Winter Bulbs

By Leah

I married into a family of expert gift-givers, and this one comes from my mother-in-law, who chose this for the members of her book club, who've hosted a gift exchange at their December meeting for TWENTY-FIVE YEARS. That's a lot of lotions and scented candles and Moleskine journals, people.

This year she gave each of the ladies an amaryllis bulb in a pretty pot they can reuse for whatever after the flower's run its course.

There's a wide range of amaryllis bulb kits out there: single bulbs or multiples, in a range of colors, and you have your pick of cheap plastic pots or nicer copper pails, ceramic vases, or wicker baskets. If you're already ordering a ton of stuff from Amazon like I am, they have a good selection.

If you can't find an amaryllis you like, paperwhites are another easy-to-grow indoor bulb flower. Amazon has them, and I've seen them at Pottery Barn too.

I love this as a hostess gift, a neighbor gift, or a birthday gift instead of a bottle of wine or another box of chocolates.

(Amaryllis bulbs were on the first Style Lush Gift Guide, way back in 2009. Some of the links might be obsolete by now, but the ideas are as good as ever.)

Comments

[Kate]

Paperwhites are lovely but they have an extremely strong smell so they're not a good gift for anyone (like me) who is sensitive to smells. I got them from my mom one year and wound up having to get rid of them because they were giving me headaches (they were for my dorm room so there wasn't anyplace to put them where I couldn't smell them).