Little Treats Galore: A Holiday Gift Guide

On social media, rewarding oneself with “little treats” has become a de rigueur form of performative self-care. Did the laundry? You deserve a matcha latte. Filed your quarterly taxes? Time for a gel manicure. Animating the trend is that you don’t really earn such daily luxuries—this is not indulging in a square of dark chocolate because you went to the gym, or finally buying that camel coat after saving up for months—but that you have already earned them, simply by being alive during an overwhelming time. This has led to some hand-wringing about the self-coddling tendencies of young people these days. Earlier this year, a HuffPost article announced “Has ‘Little Treat’ Culture Gone Too Far? Therapists Have Thoughts.” (“What does fancy coffee have to do with doing laundry, anyway?” one said.) I’m no licensed therapist, but perhaps they’re overthinking it! I don’t see the harm in an unearned perk every now and then. In fact, one of my abiding pleasures in life is finding small but transformative thingamabobs—frivolous and not at all necessary items that don’t cost much but can make life a bit sparklier, a bit easier, or just a bit sillier. And that’s how I like to give gifts, too. For me, the seeking out of little treats is as rewarding as the consumption of them, which means that finding small things to give as gifts does double duty—as a little treat for myself and another. So here are some of what I consider to be treats worthy of the holidays; everything here costs $165 or less, most things much less (though prices may be subject to change). I hope that some of these items might make thoughtful presents for your loved ones this season, though in my opinion nothing would be wrong with buying something for yourself as gratuity for your gifting efforts.

Lighten Up

There is a glass-encased penthouse, across the street from my apartment in Brooklyn, whose lighting enchants me nightly. For the past year, I have found myself staring at the place from my window, obsessed with the kaleidoscope of colors it radiates. One night, the living room will be suffused with a soft lavender glow; the next a bold yolk-yellow or a lambent hot pink. At first, I found the building and its daily rainbow rotation to be a bit tacky, like an outer-borough Empire State Building, but I grew to love and crave the parade of changing hues. And this is how I came to replace several of the light bulbs in my house with “smart” color-changing L.E.D. models. Sure, this is a hack that nearly every college student already knows by now, but we all come to enlightenment in our own time! Having tried a few varietals, my favorite bulbs, in terms of color options, dimmability, and user interface, are Philips Hue ($89.99 for a two-pack). With a corresponding app, you can select from thousands of shades (I’m partial to a calming rose or a broody amber). Playing around with the lights is addictive, and I have not got bored of them yet.

If you prefer to give someone a light source more thrilling than a box of bulbs, there have never been so many fanciful, affordable lamps on the market. As Mariah Carey said recently on an episode of Bowen Yang and Matt Rogers’s pop-culture podcast “Las Culturistas” (itself a little treat for the ears), “I can’t with overhead lighting”—and she was absolutely right. Mood lighting has come a long way since I was tossing gauzy scarves over lampshades in my twenties, and this evolution should be celebrated. Some of my current favorites: this moon lamp that floats above its base like magic ($79.99), a sunset lamp that casts a James Turrell-esque penumbra ($39.99); this electric candelabra ($69) from MOMA; a brass table lamp ($69.99) that screams library carrel; a striped papier-mâché stunner ($94.98) with a decidedly Parisian vibe; a metal-and-glass beauty ($148) that resembles a wilting bunch of muguet flowers; a lovable ceramic snail lamp ($149) that is going nowhere fast; a Super 8 lamp ($86.40) that would make Spielberg sigh; one-of-a-kind glowing jellyfish ($42.70); a “Borealis Prism” ($26.95) that turns any room into a pseudo-Alaska; a brass hedgehog task lamp ($99.95); a handmade giant flower lamp ($39.42) that flutters from the ceiling; a kitschy light ($139.95) made from a retro rotary phone; a Loftie night-light ($34.99) in sultry crimson; a neck-encircling reading light ($21.99) that you can wear in the bed and in the bath; a trippy projection crystal ($13); and this malleable, moldable paper lamp ($42.11) that you can tie in a knot, drape over a beam, or hang so that it droops down the wall like an Eva Hesse sculpture. Also, lava lamps are allegedly making a comeback. The British company Mathmos, whose founder invented the lava lamp, has come out with a new model called the Neo ($108) that is far sleeker than the original. Everyone deserves the chance to zone out to neon blobs.

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It’s a Wash

A hand holding a can of soap in front of pink roses.

