In the strange and tender autumn of 2020, a gift guide from the Los Angeles Times asked a question many households were quietly asking themselves: how do we care for one another when we cannot easily gather? The guide answers with a gathering of small and independent makers, from robes and bath soaks to puzzles, lotería cards, and yoga mats, offered as tokens of comfort for a season of stress and isolation. It reflects a broader shift, in which self-care moved from a cultural joke toward a practical necessity for mental health. Yet the wisdom here lies partly in what it leaves unsaid: the comf
LA Times 2020 Holiday Gift Guide: Self-Care Picks for Stressed, Overworked, and Wellness-Minded Shoppers
The year many stopped mocking self-care and embraced it
Mark
Why does a gift guide open with an argument about self-care?
Mimi
Because it's the justification for the whole list. It says 2020 changed how people see self-care, from an Instagram gimmick to something needed for mental health.
Mark
What's the range of what's on offer?
Mimi
Over two dozen items, from a $24 journal to a $99 robe. Soaps, puzzles, yoga mats, candles, CBD, a card game.
Mark
Is there a pattern in who makes them?
Mimi
Many are L.A. or California brands, and several are founder-led, like the Gibson sisters' yoga mats or Mike Alfaro's Lotería.
Luke
Let's be careful about the CBD drops. What's actually established there?
Mimi
Only that the company recommends them for stress and anxiety, and a user says they helped.
Luke
So that's the maker's pitch plus one testimonial, not evidence of an effect.
Mark
And the cleansing kit?
Luke
It says it clears stagnant energies. The guide itself shrugs with 'Can't hurt, right?' Nothing is shown there.
Mimi
The reviews are similar. The robe's 1,500-plus good ratings come from the seller's website.
Luke
Right, and the guide says some items were tested, but we don't know how many or how.
Il Polso
- A year of pandemic stress has turned self-care from a punchline into a daily need, and holiday shoppers are scrambling to meet it.
- Product picks range from $24 journals to $99 robes, crowding a marketplace where small independent brands compete for attention.
- Buyers are being steered toward CBD drops, energy-cleansing kits, and home fitness gear, each promising relief from anxiety and restlessness.
- The guide pushes gifts for others and for oneself, but its health claims rest on seller testimonials rather than verified results, so readers must weigh them carefully.
In the strange and tender autumn of 2020, a gift guide from the Los Angeles Times asked a question many households were quietly asking themselves: how do we care for one another when we cannot easily gather? The guide answers with a gathering of small and independent makers, from robes and bath soaks to puzzles, lotería cards, and yoga mats, offered as tokens of comfort for a season of stress and isolation. It reflects a broader shift, in which self-care moved from a cultural joke toward a practical necessity for mental health. Yet the wisdom here lies partly in what it leaves unsaid: the comfort of a ritual is real, even when the promises printed on the label outrun the evidence.
The Los Angeles Times opened its 2020 wellness gift guide with a claim about the year itself: many people had stopped dismissing self-care as an Instagram gimmick and begun treating it as something they needed. The guide was written for friends and loved ones who could use some comfort, with a gentle reminder to buy something for yourself too.
The more than two dozen picks range from a $99 Parachute robe, praised in over 1,500 reviews, to $24 items like a journal from L.A. artist K'era Morgan and a bath soak from Topanga Canyon's Odacite, founded by a cancer survivor determined to remove toxins from her life. Two CBD products appear, including Brown Girl Jane's Balance drops, whose co-founder says the aim is to help women live fully and holistically.
Games and crafts offer warmth and play. Poketo's Millennial Lotería, created by Mike Alfaro to push back on outdated Hispanic stereotypes, swaps traditional cards for modern figures like La Feminist and El Hipster. Jigsaw puzzles, whose popularity has surged since the pandemic began, are also recommended. Fitness picks include yoga mats celebrating Black men and women, drawn originally by a mother for her daughters' brand, and wearable weights for people who move from Pilates to a Zoom call.
The largest group is bath, skin and sleep products: soap sets, eye pillows filled with lavender and buckwheat, scrubs that donate to environmental causes, and candles that burn for about 50 hours. Some items make bolder claims. A ritual cleansing kit promises to clear stagnant energy, and the guide admits with a shrug, "Can't hurt, right?" Readers should treat such claims, along with the CBD benefits, as the sellers' marketing rather than proven outcomes, even while the simple pleasure of a thoughtful gift remains real.
