Gifts

Great gift ideas for the men in your life, from Father’s Day ideas to cool choices for the boys, all presented by me on AOL’s StyleList.com.

Go to my TV & Videos page for this, and tons of other great gift ideas for men AND women!

http://www.alionthego.com/category/tv-videos/

Pillows are the added value to our home decor. Bright pops of color, over sized and comfy or a way to help define out style in a room. I have been know to fall in love with a pillow and travel six hours on a plane to get it home safe and sound to place on one of my couches. With the multitude of online sites, I spend a little “me time” perusing various designs and calculating my next purchase based on how long have the other pillows been on my couch and how long will they last after my dogs take their hundredth nap on them.

My latest pillow finds are dramatically different from one another. One is quirky while the other is dramatic. I don’t see them becoming couch buddies, but I do see one as a gift for a friend and the other pure whimsy to create like characters of my family.

While the Kleins’ Studio would have a hard time fitting the Duggar family on a pillow the rest of us can have fun immortalizing our whole brood on a pillow by logging onto www.Kstudiohome.com. Select from a cast of characters that best resemble your husband, your kids, even your pets plus choose fabric and stitch color. All the pillows are hand embroidered and they use 100% organically grown hemp and cotton. Prices start at $134.

For the modern girl with a white leather couch, these pillows add the right pop. Lisa Pearl’s mission is world domination through edgy couture home accessories. She says she is seduced by the female face which is the main focus in her pillows. She prints her original photography onto the pillows and designs with the intent to be anti-trendy. She is flattered that her work is owned by a pop princess, a hotel princess and a bona-fide royal princess. Her pillows start at $220. Go to www.lisapearl.net

Just dig into something delicious on Valentine’s Day. When it comes to sweets it really shouldn’t matter what day it is; Tuesday is fine by me. Cupcakes, bundt cake, layer cake, cookies, I’m all for the baked goods and maybe a little dark chocolate when it comes to satifying a my sweet tooth. Whether it be sharing love and your dessert plate with your beau or your friends. These are worth going in for a second helping.

Kiss My Bundt red velvet bundt cakes. You can pick them up in Los Angeles at the bakery or order the big ‘ol bundt for $50 and Chrysta will ship it to you.
KissMyBundt.com

Pretty in Pink strawberry layer cake from Very Vera for $50.
VeryVera.com

Love Rocks! Chocolate Bar NYC’s gift box filled with a champagne truffle box, retro milk salty pretzel bar, artist dark chocolate bar, solid milk and dark chocolate foil hearts and an all natural sugar scrub. Tied with their signature orange bow and gold key. Eat it up! $26
ChocolateBarNYC.com

From Foodzie come these Maitelates Alfajores which are rich, decadent shortbread cookies sandwiching a thick layer of homemade dulce de leche caramel - made with locally produced butter, eggs, and flour.

Each of these 12 cookies are then dipped and coated in intense, dark Taza chocolate, with cocoa beans sourced directly from farmers.

I could eat a million of these. $32 worth of serious YUM!

Give and receive! Make a small change in the world one gift at a time. Each one of these gifts for people and pets supports an amazing charity. So skip the mall and shop for these items online. Save a little time and know your cash is doing lots of good.

In honor of all those touched by cancer, Cocotay has collaborated with The University of Texas, M. D. Anderson Cancer Center, to create the Survivorship Necklace.

Survivorship Necklaces $150
The vintage-influenced Survivorship Necklace incorporates a delicate chain in sterling silver with a spherical pendant, cushioned by sparkling rondelles. You can customize the necklace by length and choice of various rhinestone rondelle colors. As much as fifty percent of the proceeds from each Survivorship Necklace sold will go directly to the M. D. Anderson Cancer Center.
cocotay.com

Coral Necklace $48
Not only is this necklace just too lovely, BUT each purchase creates awareness and funding for SeaWeb’s “Too Precious to Wear” campaign. GOSH! Who says you can’t do everything!!
lillypulitzer.com

Kate Spade Hand in Hand Pull Through Scarf $125 They worked with war survivors in bosnia through their hand in hand program, a partnership with women for women international, to create this pull-through scarf. Not too long, not too short, it is proportioned perfectly for effortless winter styling.
katespade.com

FEED 1 Bag, $60 The FEED 1 bag is a stylish, well-designed reversible burlap and 100% organic cotton bag that has a mighty mission - to help raise awareness and funds for child hunger. Thanks to lots of incredible customer support, they have been able to FEED over 40,000 children for a year in school and counting! Support FEED and the World Food Program’s school feeding operations in 74 countries by BUYING A FEED 1 BAG NOW.
feedprojects.org

FEED 5 Bear $60 The FEED 5 bear, is an adorable teddy bear made of 100% plush organic cotton and natural burlap, and is approximately 16″ tall. FEED Projects has partnered with Teddy Share, a charitable bear company, to create the FEED bears. Each FEED 5 bear that is sold will provide Plumpy’Nut®, a high nutrient paste, to 5 children under the age of 5 years old through the non-profit organization Industrial Revelation.
Feedprojects.org

Help support the cause and make a donation to Global Green today to receive your FREE Think Earth Tee! Donate $15 or more. Unisex regular-fit short-sleeved tee with Think Earth graphic. Made with eco-heather, a uniquely imperfect blend of organic cotton, recycled polyester, and naturally occurring rayon. 100% of net proceeds from this super-soft, vintage-style tee benefit the environmental nonprofit Global Green USA.
alternativeapparel.com

Original watercolor fashion Illustrations by Laura Su, $20-4610% of proceeds go to Fashion For All (www.fashionforall.org). prismeradesign.com

Salt and Pepper shakers, $12 Add a little whimsy to your holiday tale setting.
shop.stjude.org

Rope Toys, Coco the elephant and Jerry the giraffe, $14-16 Adorable and geniusly designed rope toys by Jax and Bones are available with donations to The Rescue Train.

