Considering my obsession with gifts and gift giving, you’d think I’d be ALLL OVER the gift guide scene.

Trust: the reason I’m not is *not* for lack of desire.

It’s, of course, for lack of time.

I have 700 niche gift guide ideas that I can’t WAIT to share.

…next year.

…when I have time.

(I already scheduled an email to go out to myself November 1st of next year to remind me to actually make the time to do it.)

This year, though, you’re gonna have to settle for the Squirrel’s Guide to Gifts (not to be confused with my Squirrel’s Guide to Business).

Before we can begin, I feel like I need to define “squirrel” first:

A Squirrel In Business is an entrepreneur, business owner, marketing girlie, or otherwise self-employed person with ADHD, suspected ADHD, or the tendency to put too much on her plate then cry over how full her plate is.

And *I* am Queen of the Squirrels.

(Hi, I’m Sara, nice to meet you, I’m a website copywriter and marketing mentor with raging ADHD, a shopping problem, and Gifts as my love language. I’m drastically qualified to write this gift guide.)

Now that we’re on the same page, here’s what to buy your squirrel friends (or your squirrel self)👇🏻

Notebooks

So many notebooks. Every single notebook.

If it has a cover and empty pages, we want it.

Squirrels love to use a variety of notebooks throughout their days:

One for morning pages. (I use Decomposition Books for these.)

One for planning. (I use Ban.do for this, but also love my smiley face planner from Shorthand Press.)

One for lists.

One for other lists.

Another one for even more lists.

Maybe a fourth, because it’s pretty, and we lost the first three somewhere between the kitchen and our office.

We’ll also need a purse notebook, just in case any good ideas hit while we’re on the go, or if we need to journal in a pinch, organizing all of our 700 racing thoughts. (I’ve been using a Vera Bradley notebook for this since 2010.)

I highly recommend shopping at Papier for notebooks if you’re buying them as a gift, because you can personalize them. I do this for my Success Story students (my group mentorship program for copywriters) and they love it!

(I’m pretty sure that if you use my link you’ll get 10% off, or something like that.)

Cute Sticky Notes

So we can stick them to our office walls with the names of the projects we’re working on, and satisfyingly rip them off when the project is done.

That^ is better than sex.

(Did I just have the thought to add sex toys to this list? Yeah, I did. But I think that’s a little much, even for me… but… if you’re curious, check out the Maude website.)

Sometimes “cute” sticky notes are actually pieces of shit with no real stick, so I like the *actual* Post-It brand, which has been stepping up their game lately! They have a new line called “Noted” which is way less boring and corporate. You can find these ~aesthetically pleasing~ Post-Its at Target and on Amazon.

I like these, these, and these.

Masterclass Subscription

One thing about us squirrels? We love learning something new, becoming obsessed with it, and potentially forgetting it later.

We also love a quick dopamine hit.

And Masterclass is the best of both worlds 😏

Instead of refreshing Instagram to see how many likes we got, or posting a million times in a row on Threads, or endlessly scrolling TikTok (if it gets banned I’ll cry), or checking our Stripe notifications to see if we got any new paid Substack subscribers (is that just me?), WE COULD BE LEARNING.

A productive dopamine hit? That actually counts for something? An option to NOT rest? Sign us Capricorn squirrels the F up!

If you use my link to check out Masterclass, you’ll get your first 14 days free.

My favorite Masterclasses to watch have been Robin Roberts, Mark Cuban, James Clear, and (of course) Martha Stewart, but I also love finding new people I’ve never heard of — there is sooo much to learn, and I’m happy to have an alternative to the doom scroll.

Atomic Habits Book

Everyone knows January is James Clear season, so if your favorite squirrel doesn’t already have a copy of Atomic Habits, you’ll need to hook her up.

According to the lovely description on his website:

“Using a framework called the Four Laws of Behavior Change, Atomic Habits teaches readers a simple set of rules for creating good habits and breaking bad ones.”

And let me tell you, the online business girlies are SLUTS for this book in Q1.

