Happy Thanksgiving, everyone! Slightly different note today…
If you’re like me, your inbox is flooded with BF/CM emails and gift guides, and your brain is already scrambled trying to keep track of who you’re shopping for without overspending.
So in an effort to get you back to basting and lighten your holiday load, I am going to 1) keep this short, and 2) put you onto one of the most practical shopping tools I’ve found. It’s so dead simple, I can’t believe I didn’t think of / vibe code it.
Julia Berolzheimer is one of my favorite creators… like, I open every single one of her emails and have been following her for as long as I can remember. Recently, she and her husband launched Present Planner, a tool complete with budgeting, recipient tracking, and gift suggestions curated by Julia herself. Julia has impeccable albeit sometimes expensive taste (eeek) across many categories, so I was particularly excited to see this come out since I would’ve consulted her recommendations anyway.
From their announcement — here is how it works:
You set your total holiday budget.
You can rank each person on your list by priority (high, medium, low).
It automatically allocates that budget based on priority. You can tweak the budgets anyway you like.
And you get curated gift suggestions that actually match your budget.
The only way this could be better is if it pulled in curation from my other favorite creators, but it’s a great start. Sure, gift guides by recipient or budget aren’t new, but the simple customization here feels fresh — practical and genuinely delightful. And while they’ll earn affiliate commission on anything you buy through it, the tool itself is free for community members and will save you a headache (and a lot of mental lists) over the coming weeks. A win for everyone.
Finally, it’s worth highlighting Julia’s recent essay about the business of being an influencer and what people often get wrong. It’s a great read and touches on a lot of the themes we talk about in this newsletter.
Happy holidays — and remember, no one really needs anything :)
Now off to the grocery store,
Megan
P.S. Read much, much more from the archive here