Update

We mention the terrific Happier Ladies podcast: Sisters Azizi Williams and Malika Amandi recap the most recent episodes of Happier with Gretchen Rubin and Happier in Hollywood, and provide their own insights and observations. So fun!

Try This at Home

Boost your happiness by finding a great gift.

We mention my book Life in Five Senses.

Gifts of Things:

• HA KO Paper Incense
• Waterproof Shower Bluetooth Speaker 
• Heated Lotion Dispenser
• Magnetic Jewelry Clasp
• Perytong Sleep Headphones   
• Fatheads
• Outline Metallic Marker
  
• Podcast merch! 
• Tackle Box —a tin with pads of sticky notes
• Don’t Break the Chain Journal
  
• Loop Experience Earplugs
• CBUS Custom Bobblehead
• Headlamp
• Uncommon Goods Fitness Dice

Gifts of Experience:

• Gift of Podcast
• Help someone get an online library card
• Museum membership
• Class
• Surprise travel
• Pass to an amusement park
• Escape Room voucher,
• Session with a professional organizer
• Subscription flowers

Gifts of Creativity:

• “Certificate” to do an irksome chore, like my friend who gave her a gift that was just a piece of paper that said, “I will leave for the airport whenever you want.”
• Make a physical photo album
• Five-senses portrait of someone, or of an experience you enjoyed together—a camping trip, your honeymoon, your old house. Part of the Five-Senses Journal. Write about this in Life in Five Senses
• Rikilynn:  Your yearly lists (‘23 in 23’) gave me the idea to do an “80 for 80” for my mom’s 80th birthday. I enlisted my siblings, their spouses and our children to help make a list of 80 ‘memories, gratitudes, and funny stuff from us to you’. It was easy to set up a google doc for everyone to contribute. When the list was full, my brother made it into a beautiful poster to give her for her birthday. She loved it! She said parts of it made her tear up, parts of it made her laugh out loud, and that it was the best gift she’d ever received. 
  • –sent the link, so fun – just a line or two, with the person’s name. Really gave a sense of Rikilynn’s mother and of their family. 

A few of our favorites:

Finally, a few favorites that we’ve mentioned on the podcast before:

• Bandolier
• Uniqlo vest
• SAIJI iPad stand 
  
• Ped-Egg! 
• Five-Senses Journal
• Personalized, signed bookplates for any of my books—request for others or for yourself. U.S. and Canada only.

Happiness Hack/Know Yourself Better

If you’re having trouble figuring out a good gift for someone, take the Gift-Giving Quiz to discover whether that person is an Easy-to-Please, Tried-and-True, Enthusiast, or Connoisseur.

Also, know yourself better! Take the quiz yourself, so you understand what kinds of gifts you prefer.

Demerits & Gold Stars

Elizabeth’s Demerit: On Halloween, she didn’t put any decorations up until 3:00 pm on October 31.

Gretchen’s Gold Star: When we went to his law-school reunion, Jamie thought to call ahead to ask the hotel about the parking situation.

Resource

For journals, drinkware, podcast merch, new Four Tendencies mugs, pouches, and more, visit the shop.

What We’re Reading

• Elizabeth: Three Cups of Deceit by Jon Krakauer (Amazon, Bookshop) 
• Gretchen: Light from Uncommon Stars by Ryka Aoki (Amazon, Bookshop) 

456 

[music] 

Gretchen

Hello and welcome to Happier. A podcast where we talk about ideas for how to make our lives happier, healthier, more productive and more creative. This week we’ll talk about gift giving with our annual gift guide for suggested gifts. And we will discuss a useful Know Yourself Better question related to gifts. I’m Gretchen Rubin, a writer who studies happiness, good habits, the five senses and human nature.

Gretchen

And I’m in my little home office in New York City. And joining me today from L.A. is my sister, Elizabeth Craft, who I know is far ahead of me in the gift giving arena so far this year.

Elizabeth

That’s me, Elizabeth Craft, a TV writer and producer living in L.A.. And yes, Gretch, my holiday shopping has begun.

