2019 East Coast Mermaid Holiday Gift Guide

It’s the most wonderful time of year here on the East Coast and I have more reasons than usual to celebrate! As you know from our happy journey on Instagram, we are getting ready to spend our first Christmas in our NEW HOME! Is there any better gift than that?

Well… turns out there is.

This past weekend, Dan and I got ENGAGED! I’ve been swimming with excitement ever since it all happened, and since I know you’re going to want to get the full scoop, you can check out all the details right here.

Our 2019 Christmas is turning out to be the most magical one yet! In the spirit of all this happiness and gratitude, I decided to do things a little differently on the blog for our annual holiday gift guide. This year, I purchased all of the items on this list because these companies and products truly are some of our favourites.

We can’t wait to enjoy all of these products in our home this holiday season. Here’s a look at just a few of my favourite things.

HOLIDAY BEVERAGES

It should come as no surprise that this Christmas, my wine of choice is Nova 7 by Benjamin Bridge. We popped a bottle this weekend to celebrate our engagement, pairing wonderfully with the oysters shucked by my future husband.

And I’m adoring this new Fallalla tea towel from MacArthurs market and matching Swedish dish clothes. Perfect for spills and wiping down the countertops at the holiday party.

When I’m not sipping Nova 7 over the holidays, you can be sure I’ll be mixing my favourite drink—a Caesar with only the best vodka in the world. Dill Pickle Vodka from Raging Crow Distillery in Truro, Nova Scotia.

Want to serve something a little different this year?

When you’re hosting a holiday party, you always want to treat your non-alcoholic loving friends to as much holiday spirit as your bubbly-loving buddies! We always have Kissing Rocks Kombucha ready for entertaining guests around the holidays as our non-alcoholic bevvy of choice. Serve it in wine glasses with a twig of rosemary and a cranberry or two—and voila!

We also love the versatility of having this option on hand. If you find yourself down to the last bottle of prosecco during a party with more guests than planned, you can still make sure everyone can toast the holiday season by using our favourite Kissing Rocks Kombucha Holiday Spritzer recipe!

Follow Kissing Rocks on Instagram to find out where you can grab you booch this holiday season!

Lastly, if you’re like me, your holiday fuel is COFFEE!

And this time of year, I can’t resist the lure of Rescue Coffee’s Holiday Blend.

Not only does it taste like Christmas in a coffee cup—and it’s even more amazing with a splash of Baileys—10% of proceeds go to animal rescue organizations. So drink your coffee AND make a difference!

FOR THE NEW HOUSE

You know you’re an adult when you’re buying your house its own gifts!

This year, we picked up some additional dryer balls from our favourites: Amy and Kate of The Dryer Balls.

We LOVE their dryer balls and having a few extra around for the holidays is a must. Whether you have back-to-back guests that need clean sheets or you’re just aiming to dry your favourite sweater quickly after coming in from shovelling the driveway—these dryer balls cut down on the amount of time it takes to dry even the largest load of laundry.

Quick tip: Have a large load of towels or sheets? Toss in up to 5 dryer balls and a bounce sheet to cut your drying time down AND leave you with soft fluffy goodness.

And if you’re a cat parent, Amy and Kate make an AWESOME catnip ball. It’s one of Bella’s favourite toys!

While the dryer balls are helping us reduce drying times (and reducing the amount of energy it takes to dry our laundry), our new beeswax wraps from Body Honour are helping us reduce plastic waste.

I recently picked up a few of their beeswax products and I’m LOVING their beeswax twist-ties and their wraps small enough for wet cat food tins.

If you’ve never heard of these before, Reusable Beeswax Food Wraps are a natural and reusable alternative to plastic wrap food storage.

We love Body Honour because they are a maritime company, and they work hard to make sustainable products you’ll love and use regularly. With proper care, their wraps last up to a year, and when you’re done you can use their exchange program to return your wrap and get 20% off your next one.

SPREADING HOLIDAY CHEER

I LOVE writing Christmas cards.

In fact, my Christmas card distribution list grows each year and I absolutely love it. This year, we’re sending out a bunch of different cards but a large chunk of them are by Halifax Paper Hearts—Founded by one of my besties Stefanie.

Want more ideas for beautiful and fun East Coast cards to spread holiday cheer? Make sure to grab some from my hella talented marketing assistant Crystal and her company Hello Sweetie.

Need a card for the pop culture lover in your life? Design Corner has you covered.

How do I set the holiday mood when card writing? With a Christmas movie and a holiday candle from Fundy Treasures.

This year, I’m absolutely obsessed with their Home for the Holidays, East Coast Holiday and Boston Christmas Tree candles.

THE HOLIDAY ESSENTIALS

Finally, it’s important to me to add a little holiday sparkle where ever I can, so this year, I’m excited to be rocking a Christmas-ready checkered plaid WOW Scrunchie I picked up at MacArthurs Market while out shopping for our official holiday wreath for the front door.

From the moment I saw our new house, I knew that my favourite holiday tradition was going to be hanging a fresh holiday wreath on the door each December 1st to really kick off the Christmas season.

The moment finally arrived this weekend when we took a trip down to the market and to our favourite local nursery, MacArthurs. We walked through aisles of unique ornaments, lighting options, fresh-cut wintery arrangements, trees and more to find our perfect holiday wreath.

If you’re looking for a wreath or fresh cut holiday decor, make sure to visit MacArthurs Nurseries this December.

GIVEAWAY TIME

And speaking of spreading holiday cheer…

To say a very big THANK YOU to all of you for being fans of East Coast Mermaid, we’re hosting not one, not two, but THREE giveaways between now and Christmas beginning this Friday, December 6th on Instagram.

We’ll be launching the first giveaway Friday morning so make sure to turn on notifications on Instagram to ensure you don’t miss the boat!