Holiday Guide – Luv Saving Money

Holiday Ho Ho Ho Giveaway Hop 2022

The holidays are a busy time. Shopping, wrapping, decorating, baking, cleaning, activities at the kids’ schools, get-togethers, etc. I feel like I’ll be non-stop until New Year’s Day then everything comes to a grinding hault.

I’m so excited that we have some new experiences this month though. We doing a Santa Express train ride. I honestly don’t know if I’ve ever road on a train so I’m excited just for that part alone. If you’ve followed me on social media for more than a month then you probably know I’m a sweepstakes lover too. I was lucky enough to win ticket to the Steelers v Ravens game this Sunday. I’ve never been to a professional football game. My husband is a Ravens fan so this should be interesting.

I wanted to offer up a $15 Amazon gift card that maybe the winner can use to get themself a little treat after the holidays.

GIVEAWAY

One US winner will win a $15 Amazon eGift Card

Now check out these other blogs to enter to win even more!

Apothecary At Home – Holiday Guide 2022

Subscription boxes are popular. With so many different themes out there, you could literally find a subscription box for anyone on your list. I’ve seen subscription boxes for coffee, chocolate, home decor, STEM for kids, book lovers, spa, gardening, crafters. And the thing is, it gets even more specific. Does your mom crochet? You can find crochet subscription boxes. Does your son love video games? You can find video game themed subscription boxes. My one niece has an obsession with Japan. You can find subscription boxes filled with Japanese treats. You get the idea right?

Well this box I’m about to talk about would be great for the gardner, budding herbalist, that person into natural remedies, foragers, or homesteaders.

Over the last year, I’ve been considering starting an herb garden. And with periodic shortages and prices of things in the grocery stores I wanted to be able to create my own herbal recipes for things like natural cleaning recipes, teas I can make specifically to help with certain issues, etc. The problem is, I didn’t know where to start with learning herbalism and knowing which plants to use for what.

After searching around online I found Apothecary At Home. This box is a great introduction to herbalism. Each box contains 2 featured herbs and a surprise herb with corresponding recipes and plant information.

Each Apothecary at Home box contains:

2 featured herbs and a surprise herb (bags of dried herbs ready to use)
muslin bags for straining
reusable tea bags
maceration jars
booklet with plant info and recipes
a pack of seeds for one of the featured herbs to grow your own for future use
containers for finished herbal recipes (IE droppers, tins, whatever is appropriate for the recipe)
Additional ingredients for main recipe
plant artwork
labels
loose leaf tea
a small surprise gift

I did a TikTok unboxing video for my 1st box:

@angiebeechan I’ve been interested in learning about and growing my own herbs. This is my very first box from Apothecary at Home. Each month has a theme. They come with 2 herbs with info on them and recipes. Plus, you get a surprise herb each month. You also get the containers for the recipe, labels, and muslin bags. They also offer live videos for subscribers as well as a facebook group. Besides the bags of dried herbs you also get some seeds to grow more. The boxes cover beauty and herbal remedies as well as folk medicine, folklore, and more. I’m excited to start learning about this month’s herbs. #unboxing #apothecary #apothecarybox ♬ FREE – Jess Brown:David Flint

Without any promotions or coupons this box runs at $42 per month. If you do a 3 month, 6 month, or 12 month subscription it’s a little cheaper per month. They periodically offer coupons too. Alternatively, they do offer gift cards in the shop starting at $25 all the way up to $300. You can also order mystery boxes in their shop for $19.99. I personally ordered a couple mystery boxes. What I’ll tell you is you get a nice amount of stuff for the price but it is not set up like a monthly box. It’s basically just a box with dried herbs, extra artwork, stickers, seeds, etc.

Get your Apothecary at Home subscription box or gift card here

Oil Perfumery – Holiday Guide 2022

I am someone that love fragrance. So does my husband for that matter. My middle son (18) enjoys wearing fragrance too. But, we kind of have expensive taste when it comes to fragrance. We all like to have a variety on hand for different situations, looks, occasions, etc.

Have you ever walked up to a fragrance counter and tested the perfumes? You really like one or two but you see the price tag and say “maybe another time”. Fragrances can get expensive.

One day I’m on TikTok and I come across this TikTok from this guy helping people find dupes for their favorite name brand and expensive fragrances. Specifically he was trying to find a dupe for Tom Ford Bitter Peach. Spoiler alert, it was from a company called Oil Perfumery.