Gretchen

Yes, I know. When you start feeding me little questions. Yeah. What size t shirt do you like? Okay, she’s got it. But before we launch into the gift guide, Elizabeth, we have to talk about the Happier Ladies podcast. How bonkers is this?

Elizabeth

Yes, we love the new podcast.

Gretchen

So excited.

Elizabeth

Yes. Comes from Sisters, Azizi Williams and Malika Amandi. They live on opposite coasts like us, and they listen to Happier or More Happier, Happier in Hollywood. And on their podcast they debrief the three podcasts and they talk about what they’ve learned. They offer their own experiences, perspectives, ideas. It is so much fun. The Happier Ladies podcast.

Gretchen

I mean, I it is so fun to listen to it and they add so much, you know, they talk about what they’re going to do differently. And anyway, it is so much fun. Love the happier ladies.

Elizabeth

Yes. So for anybody who loves this podcast, you also might want to check out The Happier Ladies.

Gretchen

I thought it might be kind of a strange feeling to listen to it, Elizabeth, but it actually feels totally normal.

Elizabeth

Yes. Yes. Well, they add a lot, as you said.

Gretchen

Yes. Yes. I feel like I already know Azizi and Malika. So this week it’s the Try this at home Annual Gift Guide. Boost your happiness by finding that great gift we can help. And here’s the thing about Elizabeth. This is why this matters for happiness is few things give you just that little burst of happiness more than giving a gift to somebody to show your thoughtfulness, to show that you care.

Gretchen

But then when you give a really good gift.

Elizabeth

That is just so satisfying and great. A lot of our ideas this year come off of You’re having written Life in Five Senses because so many gifts do involve the five senses.

Gretchen

Yes. And I think there’s a lot of these that very explicitly tie to the five senses. And then also a lot of gifts just from the way the gifts are trying to do something to delight your five senses, manage your five senses in some way. So in our suggestions, we have gifts of things, gifts of experiences, gifts of creativity, and then a few favorites that we’ve mentioned before on the podcast that we cannot resist mentioning.

Gretchen

Some of these are suggestions from listeners that we’ve sprinkled in, and some just come from our own experience, things that we’ve given or gotten or things that we want.

Elizabeth

Yes. Or want to give Yes.

Gretchen

So the first thing I want to mention is something that Elizabeth gave to me last year, which is the HA KO incense leaves in wooden box with a dish and the incense leaves, they are literally shaped like leaves. It’s this beautiful box. It feels very elegant. It’s beautifully presented. And if there’s somebody who loves the sense of smell, loves incense, this is really a delightful thing.

Gretchen

Elizabeth, you gave it to me and I enjoyed it very much.

Elizabeth

And these are like paper or the leaves are paper. So it’s not like a stick of incense. No,it’s paper.

Gretchen

And yes, it’s like a paper thing that you put in a dish that it comes with and you light and it curls up in all these. But by the way, I will put links in for a lot of the things so you can look in the show notes if you want links.

Elizabeth

This is something Eliza and Eleanor love, which is a water resistant Bluetooth speaker for the shower. Yeah. Gretchen I actually got myself one of these for Christmas last year, but I haven’t looked it up yet, so gotta put that on my 24 over 24.

Gretchen

There you go. It’s there you go. That’s an easy one. You know, it’s the kind of thing where it feels hard in everyday life, But if it’s on your 24 for 24 list, it actually feels like an easy one to cross off. And another thing that I got last year was a lotion warmer. This sounds so decadent. I don’t think I would have bought this for myself.

Gretchen

It is delightful. If you are a person who runs cold in your cold when you get out of the shower. A lotion warmer is delightful.

Elizabeth

Good gifts, something someone wouldn’t buy for themselves but they’d use all the time. Yes. Okay, Gretch, explain what this is. Magnetic jewelry clasps.

Gretchen

Okay. I have a very nice necklace that has an itty bitty clasp, and it’s kind of fragile. So it was really a pain to undo it and do it. And so I went online and these are it’s a clasp that you attach to both ends. And then it’s bigger and it’s magnetic, sort of clings together and then you screw it closed.

