Emotional Support K-pop Gift Guide
2024 has been a rather tumultuous year, whether Mini Note #7: The Reason I Became a Witch or in the K-pop realm. Inspired by that, this year's Notes on K-pop gift guide is built around the ideals of finding comfort for yourself and those around you, and making space for the softer, sweeter moments of life. While albums and seasons greetings are amazing gifts, here are some other suggestions to help you through all the days ahead.
If you're interested in more suggestions, please check out last year's gift guide for K-pop Hags, with a whole different variety of gift ideas. Some of them, like candles and knitwear, are plenty comforting, so please take a look too.
Tamar Herman
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Books to spend some alone time with
- "I Decided to Live as Me" by Kim Suhyun- An engaging, oftentimes as comedic as it is heart-breaking self-help book that's part-self-exploratory essay and part cute cartoons. It's a hugely popular best-seller in Korea (Jungkook was seen reading it in Bon Voyage) and has been translated into several languages.
- "How K-Dramas can Transform Your Life" by Jeanie Y. Chang - