Elizabeth and Paul and I just spent a good 20 minutes trying to figure out how to spell shipable/shippable. We still don’t know. We had good arguments for either one; spellcheck was not persuaded. In the end we felt “shipable” looked more likely.
Every year I mail a large Christmas box to Paul’s sister Beth. I struggle mentally with how much it costs to ship (just think of how many more presents I could have gotten her with that money!), but my sense is that what we send her is about 90% of her Christmas, so I use a lot of coping thoughts and I just DO IT. I could have things shipped directly for free, but then they wouldn’t be wrapped and labeled, and that feels grim when it’s 90% of someone’s Christmas; or else they WOULD be wrapped, and it would cost $$$ extra per gift, so I might as well channel that gift-wrapping expense into the shipping costs and then I get to use ribbon and festive tissue paper and tuck little treats into the crevices and so forth.
Where was I? Oh yes! But there are some things I wouldn’t wrap anyway—more like stocking stuffers or general holiday treats. Some of them are lightweight, and those are nice for the aforementioned tucking into crevices. But some of the things are heavier or bulkier, and take up a really surprising amount of room in the box, and what I would rather do is ship them separately for free. We talked about this idea before, for pandemic birthday boxes and pandemic Mother’s Day care packages, and now I am working on a Pandemic Stocking (box), for Beth. This would also work as a Christmas care package gift for someone: address it to Firstname GIFT Surname, and tell them to put the whole box under the tree as-is. (Not that it will all come in one box. No. It will come in like EIGHT boxes.)
Some things ship for free with $25+, other things require $35+. I’m willing to spend $35+ (we don’t budget quite as much for Beth as for my brother’s family of four, but…we do adjust disproportionately, keeping in mind that my brother’s family has two sets of parents/siblings shopping for them too, while Beth does not), but it’s something to be aware of as you’re shopping, so you don’t put together the perfect $25 package and find it doesn’t qualify for free shipping. And some things are drifting in and out of availability for shipping, or are only shipable/shippable to certain zip codes—but this is just to give a general idea of some things that might work for a Christmas care package / stocking box.
I briefly considered starting with an actual stocking, just to be cute—but Beth already HAS a stocking, so it would be more like an unnecessary increase in the cost. I was still tempted, for thematic cuteness.
(image from Target.com)
In normal times, I would not have included a box of tissues, but these are not normal times. (They sometimes have the store-brand available for shipping even if nothing else is, though I’ll start by looking for Puffs or Kleenex to be fancy.)
(image from Target.com)
Hand soap and hand sanitizer, too: the new ways to say I care about you.
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And I feel a LITTLE silly about this—but I have been HUNTING DOWN this Lysol cleaning spray since March, and finally Finally FINALLY found it available for shipping from Target, and it comes in and out of availability, but if it is available when I’m ready to send a package to Beth, I AM INCLUDING A BOTTLE OF IT.
(image from Target.com)
Is this a lot less like a Christmas stocking and a lot more like a standard weekly Target shopping trip of yore? YES. THESE ARE ODD TIMES, MY FRIENDS. I AM LEANING INTO IT. I will maybe get her some paper towels and toilet paper, too, and I will KNOW SHE WILL BE HAPPY TO SEE THEM AS IN NO OTHER YEAR OF HER LIFE THUS FAR!
Okay, now for some better / more normal stocking things. These cute little Thayers face mists:
(image from Target.com)
William got me started on Thayers when he went on a skin-care kick and was participating heavily in online skincare message boards and so forth. He got a bottle of Thayers, so then I wanted a bottle too, and then Miss Grace was talking about all kinds of other face-mist options, and anyway now my cabinet is filled with like a dozen face mists but I always want more of them. This set has three little bottles to try: the unscented, the rose, and a seasonal cranberry orange.
(image from Target.com)
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Seasonal pretzels (these dumb things are so good; I don’t even LIKE white chocolate OR pretzels and I can eat a whole expensive little bag in one sitting EASILY) (I tried the dark chocolate ones ASSUMING I’d LOVE them, and they did not hold the same magic for me, there is no explaining it):
(image from Target.com)
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Glazed nuts. They’re kind of expensive, but they’re good hearty food while also being coated in delicious sugar/salt.
(image from Target.com)
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Fun little skincare samples to try:
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(They also have cosmetics samples, haircare samples, “clean beauty” samples.)
(image from Target.com)
(image from Target.com)
Cute seasonal face masks (FACE MASK SURE HAS A DIFFERENT MEANING THIS YEAR) (these are the old meaning):
(image from Target.com)
(Or just one: reindeer, snowman, gingerbread, moose, penguin.) (I couldn’t find the polar bear sold on his own, so he must be a bonus that comes with the set.)
(image from Target.com)
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(Also available in dog.)
I bought the set of 3 ridiculously charming birds at Target a few days ago! They are now on display in my home office along with my RGB & Barack Obama action figures.
*RBG
I love all your gift posts lately.
I was looking it up and I found a site that said “taking away a suffix” such as able should leave you with the root word, in this case ship. This makes me agree with the full word shipable.
I suspect that’s only part of the rule, though… Stoppable has double p for example, because according to pronunciation rules it would sound like ‘stope-able’ with one p, like the – ing rule (it’s shopping, not shoping as the later would rhyme with coping).