Gretchen

And so it’s much less tricky to do if you’ve got a necklace behind your neck that you’re trying to do. So if you’ve got a necklace that you don’t wear because it’s so much of a pain to take it on and off, this is a great solution. It also makes the necklace a little bit longer, which might be a feature or a bug depending on what you want, but I use mine all the time.

Elizabeth

Gretch. So this is definition of stocking stuffer? Yes. As they are tiny, they’re inexpensive. Yes. Very clever. Perfect stocking stuffer.

Gretchen

Mine was perfect because it came in a pack of three. And so I took one. I gave one to Mom and I think I gave one to Eleanor or something.

Elizabeth

Oh, I think I’ll.

Gretchen

Give it to you. Maybe I bought two packs. I was just handing them out.

Elizabeth

Okay, great. Next, we have the Perry Tong Sleep headphones.

Gretchen

Yeah. So a couple episodes ago, we were talking about these. They’re kind of like headbands that allow you to listen instead of having earbuds. And so this is great if you’re exercising or if you’re in bed. We were talking about it in context of if you don’t like to have earbuds in when you’re going to sleep, but you want to listen to a podcast to help you sleep.

Gretchen

And I mean, that’s just one brand that looked good. I’m sure many brands make that.

Elizabeth

Again very affordable.

Gretchen

Very affordable. Here’s something really fun. Okay. Kate Bowler, you know, we love Kate Bowler, her podcast, her books in her holiday card. She has these things called Fat Heads. And it’s just like a giant head on a stick.

Elizabeth

Okay. So it’s like a paper head flat, paper.

Gretchen

Head or and they might be at a foam core. I think that you can get different things. The thing is, you can use it as party decor. You can use it. It’s like to be funny in a group photo, they use it in their holiday card. I was just watching people at the New York City Marathon. A lot of times people were holding them up by the sidelines.

Gretchen

Kind of is like you go. They also had hats. You can do the full size thing. Like if you wanted to have Nacho and Daisy full size or you wanted to have Jack in sprinting mode or something like that as like a full size, like a Superman that would be in a store, you know? So I just think these are funny and I’m sure there’s a lot of imaginative uses that kind of whimsical uses for that.

Gretchen

So I was very enchanted by these things.

Elizabeth

Alright Gretch. Next, we have outline pens, explain what these are. They come in a set of 21.

Gretchen

Yes, I gave these to Eleanor and she loved them. And these are bananas. So you’re writing with a marker. So it makes like a marker line, but it automatically outlines itself how it does this. I do not know, but it’s like you’re writing and it’s just automatically outlined in kind of a metallic.

Elizabeth

And can it be like a pen, like a thin line with an outline, or is it a fat line like a marker?

Gretchen

It’s pretty thin. I mean, the ones that I got her were pretty thin. I think she actually would have liked it if it had been thicker and maybe there were thicker ones that I just didn’t happen to run across those. But yeah, they’re very interesting. It’s the kind of thing where I’m like, Ooh, I bet this is going to explode as a category.

Gretchen

Now that this technology exists, I bet they’ll be doing a lot of stuff with it. It’s really fun. The ones she got were Ooly.

Elizabeth

Ooly. Okay, Gretch, we got to talk about it. Podcast merch.

Gretchen

Oh, yeah, We got podcast merch. We’ve got some new stuff. Like we’ve got tote bags. Of course. Airpod case.

Elizabeth

I love an Airpod case. Yeah.

Gretchen

That’s good to hear, because there could be an airpod case for you in your future. Just saying good, perfect for the stocking, but there’s a lot of stuff there if you are a podcast fan. And then just generally in the store if you go to happiercast.com/shop, There’s journals, there’s Four Tendencies mugs. We have new Four Tendencies mugs, Elizabeth that may also be in your future.

Gretchen

Do not buy yourself anything from my shop. I’m just saying one thing because you were talking about like the stocking stuffer. People love the tackle box, which has all the different pads, to-do, Ta-Da, today, to-doodle, there’s to do. And you know, if I want to do, could do Yeah to do could do to do today.

Gretchen

Anyway I get the biggest kick out of the way. Those all relate to each other.

Elizabeth

Yeah. One year I gave friends the Memento journal and I think a One Sentence journal. Yeah. Nice gift.

