My aunt Trudy (who my mom was visiting in Canada this past weekend) runs an online store called New Moon Creations, specializing in pendants with unique healing properties (she hand-crafts each and every item that gets shipped out). My favorite items are these beautiful – and wallet-friendly, at $18 – gemstone pendants (above), which make perfect gifts. You can tailor them to each person’s birthstone, or give them a pendant featuring a stone with properties that will enhance their life (rose quartz, for example, mends a broken heart, while jade brings peace and obsidian offers protection). I also really love her Sweetgrass and Buffalo Sage pendants.

Look for Trudy’s pendants in my Holiday Gift Guide, which will go live in early November (gift-buying stresses me out to no end, so I try to get a jump-start on the season).