Tiny Habits Book

I don’t know who BJ Fogg thinks he is, but he’s coming for James’s brand so hard. The cover of the book even looks similar to Atomic Habits.

Apparently, “Dr. Fogg’s new and extremely practical method picks up where Atomic Habits left off” and the focus of this book is about positivity and emotions. I wonder if James knows about this potential impostor.

I saw this at Barnes and Noble the other day, considered buying it, and decided to go home and re-read Atomic Habits (aka read the first couple chapters, get bored, then watch James on Masterclass) instead, but I am eyeing this one & think I’ll end up ordering it before you even read this post.

Anthropologie Icon Juice Glass

Because one thing about a squirrel? She’s gonna need to be incentivized to do the bare minimum.

Like drinking water.

My personal favorite icon juice glass is, of course, the squirrel — but unfortch, she’s only a Fall edition to the crew.

This overpriced 8oz glass is perfect to gift any of your friends (squirrel or not!) because no one wants to spend $16 on a single glass for themselves.

Unless they have a shopping addiction and just moved into a new house.

Then, they’ll buy six of them for themselves.

(We’re talking about me, to be clear).

And if you get them the icon juice glass, they’re gonna need something to put in it, like…

Nello Supercalm

Now, I’m not a doctor, and I don’t even think this shit is FDA-approved, but when you’re a squirrel, you accidentally land on the “cortisol face” side of TikTok, and whether you believe in the depuffing claims or not, Nello Supercalm starts to sound pretty good.

This supplement drink is giving AG-1 or Bloom Nutrition vibes, so a little too girlboss for me to feel okay publicly promoting, but I’m doing it anyway, because (placebo or not) Nello Supercalm actually tastes good, and goodness knows I could use anything to get my stress levels down.

(I do think it kinda works.)

It has L-Theanine, KSM-66 Ashwaganda, Magnesium Glycinate, and Vitamin D-3 (which we’re all deficient in, let’s be real), which are all great for you, but what *I* love about it is the little habit-stacked ritual I’ve created for myself (a la the James Clear Masterclass) of going downstairs in the morning, pulling out my favorite icon juice glass, and having my lil drinky drink.

I have the raspberry lemonade flavor, because all of the others sound disgusting.

A fucking break

I don’t know if I’m just a single solo parent who never has childcare, but I think the squirrels need A GOOD OLD FASHIONED BREAK.

Like, minimum two nights away with no distraction, no children, no work, no responsibilities… nothing.

I don’t know if I’m physically capable of not working (or not thinking about work) unless I’m sitting on a beach, but unfortunately we can’t change the weather for the sake of a lil gift guide, so I’m recommending Postcard Cabins (formerly known as Getaway Frame).

I’m suddenly extremely curious why they changed their brand name. I wonder if there was a trademark battle. I’ll have to ask Chandler (my lawyer, who has a fab trademarking course.)

ANYWAY! Gifting your fave squirrel a fucking break could be as simple as offering to watch their squirrel children for an hour, or as grand as gifting them a few nights away in their nearest Postcard Cabin.

Coffee Shop Gift Card

Because obviously your squirrel friend needs a change of scenery every once in a while. You didn’t expect her to work from home 100% of the time, did you? Without her hyperfixation drink??? Please.

This is also such a great way to support your local businesses, AND make your friends feel seen (by proving you know their fave coffee shop, duh).

I’d even include a little note like “enjoy a week’s worth of bean water on me!” or “use this solely for the most dramatic drink they sell, you deserve it” or “save this for a sucky day.”

Or, if you’re a faraway-friend, a St*rbucks gift card works, too.

Want to make shopping for your favorite squirrel a little easier?

So sorry that this has to be on Jeff’s app, but it was the easiest way to curate it for you:

Here’s the list of (almost) everything on the gift guide, plus a few bonus items I think they’d love, for easy add-to-cart!

Thanks so much for reading this post! I’d love for you to stick around and read the rest of my content, which is usually a lot more marketing & copywriting than squirrel & shopping.

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