Tl;dr I think it’s probably shippable, though obviously they both look odd now, after thinking about them so much 😁
I would have said shippable too because of the short i.
I love all your gift posts, but this one is extra-amazing. And also I would willingly, happily give many valuable body parts to be related to you and get a box like this from you in the mail!
Just reading this gave me most of the pleasure I get from opening my own stocking on CHristmas morning.
Oh I love this idea! And the things you are considering adding (ESPECIALLY THE LYSOL OMG) are perfect and such a wonderful mix of festive/frivolous and possibly hard to find/practical.
What I like most about these stocking stuffers is that they are largely things I would want for myself but would not be able to justify buying.
If you relate to grammar as a mostly anxiety-producing hassle, skip this paragraph. In case you are a fellow grammar nerd who finds joy from these things, Merriam-Webster says shippable, with the rule explained here: https://speakspeak.com/resources/english-grammar-rules/english-spelling-rules/double-consonant-ed-ing.
Good to see another grammar nerd in the house!
I commented above with a similar explanation ; I always feel very satisfied when someone comes up with another justification for what I’ve been teaching my students (I’m in France and occasionally teach English to architecture students, alongside my main job).
:-D
Team shippable over here. I feel like “tempted for thematic cuteness” is my whole aesthetic. I love Meyer’s hand soap and I am exceedingly bitter that we couldn’t go visit Angus this year and snag some Gingerbread oreos. And the beehive ornament! This is all utterly charming.
I am always blown away, when visiting the States, about how many different kinds of Oreos are available!
As said before, I would very much like to be in Beth’s (receiving) shoes! The only problem that I have with this round-up is that I’m in the U.K. and can’t actually source most of the things! ☹️
A definite vote here for the double-p ‘shippable’…
I avoided the “ship” conundrum by using “ship-able.” And I am someone who WILL look it up (online) to see what’s correct. In this case, I like the hyphen.
THANK YOU! I went right in and ordered the face mist for my daughter AND husband (sensitive skin people) and also the Burt’s Bees hand creams. I love Target but have not been inside one since all this started, so thank you for shopping Target for me.
SWISTLE SWISTLE SWISTLE THERE IS SO MUCH OF THAT LYSOL SPRAY AVAILABLE HERE! I don’t think I would be able to get it to you before Xmas because shipping to the US is always weird in a normal December and it is NOT normal, but would you like me to try?
Oh THANK YOU but I now have TWO full bottles plus the partial bottle I was using carefully when I couldn’t get more, so I am all set for now!
We mailed cookies as a surprise to family for Thanksgiving. Three flavors – I thought they were mediocre myself but the kids made them. Plus my 8 year old sent a form letter she photocopied as writing several letters seemed too hard. And my 4 year old included some wet paper (water colors, but too
Much water not enough color).
People went crazy. Was it the surprise? Was it that they weren’t going to bake three types of cookies for themselves? I don’t know. But now I’m thinking hard about Christmas.
I’m not even in hard-core lockdown and I would legitimately cry if someone sent me a box like that in the mail!
I certainly prefer the look of shippable, and think the online info can be confusing. Any experts willing to pitch in?
Google seems to prefer shippable.
I accidentally hacked the Target shipping minimum the other day. I couldn’t quite make it so I thought “I wonder if gift cards count? I’ll get the teacher gift cards.” And they did! So I had a gift card for Ryan’s teacher shipped to me and that was enough to hit the free shipping minimum. And then I realized we weren’t going to be seeing the teacher before the winter break because she doubled up on the worksheet packets during the November curbside pickup. So I put that gift card in my own Target account and I’ll get her an email one. So if you are struggling to get up the the Target minimum, see if that will work for you. You could just cycle through gift cards, using the last one to pay for the next order. It might not work at all for this situation, sending gifts to someone else, because it might not let you ship the gift card to yourself, but since I just accidentally discovered this, I wanted to share in case it helps anyone else.
Shipping hacks are my jam. I had a whole situation where ONE of my items was not available, but it took me below what I needed to spend (it was that 2 orders of $90 got you a $20 bonus thing), so I had it changed to store pickup and then just didn’t pick it up. But I spent my $20 bonus before the pickup window expired. I’m sorry, Target.
I was on team shippable…until I typed it out. *sigh* It’s quite the poser, isn’t it?
Thank you for this list, Swistle! Even in normal years, I struggle with stocking stuffers – and, most likely, end up spending more on those than on the actual gifts. This list is practical, useful and yummy. Pure perfection.
I think it should be shipppable, she typed helpfully.
Ha!
Loved the hand sanitizer is the new way to say you care. So true. I do not often think of edible treats for Christmas, but these are some good ideas.
I have the same Shipping Cost Issues. I have 2 personalized plates coming soon that I’ll need to ship to my friend’s kids who live in France, and boy howdy do I have to do some breathing exercises to do that. Having Prime really makes it shocking when paying real / normal shipping costs…!
I’ve always used voice text when I don’t know how to spell something. In this case, it gave me shippable – but that was after first mishearing “shivable”. So now I don’t trust it.
Well, why would you trust something that calls you shivable, really?
My hard copy Collins Dictionary (Australian edition) has shippable (adj).
That jives with the rule to double the consonant after a short vowel.
Before I looked it up I was doubtful it would be there thinking it a modern invention – I said it so much it no longer sounded like a word :)
Also shipping and shipped not shiping nor shiped, which seals it for me.