A Very Preppy Christmas Gift Guide–Your Best Friend

Welcome to the first Preppy Leopard gift guide!

Today, we will be tackling one of the most important people in your life–your best friend!

Maybe you’ve known her since elementary school, or maybe you guys met your last year of college.  Either way, she’s gotten you through some rough times, and a thoughtful gift is a great way to say thank you!

Also, all these gift ideas are $50 or less.   Yay for budgets!

1.  Monogrammed Toms.  I did this for two of my best friends last year.  I bought a basic pair of canvas Toms ($44) and then had each girl’s initials embroidered on the side in a corresponding color.  (Olive green with a pale green, and then black with pink.)  Not only does Toms have wonderful charitable focus, but the monogram lends a nice personal touch.  Or, if you are artistic and have a steady hand, you can paint the monogram instead!  (Or add a special feature–like an anchor or a heart.)

2.  An iPhone case.  I love this leopard case from J.Crew.

3.  A Makeup Bag.  Find a cute makeup pouch, and then fill it with drugstore finds.  You can’t go wrong with a classic red lipstick, a pretty nail polish, and some bobby pins!  (J.Crew Makeup Bag.)

4.  A fancy lipstick.  Maybe we can’t afford a new Chanel bag or a Givenchy dress, but give a little taste of luxury by snagging a luxury-brand lipstick.  The cases are beautiful.  (Kate Spade Pucker Up lipstick.  YSL Rouge Pur Couture lipstick.  Dior ‘Diorific’ lipstick.)

5.  An Arm Party!  Hit up your local Forever 21 (or other trendy teen store) and match up an inventive arm party (multiple bracelets that are meant to be worn together).  Sure, getting one bracelet is fun, but getting a whole collection that can be worn together (or alone) is a cute idea.  A tip for making a coherent collection is to stick to a similar color story.  Here I picked gold and black!  (Gold spike bracelet.  Black/Gold/Pearl bracelet set.  Gold/Black color blocked bracelets.

6.  A cozy scarf.  I love this one from Nordstrom’s BP section–it’s really gigantic!  (Also, buying gifts from Nordstrom is one of my tried and true secrets.  They wrap everything so beautifully for you, and I think a lower priced gift from a fancy store elevates it that much more.  Even though the price point of this scarf is low enough to be comparable to Old Navy, it just seems so much nicer coming in the shiny Nordstrom box.)