Angela Bull Recommends Gifts

I may have created the perfect job for myself. A great gift recommender has to shop a lot, and I do love that. I also like to judge. It turns out I have strong opinions.

Nov. 26 2025

DIY Advent Calendar Magic: Countdown Anything

Whether it's the twelve days of Christmas, the twenty-three days of Advent, or the eight days of Hanukkah, countdown calendars are a fun way to give and a fantastic opportunity for DIY. At their most basic, countdown gift calendars are simply small numbered containers filled with tiny goodies. Here are some ideas.

Easy

TP Tubes are the mainstay of DIY Advent calendars, though not the only choice.

Wrapped TP rolls: Cover a TP tube with your choice of paper. Roll your gifts in tissue paper and twist the ends. Put the tissue rolls in the tube with the ends protruding. Number if you want to maintain an opening order. Thread the tubes together on a ribbon and hang, or just toss them all in a bowl or basket.
Pinched-end TP rolls: Cover a TP tube with your choice of paper. Flatten the tubes somewhat and fold in the ends to close them up. This creates neat little pillows with concave ends.
Paper pyramids from scrapbook paper and washi tape: No tubes needed. Create a tube with rectangular pieces of scrapbook or thick wrapping paper. Use washi tape to secure. Flatten one side and tape the end closed. Fill, then roll the tube 90⁰ and seal the other end with washi to form the neat pyramid shape.
Brown paper bags tied up with string or just rolled closed. This hardly needs explaining. Number the bags with a Sharpie and slap on a bow.

More challenging

Origami dropbox
Easy Origami Cubes are great when your gifts are tiny. Imagine a mason jar or an old fish bowl of cute gift cubes.

Repurposed purchases

K and Dixie cups: Save a few weeks of K cups, open them up, and rinse them out. Fill, then, with some scissors and glue, reseal, decorate, and number them. No K-cups? 3 oz paper cups‡ work too.
Vintage-looking Christmas matchboxes‡ These are super cute and ready for Xmas, but the box dimensions will limit what can be put inside.
Mini Chinese food containers‡
Mini Mason jars‡

Ethical and sustainable fillers

Consumables

Tiny treats of your own making: Mini-muffins, mini-cookies, mini-macarons, mini-macaroons, meringue kisses, fruit and nut energy bites
Fortune cookies:‡ There are fortune cookies for just about every occasion (graduation, Christmas, Hanukkah, etc) and non-occasion (Fortunes Against Humanity, boozy, Grinchy, chocolate-dipped, and frosted) to name just a few.
Liquor-filled chocolate mini bottles‡ Here’s a 64-piece Anthon-Dark Berg Golden Jubilee variety pack.
Flavored coffee pods‡ These are great if your recipient has a K-Cup machine. Here’s a variety pack of 40 brand flavors.
Herbal teas‡ Here’s a 12-flavor variety pack from Twinings

Mini gifts

Incense‡ Put the holder in the first container and distribute either different cones or these attractive, flower-shaped pressed incense among the rest.
Pandora bracelet: This is a luxury countdown. You would start with the basic Pandora Moments Bracelet $55, on the first day, then give a charm $55+, bead, or spacer $25+ a day for the rest. (Pandora, a Danish brand, has my AB-B rating for ethics and sustainability.)

Not so sustainable

Toys

‡ Amazon affiliate link

Nov. 14 2025
When a Company Lies to Your Face

This week I got burned twice. Two separate online shops. Two Websites that gave every indication that the products were made in the USA. Both showed up from China.

If you are familiar with my business, you know I’m hunting for gifts that are sustainable, fair trade, and sweatshop-free. I look at company websites, read all the FAQs, check out the stories, and find their location. That’s been my baseline. Turns out that my baseline has cracks.

One of the items was a pottery herb stripper. The website had videos of an American potter shaping clay. The text said “I made this” with an American name. There was even a photo of the maker’s mark. What arrived at my door? A ceramic herb stripper with completely different clay, an inferior glaze, and no maker’s mark. The company offered me twenty percent back if I kept it the lousy thing or a full refund if I mailed it all the way back to China. I sent it back. Shipping cost me half the price of the item, but I’m not letting them keep a penny. I have photos. Receipts. Tracking. They’ll probably refuse the return because they have to pay fees on their end. I’ll give it twenty-four days. Then I dispute the charge.

While I was taping the box shut, I kept asking myself how these items slipped past my scrutiny. I’m supposed to be good at this. It’s what I do. But these two fooled me because I didn’t take the final two steps. I didn’t check the Better Business Bureau. I didn’t check Reddit. If I had done either, I’d have walked away.

Here’s the broader truth. Most people do not have the bandwidth to untangle this kind of nonsense. No normal shopper is digging into supply chains or cross-checking addresses. No one is reading between the lines of “handcrafted” when the package is clearly stamped Shenzhen. And that gap between the story and the reality is precisely where these unscrupulous companies thrive. They count on the fact that you won’t look too close. They count on the product being a pain in the but to return.

This is why my work matters. This is why I vet every gift before it makes it into the quiz or the guides. Not because I’m perfect, but because I’m obsessive enough to keep pushing until I understand who made a thing, where they made it, and under what conditions. Going forward, I’ll eventually buy every product I recommend. But as a bootstrapped startup, I just can’t afford that yet. For now, the research needs to be tighter. BBB and Reddit are now standard checks. Any brand pretending to be USA, EU, UK, Canada, Australia, or New Zealand when it’s not is out. Any Asian source without bona fide fair trade and fair labor certifications is out—I will be checking.