What if doing the laundry and having a treat were one and the same? In recent years, the “high-end detergent” category has grown, to the point where what was once a humdrum household product is now sharing shelf space with fine perfumes and fancy candles in the scented luxuries department. For my money, the most exquisite scented detergent in the world hails from the Tyler Candle Company out of Texas; their Glamorous Wash ($53.99 for a sixty-four-ounce bottle) has been a fashion-industry secret for years. (At parties in New York, you can often catch a whiff of the company’s signature Diva scent wafting off of people’s clothes, smelling faintly of chocolate-covered strawberries.) This year, the company released a new scent, Cowboy, which smells like saddle leather; I ordered a small bottle and could not stop huffing my T-shirts for days. The Parisian perfume house Essential Parfums released three new detergents signed by master perfumers; my favorite is the smoky Bois Impérial detergent ($36 for one litre), from the perfumer Quentin Bisch, the nose behind such hit fragrances as Parfums de Marly Delina and Chloe Nomade. Another French perfume house, BDK, makes a luxurious detergent line called Eau de Lessive (€40 per litre) in powdery floral scents such as mimosa and rose. Earlier this year, the Los Angeles hair brand Ouai teamed up with the Gen Z-focussed perfume house DedCool to release a rosy detergent collaboration called Melrose Place ($38), which quickly sold out. (They’ve since rereleased a new batch of bottles.) The cult-popular dermatologist Barbara Sturm now has her own lightly scented detergent for sensitive skin ($60 per litre). If you prefer pods to liquid, the company Laundry Sauce makes several highly scented varietals ($34 for thirty pods) in fragrances like “French Saffron” and “Italian Bergamot.” Even mass retailers like Bath & Body Works have got in on the game, releasing new laundry soaps ($12.95) in scents like “Winter Candy Apple” and “Snowflakes & Cashmere.” If you want to go all out, pair a ritzy detergent with a handsome rolling laundry basket ($98) and a set of colorful wool dryer balls ($30).

Anachronistic Nonsense

My own little-treat math involves the rule that if something is thrifted it’s practically free. This does not actually compute, wallet-wise, but it is the delusion under which every devoted thrifter must operate. I could fill this entire list with vintage finds from Etsy and eBay, like this porcelain candy bowl in the shape of a harlequin, say, or a tower of stainless-steel coupe glasses from the nineteen-seventies, or a bakelite hand mirror. But as these items are one-offs, I will spare you the heartbreak of missing out on them. Instead, here are a few vintage-inspired treats: a Bluetooth cassette player ($159) that can play any tape through a portable speaker; a teensy terracotta jar of Santa Maria Novella potpourri ($52 for twenty grams) that will fill your home with the nostalgic scent of cinnamon and wood chips; a new reissue of the 1965 board game Mystery Date ($35); a raffia hat box ($199) that will make you feel as if you’re travelling by train; a mint-green steamer trunk ($87.99); a blingy lipstick phone ($49.99); a ceramic horse ($129.99) that belongs in a grandfather’s fusty study; a tortoiseshell compact mirror ($55); a layered cameo necklace from the Metropolitan Museum ($150); a pendulous brass hanging clock ($46); a portable Victrola ($49.99); a retro Lego radio ($99.99) to build from scratch; a resin Chunks hairpin in the shape of a Victorian bow ($12); a demure Lisa Says Gah cardigan ($96.50) reminiscent of a nineteen-fifties cheer squad; a Salter House nightdress ($78) to channel a woman taking a rest cure in the Swiss Alps; Chardonnay tanning oil ($17.60) that feels straight out of 1985; and a splurgy lipstick in a satisfying bullet tube that harks back to classic Hollywood ($59, and for an extra four dollars you can have the tube engraved). Lastly, my historical read of the year was Julia Satow’s “When Women Ran Fifth Avenue: Glamour and Power at the Dawn of American Fashion,” about three women pioneers who ruled the mid-century department store scene. Gift it with a pair of seventies-ish Birdcage readers ($160) from Caddis and/or a pair of dainty terrycloth house shoes ($130).

You, Too, Can Lose It at the Movies

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I recently purchased a Film Forum membership ($75) for myself (though it makes a great gift) and found that the most gratifying little treat of all is taking in a Sunday matinée in a theatre full of popcorn-munching seniors. If you don’t live in New York, but still love the movies (or know someone who does), consider gifting some cinephilic goodies. One of my favorite downtime activities is scrolling through Letterboxd, the habit-forming social-media site where people can rate and review movies and make idiosyncratic movie lists—“Lonely People in Neon Cities,” say, or “Movies That Will Make You Say ‘What the Fuck’ at Least 3 Times.” I suggest you give the budding film nerd in your life a Pro subscription ($19 per year), or an understated Letterboxd ball cap ($35) so that they can subtly transmit their art-house taste to their peers). Other treats for fellow movie nerds: a yearlong membership to the Criterion Channel ($99); a year of MUBI ($109), a discerning movie guide for kids ($38); a candle inspired by Godard and Truffaut ($36); a hot-pink director’s chair ($67.99); a classic mini-tour through film history with everyone’s favorite cinema booster, Martin Scorsese ($38.61), plus a cheap DVD player ($66.99) to watch it with; a cute-as-a-button popcorn popper ($39.95) along with a zesty Popcorn Masala spice mix ($13) to go on top; a deluxe Cinephile game bundle ($35); A24’s new Movie Chocolate bars in flavors like “Fizzy Fountain Soda” and “Popcorn & Candy” ($5 each); or an abstract art print from Movie Palette (starting at $90). Also, in recent years, bootleg movie merch has got so good. Some of the best drops of the year include this neon-green water bottle inspired by “The Substance” ($40); Misc-en-Scéne’s “O! The Horror!” collection, including this perfect Tim Curry shirt ($35); a “Moonstruck” hat ($30); a rave-core “Hackers” tee ($15.50); a D.I.Y. “I Told Ya” shirt inspired by “Challengers” ($15); and a banger of a shirt ($40) for the “An Unmarried Woman” fanatic. (Jill Clayburgh, you will always be famous!)