Christmas is the time for giving they say and we had to agree. We were already participating in a Secret Santa organized by one of our friends and we did a little celebration with our bookbabes. Besides that we knew a few friends of ours also exchanged gifts as well. That sounded really interesting to us, so we wanted to do a surprise box for eachother as well. We were cutting it a little close until Christmas, but we were still able to put together some awesome things. Keep reading to take a look.

Candyce

Isabelle actually thought of this idea and I was really enthusiastic. The Secret Santa is a lot of fun, but even more so when you do something like this for someone you know. We agreed on a budget, but both managed to spend more than we agreed, haha. Oops! While it was a lot of fun to create a package, it was fun to see what she did for me as well. The box it came in had fake snow inside. The cats loved that and when one sneezed it flew everywhere. It was a funny moment to start the unwrapping with.

The only list we made was of the books we wanted. To make it a bit of a surprise we made a pretty long list. We agreed to do two books, but I got Heartless as an extra surprise. Isabelle had two editions on her shelves and gave me one. I ruined her surprise by saying I had already read Heartless, which was true. Only I own the e-book not the physical copy. So I was lucky to add this beautiful hardcover to my collection. I love the other two books I got as well, Nyxia sounds amazing and the cover is beautiful. Last year I read Since You’ve Been Gone by Morgan Matson and this one sounds just as good.

Besides books, we had a budget to get goodies. These are a few of them. The mug and candle came all the way from France, I love the cat on the candle and it smells amazing! The mug is so cute as well. I love the little designs for the holidays. The tea came in such a cute package. I love tea, so it definitely won’t go to waste. And how cute is that little Christmas Tree. It’s a good decoration for on the bookshelf, haha.

While we celebrated with our friends a few weeks ago. We all loved the candle that was a small gift and when we found out that the Etsy shop was here in The Netherlands we both ordered a candle to give to the other. Isabelle got me this gorgeous Gryffindor candle. It smells so good!!

And look at the beautiful stickers!! The Disney princesses are so cute and anything Harry Potter is always good, haha. I think I may use them for my bulletjournal, but I kind of just want to leave them. It’s almost a shame to use them, haha.

Look at these amazing magnetic bookmarks! I got quite a few. On the top of course Harry Potter and Aelin. The second set are from LUX!! They are so adorable. This is definitely a series I want to reread this year. And the bottom ones are a set from Tower of Dawn. These little bookmarks make me happy.

Then a few gorgeous stickers and a Niffler bookmark. I haven’t read Outlander yet, so I don’t completely get the Sassenach one. I received the first book this month, so I guess I will get it more once I start reading it.

And last, but not least, Isabelle got me a few things for my bulletjournal. I just started with the set up for my 2018 bulletjournal, so these will be put to good use.

I love everything she got me and it was so much fun putting together a box for Isabelle. At times it’s hard to choose though, because there is so much fun stuff to buy. I can’t wait to do this again!

Isabelle

It was so much fun to get stuff for Candyce, like she said it’s fun to make a Secret Santa box in general but it’s even more fun when you make one for someone you know well. The hardest part was seeing all the fun stuff so the online shopping may or may not have gone like this: One for Candyce, one for me, one for Candyce, one for me, one for Candyce, one for me…. Oops 😉 Let take a look at the fun stuff Candyce got me!

First thing (or actually the last things I got but okay) are these beautiful books! I accidentely bought the second book in the Great Library series this summer and I’m happy I can finally start reading it now. Sleeping Giants has been on my radar for quite a while as well, in part because of that beautiful cover.

I recently discovered another great Etsy shop but was afraid to order something on the chance of Candyce getting me something from that shop. And she did! So I was very happy to find this tea bag in the box. It’s Lara Jean’s Christmas Cookies tea and it smells great, really fruity. I love To All The Boys I’ve Loved Before so I was super happy to get a goodie related to that series, there aren’t enough Lara Jean goodies! I’m also a massive Disney fan so this travel mug was another perfect gift. Can’t wait to start using it <3

Next were these two, Tony’s Chocolonely is amazing chocolate (and was completely finished the next day…) and Winter Glow is one of my favourite teas. It close to being completely finished haha. Great additions to the box.

As Candyce said, we got each other a candle from this Dutch company and when looking at the site Candyce told me she knew which one to get me right away. This got me even more excited haha. I’m a big Manon fan and this candle is beautiful! I love the glitters on top and it smells great. I won’t be lighting this one because it will probably ruin the glitters haha, but it already has a nice spot on my shelves.

YES! FUZZY SOCKS <3 These are the best thing to wear inside the house. Perfect winter attire haha. Super happy with these!

Okay, this might be my favourite item… I recentely read Warcross and I loved this quote so much, so it was already great getting a bookmark with this on it. But for it to be this beautiful?! WOW! I adore it so so much and I can’t stop looking at it haha.

Since we thought of this quite late two of the goodies Candyce got me didn’t arrive on time but she took these pictures for me when they arrived this week. I’m a big Gilmore Girls fan and I love this magnetic bookmark set she got me. They all look so happy and I’m immediately in the mood to rewatch the show! The other two cuties are Cath and Levi from Fangirl, another favourite of mine. Can’t wait to display these cuties on my shelves. I’m super happy and thankful for all that Candyce got me <3

So this is what we gave each other this Christmas! Have any of you ever done something like this with friends? Keep a look out, because in March we will be doing something similar for our birthdays. They are a day apart, so we are going to make another fun box.