Over the weekend the lady group that I’ve come to know got together for a holiday dinner, a secret santa exchange, and to say goodbye to one of the ladies that is moving away (sad). We ate at Mamnoon votes #1 on a couple Seattle lists this year. Fancy! All the food was very tasty, if you go I highly recommend the fried cauliflower (pictured below).

The cocktails were also quite tasty. Everyone seemed to order a different one so I got to try quite a few of them.

After the meal we all opened our gifts! Below is my gift being opened. Like the hand drawn trees?

The gift I received. I guess I was too busy opening everything to take pictures but it was a very thoughtful gift from the one person I had never met. She did a great job!

Some more secret santa gifts.

Choosing gifts for a secret santa can be difficult, especially if you’re still getting to know the person. Here were a few of my tips:

-use social media to stalk them a bit to see what they like. I used pinterest, found a project she liked, and then made it for her
-teas! You can never go wrong with tea especially this time of year. To make it even more special you could mix up a custom batch (if you live near an herb store or someplace that has a lot of bulk herbs).
-make stuff. I made a project from her pinterest but I also gifted some homemade hand balm my boyfriend made recently. It adds a personal touch even if you don’t know the person that well.
-my last tip is to wrap everything up and make it kind of cute so the anticipation of opening is almost as exciting as the gift. I always use things I have around the house. I rarely, if ever purchase wrapping paper instead I draw little pictures on my reused paper. Consider using pine cones or cedar branches to help dress up the packages.

Got any tips for gift giving? Let me know in the comments below.