Gifts That Actually Do Something

I've given a lot of bad gifts in my life. Things that seemed nice in the store but ended up in a drawer or donated six months later.

At some point I started thinking differently about it. What makes a gift actually good?

It gets used

This sounds obvious, but most gifts don't pass this test. A candle gets burned. It fills someone's apartment with a smell they picked out. It's not clutter—it's gone in a few weeks, and that's the point.

It doesn't create obligation

The best gifts don't make someone feel like they need to display it forever or pretend to love it. Consumables are nice that way. You enjoy it, it's done, no guilt.

It helps someone else

This is the part I care about most. When someone buys one of our candles as a gift, they're also helping ALS patients. The person receiving it gets a nice candle. And somewhere, someone gets help they needed.

That's the kind of gift I want to give—and receive, honestly.

Not just candles

There are lots of ways to give gifts that do something. Support a local maker. Buy from a business that treats people well. Choose something where your money goes somewhere good.

Ours happen to be candles. But the idea works for anything.

—Ramita