Gretchen

Yeah, right. Because it’s sort of holding on to memories. One thing I’ve noticed Don’t Break the Chain, is something that a lot of people start in January 1st. Yes. The best time to begin is always now. And you do not need to begin a good habit on January 1st. But the fact of it is many people do feel like that’s the clean slate and everybody’s talking about it.

Gretchen

And so the Don’t Break the Chain journal is really good. If there’s somebody who’s got an important new habit that they’re trying to launch January 1st, people find that satisfying. But it’s all on happiercast.com/shop. There’s all sorts of the Memento journal, all that stuff, is there?

Elizabeth

Yeah, great. And next stretch in the loop experience earplugs. What are these?

Gretchen

Well, Eliza and Eleanor were going to a concert. I was like, You should wear, you know, earplugs in there. Like, Oh, of course we already we already wear earplugs. And I thought, Wow, I should get some earplugs. So this is the kind that they recommend. They say that a lot of people now, this is much more widely practiced. It’s like if you’re going to a stadium, Kansas City, Arrowhead Stadium is famous for being a very, very loud stadium.

Gretchen

And people just know that’s the not good for your ears. And so these are the ones that they recommended. So these are the ones that I got in there. Very comfortable.

Elizabeth

Another good stocking stuffer.

Gretchen

Yeah. Oh, here’s another fun one. I went to a birthday party, a big milestone birthday, and the person got a custom bobblehead toy. Everything in life is an illusion to the office. And if you watch the office, you know how Dwight has a custom bobblehead? And I was like, How does a person get a custom bobblehead? Well, it turns out there’s an online store for that, and it was hilarious.

Elizabeth

That is so good.

Gretchen

Yes. So for the person who has everything, you can get them a custom bobblehead.

Elizabeth

Yes. I love that. I could see even someone getting it for a parent of like two kids to have in their office or. Yeah, there’s all kinds of fun things you could do with bobbleheads.

Gretchen

Yes, absolutely. For sure.

Elizabeth

And then Gretchen, next, we’ve got a headlamp. Yeah, Explain how this works. Such a good idea.

Gretchen

So headlamp is just it’s like a headband that’s got a light on it. And it just seemed to me that a lot of people do fiddly work, like you’re doing something with your hands that small, like people are assembling dollhouse furniture or they are going under the sink to do plumbing work at home, or you’re outside with your dog or whatever.

Gretchen

There’s just times where it would be really handy to have your hands free, but to be able to shine more light on whatever you’re doing. Again, this is the kind of thing where I think for some people they might use it every day and then for other people they’d be like, I have no idea what this is for.

Gretchen

So this is sort of if it’s right, it’s right. The Wirecutter had a choice that was like the less expensive but highly rated choice. So I’ll link to that.

Elizabeth

I’ve also seen these on hats, by the way.

Gretchen

Oh, interesting. I haven’t seen that.

Elizabeth

Is more appealing to you than a band.

Gretchen

Right? It’s a look for sure. Yeah.

Elizabeth

Great. For walking the dog at night, that is for sure.

Gretchen

Yeah. Oh, and here this is. I thought this was so clever. Okay, so the thing about rebels is that often they want to exercise, but they also don’t like to have something on their schedule that just bugs them. They like to switch things up. They often like to gamify any kind of task as much as possible. So the question is, how do you gamify and add that element of spontaneity in surprise to something like exercise?

Gretchen

Well, fitness dice, this is like dice that you roll and it tells you different things to do for your workout. And I thought this could be really fun for anybody, but I thought it was an especially clever solution for rebels who want to get themselves. They know they’re happier when they exercise, but they resist having it being scheduled or having it being slaughtered and regularly.

Gretchen

This is like whenever I feel like it, I’ll just roll the dice and do it. It says that if I don’t like what it says, I’ll just roll again.

Elizabeth

Oh, roll again. The good thing about rolling, you can always roll again.

Gretchen

And the good thing about exercise is like it’s always the right kind of exercise. Whatever you’re doing, that is the best choice. Absolutely. Do it. So I thought that fitness dice was a very clever solution.

