It happens every year—we finally stash the flip flops and bathing suits in the “Summer” bin under the bed, and bam—it’s December! Suddenly “Sleigh Bells Ring” is playing you down the produce aisle, and you’re moving kids out of bedrooms to make space for Aunt Mary.

The holidays sneak up on us in the midst of busy times, but they come to remind us of what—and who—is really important: family, friends, neighbors, and those whose kindness throughout the year makes our lives better. Every year Misstropolis’ Holiday Gift Guide delivers inspiration just when you need it most. It’s always a reader favorite, and for 2025 we’ve made it even better with selections from some of the East Coast’ top tastemakers. Anne Poole, Mel Robbins, Alisa Neely, Lisa Pierpont, and Tiffany Chu offer up their unique gift ideas from near, far, and even the future.

This is the only gift guide you need this year. From original art to travel, games, cozies and heart-quickening splurges, we’ve truly got it all. Dive in, find something unforgettable, and happy gifting!

ANNE POOLE | Founder, Bon Vivant Luxury Travel

Anne Poole is the founder of Bon Vivant Luxury Travel, a boutique consultancy known for designing beautifully executed journeys for discerning travelers. With years of destination expertise, an obsessive love of fabulous hotels, and a global curiosity, Anne understands that true luxury is defined by how a place makes you feel, not just its polished finishes. She believes travel should feel effortless and extraordinary, and she built Bon Vivant Luxury Travel around that principle.

1. Art & Design: Aurélie Palmer Original Art

Aurélie’s work is color-soaked, luminous, and the kind of art that just makes me smile. Her pieces are perfect for anyone who loves design, beauty, travel, or a room that feels lived in by someone with a life well lived. A custom piece by her is a dream! And she happens to be a completely lovely human, which only makes her art that much better.

2. Carry All: Custom Corroon Bag

The Big Daddy goes with me everywhere. Personalize it with a monogram and hand-painted design for that heritage-cool touch. It’s chic and practical, and I get asked about it constantly.

It’s a wrap—Bare Knitware’s Alpaca Travel Wrap in black (also comes in grey and fawn).

3. Cozy Time: Bare Knitwear Alpaca Travel Wrap

I love that Bare Knitwear partners directly with Peruvian artisans, supporting and empowering local craft communities with every piece they produce. These shawls are hand-crafted using ultra-soft, ethically produced alpaca wool. Warm enough for Patagonia, elegant enough for Paris, and light enough for every flight in between. The prefect travel companion does exist.

4. Home Base: Splendido by Assouline

Splendido is my favorite hotel on the planet, and I’d happily disappear into these glossy pages on a cold winter afternoon while dreaming of sipping a Bellini on my next villeggiatura. This sun-soaked escape captures the Italian Riviera’s effortless magic: Ligurian light, old-world elegance, and that unmistakable la dolce vita glow. It’s the ultimate coffee-table companion for anyone who believes travel is an art form.

5. One Splurge: Venice Simplon-Orient-Express, A Belmond Train

This is old-world glamour at its most intoxicating: lacquered marquetry, crisp white linens, glittering crystal, and cabins that feel like jewel boxes. The Paris to Istanbul route is the ultimate dream: five nights of legendary romance— or swap it for the Paris to Portofino journey for a slightly shorter but equally cinematic escape. What I love most is how deeply civilized it all feels.

After the bar car, the bedroom suite. Belmond Train’s Venice Simplon-Orient-Express.

This is travel from another era, when dressing for dinner was expected, manners were “de rigueur,” and every evening was a black-tie party racing across Europe. It’s unabashedly romantic, wildly nostalgic, and hands-down one of the most magical gifts imaginable.

MEL ROBBINS | Author, Founder & Podcast Star, The Mel Robbins Podcast

Mel Robbins is the #1 New York Times Bestselling author of The Let Them Theory and the host of the award-winning Mel Robbins Podcast.

“My favorite kind of gifts are the ones that are personalized and keep on giving joy long after you've first received it! So with that in mind - here's a list of things that I absolutely love to give and receive.”

1. Art & Design: WMS&Co Notebooks and Yearly Planners

These are the absolute coolest notebooks and planners I've ever found. Designed by Marjolein Delhaas, a Rotterdam-based graphic designer, these handy examples of industrial minimalism sell out globally each year. WMS&Co is a woman-owned business and one of a very small group of U.S. companies to stock Marjolein Delhaas’s limited press runs. You can see her full collection here.

