Maxipad slippers!! If only I had thought to Google “hilarious maxi pad gifts” before I gave the Gym Buddies their presents! Ah well, there’s always next year… (Image and idea courtesy of Homemade Gifts Made Easy.)
Who gives their friends panty liners for Christmas? I do! And I would have given them the panties to go with it if I’d been smart enough to guess their sizes. (Seriously I’m spatially dyslexic. My most challenging chore every night is to figure out what size Tupperware I need to put our leftovers in because I canNOT eyeball it and get it right.) And trust me, there is no easy way to work “hey what’s the size of your cute butt?” into a conversation without looking like a total perv. Not that that has stopped me in the past…
Anyhow, as you may have surmised, the Gym Buddies put up with a lot from me. Not only do they have to be ready to do any type of workout on the fly – kettlebell bands? weight gloves? goggles? track spikes?? – but they have to listen to my nonsensical explanations, hyperventilating over the newest research study and oooh-shiny! random interruptions when something else catches my eye. Not to mention my histrionics. (The girls who cry on the treadmill together, stay together!) So this year I wanted to give them a little something that would help with all this – a gym survival kit. Here’s what made my “emergency essentials” list:
Sweat Towel. First I let out my inner Lisa Frank-loving 6th grader and puff-painted a bunch of white hand towels and then doodled all over them with fabric paint. What’s that? Wiping your sweaty face with glitter puff paint doesn’t sound delightful? I did that on purpose (no I didn’t) so that they would always know which side of their towel is the one to wipe their faces with (the plain side) and which side they need to lay on the weight bench/mop up water bottle spills/hang over the chin-up bar and use to do “rope climbs” (the fancy side)!
Cute carrying case. The rest of the essentials I put in a little waterproof pouch that they could easily slide into their gym bags.
Close-up of the contents:
Silly sport socks. Would it be a gift from me without crazy socks?? (And you may recall all the, um, effort I had to go through to get those…) Plus socks are one of those things that are so easy to lose and so often forgotten.
Chapstick. Anyone who has ever run sprints inside a gym dry-heated to 90+ degrees (and yet my elderly friends still work out in turtlenecks and Christmas sweaters) will understand the need for lip balm. The fact that it’s Hello Kitty, flavored like sugar cookies and filled with glitter just makes it so none of the dudes on the weight floor will swipe it so much more fun!
Candy. Of course I didn’t give the Gym Buddies high-fructose corn syrup filled nutritionally void snacks! Those are post-recovery carb chews, duh! Seriously though, I can’t tell you how many times after a workout someone’s been shaky on the stretching mats and we’ve had to force-feed them pre-chewed stale bites of granola bar (courtesy of my toddler) to get their blood sugar back up. Trust me, Mentos are way better that.
Minty gum. Allison cannot workout without gum. Girlfriend has been known to turn around and go home if she forgets her gum. And hey, who doesn’t love some minty fresh breath after sucking wind and getting dry mouth for an hour of TurboKick?
Sparkly hair clips and glittery hair bands. Because we are all still in high school, most of us keep a hair band around our wrist at all times. (True story: Krista once thought I was into Kaballah because I always had a red one around my wrist.) This means that a) they need to be cute and b) we need a lot of them since they get lost, broken or stolen (by kids who think they are Silly Bandz – “Wook! It’s a circle!!”). These Scuni bands are my absolute fave (and no I didn’t get them for free nor am I being paid to say that) because they have a texture like jelly bracelets and they do NOT slip out of your hair, no matter how hard you workout. (They come in non-glitter varieties for those of you not as juvenile as we are!) Tip: roll them out of your pony rather than yank them out.
Waterproof bag. Rather than have all our little pieces of crap rolling around in the bottom of our gym bag I figured it was about time we had somewhere to put it all that was cute and easy to find and also wouldn’t be destroyed by a rogue water bottle.
Emergency kit. This is the stuff you wish you didn’t need as often as you do and yet can spell workout disaster if you don’t have it. Ibuprofen, bobby pins, holographic band-aids, safety pins and, yes, a maxi pad.
I would have given them flowers but this one’s all mine! (Gratuitous pic of my baby? Never!!) She put on an old costume and rolled herself into the kitchen in her dolly stroller and yelled “SUPWISE!!!!” (Also: she took her diaper off before putting on her costume – doesn’t everyone? – so shortly hereafter there was a cleanup on aisle 1. Ah well)
And, while I’m posting gratuitous pics of cute people, how great does Gym Hubby look in a cowboy hat?? (This was at his company party. While all his coworkers were lined up at the bar, us non-drinkers got full reign of the photo booth! I had feathers stuck to my sweater all night!)
