay, so let's just let's what are some ideas? We've got gift cards.
Speaker 1:You know what I think experiences I would say for teens are good. Oh yeah, tickets to sports games, tickets. We want to give you know some tickets like a Celtics game or a concert or you know whatever your, whatever, your teen is into, because they don't want to spend time with us anyways, and maybe you invite a friend and get three tickets. But like doing these experiences, I think, I think that is the best teen gift. I have to say, yes, my, I have a friend, anastasia, and she and her husband do like experience gifts and they're, yeah, they're so fun. We haven't done that yet, but it's a really good idea.
Speaker 1:Even like go-karting, like yes, it's you know, and they can go with a friend. Yeah, they are like stupid expensive. Oh, that's a good idea, nicole, we don't even have to be a part of it. But like we could give our teens like an experience like you and a friend, or even movie tickets, you know, or, like you know, I'm trying to teach my kids about the cost of, like, eating outside of our home and even you know, you get the stuff for the movie and that. Oh, I love that idea. Okay, yeah, that's a good husband gift too.
Speaker 1:Oh, yes, I've actually gotten Jerry some good gifts. Yeah, I got him golf lessons one year for for Christmas it was like a three pack or something because he wanted to, you know, hone his skills, and guys won't necessarily buy that for themselves, right, like that's the stuff they won't go do, like we're, we also help them go do stuff, right, yeah, yes, exactly, yes, fluffer, okay, I love this experience thing. Now I have to like and this is this is these are good last minute gifts, nicole, too. Right, because you don't have to go to the store to buy it. You can, you know, wrap it in a fun scroll or something like that.
Speaker 1:Okay, so experiences are the gift for teens, besides electronics or whatever else they want. Well, you can buy a teen girl, like the dry bar, those kind of gift cards, you know, manicure, pedicure, yeah, lash it like. Well, I don't know how much lashes are, but that may be for your daughter, not like a niece, right, right, I like that for myself. Yeah, I was by like little makeup things for my nieces or little bracelets, but I'm trying to think what else would be good For girls. I mean, I feel like clothes are always good, like even I'll give some of my nieces like gift cards to Athleta Girl or Athleta you know they're all into like the Athleteusure wear, yes. Or Lululemon, or you could do like a cross body with like a gift card, you know, because those things are expensive. Yeah, yes, yeah, my nieces are like in their 20s now I'm like what do you need? Here's money for your electric belt. I'm just kidding. Yeah, that's a good gift, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1:What do you do for teachers? I know we don't do that as much anymore, but I like actually put a lot of thought into teacher gifts because I love teacher gifts. Oh, teacher gifts are so hard for me. I'll be honest. I have to like really think about it. Yeah, I have a lot of teacher friends and I'll tell you they say they don't need another mug. They're always appreciative of everything, but they don't need another mug. Yeah, but I do. I think we talked about this. Like sometimes they have that book with a sheet that's like their favorite things. So you can kind of get a little creative. But if that's not available to you, I mean I don't have like great teacher gift ideas.
Speaker 1:I know, like my two older ones are middle school, high school and I'll ask them if they want to get like an individual gift card from, maybe, starbucks to their teachers and they're not into giving it. I don't know. They're like no, that's embarrassing, I'll be the only one. But like my youngest, like she's like do you do that? She's what? Oh, I was going to say I can tell she's really into makeup. So I thought about giving her either gift card to Sephora or she has like beautiful, like wing eyeliner all the time. I thought about giving her my favorite liquid liner and like something else that's cute.
Speaker 1:I usually just drop off the gifts at the front office because I don't trust my kids to drop them off for the teacher. Wait, do you get gifts to the front office ladies as well? Yes, okay, I do too. I do too. I mean I have an opportunity to give a gift, you know. You know what I like you're going to laugh is. I have done like a lot monogrammed LOB in canvas bags for teachers a lot of times. Oh, that's cute. It's too late for me to do that, but it is cute. Yeah, you can overnight it.
Speaker 1:You know they do love coffee gift cards. I mean, I think everyone loves coffee gift cards and my sister? I'll give a little plug for my sister's company. She has a toffee company called Anchor Toffee in Newport and so a lot of times I'll make a little card that says for coffee and toffee. I do that for the beginning of the year, teacher, guess. So we'll put that link in the show notes too. But her toffee is so good. Right now she has like a peppermint, a peppermint one that is so, so good. Oh my god, I tell people not to buy me toffee because I will eat the entire bucket jar bar, whatever it is. Oh my gosh, I'm sending it to you. This is actually the best toffee ever. I'm sure it is. I'm sending it to you. It's a little tub, it's a little tiny tub. You will like it, a little tub. But yeah, you know what I think.