2. Give Smart: CrunchLabs Subscription Boxes for Kids

Mark Rober is a former NASA engineer who's turned his love of science and education into the #1 Science Education Platform on all of Youtube. He's got 70 million subscribers and a big mission to reach and inspire as many brains as possible. These monthly subscription boxes are great for the kiddos in your life because they are designed to foster creativity, inspire hands-on engineering, and teach robotics and coding skills.

3. Cozy Time: Shearling Arizona Birkenstocks

My friend, the founder and Editor of Misstropolis, Robin Hauck gave me one of my favorite gifts ever: shearling Birkenstocks. I wear them year round, my daughters keep stealing them from me - and they are a gift everyone loves to receive!

4. Home Base: Custom Liberty Puzzles

We are a puzzle family. There's always one spread out on a table here at our home in VT. Our favorites, by far, are by Liberty Puzzle. If you've never seen one, they are made out of wood and the pieces are cut in these super intricate designs. They are so cool and hard to complete. Yes, they are on the pricey side - but they last forever and once we complete one - we usually send it to my folks or brother's family or give it to friend. This year, I'm making up custom ones for my family with a favorite photo memory from this year.

Custom Liberty Puzzles from your very own photos.

5. One Splurge: Flower Shares—
Siena Farms 2026 Dahlia Share
Cross Street Flower Farm All Flower Share Bundle

Flower shares are gifts that keep on giving.

Siena Farms and Cross Tree Flower Farms are the only farms in the Boston area (Sudbury and Norwell) with pick up options. I also found these two from small women-owned flower farms who ship flowers to most of the U.S. from their CSAs.

Moonshot Farm 2026 Bouquet of the Month CSA
Wing Ming Farm.

“Nearly 80% of flowers sold in the U.S. are imported, traveling thousands of miles and hands before reaching you. These flowers are often grown using chemical-intensive methods to meet the demands of mass production and long-distance shipping. When you choose local flowers, you know where they come from and who grew them. Every bloom is cut fresh, grown using regenerative practices that nourish the soil, support pollinators, and reduce our carbon footprint. Local flowers aren’t just more sustainable—they’re more meaningful. They carry the story of the land, the seasons, and the hands that tended them.” (Rosa Ng of Wing Ming Farm)

ALISA NEELY | Founder, Style Scout

Alisa Neely, founder of Style Scout, specializes in personal styling and luxury wardrobe management. Her extensive knowledge of the luxury brand market, from emerging trends to timeless classics, is backed by over a decade of styling and working with clients to meet their personal needs.

1. Art & Design: Marilyn Minter Hellmouth, 2025

From Artsy and Two Palms, New York. Marilyn Minter 120 color silkscreen, 44 3/4 × 59 3/4 inches. Edition of 30.

“In Marilyn Minter’s latest silkscreen, the artist applied over 120 layers of pigment, achieving unprecedented textural richness for the medium. By applying so many layers of silkscreen, Minter was able to create an image that achieves visual characteristics typically only found in painting.” (Artsy)

Marilyn Minter, *Hellmouth*, 2025. 120 color silkscreen. Edition of 30.

2. Fun and Games: Cabana Backgammon Set

This gorgeous game board, handmade in Florence, wrapped in premium Italian paper, combines two unique designs: a classic geometric floral pattern in deep green and ochre, and a complementary marbleized finish that evokes the rich texture of antique stone. Game on!

3. Cozy Time: Shearling Collar by Hommegirls.

100% shearling and detachable. To keep your favorite gift recipient warm all winter.

4. Home Base: The Golden Lippy Ashtray

I’m obsessed with these limited edition ceramic pieces from The Rolling and The Stoned.

“Designed for those who appreciate life’s finer moments, this ashtray is the perfect companion for midnight musings, stolen smokes, and stories worth savouring. Thoughtfully crafted with our signature flair, this large-sized piece is more than a place for your cigarette - it’s a conversation starter, a touch of rebellion, and a slice of understated luxury that plays the perfect centre piece.” (The Rolling and the Stoned).

5. One Splurge: Bvlgari Serpenti Tubogas watch

Merging two of the most iconic symbols of Bvlgari design, the Serpenti Tubogas watch coils the sinuosity of the snake with the contemporary soul of tubogas. Evoking both the sensual curves of a woman and the fluid shape of the serpent. In18 kt rose gold, set with brilliant cut diamonds, cabochon cut pink rubellite, black opaline dial with guilloché soleil treatment and hand-applied indexes. Quartz movement, hours and minutes functions. Water proof up to 30 m.

