ANNUAL REVIEW: 14 Best Gifts of 2021
Between 50+ gift and celebration guides, custom gift consultations, and thousands of celebrations on our group-gifting platform, you could say that Presently knows a thing or two about picking the perfect gift. Our gifting experts have created the ultimate gift guide, filled with the best gifts we’ve seen organized on our platform and crowd favorites that took the internet by storm. As always, we recommend group gifts – collaborating with friends on a gift so you can gift quality over quantity! So if you’re looking for a gift for any person or occasion under the sun, we got you covered. Here are our 14 best gifts of 2021, perfect for setting up a group gift of the recipient’s dreams!
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Presently-Tested Favorites
We got our hands on a lot of gifts this year, but these three stood out as the best of the best. Here are our favorite gifts that we had the pleasure of testing out this year!
Priority Wine Pass is perfect for any wine connoisseur or appreciator in your life. Priority Wine offers customers once-in-a-lifetime wine tasting experiences – just choose the package you think the recipient will love the most and ship the wine right to their home! Packages like The Obrien Estate ($130) and Cage Cellars ($115) even come with chocolate and breadsticks to elevate the tasting experience. Another reason we love them is that they’ve got non-alcoholic mocktail kits for non-drinkers, too!
PlantWave ($299) may be the most unique gift we’ve ever seen. If you or a loved one is interested in nature and music, check out this wireless device that turns plants’ biorhythms into music. Attach some sensors onto the plant and PlantWave will detect electrical variations in the leaf and turn it into music. Sounds awesome, right?
Bean Box and Grounds for Change are our go-to coffee subscription services that bring flavors from around the world right to your doorstep. Grounds for Change’s Coffee of the Month subscription ($99+) is certified carbon-free, making it one of our top sustainable brands this year! They even donate over 1% of their earnings to For The Planet, talk about giving back! This coffee subscription has two fresh 12-ounce bags of grounds per month helping you make your daily caffeine break simple and delicious. Bean Box offers a great variety of tasting options with both whole bean and fresh ground boxes in whatever roast and flavor you like. If you’re not sure if a subscription is the way to go, Bean Box also offers tasting boxes like the Deluxe Coffee + Biscotti Tasting Box ($58) supplied with gourmet Seattle coffee and decadent homemade biscottis.
Fun Finds For Everyone
These three gifts are our top picks to try out, and we think you should too!
The Mirror ($1,345) is an innovative twist on fitness. Perfect for a group gift for a fitness lover, The Mirror offers world-class exercise classes all from the comfort of your own home. What’s super unique about The Mirror is that you can watch an instructor complete the workouts while simultaneously seeing your own form! The Mirror comes with 50+ different workout genres and 5-60 minute classes from beginner to expert levels.
If you know someone in a long-distance relationship or with family far away, check out these Touch lamps ($299), a sentimental way to stay in touch across any distance. When you’re thinking about a loved one, just tap your lamp and theirs will light up! This is a great way to let someone know how much you love and miss them and is also a super cute decoration for any room. It’s one of our favorites for grandparents, too!
If you or a loved one has an active kiddo running around, try out Foamnasium 9-piece playground! This playground provides the perfect surface for little ones to explore. Whether they’re crawling and climbing or running and jumping, you won’t worry about them getting hurt on the foam pieces, plus it’s easy to set up and put away. Another great kid’s gift is this Montesorri Climbing Ramp by Woodandhearts on Etsy! This handmade birch plywood playset is perfect for kids with lots of energy and comes with a climbing arch, ramp, and triangle ladder for customizable fun!
Shop Small & One-of-a-Kind!
From TikTok to Twitter, we found some amazing Etsy sellers that are creating trendy personalized gifts that we can’t get over.
Rugs are the latest trending home decor item, and we’ve found two small businesses that create the coolest designs. Uneon Designs makes custom tufted rugs ($200) with your favorite album cover on them! These handmade 40’ x 40’ rugs are amazing centerpieces for any room and are the perfect gift for music lovers who want to add a little spice to their home decor.
If you know someone who simply adores their furry friend, we’ve got a gift they’re sure to love! Get your animal lover this Custom Pet portrait ($155+) from Etsy. Choose from up to 4 sizes and submit a photo of the animal so that the portrait will look just like their beloved pet. These pieces are hand-painted with oil paints for stunning and long-lasting results.
For the culinary superstar or anyone else who appreciates great kitchenware, this Personalized Resin Chopping Board ($123.38+) is sure to impress. The ability to get initials, a date, or names laser engraved onto the board makes this a perfect wedding gift, too! These boards are handpainted and crafted on the Sunshine Coast, Australia so you can be sure every item is one-of-a-kind.
Must-have Experiential Gifts
Experiential gifts are a Presently Gift-Guide staple, so we’ve narrowed down our favorite experiences to four must-have gifts.
Anyplace ($100+) makes it easy for people to live and work where they want, when they want. It’s a travel accommodation platform built for the work-from-anywhere movement. With Anyplace, you can gift someone a stay for 30 days or longer in over 475 cities across 65 countries around the world! There are tons of co-living spaces to choose from – like Bali, Indonesia co-living for $338/month and Cancun, Mexico for $975/month – so it’s a perfect solution for solo travelers and digital nomads.
If you’re gifting for a daredevil or someone who just wants to get out of the house more, they’ll love an Airbnb adventure. Whether they’re interested in staying in the Thai countryside ($137/person) or getting surfing lessons in Los Angeles, California ($365/person), with over 200 adventures Airbnb will have you covered.
Tinggly ($99+) also has great experiential packages for solo travelers, couples, or weekend getaway trips! With over 100 packages featuring wedding, anniversary, and birthday trips, you’re sure to find your loved one a vacation they’ll love! And if you’re not sure what Tinggly trip your recipient would prefer, send them an e-voucher and let them choose their own adventure!
Finally, an experiential gift we adore is a voucher for a Flyphotographer session ($285-$650). If the recipient has a special event like a graduation, baby shower, or honeymoon coming up, schedule them a session with a world-class photographer anywhere in the world! For a larger group gift idea, schedule the jet-setting recipient a Flyphotographer session at the destination of their Tinggly or Airbnb adventure!
There’s more!
Gifting should be a moment for connection and celebration, instead of something we feel we ‘must’ do; so organize a group gift with others on Presently to put the fun back into gifting by getting a loved one a gift that they’ll never forget.
We know gift-giving can be stressful but don’t worry! We have more than just these 14 best gifts of 2021. Presently has got you covered with additional tools to get the perfect group celebration organized.
Presently’s ‘Most Giftable’ List of Brands includes over 200+ female-owned, Black/BIPOC-owned, LGBTQIA-owned, and eco-friendly businesses for all ages, price ranges, and occasions. You can use the filters located in the top left corner of the list to find the best gift that additionally supports your local community!
If you are looking for a personalized gift recommendation, head to our Free Gift Consultation page and chat with Qali, our resident gifting expert! If you still haven’t found the perfect gift, you can always browse our gift guides here! Read our current favorites, “5 Virtual Group Gift Ideas” and “Teamwork Celebration: 7 Best Gift Ideas for Coworkers”!
ABOUT PRESENTLY
Presently is a group-gifting platform that gives people an easy way to contribute to a single gift, together. Presently enables communities to gift better, choosing quality over quantity. Organize a group gift here.
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