Elizabeth

So fun, so many of these ideas. Gretchen I’m going to use for my own lists. I love it. All right, Gretch, coming up, we’re going to move on to gifts of experience. But first, this break.

[music] 

Gretchen

We’re back with our gift guide. And now we are switching from gifts of things to gifts of experience, because sometimes you don’t want to give somebody an actual thing. Sometimes people don’t want more stuff, but that doesn’t mean you can’t give them a great gift. Elizabeth Of course we have to mention, the gift of podcast, because the thing is, if people have a smartphone, they can get a podcast for free.

Gretchen

There is nothing more fun than finding that excellent new podcast that you are so excited to listen to. It makes commuting easier, it makes errands easier, it makes chores more fun. I’ll post a link at gretchenrubin.com/resource. You can find gifts, podcasts. And this is so you can like fill out a little certificate if you want to put it in someone’s stocking or hand it to somebody where it’s like from me to you and I’m giving you the gift of Scamander because I know you love a grift.

Gretchen

So it’s an actual physical thing. But of course you could do your own kind of certificate, but it’s just it’s a way to give something they already have. But if somebody doesn’t know about podcasts, it’s just very exciting for them to realize there’s all this great material that they can listen to.

Elizabeth

Yes. And part of it can be showing them how to find podcasts, how to listen. Yeah. Making them realize this is free. So many people still don’t understand that the vast, vast majority of podcasts are free to listen to.

Gretchen

What, in fact, now they kind of what we’re told as podcasters is say to people, follow the podcast. Yeah, subscribe to the podcast. Because many people thought that if you subscribed, you needed a subscription, you had to pay. So now we use the word followers because people know that that means that almost always, at least a lot of the podcast is free.

Gretchen

And like you say, it’s not hard to know how to listen, but it’s easier if somebody shows you so you can give somebody the gift of podcast by showing them how to listen and and giving them a recommendation.

Elizabeth

Along the same lines, you can show someone how to get an online library card and use it for audio or e-books. Gretchen, you know, I have Libby, which is one of the library apps I swear by. It is so amazing. Yeah, absolutely. Love. Libby. I think this is a great idea. You can also, by the way give audiobooks from Lee Bro dot com.

Elizabeth

Okay. I want to give someone an audio book.

Gretchen

Mm hmm. Well, the thing I like about the online library card is this is the kind of thing where it doesn’t take long at all, and you kind of already have this. If you’re living in the United States, there is a library that you are part of. So it’s just a question of somebody walking you through the very easy steps.

Gretchen

But sometimes you need somebody to talk you through it. Some other gifts of experience, museum memberships. If you know somebody loves to go to a museum, if there’s a class they want to take maybe some surprise travel or a pass to an amusement park that they love to go to.

Elizabeth

Yeah, one of the best gifts I ever gave Sarah was a museum membership, and Violet was young and they used it all the time.

Gretchen

You could also give an escape room voucher. We love an escape room. We also do often do that as a holiday Family activity. Maybe a session with a professional organizer. If you know that somebody wants that subscription flowers, they’re kind of an item that’s also an experience and also doesn’t last long. So if somebody doesn’t want to have a lot of stuff.

Elizabeth

You could also go big and do surprise travel. Yeah, one year my sister in law gave my brother in law a trip to Vegas and wow, a little book that showed them flying and show the casino and they were going to some event. And so there were the tickets and it was just really fun.

Gretchen

Oh, that’s really great. Yeah. The Five Senses Journal. If you know someone who wants to sort of be more mindful or appreciate the moment more, that’s something that a lot of people talk about right now. The Five Senses Journal I know from doing my own DIY version, this is really something that helps a person really pay attention to the beauty of everyday life and then you do have a keepsake.

Gretchen

So I guess it isn’t. It’s a gift of experience that then you kind of have a memento of it, but it’s really the experience of you’re tuning into the experience of your five senses.

00:17:27:18 – 00:17:31:17

Elizabeth

All right, Gretch, let’s move on now to gifts of creativity.

Gretchen

Okay? So you can give someone a certificate, you’re going to do some chore or you’re going to agree to do something like my friend who gave what I thought was a wonderful gift. It was just a piece of paper that she gave to her new husband. And it said, I will leave for the airport whenever you want. And she was like, That is a great gift.