The Los Angeles Times opened its 2020 holiday gift guide for wellness with a claim about the year itself: 2020 is when many people stopped mocking self-care as an Instagram branding gimmick and began treating it as something they needed for their mental health. The guide was built for friends and loved ones who could use some comfort, and it adds a nudge to buy something for yourself too.
The picks run to more than two dozen products, each with a price. Among the most expensive is Parachute's classic robe, $99, made of Turkish cotton with a shawl collar and two pockets. The company's site carries more than 1,500 reviews of four stars or better, and one reviewer is quoted as jumping from the shower straight into it. At the other end are the $24 Labyrinth Journal from L.A. mixed media artist K'era Morgan and the $24 Odacite bath soak. Odacite is based in Topanga Canyon and was founded by cancer survivor Valerie Grandury, who set out to remove toxins from her life.
CBD appears twice. Brown Girl Jane's Balance drops cost $68 and are its most popular product, taken as a daily dropperful under the tongue to ease stress and anxiety. Co-founder Tai Beauchamp says the aim is to help women live fully and holistically, and one user is quoted saying the drops saved her spirit. Leef Organics' Skin Balance CBD Body Oil in Orange Blossom is $50, with a desert-inspired scent. The guide says users praise it for hydrating dry skin without leaving oily residue.
Games and crafts make up another group. Poketo sells a Millennial Lotería for $24.95, an update of the Mexican card game that creator Mike Alfaro calls Mexican bingo. He says he made it to push back on outdated Hispanic stereotypes. La Dama becomes La Feminist, El Catrín becomes El Hipster, and Las Jaras becomes La Hashtag. A new La Shiny AF Edition is coming through Instagram. The guide also notes that jigsaw puzzles have surged in popularity since the pandemic began, and recommends Inner Piece's Home puzzle by Andrew Watch for $30. Texture of Dreams, from Walnut, Calif., offers paint-by-numbers kits from $29.99 and will turn a customer's photo, such as a pet, into a custom kit.
Fitness gear features several local brands. Toned by BaggedEm, started by sisters Julia and Cornelia Gibson, sells yoga mats from $59.99. The artwork, originally drawn by their mother, celebrates Black women and men in yoga poses, and one mat carries the affirmation "I am free to be me." L.A.-based Bala makes wearable wrist and ankle weights, with the bars at $55, in colors such as lilac, sage, sand and turquoise. Encinitas-based Vuori's Energy Top, $52 in sizes XS to XL, is pitched at people working from home who go from Pilates to a Zoom call.
The bath, skin and sleep category is the largest. Fat and the Moon, from Northern California, offers a $58 set with bath soak, body powder and body oil, best used within six months. Marfa Brands soap sets run $35 to $40, including a Woodsy Earthy Trio with a Campfire bar scented with Lapsang souchong tea. Bodha's $38 eye pillow is made in L.A. from washed linen filled with buckwheat, lavender and chamomile. C & the Moon's $64 Brown Sugar scrub donates a portion of proceeds to the Natural Resources Defense Council. Others include Angela Caglia's $75 Goddess Facial Kit, Lather's $28 Silent Night sleep set, Pear Nova's $50 nail kit, a $38 SpaRitual hand and foot set, and Melody Ehsani's $25 Memory ME candle, with roughly 50 hours of burn time.
Some items make claims the guide itself treats lightly. House of Intuition's $25 ritual cleansing kit says it can clear a space of stagnant energies, and the guide adds, "Can't hurt, right?" The LoveTuner, $59 and made in Malibu, is said by its maker to bring you into harmony with nature. Readers should take the CBD and energy claims as marketing from the sellers, not as proven effects.
Citazioni salienti
I created this series to combat outdated Hispanic stereotypes and bring a more modern and relevant representation of Hispanic-Americans and their daily life.— Mike Alfaro, creator of Millennial Lotería
Our goal is to help badass women live life fully and holistically.— Tai Beauchamp, co-founder of Brown Girl Jane
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