Stay within your shopping budget this Christmas with a bevy of holiday gifts under $30. There are presents for lovers of tea and rosé. People who love to be in the kitchen can cook with a celebrity-designed tool that has a philanthropic purpose. Get bawdy with a charades-like card game that is better played with close friends. There’s lots more. Read on to discover nine cool, cost-effective gifts. Warning: The affordable prices may inspire you to treat yourself to a gift or two.
Going somewhere?: Take your infant on an adventure right in your house. For a trip to the Windy City any time of year, opt for Transit Tees which offers a 100 percent cotton onesie with a metro map graphic of Chicago transit. $24, transittees.com. Thinking big, like the Big Apple? The New York Transit Museum has a colorful, crisscrossing map akin of the city's numerical and alphabetical subway system on its Brooklyn and Manhattan baby rompers. $22, nytransitmuseumstore.com. Of course, kids can show Atlanta love with a MARTA logo bodysuit that reads, "I'm only little but I already ride MARTA" from Café Press. To document all the places you and your little one visit, order a MARTA notebook which features names of red line train stations like Buckhead, Five Points and Sandy Springs. $8.83-$17.49. cafepress.com.
What did you say? Shout out indelicate thoughts with Badmoji, an emoji-based card game for adults from Gray Matters Games. Players compete against each other in a race to guess the phrase on each card. The cards feature popular emojis like a guy with an apple plus another guy running. If you guessed dine and dash, you'd be right. Other cards include a French flag and lips for French kiss as well as an eye and candy for eye candy. These are some of the easier and mild puzzles; others are racy, so be sure to play with folks you know…well. $13.99. amazon.com.
Sweet treat: Delight someone's palate with a cake bites from Caroline's Cakes, a family-owned bakery in Spartanburg, South Carolina. The petite treats are offered in a variety of flavors including confetti, a classic yellow cake covered with white chocolate and rainbow sprinkles, and the signature caramel cake, a yellow cake topped with a layer of caramel and covered in white chocolate. Get one dozen cake bites for $25. If a party is on the agenda, consider ordering a whole cake, which ranges from four to seven layers in flavors like lemon, red velvet, German chocolate and more. Prices vary. carolinescakes.com.
What's in your glass? Channel summer with each sip of La Fête Rosé, a luxury wine with notes of dried fruit, bonbon and hazelnut bottled in a soft shade of pink. Launched earlier this year, the name translates to "rosé party," making it a festive gift for holiday celebrations and more. The owner and CEO, Donae Burston, has personal connections to Atlanta; he's a graduate of Clark Atlanta University and Georgia Institute of Technology. Available at select restaurants (just inquire), premium wine shops and Whole Foods. Online, bottles are sold in sets of three, six and a dozen, aptly called mini fete, petite fete and grand fete for $75-$60. Suggested retail price for an individual bottle is $23.99. lafeterose.com.
Baker's dozen: Spread love with a No Kid Hungry Tools for Change silicone spatula, offered exclusively at Williams-Sonoma. A combination of art, celebrity, philanthropy and practicality, each spatula features paintbrush-style artwork by 13 celebrities and chefs including José Andrés, Guy Fieri, Al Roker, Trisha Yearwood, Ina Garten and Andy Cohen. The oversize head is BPA-free and ideal for mixing, blending and folding. And, each spatula purchase helps fight childhood hunger since a portion of the retail price benefits Share Our Strength's No Kid Hungry program. $14.95. Online and in stores. williams-sonoma.com.
Tea time: For an assortment of boxed teas, opt for the Founder's Select box with 40 flavors including Maharaja Breakfast black tea, India's Original Masala chai tea and Turmeric-Spiced Herbal tea tisane from Vahdam Teas. Each is locally sourced in India but with a fulfillment center in the U.S., orders can ship directly to your door in metro Atlanta. $24.99. vahdamteas.com.
Read more: A reading subscription service is the gift that continues to give. Scribd offers access to millions of e-books and audiobooks for current titles and celebrity reading clubs. Subscribers can read any time and anywhere without carrying a physical book. A three-month subscription is $26.97. scribd.com.
