What Women Want for the Holidays

What an amazing community the Better-After-50 crowd is!

I am honored to have been a friend/reader/writer and supporter for over 5 years now and the content and camaraderie just keeps growing!

I took a memory stroll back through my BA50 holiday archives and sure enough, as I sat with my glass of Merlot and reread them all, they were all still relevant! My main motivation in writing to all of you is to teach, share and empower you with the knowledge to dress with confidence, no matter your age, size, style or budget. Yes, I could be a true fashion blogger trying to sell, sell, sell product, but it is much more rewarding to teach you how to shop wisely on your own. Teach you how to dress by body style, what the essentials should be, where to shop for them, what size to buy, what to pay and more. And of course, there is always the occasional deep dive that I take into your closets because the reality check is that is usually where the problem lies. If we can fix what is in your tool shed you can build a better wardrobe and you can rock not only the holidays in style but every day of your life.

With that said I have created a collection of my top five holiday posts to inform and inspire and hopefully add a few chuckles to your evening as you pour another shot of brandy in the ever-so-fattening eggnog! Cheers to you all.

WHAT WOMEN WANT AS GIFTS THIS HOLIDAY SEASON

What Women Want sounds a bit like a fantasy romance. Well actually it is – it was a movie about 16 years ago with Helen Hunt ( a fan favorite) and Mel Gibson (not so much), where a fluke accident gives him the ability to read women’s minds. Well now – wouldn’t that be telling in real life!

Here’s a little non-fantasy help with what women want that you could actually forward to your significant others, BFF’s, siblings and children.

STOP STRESSING ABOUT HOLIDAY DRESSING

The truth be told, many women stress daily about dressing. If you are a repeat reader you know that I spend my writing hours trying to de-stress the situations. I give advice on closet editing, building wardrobes, how to accessorize, how to dress by body proportion, how to accentuate the assets and disguise the liabilities, what the best undergarments to buy are and what shoes can comfortably carry you through the work week – to name a few.

10 TIPS TO PARTY IN STYLE

Tis the season to be jolly? Bah humbug! Tis the season to be stressed and frazzled might seem more like it. The holiday season can be a whirlwind of errands – shopping, wrapping, cleaning, baking, decorating, and more shopping, all of this on top of a 40-hour work week.  As if that isn’t exhausting enough, you are expected to attend a number of seasonal soirées where you can toast the holidays with friends, co-workers and family.

ARE YOU WEARING THAT UGLY CHRISTMAS SWEATER INTENTIONALLY?

Which came first, the Ugly Christmas Sweater or the Ugly Christmas Sweater Party? Now before you go hopping all over me for using the term Christmas, simmer down as the title could certainly have been ‘Are You Wearing An Ugly Holiday Sweater Intentionally’, but seriously, it just doesn’t have the same pop does it? It does however inadvertently point out that an ugly sweater is an ugly sweater no matter the holiday and no matter who wears it! Ugly is just ugly and it could be for all the opposite reasons that I give for something being a closet keeper or a wardrobe wonder – does it fit, flatter and function?

WHY YOU MIGHT WANT TO GIVE A GIFT CARD THIS YEAR

To give or not to give…I did a bit of interviewing for this piece. Over the past few days I have asked teachers, hairdressers, UPS drivers, shop owners, fashionistas and friends to share what not-so-fabulous past gifts they would gladly have exchanged for gift cards. They also shared specific gifts that show up year after year, usually from the same source! I share these tidbits in the hopes that as you shop in the next few weeks, you will consider ‘shopping with purpose‘ and opting for gift cards.

Wishing you all a happy, healthy holiday season!