Speaker 1:So I think our synopsis of the teachers is like they really don't need anything. Gift cards are good for teachers, right? Yes, yes, because then they can kind of pick their own thing. I mean a lot of them. In the sheet they'll say Amazon target gift cards or little places to get lunch. Oh, that's a cute idea. Yeah, I was in charge of all our teacher gifts for the PTO for our middle school and we did Amazon gift cards. And on Etsy, this little tip, they have really cute printables. If you're going to give a gift card to a teacher and says like you are amazing, you know like it just says that, like A, that like arrow thing. So, going on, etsy has a lot of good little tags. We talked about tags have a lot of good tags, a lot of creative stuff that are editable, that I love doing and you still have time for that. Okay, awesome, who else do we have on our list? What other helpful tips can we give our, our friends here? I think we covered everybody. Did we cover everybody? I think I think so.
Speaker 1:I think finding a gift for your like bestie is real easy. You know, you know all her favorites. Oh, I love it. You know we do with my six best friends we do a merry friends miss. Okay, we do, and we do. You have to. You pick the name.
Speaker 1:So it's like a secret secret Santa and it is literally my favorite gift to buy all year because we have a sort of a bigger limit and I get a. Really, instead of trying to buy five gifts that everyone will like although I did do that too I think about this person and and I just I love doing, I love doing it. So you don't know who has you and it's a secret, like secret. Did you say it's a secret? Yeah, it's a secret. I use it on. We have an online system. It's called draw namescom. So if you and I do that with our families too, have you just said before it's such a good app? No, I don't think so. Yeah, um, so it's. If you, if you, it's like a virtual secret Santa. It picks for you and they get an email. It's really really good. Draw names.
Speaker 1:So I don't get a lot of friend gifts. I have like probably three people that I buy gifts for, but those are ones that I really and my sister in law said we didn't even talk about sister in law sisters. I love to buy for my sister in law or my sister because I sort of I really know what they want and those are gifts that I do. I do put a little extra TLC in too. Yeah, that's amazing. And your gift? I can't wait till you get your gift from me. Oh my gosh, I can't wait either. I'll be honest, I didn't think about it. I can't wait, I can't wait. Well, this was so fun. Talking about gifts, I love this. Ah, so fun it is. You know, it is just fun to find gifts, and then, you know, seeing someone open the gift is super fun too. So I love that part of it. If you can, yes, I agree, yeah, I agree.
Speaker 1:Okay, I'm going to go finish my my Baileys before my kids get home, but I need another shot. I will, but before we go, we have our unsolicited advice. So, nicole, what time is it? It's my favorite time. It is unsolicited advice time. What's your unsolicited advice today, in the midst of the chaos? In the midst of the chaos? Okay, my unsolicited advice is to go and sign up for our newsletter. Okay, because we have a lot of ideas. We have gift guides in there. You can follow me on like to know it, and you can see all my gift guides. Do you have gift guides? That's awesome. Do you have gift guides? I have an Amazon list. I have it listed on my Instagram too. Go to Alex's link and you will see her Amazon storefront and she's got a lot of amazing ideas there.
Speaker 1:So now it's your turn, alex. What's your unsolicited advice? You know what my unsolicited advice is have people help you wrap, right. Oh, yes, like wrapping, I love your idea of enlisting your children, and you know what I feel like. That brings a little bit more of the magic into Christmas too. Yes, yes, especially the older ones, because it's not just about buying the gifts, it's about giving the gifts too, and I think that's teaching our kids. You know what I'm going to do that this year, my son gets out of boarding school early, and I'm going to have him help me, and maybe I'll even make it a little time with he and I. So I think if it's something you like doing, that's awesome. I love that for you. If it's something that is not your favorite thing, then get some people to help you so that you can enjoy it. I guess is what I'm saying. Yes, or just find a way to relieve your stress and have somebody help you with your least favorite. Yes, 1000% holiday, 1000% application. Okay, all right, good luck, Love you. See you next week.
Speaker 1:And that's a wrap for today's episode of Don't Call Me Midlife. We hope you had as much fun as we did. Absolutely. Your support means the world to us. If you're just waiting in the carpool line, don't forget to follow the show, and if you're feeling extra spicy today, leave us a rating and review Before we part ways. We've got a special invitation for you. Join our newsletter to stay in the loop with all things midlife, magic, bonus content and more. Head on over to the show notes for how to sign up. We can't wait to keep the conversation going. And, of course, remember, in the whirlwind of life and motherhood, don't forget to fill up your own cup first. Your extraordinary and your journey is worth every moment. Until next time, Cheers.