As 2020 drew to a close, it was hard to know what 2021 had in store for us. The availability of vaccines has provided a renewed sense of hope as we cautiously get back to a life that feels a little familiar. So many of us are looking forward to the joy of being with loved ones at the holidays and unwrapping gifts together.
But what do you get the nieces and nephews that you haven’t seen in person for almost two years? The sister-in-law who is still working via Zoom from her home office? Your parents who rescued a pandemic pup?
This year the struggle to shop is real. You might have a great gift idea, but supply chain issues could make you dive down into the gifting rabbit hole once again. As always, I’m here to help you get a handle on this year’s gift list!

Retailers are offering early deals well in advance of Black Friday and Cyber Monday. My 2021 Holiday Gift Guides will help you keep an eye out for this year’s must haves so you can snag items at the best prices and order early to avoid any shipping delays.
My advice- shop early and get things in the mail much earlier than usual! Supply chain issues and shipping times will be big challenges to ensuring gifts make it into the hands of loved ones on time.
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For those of you who have been loyal blog readers for years, you know this is my 14th year of providing age appropriate gift selections. My picks are ones that I’d love for my kids to receive or are gifts that I plan to give nieces, nephews, other family members, loved ones, and the special people in our lives like teachers. My gift guides are designed to help you find the right gift that conveys the proper sentiment towards the recipient that is thoughtful yet within your budget
Over the years I’ve made it my mission to not accept paid placements or promise any brand that their product will be featured in my gift guides. If you happen to see a product that was part of a sponsored post earlier in the year, please know that I was not obligated to include it in my holiday gift guides but I deemed it absolutely worthy of a second mention!
Curating top gift picks is something I keep doing because of your incredibly positive feedback each and every year (thanks!) and I take my evaluation and recommendation of these products very seriously and without bias that could come from compensation.
My 2021 Holiday Gift Guides will include a gift guide for each age group so you can snag the best deals on gifts for kids before or during Black Friday and Cyber Monday. Themed specialty gift guides will follow, including my always-popular STEM Gifts for All Ages.

Below is the entire list of what you can look forward to this year. Remember that these links will go live as guides are published so be sure to bookmark or pin this post to come back to it as you do your holiday shopping since I’ll be updating it often!
2021 Holiday Gift Guides

AGE APPROPRIATE GIFT GUIDES
- Toddlers and Preschoolers
- Early Elementary Ages (grades K-2, ages 5-8)
- Tweens (ages 9-12)
- Teens (ages 13+)
SPECIALTY GIFT GUIDES:
- STEM Gifts for All Ages (preK-tween)
- Best Age Appropriate Advent Calendars for Kids
- Fair Trade Holiday Gifts
- Gifts for Unplugged Family Fun
- Gifts for Teachers
- Gifts for People Who Love Their Dogs (inspired by Goldie, of course)
FAVORITE HOLIDAY GIFT GUIDES FROM LAST YEAR

In case you wanted to start making your shopping lists now, here’s a look at last year’s gift guides that are full of great ideas:
- Toddlers & Preschoolers
- Early Elementary Ages (grades K-2, ages 5-8)
- Tweens (ages 8-12)
- Teens (ages 13+)
- STEM Gifts for All Ages (preK-teen)
- Gifts for Teachers (from the perspective of a former teacher, with input from current teachers)
- Best Gifts for Unplugged Fun
- Gifts for Outdoor Adventures
- Gifts for Gadget Lovers
- Best Subscriptions for All Ages
- Gifts that Give Back
- Must-Have Gifts to Level Up Your Home Office
- 9 Gifts that Make it Easy for Families to Give Back
Bookmark or pin this post and then come back to it as you do your holiday shopping since I’ll be updating it with links to each guide as they go live.
I hope you enjoy this year’s picks and wish you happy and stress-free holiday shopping!
Note to PR: The period for accepting items for age specific gift guides has ended but I am happy to accept items for review to consider for specialty guides. Please be specific about the products you’d like me to consider reviewing in your pitch and thanks for understanding I’m on a short deadline to get all gift guides wrapped up before Thanksgiving and do not have the bandwidth to return samples during this extremely busy time of the year.



Woohoo!! You have the best gift guides!
Thank you SO much for always reading them! 🙂