Elizabeth

You can make a physical photo album, right? That’s always beloved.

Gretchen

Yes, because often now people don’t pull them off their phones. And so that’s a great creative thing you can make for them. You can write a five senses portrait of someone and give it to them, or maybe a five senses portrait of an experience you enjoyed together like a camping trip or your honeymoon or like you’re moving. And so it’s a five sentence portrait of your old house.

Gretchen

I write about this in Life in Five Senses, and this is just a really thought provoking exercise, and people really love to get it.

Elizabeth

Yes. And you can make it as decorated. Yes. Special as you want. You can really make it your own.

Gretchen

I’ve seen pictures of this where people blow it out and really do it in a very elaborate way. It can be a very, very beautiful gift.

Elizabeth

Gretchen this comes from Riki Lin. She said your yearly lists 23 and 23 gave me the idea to do an 80 for 80 for my mom’s 80th birthday. I enlisted my siblings, their spouses and our children to help make a list of 80 memories, gratitude and funny stuff from us to you. It was easy to set up a Google doc for everyone to contribute.

Elizabeth

When the list was full. My brother made it into a beautiful poster to give her for her birthday. She loved it, she said. Parts of it made her tear up. Parts of it made her laugh out loud and that it was the best gift she’d ever received.

Gretchen

This was amazing. Riki Lin sent a link so I could see what it looked like. And these were just a line or two of memories with the person’s name in parentheses. So it was very, you know, you have to think of these meaningful memories, but then you can execute. And I just think this would be delight. Just reading it.

Gretchen

I was like, I get such a sense of this person. I have such a sense of this family. This is so remarkably wonderful, but it also feels manageable. It feels like something where you could actually heard the cats and get the family to do this.

Elizabeth

Yes, love this idea.

Gretchen

And then finally, Elizabeth, we have to mention a few things that we’ve mentioned a million times but that we just love.

Elizabeth

First off, Gretch, the bandolier this is the thing that we wear around our neck, the strap with our phone attached. Yes. All of us have them. You, me, Mom and Dad even has one. Yeah. We cannot live without this. This is life changing. Cannot emphasize it enough.

Gretchen

When I’m out in the world, so many people are like, What is that thing? And they’re like, take a picture of the label.

Elizabeth

I have been sitting with people who were like, okay, I just ordered this. Yes. As I’m talking to them. Yes. Yes.

Gretchen

Now, the other thing that I wear every single day is my Uniqlo vest. This is a very, very light vest. I run cold. I’m very cold. But what I love about it has external pockets and then internal pockets that are vertical so they can hold anything that I want to carry around my apartment, my AirPods, for instance. It’s just super handy.

Gretchen

It fits under anything, any coat. It just gives in that little bit of warmth and there’s a little extra pocket. I love it.

Elizabeth

Gretch, the Seiji iPad stand that you gave to me. Yes. Which I have talked about, which is something where it holds your iPad. You can use it for Zoom meetings. It goes up and down. You can do it horizontally or vertically. It’s extremely useful.

Gretchen

A friend of mine had one of these and I was like, My sister needs this pronto. I ordered it again. I saw it and I ordered it for you right away because I was just like, This fills a need. I mean, I listen, we have to mention the all time favorite gift that we have ever mentioned. Everybody knows what it is.

Gretchen

It is the ped egg. Yeah. Yes.

Elizabeth

Electric or non-electric, comes in both Gretch. I got my mother in law the electric because I don’t skimp. Yeah, the worst gift I ever gave. But if you need it, you need it. I happen to want one. You buy people something you want for yourself. That year I really wanted one of these, so I got it for her.

Gretchen

You gave it with love?

Elizabeth

I did.

Gretchen

And that’s what matters. Does this, I don’t think I should say, because I often recommend this, is that if you’re giving any of my books as gifts or if you’re asking for any of my books as gifts, you can request book plates. This is for U.S. and Canada only because this is something that I will mail. But if you would like to request and you can ask for as many as you want within reason, just go to happiercast.com/bookplate, but do it soon, because it actually takes kind of a while for these things to go through the process.

