gift ideas - Stuff Parents Need

For the Nerd in Your Life: Fun Gift Ideas (and Great Sales) from ThinkGeek.com

November 24, 2015 · by Tiffany Merritt · Leave a Comment

Samples provided by ThinkGeek.com. Referral links may be included. All nerdy tendencies are those of my family. 🙂

Without a doubt the person on my holiday shopping list who is the toughest to buy for is my husband. He’s not really into gifts, which makes gift-giving hard right from the start. And he’s a bit of a minimalist, too. He wants things that are highly functional (read: boring) and doesn’t care for too much “fluff” in his life.

But he’s married to someone whose love language is gifts. I want to shower him with fun surprizes! One of the stores I have turned to for several years, now is ThinkGeek.com. The name pretty much says it all! If you have someone in your life whose tastes lean toward science, science-fiction, fantasy or anything else on the geek/nerd spectrum, this place is worth a look. They actually have some surprisingly cool items that might just bring out your own inner geek!

For example: one practical item we need in our home is another phone charger (I can’t even count how many we have lost on out of town trips). But here’s an opportunity to turn a boring purchase into something festive!

This is the iPhone Merry Phone charger ($14.99) and how can this not make you smile? I’m not going to put it away after the holidays are over, either! It’s SO much cooler than a standard charger. I love it!

And seeing as how we have a daughter named Layah (prounced the same as Princess Leia), it should go without saying that we LOVE Star Wars in our home. We recently watched episode VI, and to celebrate, I surprised everyone with these totally awesome R2-D2 and C-3PO ceramic bowls. They are generously sized for yummy popcorn. Even Wicket wants to get in on that action. They are also priced right at just $19.99 for the pair on ThinkGeek.com.

And though we got to travel to a galaxy far, far away thanks to our television, our bodies had to stay in our own solar system. So we enjoyed lots of snacks out of these GORGEOUS planet glasses ($49.99). Pluto is included (yes, I know that it’s status as a planet is up for debate) and the sun is included, as well. These were such a huge hit and I would highly recommend them as a fun gift idea (that is also practical…everyone needs glasses!). It will be totally unexpected but very much loved.

Major Sale!

Right now ThinkGeek.com is offering 20% off every purchase of $40 or up. And by going through ShopatHome.com to place your order, you’ll also earn 4% cash back on your purchase. You can also snag free shipping on orders of $75 or higher. It’s a great time to go find rad gifts for those folks on your list who are a bit difficult to shop for. ThinkGeek.com has never let me down!

Do you see anythng on ThinkGeek.com that you’d like to get (either for yourself or for someone on your gift list?)?

DIY Honey Sugar Scrub with Frankincense

November 17, 2015 · by Tiffany Merritt · Leave a Comment

Affiliate links may be included. I only promote what I love!

This DIY gift idea is so darn indulgent. It’s also a little sticky (just being honest) so you’ll want to make sure that you let the person you are making this Honey Sugar Scrub for know that ample opportunity will be needed to rinse it off! 🙂

I added Young Living’s Frankincense oil to this honey sugar scrub because it is an oil that is well-known for how kind it is to the skin! I personally use it for the banishment of fine lines. I also use it for overall wellness. It’s such a precious, fantastic, oh-so-good-for-you oil, and a little really goes a long way.

Here’s what you’ll need to make this amazing scrub!

1/2 cup honey
1/3 cup sugar (I used cane sugar for a more coarse effect, but refined white sugar is fine)
1 Tbsp avocado oil (or other carrier oil of choice)
3 drops Frankincense essential oil

Combine all ingredients in a glass container (one with a lid is ideal!). To use, apply small amounts to areas of the skin that need more intense TLC (for example, rough elbows, calloused heels and hands). Allow to soak into the skin for a minute or two before rinsing off thoroughly.

