This year, Oprah succumbed to economic pressures that affect the rest of the world by scaling down her “favorite things” episode to tout intangible things and homemade gifts. She also probably wanted to cut the budget for her show because her studio audience didn’t actually receive anything.
Gwyneth Paltrow apparently didn’t get or won’t heed the memo that it’s uncool to tout your wealth in these tough times. In the latest issue of her Goop e-mail newsletter, “GET,” she recommends gifts for loved ones that are frivolous and out of most people’s budgets. She does include an $18 USD book about manners, though.
Paltrow lists a $75 cake knife, with the text “Who doesn’t want a reason to eat cake everyday?” Haven’t we heard that before? In her introduction, Paltrow claims she includes “a couple of luxury items.” I think I counted a few more than two.
Holiday Gift Ideas
What is holiday spirit? For me, it means helping to create that atmosphere where loved ones feel full of cheer, like some happy secret is about to be revealed. Holiday spirit is a feeling of warmth, of togetherness, of connectedness. We get that by giving. We get it by watching cheeks flush with color when something opened and in the hands conveys a message: I know you, I get you, I see you. We get it when we go outside of our comfort zone, giving more than we think we can afford to help people who don’t have it as good as we do. We get it by not getting riled up and potentially verbally abusive when someone steals the parking place we have been demonstrably waiting for (note to self — it still counts, if you’re alone in your car, cursing with the windows up). For those of you looking for ideas for gifts to unwrap, see below. There are some tried and loved gadgets, candies, and a couple of luxury items for good measure. I found a cool way to do Christmas cards, which benefits the Robinhood Foundation. There are big gaps to make up this year for charitable organizations, giving is down and people need help. Donating to your local foodbank is always a very good idea. Do whatever you can, on whatever scale you can. It’s all about the intention.
Love,
Gifts for Everyone
$149.00
This thing is genius.
Personalized Smythson Notebooks
From $50Add a loved one’s initials for
a thoughtful present.
“Seasonal Tastings” Wine of the Month
from BottleNotes
From $34.95For the wine lover you love.
Debretts Guide to Modern Manners
11.99 GBPWe can all brush up on our manners.
Recycled Bamboo Utensil Set
From $24.74Eco-friendly and great for picnics.
If your mother likes to garden…
Scanwood’s 11 Beechwood Kitchen Tools
$55.00These kitchen tools are chic and well-designed. They are a great present even for a chef who has everything.
Iittala’s Citterio Decanter
$60.00I love a beautiful decanter and I
appreciate this one’s clean lines.
Who doesn’t want a reason to
eat cake everyday?
These tongs are perfect for your trendy friend who loves to entertain.
Cookbooks
Cook with Jamie:
My Guide to Making You a Better Cook
$24.75My food idol (besides Mario) delivers
every time.
The River Café Cook Book Easy
From $24.74The most useful cookbook I’ve ever bought.
River Café Pocket-Sized Companions
$14.71These are great stocking stuffers.
For Her
Hermes Womens Cape Cod Watch
$1,850The ultimate anti-credit crunch present…
…but a girl can dream.
$150.00
I personalized mine and I wear it everyday.
For Him
Tiffany Engraved Octagon Cuff Links
with border in sterling silver
$175.00A beautiful addition to a man’s wardrobe.
Mulberry Weekend Bag, Small Clipper
in chocolate natural leather
$1,395This stylish carry-all is perfect for
any man in your family.
Barneys New York Cashmere Socks
$45.00Cashmere for under fifty dollars.
Nothing more to say.Food-related Gifts
A fun and different idea for a foodie.
My favorite olive oil in the world.
This stuff is liquid gold.
These pralines are super sweet heaven on earth. Perfect to send to a family or a cool business associate.
My absolute favorite chocolate in the entire world. I send these out to special people every year.
Gift Baskets
A gift basket is always festive and exciting, you never know what treasures you will unearth.
NEXT WEEK
Next week we discover where GOOP loves to eat and stay in L.A.
[From Goop e-mail newsletter]
What possessed Paltrow to start a business run out of World Trade Center 7 based on making recommendations to the masses? Did she need a tax write off? Does she consider herself a taste maker? As Agent Bedhead mentioned in an earlier post about this “That is some of the most expensive office real estate in the world, and she’s running this silly website out of it… Exactly how much money is she willing to spend, based upon the idea that we all want and need her wisdom?”
More GOOP-y puke, though it looks like someone told her to scale down in the prices of things. Still… it’s more fun watching my dog hark up breakfast than watching Gwennie.
I would love to live in Gwyneth World. 🙄
She’s derranged…! There are people starving, loosing their jobs by the thousands EVERYDAY. $55 for fucking wooden spoons????? Hell’s wrong with this crazy b…tch????????
Shit, $110 worth of chocolate’s not enough to make me wanna sit down and read further.
Annoying HO! Ho! HO!
I can agree with that, Tina, but no gwyneth included.
Look, I really dislike the sanctimonious bitch too, but the gift list isn’t *that* offensive. Some of the items are really pricey, some aren’t. It actually seems like the kind of list People magazine would compile.