Gretchen

And so the sooner you request them, the sooner I know that I will get it to you in time for the holidays. And so those are bookplates. I can personalize them and sign them and people just Elizabeth you love to customize anything and this is a way to customize it more special makes it more special. So let us know if you do try any of these gifts.

Gretchen

Was this gift guide useful for you or are there other good gifts that you want to suggest? Let us know on Instagram, Threads,TikTok, Facebook, drop us an email at podcast@gretchenrubin.com or you can go to happiercast.com/456 for all the links. If you didn’t catch the name of something we talked about, you’ll see the name and the link in the show notes.

Gretchen

Four, five, six.

Elizabeth

Coming up, we’ve got a happiness hack that is also a know yourself better question having to do with gift giving. But first this break.

[music] 

Gretchen

So this week the Happiness Hack is to take this Gift Giving quiz that I just released into the world. It’s so fun now that people are taking this quiz. You just got to happiercast.com.quiz. And the way I intended it, I would take it for you so that I know your type, so that as I’m trying to think of ideas for you, I know the kind of thing you tend to respond well to.

Gretchen

And the funny thing about this is it’s just having that little bit of anchoring information and the suggestions, like once you take the quiz, it tells you like the kinds of things that category person tends to like. And also some ideas are sort of typical gifts, that kind of loosens your mind. I did it for Jamie, who had a birthday recently.

Gretchen

He’s very hard to buy for, but doing it unlocked ideas for me from my own imagination. It just gave me a place to start because I was just like, Oh my gosh, in the whole world, what the heck am I going to buy? So if you’re feeling stumped about somebody, if you just go to happiercast.com/quiz and take the quiz with them in mind, it will tell you some ideas that will be suitable for that person.

Elizabeth

Yeah, but Gretchen, it’s also a Know Yourself Better question.

Gretchen

Yes. And this is the funny thing. This is an obvious way to use the quiz. And somehow this did not occur to me when I was doing the quiz. Obviously people are going to take it for themselves. Yes. You know, people are.

Elizabeth

Always asking, what do you want? And it’s hard, you know, And this, again, gets you started.

Gretchen

Well, and it just yeah, you’re like I like some things in that other. So this kind of helps you pinpoint your style, the kind of thing that you like to get. So, Elizabeth, you took it and I think I know what you are, but. But tell me what you are and I’ll see if I got it right.

Elizabeth

Yes, I got easy to please.

Gretchen

That’s what I buy it. Yeah. Yes.

Elizabeth

Many, many gifts make me happy.

Gretchen

Yes. And you love a personal connection?

Elizabeth

Yes. And then Gretchen, I had Adam take the quiz. I think of him as being someone hard to buy for. Yeah, he got the connoisseur. Explain what that is.

Gretchen

So the connoisseur is the person who really wants the best, and they know what they want. They tend to be like that. They’ll say what they want, and they really are very interested in that. Very that most quintessential or that most that really high level experience of something. So if they love bourbon, they don’t want a sampler of bourbons like, oh, here’s a bunch of popular bourbon like they want that super fine one might be worth really splurging on like the one really good one.

Gretchen

Yeah, because that’s what delights them.

Elizabeth

Well, and Adam is someone who does a ton of research. Yes. He’s reads a million reviews, knows a lot. He wouldn’t dream of buying something without reading, like, 50 reviews. Yeah, it goes to his personality.

Gretchen

Yeah. Yeah, It’s so fun. If you take the quiz, let me know if it rings true. I’m getting a big kick out of. Out of seeing how people use it. Always. It’s a little bit different than from what I expect. It’s funny, so fun. And now married to gold stars. Elizabeth, that your turn for a demerit.

Elizabeth

All right, Gretch, this may not surprise people. We’re moving on to Thanksgiving and other holidays, but I have a Halloween demerit, which is that I do not put up my decorations for Halloween until 3 p.m.. On Halloween, October 31st? Yeah, we had guests coming, and I was racing around getting the decorations up. So ridiculous because, of course, it takes the same amount of time to put up decorations whenever you put them up, but we only got to enjoy them starting October 31st at 3 p.m. as opposed to everyone else who had them up for weeks.