Since Young Living is a referral-based business, you have to go through a distributor to get this great product. I’d love to help you get all set up with your own bottle of frankincense (and give you tons of other ideas about how to use it!). I can help you get signed up as a retail customer, a wholesale customer, or I can take an order from you that I’ll place with my next monthly wholesale order (you can try an oil or two that way for the wholesale price!). Reach out to me at stuffparentsneed (at) gmail (dot) com and let me know how I can help!

One of the Best Upset Stomach Remedies I’ve Ever Tried

November 17, 2015 · by Tiffany Merritt · 2 Comments

Affiliate links may be included. I am not a medical professional and no information contained in this post about upset stomach remedies or any other post I have written about Young Living essential oils should be misconstrued as medical advice. Please consult with a medical professional for questions about how essential oils might interact with any medication you are already taking. Essential oils have not been tested by the FDA.

Isn’t having an upset stomach just the worst? It can come out of nowhere and just knock you down for a day or even longer. And as someone particularly fond of food, I really dislike losing my appetite! One of the things my family uses when we are feeling “off” with our digestive system is to reach for Young Living’s DiGize essential oil blend. This blend contains Tarragon, Ginger, Peppermint, Juniper, Fennel, Anise, Patchouli and Lemongrass. For me, it promotes wellness support during those upset moments better than anything else I’ve tried. But standing by all my oils and diluting out a dose of DiGize can feel a bit taxing when all you want to do is lay down somewhere, which is why I created this tummy cream to reach for when I need it.

Ingredients:

1/2 cup coconut oil
1/3 cup shea butter
1/4 cup almond oil
20 drops DiGize essential oil blend
5 drops Peppermint essential oil (optional, but peppermint is great for upset stomachs and I think it helps improve the smell!)

To make this soothing tummy cream, start by melting the coconut oil and the shea butter together over medium-low heat on the stove. Once this has completely melted, remove it from the heat and allow it to cool for 5 minutes before adding the almong oil. Mix those ingredients all together with a spoon, and then allow to sit for an additional 10 minutes, at which point you add your essential oils, give it a stir, and then transfer the oils to a glass bowl and put in the refrigerator for an hour.

After an hour has passed, remove the blend which should appear solid, and taking a hand mixer, mix it all together until the consistency is creamy. You are all set! I recommend storing the product in the fridge for best results.

If you are new to Young Living and would like to try DiGize and/or Peppermint essential oil, I’d love to help connect you! You can sign up directly for a retail membership if you only want to purchase them, or you can sign up as a wholesale customer if you’d like to try our premium starter kit (it comes with our 11 most loved oils, including DiGize and Peppermint, as well as a diffuser and other goodies). I also place an order once a month and would be happy to include you in it if you’d like to try either or both oils at the wholesale price. Reach me at stuffparentsneed (at) gmail (dot) com and let me know how I can help.

Homemade Furniture Polish

November 17, 2015 · by Tiffany Merritt · Leave a Comment

Affiliate links may be included. I only promote what I use and love!

Time for another thrifty gift idea! This is perfect for new homeowners or even for people on your list who already have anything (including lots of beautiful wood furniture!). Check out this recipe for a simple homemade furniture polish that will nourish and protect wood furniture so that it can be enjoyed for many years to come!

Ingredients:

10 drops lemon essential oil
1/4 cup vinegar
1/4 cup olive oil
1 (16 oz) glass spray bottle (glass is a must, as essential oils can eat through plastic)

To make your homemade furniture polish, add your essential oil to the glass bottle, followed by the vinegar and the olive oil. Give it a very good shake, and remember to shake it thoroughly before each use. That’s it! 🙂

This product works so wonderfully well and is also so affordable. Your biggest expense is the spray bottle, which will last you for decades (as long as you don’t break it!). And currently lemon oil is about 4.5 cents/drop. Vinegar is super cheap, so 1/4 of a cup would cost mere pennies, and the cost for the olive oil just depends on the brand you use.

DIY Bath Salts to Send Stress Away (Gift Idea for $1!)

November 16, 2015 · by Tiffany Merritt · 1 Comment

Affiliate links may be included. I am not a medical professional and no information contained in this or any other post I have written about Young Living essential oils should be misconstrued as medical advice. Please consult with a medical professional for questions about how essential oils might interact with any medication you are already taking. Essential oils have not been tested by the FDA.