For her clients, only the best. Stylist Alisa Neely chooses the Bvlgari Serpendi Tubogas for timekeeping in timeless style.

LISA PIERPONT | Professor, Producer & Columnist for Boston Magazine

Lisa Pierpont is an adjunct professor of broadcast journalism at Emerson College as well as the founder and editor-in-chief of Boldfacers.com, a full-service production house. She writes Little Miss AI, an AI advice column for Boston Magazine. Most recently, she was the editor-in-chief/group editor of Boston Common Magazine, Interiors and Weddings Boston. For the previous fifteen years, Lisa was a three-time Emmy Award-winning producer for Chronicle, a nightly newsmagazine on WCVB-TV. A graduate of the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism, Lisa also contributes to various publications, including the Boston Globe, Boston Magazine and the New York Times as well as freelance producing for Harvard Business School, MIT and Fortune 500 companies.

1. Art & Design: Dunhill Barley Turbo Lighter

So maybe taking up smoking wouldn't be the best idea, but you must come up with a purpose to have this lighter in your life. It’s a thing of beauty, a marvel..why, it’s art!

This Dunhill Lighter is both art and design.

2. Fountain of Youth: Artemis Infared Mask

Anyone who knows their salt about the beauty industry understands that the Koreans have it nailed.

Glowy skin and aging backwards really seem possible these days with the advanced technology with K-beauty LED face and neck masks. Artemis is at the top of the heap with its state-of-the-art skin tightening and brightening non-invasive treatments, all in the coziness of your home.

3. Cozy Time: Neurable Headphones

Sure, you have headphones. But chances are, you don’t have mind-reading headphones from Neurable AI.

Founded by Boston-based wiz kids, Neurable contains a chip that provides daily insights into your level of anxiety, focus, relaxation and cognitive speed. You can literally “see’ if instagram-scrolling or a walk calms your brain better thanks to their proprietary brain-computer interface (BCI) technology..

Hint: break your sneakers out.

Neurable headphones, pioneering the future of human-computer interaction.

4. Home Base: Family Calendar from MySkylight

Is pilates Monday or Thursday? The ‘hood block party this weekend or next? You’ll never need to worry again with MySkylight calendar. Auto-sync your activities, meal plans, shopping lists…whatever you fancy with the fam.

MySkylight Calendar keeps chaos under control.

5. One Splurge: New Year’s Resolutions—Future You

The MIT wiz kids have done it again. Future You is an AI generated version of you… in the future.

Give someone the chance to meet their future self, with Future You.

Not exactly time travel, sorta kinda psychic (but science-founded); it’s a web-based platform that enables you to talk with a personalized version of your future self. Why would anyone want to do that? Research suggests that visualizing your future can improve academic and professional success, mental health, among other benefits. What’s not to love?

TIFFANY CHU | Designer & Former Chief of Staff to Mayor Michelle Wu

Tiffany Chu is a designer, entrepreneur, and the former Chief of Staff to Boston Mayor Michelle Wu.

Before joining City Hall, she co-founded Remix, a transportation planning software company used by 500+ cities worldwide. In her free time, she's doing yoga, throwing pottery, or running with her Australian cattle dog.

1. Art & Design: Art of Emma Boston-themed collaged coasters to mix and match

Emma Tavolieri is an artist in the Boston area specializing in collage. Using clippings from recycled magazines, Emma creates portraits of people, landscapes, buildings, and more.

Emma Tavolieri’s Boston themed designs from Art of Emma.

2. Now We’re Cooking: Dumpling Making Classes

Learn how to make soup dumplings at Mei Mei.

“Chef Irene Li co-founded Mei Mei with her siblings in 2012 as a food truck. "Mei Mei” means little sister in Mandarin Chinese and Mei Mei food is an expression of the Li siblings’ favorite childhood eating experiences as Chinese-American kids growing up in Boston. In 2020, Irene teamed up with Babson MBA graduates Alyssa Lee and Annie Campbell to lead the business in its transformation into a Dumpling Factory, Cafe, and Classroom.” (Mei Mei)

3. Cozy Time: Niho Kozuru's beeswax candles

I just visited her South End studio today and loved them / bought a few myself!

“Niho Kozuru casts sculptural candles from antique finials and architectural ornaments. She was drawn to this work as an artist, combining her love of New England forms with her Japanese heritage.” (Peabody Essex Museum website).