Oil Perfumery Bitter Peach rollerball dupe

I don’t know a whole lot about Tom Ford fragrances other than I know they’re expensive and I know they’re popular. I would never buy a bottle of Tom Ford perfume on a whim online because it’s too expensive. But when I read the notes of Bitter Peach it sounded like something I would love. So I ordered the Oil Perfumery Bitter Peach impression. Oh my goodness so good. Very different from anything I own. Best part, it was only $14.95 for the rollerball. When you compare that to $80 for a Tom Ford Bitter Peach 0.34 oz travel spray, um yea, huge difference.

It comes in a glass rollerball. I put it in my hand so you can see it’s kinds of your average size rollerball. Specifically this is 10 ml or 0.34 oz. Perfect to slip into a purse, backpack, or pocket.

What I will say is the fragrance fades after about 2 hours. Having never tried Tom Ford fragrances I have to imagine the actual Tom Ford fragrances would last longer.

Oil Perfumery has fragrance impressions for A LOT of fragrances. My husband is a big fan of Creed Aventus. Another crazy expensive cologne you can’t just buy anywhere. Only sold online or in boutiques. It’s made in France. But guess what…yep Oil Perfumery has impressions for many of the Creed fragrances. Also, I don’t know what it is about Creed Aventus but wow, it’s an amazing scent.

Someone in my family usually asks for some type of fragrance each year I think this would be great stocking stuffer gift for my hubby and son.

FYI Oil Perfumery is also doing early Black Friday sales right now! These fragrances would make a nice stocking stuffer or under $20 gift.

**This post does contain an affiliate link. I will earn a small commission from sales made through my links**

Vanilla Extract Kit – Holiday Guide 2022

If you’re looking for a unique gift this year, this is one that you can be certain your recipient won’t receive doubles of. And even if they do, that means more vanilla extract.

When I found out how easy it is to actually make homemade vanilla extract, I’ll never buy vanilla extract again. In this way you can control the type of vanilla extract, alcoholic or non-alcoholic, and your recipient will never run out of vanilla extract.

I’ve personally given vanilla extract kits to 2 different people so far and they both loved it. Each vanilla extract kit from Native Vanilla comes with a bottle, vanilla beans, label, and recipes/instructions. It comes in a nice wooden crate that really dresses up the gift too. The one thing I added to this gift was to add a bottle of cheap vodka so the recipient can get their vanilla extract started right away. For your recipients that may want to avoid the alcohol in the extract you could offer food grade vegetable glycerine instead .

Once it’s made, I leave the vanilla beans in the jar. Then I can just top off my extract when needed with more vodka or food grade vegetable glycerine and in that way, vanilla forever. It’s real vanilla, not imitation.

I love this gift idea because it’s easy to do, useful, consumable, and I find people love learning that they can make their own vanilla.

Get the Native Vanilla extract kit here

Watch for sales too. It’s on sale 25% off until 11/14/22. But they’ve been doing sales most of this month. Also, if you’re new to Native Vanilla you can sign up for their email to get 10% off. Watch for Black Friday deals too!

Have you ever tried making your own vanilla extract? Would you consider it? If someone gifted you a Native Vanilla extract kit, would you like it?

Follow Luv Saving Money on all my social media channels to get more budget friendly gift ideas.

**This post does contain affiliate links. I will earn a small commission from sales made through my links**

Super Stocking Stuffer Giveaway 2022

I can’t believe it’s that time of year again can you?

I’ve tried so many things this year and still have a few things planned. I’ve taken up a new hobby, took some chances on a few things this year, got COVID (yuck), oh and just tonight we found a little kitten in our yard. Of course it was at like 11 pm at night and my husband was at work and the kids were asleep. The kitten is safe for now and visually seems ok but I’ll be calling our vet tomorrow.

We took our first family vacation that included extended family. I started trying to learn a little bit about herbs. I’m planning to start an herb garden next year.

With everything happening this year I’ve focused more on my social media channels than the blog. I almost missed this hop and I’ve done this one every years for…I think…at least the last 5 years.

I’m sure I’m not the only one who’s been busy or had a crazy year. So I thought why not keep this giveaway simple and something that can be used for whatever the winner needs it for.

GIVEAWAY

1 US winner will win a $25 Amazon gift card

Now check out these other blogs for a chance to win more prizes!