This just might be my favorite DIY gift idea with essential oils yet! You can put together some bath salts that will help someone you love send their stresses away for right around $1! Yes, indeed!

To make this relaxing blend, you need 3 ingredients and about 30 seconds. 🙂

1 cup Epsom salts (find them at drug stores, too!)
1/2 cup baking soda
5 drops Young Living Stress Away essential oil blend

Simply combine all of the ingredients together until well combined (I find the oils will blend the best if you use your hands to mix everything together). I would recommend adding 1/4 cup to each bath.

This smells absolutely divine thanks to the blend of copaiba, lime, cedarwood, vanilla, ocotea and lavender that you can only find in Stress Away. It is one of my all-time favorite blends and the mere smell of it truly helps me calm down.

So if you are looking for a DIY gift idea that will be so appreciated by someone in your life who could use a spa-like bath experience AND if you are looking to keep your budget in check all at the same time, you can’t go wrong with this blend! Stress Away is just 12 cents/drop and Epsom salts and baking soda are both very affordable products. Just find a small mason jar with a lid or any other type of pretty glass container (I see them all the time at thrift stores), tie a ribbon around it, and there you go!

And if you are new to Young Living and need some help getting your hands on Stress Away, I’d love to help you out! I place orders once a month and allow folks who are new to the brand to order at my wholesale price. Stress Away is $29.75 plus tax and shipping for a 15 ml bottle, which contains 250 drops. That will make a heck of a lot of bath salts! 🙂

(Giveaway!) My Favorite Holiday Gift Idea for Cats

November 16, 2015 · by Tiffany Merritt · 110 Comments

This post brought to you by Friskies. The content and opinions expressed below are that of Stuff Parents Need.

Friends with kitties, let me help you with the question of what to get your cat as a special gift this holiday season. My cats have been testing out a new product from Friskies that is really 3 gifts in 1, and it has been very well received (so much so that I keep finding the cats sleeping curled up around it after a play session)!

In the past I’ve always picked up Friskies Party Mix treats as holiday gifts for the cats. I have felt more at a loss about what to do for toys, though (and especially for our older cat who is pretty much a big grump and doesn’t like to play). But Wobbert, who is part of the Friskies Pull ’n Play Combo Pack, actually got her attention!

To fill Wobbert, you simply unscrew the top portion and add the Friskies Party Mix Treats. Then you take a string from the Friskies Edible Strings and thread it through the holes at the top. And as you saw in the video, as the cat bats at Wobbert, treats will fall out (but only from one angle so treats aren’t constantly falling out!).

This is such a fun way to combine play time with special treats for your furry friend, and a fun way to show them a little extra love this holiday season. You can find Wobbert and all the great Friskies treats at major retailers nationwide (a full list of retailers can be found here).

And I love that you can play with those cute edible strings with Wobbert or on their own. The string treats come in 3 flavors (Chicken & Cheese, Salmon & Shrimp and Tuna & Crab). While my cats haven’t eaten the string just yet, they have been sniffing them like crazy, so I think they are going to figure out pretty soon that they can do more than just play with them. .

So whether you have a grump like our Hattie, or a super sweet cuddlebug like our Rose, you are going to have a hit on your hands with the Friskies Pull ‘n Play pack and those great Friskies treats. That’s one more thing you can cross off your holiday shopping list!

Win it!: TWO lucky Stuff Parents Need readers will each win a Friskies holiday kit, which includes a Wobbert toy, Party Mix, Edible Strings and a Collar. To enter, simply leave a comment below telling us how your cat has been naughty or nice this year! Give us a good laugh, and be sure to leave your email address so that we can contact you if you win! 😉

Contest open to residents of the United States ages 18 and older. Limit one entrant per household, please. Contest ends at 11:59PM EST on November 26th. Winner will be drawn at random on from eligible entries using Random.org. Potential winner will be contacted via email and will have 48 hours to respond before the prize is forfeited and a new winner is drawn. Stuff Parents Need is not responsible for prize fulfillment.