Here’s the empowerment part. You deserve gifts you don’t have to second-guess. You deserve honesty without detective work. You deserve companies that say what they are and are what they say.

So I’ll keep digging. I’ll keep vetting. I’ll keep weeding out the impostors so you don’t have to.

If you’ve been burned by a fake “artisan” brand lately, come tell me. We’ll compare notes and keep each other sharp.

Meaningless certificates.

I'm currently testing out the kit for this exquisite pendant from ArtsvilleHandcarfted on Etsy

October 1 2025
How I Pick the DIY Gifts I Recommend

I love DIY gifts. From August to November, I am busy making this and that for my extended family. However, my own projects don’t make it onto the lists, and here’s why. Most of mine rely on Adobe Photoshop and Illustrator. These are professional design tools that require dedication to master, a strong computer, and a monthly subscription. It wouldn’t be fair to tell you, “Here, you can do this too!” In the same vein, I won’t list anything that requires knitting, crochet, painting, drawing, or anything with a big learning curve for many givers.

Instead, I spend a lot of time searching out projects that anyone can realistically pull off. Ones that will still look impressive when they’re finished.

What Makes the Cut

When I test a DIY project, I run it through my own checklist:

Professional results: You should be proud to give it.
No fancy equipment: If it needs a Cricut, kiln, or cloud subscription, it’s out.
Useful, not clutter: The result should be something people actually enjoy, not another thing shoved in a drawer.
Effort-to-payoff ratio: You shouldn’t have to spend three days for a so-so result.

My Current Test: Wire Wrapped Jewelry Making

Currently, I’m working on a jewelry-making kit that allows you to wire-wrap a polished stone into a necklace. The photos look amazing: definitely something I’d wear myself or give as a gift. Before I tell others, I want to see how doable it is for someone who’s not already a crafter, like me! Wire wrapping can be fiddly, and what feels meditative to me might feel like frustration to someone else. If it turns out to be beginner-friendly, the project could make my list. If not, it stays in my personal craft stash.

Why It Matters

The internet is full of “easy DIY” projects that turn into hours of wasted supplies and a half-finished mess. My job is to filter those out so you don’t end up with a Pinterest fail. I only share projects that strike a balance between accessibility and quality: things you can make with tools you probably already have and some simple supplies. The final result should look polished, and that won’t leave you muttering under your breath.

DIY gifts should feel good for both the giver and the receiver. That’s why I test first, and only recommend the projects I’d be proud to wrap up myself.

I love that you start out with just the toothpaste on a dry brush. Saving water is good.

September 29, 2025

When Toothpaste Feels Like a Treat

Gift to Self: $48 Toothpaste That Actually Works

Full disclosure: I would never wrap up a tube of toothpaste as a gift for someone else. It’s too personal — flavor, texture, even how foamy it gets can be dealbreakers. And the message, “you have bad teeth” or “your breath stinks,” is just no. Not ever. But I’ve decided to start a little “gift to self” list, and this $48 toothpaste earns the first spot.

Why I Like It

I’ve been using it for a few weeks, and the results surprised me. My dentist had told me that some gumline stains would have to be drilled out and filled. Instead, this paste erased them. My teeth look whiter, too. For me, that’s a real upgrade every time I brush.

Why It’s Worth the Price

At $48 a tube, this is not a grocery-aisle buy. But I think of it the way I’d think of a facial, massage, or mani-pedi: a splurge that makes you feel better about yourself. The difference is this one works quietly in the background, twice a day, without booking an appointment or blocking out time.

The Science (Briefly)

The paste uses an ingredient called activated edathamil, which has been studied for its ability to break up plaque and improve gum health. Clinical studies suggest it performs better than ordinary toothpaste, but what matters most to me is what I’ve seen in the mirror.

My Verdict

This isn’t a gift for anyone else — but as a “gift to self,” it’s a win. If you’re okay with the splurge, it delivers visible results and a boost of confidence every time you smile. Find yourself a tube here.

Voted "Best in Mall" by gaggles of girls in Sephora

September 25, 2025
Fun on the shelf, mystery in a bottle

Yesterday, my teenage daughter and I headed off to Sephora to sniff out great scented gifts for tween and teen girls. The store was packed (on a school holiday, of course), which turned out to be perfect. I leaned on my granny powers and asked a group camped out at the FORVR MOOD display what they liked. They happily spilled: favorites, good deals, the works.

Back home, I looked up the brand. Vegan and cruelty-free? Check. But when I tried to find out where the perfumes were made, or whether workers were treated fairly? Silence. Then I learned perfumers have been mysterious since Cleopatra’s day, guarding formulas and methods like state secrets.

Will I ever be able to recommend a perfume? Probably not. To begin with, a legal loophole in the Federal Fair Packaging and Labeling Act of 1973 exempts fragrance ingredients from mandatory disclosure on product labels. Finding out where or who makes the scent is all very black box.

Curious about that history of secrecy? Read how scientists recreated Cleopatra’s favorite perfume.
Want to see the perfume the tweens couldn’t stop talking about? Visit FORVR MOOD Fine Fragrances.