It’s not offensive at all. But it IS seriously dull and unimaginative! I’m sure I’ve seen almost every last item here (with small variations) in last weekend’s newspapers’ mags.
Bland with uppity pretensions, just like its creator.
Her list is not offensive, it’s just that most of the items are rather… WASPy, dull, and weirdly impractical for someone like me who does her holiday shopping at more bargain-y places.
Good for Gwyneth for showing us what holiday presents SHOULD be like, though. Good for her.
And, Moore, I second you on that. 😉
So, is Coldplay planning on disbanding so he can kiss his wife’s ass everyday? Maybe he’s slated to run her website.
By the way, is this woman aware of what’s going on in the world? Companies shutting down (at least here in Ontario) and people being thrown out of work *right before the holidays!* and all she can do is hoark up some elitist pap of a gift list? A lot of people will be missing their loved ones this year Gwyneth. Take your cake knife and cram it.
I thought her gift suggestions were interesting and revealed a good price spread.She is well meaning and I don’t believe she would ever be intentionally insensitive to those less fortunate. But let’s face it, she does live in a rarified stratosphere!
Ugh, why doesn’t she just drop the premise of trying to help people and just call her site “All the super cool shit that I have that makes me better than you.”
She just doesnt exist in the same world as all of us.
She grew up really rich and has NEVER really had to worry about money or had to think about it in the way the rest of us have had to.
I dont think she really understands that not everyone is like her. Very shallow.
AND you cant expect much from a woman that wears a lacy see through number with WHITE HIPSTER UNDERWEAR AND BRA, knowing that you can see it.
I actually saw a few items on there that would make reasonable gifts. What is not reasonable is her dress with white underwear. God, when do they every learn?
That dress is clearly designed to be worn with NO underwear.
I hate Gwyneth, but I see nothing wrong with this list. She has a long list of items that span a very wide range of prices. In fact, most of them are under $100 which is about the average that i would spend on each present for close memebers of my family anyway (brother, etc). Im not sure what the fuss is all about.
Love the jewelry, can’t say the same about the dress 🙄
Gwyneth plans on using her site for a selling platform, eventually. You will see her pushing her own brand soon. She is getting PAID a fraction of the cost by everything she puts on her site.
I used her sweet potato recipe for Thanksgiving and it was a hit.
Cashmere should never be used in socks as it will fray after 5 wearings. Same goes for chenille.
Yes, she is silly but gives us all so much fodder to laugh about.
She should have given us directions on how to make flavored vodkas, sugar and butters as gifts but then again, she isn’t me, not even you.
What a difference an education makes, huh?
$1395 for a man bag. 😆
Wow, that is one truly ugly dress, with all that going on, the lace, the solid black panel and the white framing it, it truly is not meant to be kind or flattering to anyone…and those shoes with what looks like to me, attached white socks…Sorry Gwyneth that is one ugly and unflattering outfit…
It seems to me that every time I look at her, especially in recent pictures with her hair pulled back ooh is it regally, I see Denise Hale a San Francisco socialite long past a certain age…And who at one time was Liza Minellli’s step mother…
do not know how to do links…so here goes
http://media.7x7sf.com/images/sonya1A3V0617%202.jpg
sfluxe.com/2007/05/ 03/dinner-loulou-zac-robin/
http://www.newyorksocialdiary.com/socialdiary/2004/09_16_04/beachblanket/Denise-Hale-Mark-Leno.jpg
It’s not the items. It’s not the prices. It’s the whole idea that she thinks her opinions should be heard and cherished by all and sundry. And the fact that she obviously feels this need to gloat about her wealthy, privileged, and unbelievably over-the-top lifestyle.
She can’t be serious about that dress. It’s gotta be a joke. Right????
Wow, way to personalize a freakin’ list of gift ideas. Don’t worry guys, it isn’t about you. She doesn’t know you and she doesn’t have any idea her list would be hurtful to you.
There are lots of things on that list I would love to give or get from that list. Take a chill pill… there are still people in this world that have money and they don’t have to pretend they don’t just to soothe your sensitive feewings.
I think its farking ridiculous that you guys are all up in arms that she sent out gift ideas in her own newsletter. You might as get riled up about magazine gift idea articles. Hey, maybe I should get pissed at Martha Stewart for putting all those cool ideas in her magazines because I can’t make her stuff nearly as well as she can! Oh noes!
You know, when people had very little money, the dinner was the gift to those you loved…”Christmas doesn’t come from a store.”
I believe I see some nipple exposure on her left breast (the right side to those viewing the pic).
I don’t see the offense. I think she’s just ensuring she won’t be seen in US Weekly’s “Stars, they’re just like US” pages. She hasn’t done anything surprising or unGwyneth, she’s been this snobby forever.
Thanks Dovesgate.
I like reading the celebrity stories here, but sometimes I just skip the comments.
Some people are very obviously jealous, and the nastiness is a bit of a turn off.
