Self-care gifts that do not read as a comment on how they look
The risk with a self-care gift is that it arrives sounding like an opinion. Nobody wants a box that means you seem tired. The way round it is the card rather than the contents, so every box here is plain about what it is, an hour with the door shut, and the message you write is what decides whether that reads as kindness or as a note from a manager. I pack every box myself here in Canada and write your message onto the card by hand before the lid goes on.
A self-care gift can read as an opinion. The card is what stops it. I pack every box by hand here in Canada.
Eight boxes for an hour with the door shut, at $99 and $119, and six of the eight come in two sizes.
If it is going to somebody sensitive about this, write the card as thanks rather than as advice.
Marisol. Lock the door. Nobody needs you for an hour.
Love, Dee
The boxes I would send somebody who looks after everyone else
These are filed under thank you, get well and a school year ending. What they have in common is that everything in them is for the person opening it and nothing in them is a task.
Showing all 8
The Spa & Thank You Box
From$99Bath salts, something to put over the eyes, lotion, a bar of real soap and a candle.
The Relax & Unwind Box
From$99The small version of the same evening: socks, a candle and a tea.
The Rest & Recharge Box
From$99A contoured sleep mask and a tea meant for the end of the day. The sleep one.
The Warm Hug Box
From$99Something soft, something for cold feet and a scent, for a person who will never run a bath.
The Cozy Retreat Box
From$99Wool socks, a hot chocolate and a candle that smells of cedar rather than lavender.
The Afternoon Break Box
From$99Tea, a cup and something to nibble, for whoever eats lunch standing at a counter.The Summer Self-Care Box
$119Five things rather than three, and all of them for the same long bath and early night.
The Premium Cozy Comfort Box
A knit throw, socks, something for dry hands and chocolates. The fullest of the soft ones.
Which one, then
The split that matters is whether they will actually run a bath. Plenty of people who badly need an hour to themselves will never spend it in a bathroom, and sending bath salts to one of them is sending a nice thought that sits under the sink for two years. If the money is the part you are unsure about, how much to spend on a gift in Canada handles that separately.
If they will run a bath
Two boxes from $99 to $119: the Spa & Thank You Box and the Summer Self-Care Box. These are the two real bath boxes and they are close to the same idea: salts, something to put over the eyes, lotion, soap and a candle. The first starts lower, the second is sold at one size only, and either suits somebody who has a bath habit and never gets to use it.
If they will not
Three boxes from $99 to $119: the Warm Hug Box, the Premium Cozy Comfort Box and the Rest & Recharge Box. Same idea, no bathroom. Something soft, something for cold feet, and in the last of them a sleep mask and a tea meant for bedtime, which is the version for a person whose problem is nights rather than evenings.
The smallest one that still works
Two boxes from $99 to $119: the Relax & Unwind Box and the Afternoon Break Box. Both are three things and both are a complete gift. I send these to colleagues and to friends I like without knowing their bathroom, and nothing about either reads as a comment. Six boxes from $99 to $119: the Spa & Thank You Box, the Relax & Unwind Box, the Rest & Recharge Box, the Warm Hug Box, the Cozy Retreat Box and the Afternoon Break Box.
Two sizes on a box, and where the bigger ones are
The boxes on this page run $99 and $119, and six of the eight come in two sizes. The larger size of a box is everything in the smaller one and about two more things, picked the way the rest of it was picked. On this page the larger size usually means one more thing for the same hour rather than a longer hour.
Eight boxes on the site run a ladder of three sizes instead, and the luxury boxes at the top of it are the fullest things I pack. If you came here meaning to spend more than this page asks for, the links under this are the shortest way there.
The card is what stops this reading as advice.
You type the message when you order, up to 280 characters, and I write it out in pen on a real card. A box of bath salts with no note says one thing. The same box with thank you for this year written on the top of it says something else entirely, and that is the whole difference.
If you are stuck, people write things like:
"Lock the door.""Thank you for this year.""Nobody needs you for an hour."
The card, the tissue, the tape and the rest of what happens to a box before it leaves.
You look after all of us. This is an hour where nobody is allowed to need you.
Love, Dee
Other things they might be into
Self-care sits next to two other shelves here and they are genuinely different pages, not the same one renamed.
If the person is deliberate about it, sleep and water and slowing down as a practice rather than a treat, the wellness boxes are the ones written for that.
If what they want is a blanket and a closed door rather than a bathroom, the page for staying in has more of that and less of the bath.
And if they train hard, the same salts and sleep masks are on a page written about recovery instead, which is a better card to write.
Questions people ask me
Will this read as me saying they look exhausted?
That depends entirely on the card, which is why I would spend your thinking there rather than on which box. A self-care box sent with thank you for this year on it reads as thanks. The same box with look after yourself on it reads as an instruction. You write the message at checkout and I write it out by hand, so you have full control of that.
Is everything in here scented?
No, and it is worth checking before you send. Some boxes are built around lavender, one is built around cedar and smells of wood rather than flowers, and the ones with a blanket and socks in them have no scent in them at all. Each box page says which, so if the person is sensitive to scent you can pick around it.
Is this the same as the wellness page?
No. This page is about a treat: a bath, an early night, an hour where nobody needs them. The wellness page is about somebody who already does this on purpose, and it leans towards sleep, water and a slower pace rather than a candle. Two boxes appear on both because they honestly suit both.
What are the two sizes?
The larger size of a box is everything in the smaller one and about two more things, picked the way the rest of it was picked. The boxes here run $99 and $119, and six of the eight come in two sizes. No price on anything inside the box, so it opens as a gift rather than as a number.
How long does delivery take?
Shipping is free anywhere in Canada and a box is 1 to 7 days in transit. There is no same-day option and no arrival date promised anywhere on this page. There is a field at checkout where you pick the delivery date you would prefer. All sales are final, so check the address before you order.
The people who need this are the ones who will not buy it
Self-care is a strange category, because the person it was invented for will not spend money on it. They will buy the thing for the house, the thing for the kids, the thing somebody else mentioned wanting. An hour of their own goes to the bottom of the list every time, not out of martyrdom but because it is the only item on it nobody else is chasing.
That is exactly why it works as a gift. A box that arrives already bought removes the decision, which was the actual obstacle. Nobody has to justify the money because the money is already spent, and nobody has to schedule anything because the thing is sitting on the counter being obvious.
Every box here is packed by hand in Canada and sent with a handwritten card. Shipping is free anywhere in Canada and a box is 1 to 7 days in transit. If you would rather see the whole catalogue, every box on the site is in one grid sorted by price.
While you are here
- The Psychology of Gift GivingWhy a gift somebody would not buy themselves lands hardest.
- How to Write a Gift Card Message That Does Not Sound Like a CardOn this shelf the card is most of the gift.
- How a box is packedThe card, the tissue and the rest of it.
If you are not sure which box to send somebody who looks after everyone else, tell me who it is for and roughly what you want to spend and I will tell you what I would pack. I read every message myself, at team@swipegifts.com.