So – what are your fave holiday gifts to give people? Did you do anything creative/funny/thoughtful that you’re particularly proud of? What would you add to my “emergency essentials” kit?!
I made flower pots! I am stealing the towel idea though/ I might actually draw faces on so my friends can see where to put theirs….. possibilities are endless …
Px
I’m a pretty lousy gift giver, as my perfectionism/pessimism dooms me to thinking “what are the chances I’ll get them something they actually want but for some reason haven’t bought yet?” The closest I’ve gotten to your awesome gym kit ideas is a Whole Foods gift basket I put together for my sister (she’s a health nut too) full of overpriced health food treats & toiletries. I just don’t have the DIY chromosome!
I’m glad I’m not the only one with a hairband perpetually around my wrist. Since my hair has grown out, I keep it with me to tie my hair back in the lab and find there’s always one there for wherever I need it.
I’ve had fun this year making healthy tasty cookie recipes in a jar with nice fabric and ribbon on top to give out to friends and a few coworkers who I wanted to give a little something to but don’t want them to feel obligated to give me something in return. I’m still making up some pumpkin biscotti for a few friends…I love giving gifts I’ve made. 🙂
Now I am UBER-jeal of your gym buddies. Not only do they actuallly, you know, HAVE a gym buddy — now they have that fancy schmancy towel that PROCLAIMS to the world that they do! Love it! I vary my gifts from year-to-year. Of course, the one advantage of being new in town is being off the hook for giving friend/ neighbor/ gym buddy Christmas gifts the first year. 🙂 But we did make our homemade salsa for my husband’s office. Yum!
Jellybean is ADORABLE!!!!!! Not that that’s news…
Gym Hubby looks quite dapper in his hat!
I always go with cookies. I know, I know, not healthy and cheap. And easy. Kinda like me…
I wish I had a workout buddy! Someone nice to share special little nick nacks with!
I wish I were creative and could make stuff as gifts, but I completely lack talent.
I love your gift to the gym buddies! As for needing gum for exercising, I’m totally with Allison. I need minty gum in my mouth whenever running (bad habit, I know! Don’t tell any kids I do that…) to ward off dry mouth.
Love it! The only thing I would add is deodorant but maybe that’s just because I’m always paranoid about smelling bad!
I did the emergency kit idea last year; no towels or socks, but the things I had that you don’t are a mini-pack of kleenex and a couple packets of Emergen-C drink mix.
What a great gift for your buddies!!!! I am so not a home person or craft person… not in my genes! Wish I was but just does not compute in my brain!
I always liked to try to find something special in the past but the past few years have been tough so just offering kind word & whatever else I can do that does not cost right now.
Little things like you have there are cool gifts!
LOVE THE PICS & that Jellybean is too cute!
This is why I love you. Everything that can (and should be) glittery, is. And puffy paint for good measure.
If I had gym buddies, you better believe I’d be stealing this idea right now.
*That* is a great Christmas idea!!!
Merry Everything, Gym Buddies!
(You and your hubby should not be that cute, Charlotte.
Stop it. 🙂
I love this idea, it’s personal, easy to do and useful. I love Christmas presents that have a practical use – whilst that singing fake mounted fish is funny for five or ten minutes, it’s not half as useful as a maxi pad!!
Honestly, every time I see your family, it makes me smile so big! Because A) you’re all super attractive (though I’d lie if I didn’t think Jelly Bean was winning that race, she’s just too cute), and B) nice (from what I can tell), and C) you all loveeeee each other. Tooooo adorable. Seriously, you’re so blessed.
I got this from a friend a couple years ago as a gift:
http://www.sephora.com/browse/product.jhtml?id=P282026&shouldPaginate=true&categoryId=6013
BEST. GIFT. EVER. I use it ALLL the time, and replace the contents. So convenient.
It’s no longer sold in Canada. Apparently the ibuprofen isn’t up to snuff for Canada or something.
Essentially, your gym buddy gift was a) more appropriate for the audience, and b) so much sweeter because of the time you took. But, the moral of the story is that you should market a gym buddy kit. I can pretend I wouldn’t buy 5, for all my gym friends, but it would be a huge lie.
I’m bookmarking this because it’s PERFECT! And cuz I’ll come back to that adorable picture next time I’m feeling cranky. 🙂
Oh my gosh, my uterus just went “Squeee!” Jelly Bean is too cute!
Pingback:My Gift This Christmas: Learning to let go of past mistakes | Elite Daily Diet and Fitness
Pingback:My Gift This Christmas: Learning to let go of past mistakes | The Great Fitness Experiment
Hahaha this put a great smile on my face 😀 Great idea!