Back during the second world war, a gift of an orange was an extravagant gift. Wouldn’t hurt for people to go back to the simpler things in life.
What’s wrong with people who have money spending it? If everyone holds on to their cash, than the economy gets worse. People lose jobs when the sales for a company tank.
I’m not quite sure where all the starving children are in this country either.
Seriously.
I’m not in a high tax bracket. My husband is a Marine for God’s sake…and there were a lot of things on that list in my price range.
I thought it was a nice list, actually.
I’m not sure where the offense is coming from. Not everyone is bereft in America…and those that are would clearly have no interest in Gwyneth’s shopping tips.
People who still have a home and a job and food on the table (which is still a huge massive majority of the country) will be Christmas shopping this year.
and…as to why she’s doing this? I always figured she was trying to find something to keep herself busy, occupied, and happy while staying lower profile for the sake of her kids.
I figured her life had different priorities, now, and that was about all the thought I put into it. I do lots of little things now that I don’t work in a paying job.
I’m not sure why the hostility for that, either. If you don’t like her…don’t click on her site.
Gracie – you don’t know where the hungry children are? Seriously? Ask your church. Ask the police. Ask a teacher. I work in law enforcement and I’m seeing people who are stealing because they’re hungry.
Which makes Gwyneth Paltrow seem about as significant as a mosquito.
Devilgirl, that was always the first thing I pulled out of my stocking, an orange. Merry Christmas in advance 😀
Gracie: Only a fool would doubt the very real fact that there are hungry children in this country. Please think before you hit submit. 🙄
I used to love the cable knit moccasin slippers my mother would make for us. But my creedo this year is re-use and re-purpose. You’d be surprised what you can do with paint, varnish, double sided tape and some elbow grease. I’ve got some fine looking matted and framed pictures I am giving by re-using frames others didn’t want anymore. If the matting is not the color you want you can paint them the desired color with craft latex paint at a little over(sometimes under) a buck a bottle. It works like a charm.
I could give a rat’s ass about her silly newsletter or whatever crap she’s trying to hock on it. I’ve never understand the appeal of this woman-even at the height of her fame in the 90’s. Her pretentious, sniveling demeanor coupled with her very homely and utterly unnattractive features is what I can’t stand. She always looks affected-the way she’s holding her hand up while giving a side-ways glance. Can’t f-ing stand her.
I’ve been thinking about the whole WTC7 thing, and I wonder if it has anything to do with her insistence that “I’m a New York girl.” She said that after people accused her of being unpatriotic with all those quotes about Americans not being civilized during dinner conversations or whatever. So, renting some WTC office space proves otherwise… or something.
Thank you for posting this Celebitchy ! I’m going to go spend more then 20 dollars on socks because they got a famous designers name on them! oh wait… maybe i should save that money for food… eh fuck’em my family can use the dollar menu.
For Christmas, I’m giving my brother a Wal-Mart gift card and some homemade coupons for babysitting his kids. He’s laid off and desperately looking for a job and is a single dad. Her gift list is useless to me and to people like my brother.
Oh, what on Mother earth is wrong with this woman?
“wah wah wah why is everyone always so mean to celebrites? The comments here are so mean!” ugh, why are you even DEFENDING these celebrities, when they wouldn’t even lower themselves to use your pant leg to wipe dog doo off their Louboutins. They don’t give a crap about you, why give a crap about defending them? These same people would treat you like garbage. Why the obsession? BTW this is CeleBITCHY if you don’t like the comments, then go to Just Jared or Popsugar and leave the rest of us in peace.
i wonder if she gets some kind of reimbursement for product placement in her goopy newsletter? and who in their right mind has $75 cake server? i am a pastry chef and i don’t have a $75 cake server!
Are you kidding? This is a pretty practical list with some luxury items. You know there are a good number of people that value little luxuries like bamboo picnic forks and knives. I shop at whole foods, and value those things too. I’m stoked on some of these suggestions and personally would rather get a chris bolton gold filled personalized pendent over a couple of xbox games any day of the week. Thanks for the tip on the list though. i found some good stuff there.
Holly, I’m not about defending celebrities. I agree with your dog poo comment.
What I’m defending is some of you people thinking that just because some of us can afford the things on that list and some of us can’t, that means those who can have to cater to the sensibilities of the others. I’m not going to wear a jacket with holes to work just because one of my coworkers is having a rough time financially, I’m going to buy a new one (to put it very simply).
I’m pretty darn sure that if I were to get something off that list for that same coworker, he/she would be pretty damn pleased.
Dear Gwynn,
The part about not cursing when someone steals your parking spot? How about not cursing and throwing punches to photogs when they try to take your pic, vis-a-vis your hot-headed, immature husband?
I like her idea about the gift baskets!!
Great present , gift from Redlih design – redlih.com , House portraits
Personal experience 😉
Just like there’s pressure to keep up with their classmates’ Christmas presents, my guess is if any of the other parents hear that you’ve opted out, they’ll be thrilled and relieved that they can do it too. Sanity is contagious.”