Homemade Vapor Rub for Wellness Support

November 13, 2015 · by Tiffany Merritt · Leave a Comment

Are you enjoying the simple DIY gift ideas I’ve been showing on the blog this week? I’ve been having so much fun making them! Today I want to show you a product that is oh so necessary this time of year, and that would make a fantastic gift idea for pretty much anyone (though I have made this with adults in mind…children need their oil ratio to be more diluted). Check out this homemade vapor rub and get ready to breathe a little easier!

To make this homemade vapor rub, you’ll need the following items:

Heat up your 1/4 cup of coconut oil on the stove over medium heat, stirring until it is completely melted. Then remove your pot from the heat and allow it to cool for 5 minutes. Pour the coconut oil int your container, and add 20 drops of RC and 5 drops of Thieves. Using a stir stick (this is what I use), gently stir the mixture together until well combined. Allow to cool at room temperature, or place the container in the refrigerator for a quick set method.

To use: apply as needed to the chest area for lung support. This should create enough product to get a family of 4 through the fall and winter months.

Why I Chose RC and Thieves

RC and Thieves are both proprietary oil blends made by Young Living. If you are new to the company and want to hear more about why I started using their products, click here. Now let’s talk about each of these fantastic oil blends!

RC is a blend that contains the following oils:

myrtle
eucalyptus globulus
marjoram
pine
eucalyptus citriodora
lavender
cypress
eucalyptus radiata
spruce
peppermint

If you have never smelled RC before, you can probably imagine what an invigorating scent it is (especially with 3 different types of eucalyptus in the mix!). I find this blend to be absolutely crucial in my collection during the fall and winter months, when I find that my lungs tend to need a little extra support for wellness.

I also added a bit of the blend Thieves because of how outstanding it is at telling microscopic critters to take a hike! I find it to be an amazing oil to support overall wellness, so adding it in with the RC seemed like a great idea. Plus, it smells fantastic! Here’s what you’ll find in Thieves:

clove
lemon
cinnamon bark
eucalyptus radiata
rosemary

Since one of my motivators for all these DIY projects was to come up with wallet-friendly gift ideas, let’s break down the cost. I’d estimate the cost of the glass container to be $1, the cost of the coconut oil to be .50, the cost of the RC drops to total $2.40 and the cost of the Thieves drops to total .67. This brings the total cost for this homemade vapor rub to $4.57. I think it would be SO awesome to give the gift of wellness to support to someone you love for under $5!

Young Living is a referral based business, so to order the oils you need to connect with a distributor. I proudly serve in that role and would love to help you get started on your journey to wellness. Both of these oils featured today come in the premium starter kit, which you can read more about here. I also place an order once a month and allow folks who are new to Young Living to order up to 3 oils from me at the wholesale price, which is what I pay. If you’d like more information, just reach out to me at stuffparentsneed (at) gmail (dot) com and I’d be happy to help you out!

Here are a few other homemade remedies that you might want to try while you in the DIY mood (or you can just pin the pages for future reference).

DIY Shower Disks to Support the Lungs

Upset stomach remedy

DIY pain cream

getting ready for swimsuit season with the help of essential oils

DIY Linen Spray: A Fabulous Gift for Under $2.50!

November 12, 2015 · by Tiffany Merritt · Leave a Comment

Affiliate links may be included. I only promote what I love!

Friends I think I’ve got one heck of a DIY winner for you today! This is one of the least expensive homemade recipes I have made with my essential oils so far, and I think it will be really well-received by gift recipients, too! I’m going to show you how to make an all natural linen spray for less than $2.50!