Rock to adopt t-shirt, $35 My personal favorite and the group that I vounteer for:Part of The Rescue Train’s mission is to be a voice for the homeless dogs and cats in the world. The cool new “Rock To Adopt” shirts get the message across! Not to mention 100% of the proceeds go directly to the animals in The Rescue Train’s care!
therescuetrain.org

OR JUST GIVE for the better good:
For just a click, no cash, you can help feed animals at, theanimalrescuesite.com. SO CLICK IT EVERYDAY.

If you can’t volunteer your time with a hammer and nails give to habitatforhumanity.org so others may move into a new home and shelter their family.

For just, $1 you can feed four children breakfast in Tanzania through gocampaign.org, a non-profit run with the help of kids from the United States.

Through charitywater.org a $20 gift can provide one person with clean, safe drinking water for 20 years, and a $100 gift can give a family of 5 clean water for 20 years. 100% of your donation will directly fund freshwater projects in developing nations.

For $20 you can get lifesaving malaria medication to 10 children by donating at savethechildren.org.

Sponsoring a care package and including a personal message provides individuals with a way to touch the lives of our deployed troops around the world. For every $25 donation you make, the USO will send a care package with both needed and requested items valued at approximately $75 to a deployed service member. Log onto, www.uso.org/donate/custom.aspx

Sometimes it’s the little things that mean so much. Like inventive hostess gifts brought to the party held by your stylish friends, or the gifts you bring to the family or friends that have you in their home over the holidays. Just saying thanks isn’t necessarily enough.

Absolutely Delicious

Bring the Dessert

Kiss My Bundt has been voted best cupcakes in LA (that’s how good they are –that they beat cupcakes). Skip the cupcakes and go one step trendier with a bundt cake. Large Cakes (Big Ol Bundt) is $32. Price for 2-day shipping option is approx $18. So, you’re looking at about $40 to get a Big Ol Bundt shipped, www.kissmybundt.net

25 layer crepe cake for $50 from www.charlestoncrepecompany.com

Breakfast Success

How many times can I say YUM? Three bread trio includes Pumpkin bread, White chocolate caramel walnut and classic Banana bread. It seems Oprah is a fan. Bread Trio for $28 from www.hannahbananabread.com

Bringing a bottle of wine? Choose a $40 wine and cheese pairing from www.pastoralartisan.com

Gift cards- While cheese platters and wine are great hostess gifts according to a recent survey, 79% of shoppers plan to buy a gift card.

Give a Williams-Sonoma gift card and pair it with whimsical holiday cookie cutters, a sweet apron, the cookies and add in a recipe card of your favorite baked sweet. Snowflake Cookie Cutters, $12.50, Gingerbread Apron, $18

It seems almost impossible to get together during the holidays so make a date in 2010. Give an American Express gift card for $25 or $50 to treat your friend to a day out or gift a restaurant card like Cheesecake Factory and give it with a 2010 calendar journal with dates already marked letting her know that you are ready and willing to party.
Calendar Journals, $16

For The Home

A sleek and stylish way to serve up some chips and dips. And now the hostess doesn’t have to fuss in the kitchen to give you sishes to serve up the snacks. Ceramic servers are oven and microwave safe for reheating and dishwasher safe. B. Smith Chip and Dip 3-Piece Serving Set. Available at www.bedbathandbeyond, $29.99

Porcelain salt & pepper wells for $24, www.globaltable.com
Fancy salt and peppers like Himalayan pink salt and Des Moines pepper, $9-$14 from www.cubemarketplace.com

Picnic Time cheese boards from $25 to $35 from www.kohls.com

Bring along the acoutrements for your hostess’ favorite drink. All she needs to create the perfect martini. Cocktail shaker, $15; two glasses, $6; apple martini, $3; olives, $3, cocktail book, $8 -Total $35 all available at TJ Maxx

Personalized linen cocktail napkins, set of 6 for $20 from www.wisteria.com

Dress a table in winter whimsy. Nordic embroidered napkins, set of 4 for $30.60 from www.wisteria.com

Personalize It

We all seem to forget the personal touch of a handwritten card and when we do we usually don’t have any cards in the house. Instead of writing your hostess a thank you note, give her personal thank you notes as a gift. Set of 15 for $35-36 from www.minted.com.

Give your stylish hostess a new pair of silver earrings to wear to her next invite. And package them in a pretty ceramic catchall that can hold other small jewelry or a chic, inexpensive clutch.

Silver earrings, all $25 each from Sam’s Club
Butterfly and dragonfly mini jewelry catchall, $16 each at Anthropologie
Pink blush clutch, $13 from Charlotte Russe

Lambie robe for $49.50 from www.bathandbodyworks.com

Get all wrapped up. Give one to five different people or all five to your hostess. Five big, soft scarves for $29 from www.wisteria.com

This is a game they can tote along on all their travels. A leather travel backgammon set that comes in three color variations and top it with an elegant gold monogram stamp. Travel backgammon $50 from www.mrsmonogram.com

For the family or friends that just adopted a dog, or just the ones that treat their pooches like kids, treat the dogs to tres cool toys and the hostess to rocking T-shirts to express her love. Your gift makes a donation to The Rescue Train, an animal rescue organization.
Jax and Bones dog toys for $14, www.jaxandbones.com
Cuter to Neuter, Puppies Rock, Mutt Lover T-Shirts, $20-$35, available at www.therescuetrain.org