Gretchen

Well, so here’s my question. If you weren’t having guests over, do you think you would have done it?

Elizabeth

No, I would have skipped it, Absolutely. So I’m glad we were having guests because I would hate to have, what, a year ago by and not put on my Halloween decorations.

Gretchen

But, you know, and listen, it occurs to me that this brand of demerit has a companion brand of demerit, which is I didn’t put them up in time or ever. And the other one is they are still up and I have not yet taken them down. It gets you both directions because it sure does.

Elizabeth

Yes, I begrudge that demerit I have to cop to as well. Adam and I were just walking outside earlier today and he pointed out the gravestone on the Halloween decoration, gravestones that were still up in our front. So, yeah. Oops. Got to get that done. What is your gold star.

Gretchen

I want to give a gold star to my husband, Jamie, because he had his law school reunion. So we were up in New Haven and we’re driving up there. We were like an hour away. And he said, Hey, why don’t you call ahead to the hotel and ask them about parking? And I said, Why don’t we just figure it out when we get there?

Gretchen

And he goes, nah, why don’t you call? I said fine. So I called the hotel and they were like, Oh, actually you have parking. But it’s on this other street. And you park in there and then you take a stairway and then that’ll put you out and you take this little path and that’s right across the street from the hotel.

Gretchen

So it was very, very close. But it was definitely not something that you could have figured out. And this was brilliant of Jamie to do it because it saved us maybe 45 minutes because it would have been a whole like, do we pull up? Where do we go? And then New Haven, it’s all one way street. So if you’re like heading the wrong direction, it’s a whole process to get yourself back to where you were going.

Gretchen

But this way we just drove straight in, parked, took our bags. They had given us direction. We walked straight to the front door. It could not have been simpler. And it’s just one of those things where, you know, you’re like, Why didn’t we just call from the guard? We were just in there for hours. Yeah, doing nothing. And so anyway, I thought, wow.

Gretchen

And I said to him, How did you think to call ahead? And he just looked at me mysteriously.

Elizabeth

His spidey sense was tingling.

Gretchen

He said, He’s a questioner. He’s got to have answers for everything. So there you go. The resource for this week go to happiercast.com/store. There’s so much fun stuff there. If I do say so myself. There is a gift for everyone. The tendencies, the happier listeners, people who love journal, people who love drinkware, there’s all things they’re just going to happiercast.com/store.

Gretchen

Elizabeth What are we reading?

Elizabeth

I am reading Three Cups of Deceit by Jon Krakauer.

Gretchen

And I am reading Light from Uncommon Stars by Ryka Aoki. And that’s it for this episode of Happier. Remember to try this at home. Boost your happiness by finding a great gift. Let us know if you tried anything from our lists and if it works for you.

Elizabeth

Thank you to our executive producer Chuck Reed and everyone at Cadence 13. Get in touch. Gretchen’s on Instagram and Threads and TikTok at Gretchen Rubin and I’m on Threads and Instagram at Liz Craft. Our email address is podcast@gretchenrubin.com.

Gretchen

And if you like this show, give someone the gift of podcast. You don’t even need to fill out the certificate. You can just email them the link. That’s the way that most people discover our show.

Elizabeth

Until next week, I’m Elizabeth Craft.

Gretchen

And I’m Gretchen Rubin. Thanks for joining us. Onward and upward. Elizabeth for Gift of Podcast, I gave Dad the podcast In Our Time because I had been telling him for months that I was like, you would love it, you would love it. And then finally, when I was in Kansas City, I was like, I’m grabbing your phone. I’m putting it in your library.

Gretchen

I’m like showing you the titles that are all these historical subjects that you are going to be fascinated by. And now he listens to it all the time and he loved it. So it was so fun. I just feel such a sense of satisfaction every day. I was listening to an interesting episode. I’m like, Yes, you were.

Elizabeth

Oh good. And you’ve been telling him for years so that, yes.

Gretchen

Sometimes you just need to.

Elizabeth

Like, take the step.

Gretchen

Take the step. 

[Music] 

From the onward project.