(12/2018) ‘Tis the season for giving’. From personal experience, Black Friday is not so gloomy, and the busy city shopping districts are very manageable. Despite the reality of Soho’s crowded streets and the monstrous Broadway/Lafayette intersection - which can prove to be undoubtedly testing - I venture into the huddle of shoppers. Each stop brings excitement and frustration, as I comb through the knots with a heart steadfast on presenting a gift package for each person on my list. The accomplishment and anticipation for when each person receives their gift carries an overbearing excitement, secured in my chest like a locket on a chained necklace. However, I understand that for some, perhaps many, such is not the case. The enthusiasm is lost somewhere in the hustle of finding the perfect gift.

Find adventure in discovering the perfect gift. Embrace the early morning on Black Friday with your favorite Frappuccino from Starbucks, notice the thrill to checkout on Cyber Monday and receive the irritable waits and lines at the local mall lingering the week leading to gift exchanges. Excuse the attitudes, aggression and taunts of strangers surrounding your agenda for they only add stress and disservice an inherent stressful plan: securing a gift. Seize these opportunities because they foster passion within the arduous quest of gift giving. Understand that in making the most of these moments you have also championed a modern day obligation. Different types of gifts — accessories, home goods, beauty supplies and articles of fashion — build the puzzle.

Many types of brands, styles, colors and products offered and readily accessed in our culture create a vexed experience. However, after all is said and done, navigating the feelings, effort and attention around the prize fuels an intention to matching the last puzzle piece for the perfect gift.

Accessories: jewelry, texting gloves, cashmere scarfs

Whether a classic pair of pearl drop earrings, a trending gold hoop or bangle bracelets, a piece of jewelry shares a commitment to someone. It communicates an investment into their personal style, a statement of expression and suggests a promise or moment in one’s relationship. Other accessories including warm winter texting gloves and cashmere scarfs always come practical.

Home goods: candles, framed art, dried flowers

While candles and sage happen to be the trendiest gifts in the home goods department, art frames prove as a nice house-warming gift to a friend or family member moving into a new apartment or home. Estee Lauder, parent company to Fragrance label Le Labo, offers New York’s favored candle shops alongside Malin and Goetz. Le Labo’s Santal 33 and M&G’s Cannabis and Dark Rum scents are popular.

Among the candle community is an alternative to the wax scent, a plant-based ritual called sagging. Sage is a plant in the evergreen family and can be purchased in bundles of wood or thin rods to burn. The downside to sagging is a short-lived experience of the scent, but the ritual of lighting the sage or passing the bundle around your home becomes ritualistic, and a different comfort to lighting a candle.

Dried flowers and plants, including rosemary, eucalyptus and lavender, have become a popular gift for their shelf life remains longer than fresh plants and flowers. A bouquet of dried flowers is a thoughtful gift for a home or workplace.

Beauty: mud masks, tea sets and makeup kits

A purchase from a beauty or wellness department is the perfect gift to pamper someone. Shopping beauty products such as lip scrubs, exfoliators or mud masks will inspire comfort and care in this winter season. Beauty label Fresh carries the ultimate lip polish scrub and celebrity brand Glam Glow offers an acne treatment and clarifying mud mask, both available at Sephora and your luxury department stores.

As the beauty industry continues to spread its wings, so does the knowledge, understanding and community of tea drinkers. For the habitual tea drinker in your life, consider gifting a glass teapot to accompany a set of loose-leaf flavors. The tea set will offer more moments to enjoy teatime.

Branded kits are a form of purchasing fragrances and makeup during the holiday season. Beauty brands will create nail polish kits, lip gloss bundles and travel-sized sample rollers to excite the beauty experts. The advantage to shopping the kits finds a discounted price while purchasing a sample of multiple products at one time.

Fashion: sweaters, plaid and cowboy boots

As we approach the winter season, sweaters progressively become a part of the wardrobe. A practical piece of fashion would be to gift a sweater, while giving a classic red and black plaid button down can be considered a trendy fashion item this Fall/Winter 2018 fashion season as plaid was fashioned on the runway. Other plaid styles to shop are blazes and pleated skirts. Cowboy boots were another fashionable style this year. Matched to full-length skirts, dressed and fashioned in knee-high design, the cowboy boot has become a competitor of a classic winter boot. Its transitional style and diverse designs has offered fashionistas a new approach to trendy boots.

One last piece of advice:

For that one special person on your list who happens to be the most difficult to shop for consider planning an evening out to dinner or the movies. In recent years a family tradition has developed among my parents, aunts and uncles, who either purchase restaurant gift cards or promise an evening out for a meal together. It is a gift to reserve time with those you love.

Gift-wrapping:

Presentation is everything. It elevates the experience and ritual of gift giving. When deciding between wrapping paper, a gift bag, or a box and ribbons, consider the relation between prints and colors. There is chemistry in their combination. Experiment with different forms and approaches at the final touches.

Indeed: while under pressure, the task of gift giving comes with difficulty. And often I think the quintessence of giving is lost in the wake of commercial suasion and digital connection. Both present a compulsive tug to our minds by appetizing us to believe the Facebook picture-perfect moment of a very merry Christmas is achieved through the material.

Let’s simmer the heat with perspective. The heart of the matter: the beauty of gift giving comes from intention. Simply said, no diamond so bright or cashmere sweater soft enough could dress to impress without care. All else falls void. To the husband, consider what makes her heart sing? And brings a grin to her cheeks? To the colleague, what will tenderize the stressors of a workday? Inspire relaxation at the day’s end? The power of suggestion weighs upon the interest of the advisor, for everything trendy and current is hardly sustainable. It lacks legacy and remains insufficient to building a lasting impression. Rather, the talent of a gift comes from the spirit of generosity. We aren’t just giving gifts, but also giving of ourselves.