2023 Holiday Gift Guide
This year, I wanted to try my hand at a holiday gift guide. In no particular order, here are some of my favorites from the brands and people I enjoy working with.
I have the unique opportunity to work with many Founders on their brand packaging. And that means I often get the products! Whether I buy them to check out their current packaging or they send me the products for packaging revisions, I end up getting to try so many different products.
These are not affiliate links. ☺️
2023 Holiday Gift Guide: High End Chocolate
John Kelly Chocolates: Love this brand and how they have a variety of packaging that I produce. Some items are in rigid boxes, some are folding boxes. The chocolate they are famous for is what they call Truffle Fudge and it is decadent. Dark Chocolate Sea Salt Caramels are my favorite. There’s also chocolate enrobed nuts and fruits. Based in Hollywood, they have a high end following and corporate gifting programs.
John Kelly Chocolates offers a variety of holiday-themed chocolate gifts right now like the 12 Piece Signature Handcrafted Chocolate Collection and the 6 Piece Signature Handcrafted Chocolate Collection. johnkellychocolates.com
2023 Holiday Gift Guide: organic skincare
Prakash Organics: When you see Hari Prakash’s beautiful branded black and gold bottles, you’re looking at the graphic design that I did when she wanted to get away from paper labels on stock bottles. I also connected her with a supplier to produce the bottles. Prakash Organics offers holiday skincare bundles, perfect for gifting. Those crystals in the photo? There is one in each dropper, placed there by hand.
Prakash Organics’ products include unrefined organic face oils and serums. She also offers a digital gift card option. prakashog.com
2023 Holiday Gift Guide: embroidery kits
Rikrack: Embroidery kits for beginners and beyond is the tagline. Here’s a special way to create. It’s a peaceful craft with a beautiful result. Riki has beautiful kits in various themes as well as downloadable PDF templates for your projects. We make her beautiful kit envelopes out of paperboard. Most packaging in this space uses plastics and ugly hangers. Her major redesign and commitment to change has boosted her business.
Rikrack has a variety of kits like the Knit Embroidery Kit , Maker Embroidery Kit, and the Ship Embroidery Kit. Plus, a discount on buying 3 or more kits right now. rikrack.com
2023 Holiday Gift Guide: skincare remedy
Face Reality Skincare: This fun company has grown so fast and has wonderful people working there! I’ve been producing their unit cartons and limited edition box sets. They offer acne-safe skincare kits, formulated specifically for acne-prone skin. The kits include a range of skincare products suitable for different skin types. You can buy products and work with Certified Face Reality Acne Specialists trained by Face Reality.
Face Reality is rolling out their new branding in 2024 too! Stay tuned!
Maybe not a typical gift for others, but for your daughter, son or friend who struggles with acne for sure. facerealityskincare.com
2023 Holiday Gift Guide: cookies
Spritzal Cookies: I got to work with Taylor, one of the family founders, designing the Spritzal Cookie Costco displays. What a fun brand with bright colors and very tasty flavors! My favorite so far is Lemon. Or is it the Key Lime?! Classic story of using Grandma’s recipe for shortbread cookies and baking a business out of it!
Spritzal offers so many flavors including holiday-themed cookie bites in various flavors like Deliciously Almond, Key Lime, and Blueberry Pie. spritzal.com
2023 Holiday Gift Guide: spices & sauces
Sauce Goddess Gourmet: I’ve worked with Jennifer on her Spice packaging as well as her gift set shippers. We go way back to college days. She finally asked her dad for his barbeque sauce recipe. After friends urged her to go into business, she did it starting with that one sauce. Fun fact: she competed on a reality cooking TV show!
Sauce Goddess has sauces, dip mixes, spice shakers and even teas! Holiday offerings include gift sets of gourmet sauces and spices, perfect for foodies and home cooks. saucegoddess.com
2023 Holiday Gift Guide: beautiful nails
Beauty Garde: The founder, Nonie Crème, has worked with me for packaging on several of her brands. She’s a famed nail artist with her own brand, Beauty Garde. Besides the beautiful colors, it’s all about repairing your natural nails after you’ve had gel or acrylics and your nails are weak, brittle, peeling all the things!
Beaty Garde has a holiday Rocket Nail Color Collection and other nail treatment products like the Conceal & Repair Kit. beautygarde.com
2023 Holiday Gift Guide: gummy worms
Eat Rotten: I worked with the founder, Michael, on packaging development. We went through many iterations for structure and materials on their retail shelf boxes and their influencer boxes. After 3+ years developing the recipe, the branding and the packaging, Michael and the Rotten team launched live in 2023. so now they’re known for their consistently Rotten branding in graphics and voice, as well as their unique and flavorful gummy worms. I didn’t consider myself a gummy worms type of candy eater BUT once I decided to try these, I had absolutely no problem eating them. A LOT of them!
Rotten offers original and sour gummy worms in an 8-pack option. Go visit to see what consistent branding looks like and grab some worms to go! eatrotten.com
2023 Holiday Gift Guide: brain juice
BrainJuice: I met this company at the FounderMade event in 2019. That was before the company restructured and brought on the geniuses who run the company now! Grateful that the team entrusts me with their branded packaging for retail on-the-shelf boxes, ecommerce and corrugated shippers. There are bottles of ready-to-drink (10 flavors!) as well as powders (4 flavors) to mix with water or beverage.
BrainJuice products offer brainpower supplements and drinks in various sizes. Typically there is a code for a discount on the first order. brainjuice.me
2023 Holiday Gift Guide: 2024 calendars plus!
Packaging Chic Style: My very own Etsy shop with watercolor graphics and patterns printed on various items! 2024 Monthly Calendars are available now. As you might know, I am a regular at my local Jazzercise studio! There are lots of different leggings on the shop too. I license the graphics from small business illustrators to design all of the items. Come over and visit! You may find a gift for yourself and friends.
2023 Holiday Gift Guide: Looseleaf tea
Looseleaf Tea Market: Check out Loose Leaf Tea Market for some amazing teas that are good for you too. Kita, the Founder, is an amazing woman. We know each other through a business networking group. This Lush Lavender is so beautiful and it’s a favorite of mine. Her teas are specially blended to help with things like inflammation, digestion, and stress. And they taste great! Made with fresh, organic ingredients, these teas are full of the good stuff your body needs.
Looseleaf Teas are a great way to take care of yourself with each cup. Have a look at her selection at looseleafmarket.com. They’re a perfect healthy gift for the holidays."
2023 Holiday Gift Guide: clean skincare
Beauté Nouveau: I have a very favorite item from Lacey and her company that I’m recommending as a gift for gals and for yourself! It’s the Butter Balm – you use it in the shower, and it leaves your skin feeling super soft and moisturized all day. Butter Balm is made with natural ingredients like shea and kokum butters, beeswax, and plant oils, plus organic glycerin to keep your skin hydrated. It’s a quick and easy step to add to your shower routine,
Beauté Nouveau Butter Balms fragrances are soo good! My favorite is the Gardenia Bergamot. Or maybe the Citrus. Shoot, I can’t decide! So I buy the mini gift set to have them all! beautenouveau.com
2023 Holiday Gift Guide: HOME FRAGRANCE
Dragonfly Fragrances: Probably one of the easiest gifts to give is home fragrance! The thing about Dragonfly (affectionately shortened to DFly in my client emails) is that the vessel that the candle comes in is the keepsake. Michelle is the creative genius behind the brand. With her creative direction, together the packaging is designed and produced.
Always fun to see these boxes in the plant because they require a lot of attention to production detail and they are just gorgeous! Which one is your favorite?