Here’s what you’ll need to make this DIY linen spray:

1 (two) ounce glass spray bottle (colored preferred to keep the oils away from light)
small funnel (optional, but it makes it a lot easier!)
2 1/2 Tbsp distilled water
1 1/2 tbsp witch hazel (FYI, it’s much cheaper at places like Walgreens)
15 drops Young Living lavender essential oil

I opted for the 2 ounce size glass bottles because these are small enough that you can take them with you on airplanes, which I love. You could upgrade to the 4 ounce bottles, and in that case, you’ll need to double your recipe.

To make your linen spray, simply add your water and your witch hazel to your spray bottle with the funnel. Then remove the funnel and add your oils. You could opt for any number of essential oils in your linen spray, but I think lavender is an excellent choice because it is so soothing, which makes it perfect to inhale when you are laying down at the end of your day.

If you are crafty, you could certainly add a cute little printable on your bottle to note what it contains, and you could even include the recipe so that it could be recreated later. Currently, the spray bottles are .77 each (you have to buy a dozen, though), the 15 drops of lavender come to $1.41, and I am generously estimating the witch hazel and the distilled water to cost 15 cents total, bringing this project to just $2.33 per bottle!

I think this would make a very thoughtful gift for a teacher, a co-worker, or anyone in your life who could use a bit of relaxation. By using Young Living essential oils, you are gifting the highest quality product for maximum therapeutic benefits, too. Seed to seal, baby!

If you are new to essential oils and have questions about them, or if you’d be interested in picking up a bottle of Young Living lavender oil, I’d be happy to help you! I place orders once a month and I’m always happy to include folks in my order so that they can take advantage of the wholesale pricing I have. And if you’d like to hear more about how I, an essential oils skeptic, got into essential oils, check out my post on the subject.

Homemade Carpet Powder: Thrifty Gift Idea for Your Favorite Clean Freak

November 11, 2015 · by Tiffany Merritt · Leave a Comment

Affiliate links may be included. I only promote what I love!

I’ve been brainstorming thrifty homemade gift ideas that don’t require craft skills (since I completely lack those), and I’ve realized that I can make a TON of awesome stuff with my beloved essential oils and a few other key ingredients.

Earlier this year I made a homemade carpet powder for myself (I just kept the ingredients in a recycled parmesan cheese container!), but I didn’t think that would look too presentable as a gift. So I found this great stainless steel cup with a sprinkle top that is just perfect. Now I can make this as a gift for someone on my list who really loves to clean (I cannot relate to this feeling, but there really are people out there who love to clean!).

All you need is 1 cup of baking soda, and 8 drops of the Young Living essential oils blend called Purification. Mix the two ingredients together well (I used a fork) until the drops of oil are well dispersed. Pour the mixture into your cute container, add the lid, and tie a bow around it if you are giving it as a gift! Right now the container is $4.87 (prices do fluctuate on Amazon, though) and 1 cup of baking soda will cost you .50 (give or take). The price per drop of Purification at the wholesale price is 7.5 cents, so 8 drops will cost you 60 cents, making the entire gift cost $5.97. Not too shabby! You could also include instructions for how to re-create the recipe once their container runs out, and even send along a smaller vial of Purification so that they can make more with the oils.

So what is Purification? This is a proprietary blend of essential oils made by Young Living, and it contains citronella, lemongrass, rosemary, melaleuca alternifolia, lavandin and myrtle. It smells like clean in a bottle; so fresh and invigorating, yet not perfume-like at all. The essential oils in this blend are known for their purifying properties, so masking odors is definitely not what they do! They eliminate them! I sprinkle this mix on my carpets and let it sit for at least 15 minutes before I vacuum it up, and the end result is an absolutely fantastic smell in my home. I love it!

If you are new to Young Living and would love to get your hands on some Purification (which is $18.50 plus tax and shipping at the wholesale cost for 15 ml, which is 250 drops) I’d be happy to order some for you on my next monthly order! Reach out to me at stuffparentsneed (at) gmail (dot) com and I’ll give you details. Young Living is a referral based business, so you have to work with someone who already purchases from the company in order to get started, yourself. And if you’d like to hear more about essential oils in general and why I decided to give them a try (as a skeptic, no less), check out my post on why I chose Young Living.