10 hip holiday gifts for less than $25

Carbs to Chardonnay brittle

Alternative Outfitters The "i eat carbs" T-shirt, $22, only comes in medium and large. Sorry, no small.

Despite some headway advertisers have made by featuring “real” women in their commercials, anorexia-looking women still dominant in magazine and television ads, and carbs remain high on Americans' hit list. In the spirit of some fat is good, I found and feature here a T-shirt that boasts “i eat carbs.” The brown T-shirt with orange stitching is available at Alternative Outfitters, a cyber-only shop that stocks non-leather and cruelty-free products. Priced at $22, the T-shirt only comes in medium and large. Sorry, no small.

Crabtree &Amp; Evelyn In lieu of cheap scented candles this season, check out room sprays courtesy of Crabtree & Evelyn, $15 each.

Forget cinnamon and spice and everything nice. In lieu of cheap scented candles this season, check out the room sprays courtesy of Crabtree & Evelyn's. The room sprays come in four delightful food-scented fragrances: salad greens contains the aroma of dill and cucumber; citrus combines the soft scents of pink grapefruit, orange and lemon; gingered orange airs on the traditional side; and mulling spice brings us back to everything nice.

Perfect for the foodie on your list, each 3.4 fluid-ounce container sells for $15 for at Crabtree & Evelyn stores nationwide and online at crabtree-evelyn.com.

What's the holiday season without something edible to give or simply to indulge in? It's hard to top peppermint bark when it comes to holiday treats at Williams Sonoma but Brent's Chardonnay Wine Brittle may outrank the peppermint sweet this season. The rich butter treat, filled with fresh peanuts, is a delight to the palate that favors a salty-sugary taste in one bite. Each batch is made by hand at a small Napa Valley, Calif.-based shop. The 12-ounce box costs $15. There's also a beer brittle for those who prefer a slightly heartier brittle.

Timberland Ornaments made from recycled tin barn roofs make great stuffers, $5, available at Timberland.com.

Roof-top snowflakes, sunflowers, sturdy stockings I've heard it said no two snowflakes are alike. In the same fashion, each snowflake ornament at Timberland this season is unique. Better yet 100 percent of the profit ($1 from each $5 ornament) is donated to Share Our Strength, a Washington-based group engaged in the fight against hunger and poverty. The 5-inch diameter ornaments, made from recycled tin barn roofs, make great stuffers.

Gardeners Supply Company Terra Fuela, complete with sunflower seeds and organic compost, costs $5 at gardeners.com.

Tree in a box, house plants, even cactus garden-all nice but been there, done that? This holiday season, how about a sunflower kit in a Ben & Jerry's planter, a.k.a. an ice cream container? The kit, called Terra Fuela, which comes with seeds and organic compost, only costs $5 at Gardener's Supply Company. Hmm, maybe next year you can hang the snowflake ornament from the sunflower.

There has to be at least one stuffer on the stuffer list that is a stuffer itself. Once again, Duluth Trading came up with a creative idea — an industrial strength stocking. Made of "near-bulletproof 12-ounce Fire Hose cotton canvas," the stocking is supported by bright red suspenders. It also has a few outside pockets for little stuffers, such as candy canes or diamond rings. The 11-by-19-inch stocking costs $19.50 and is unlikely to wear out before you do. Stuff it well.

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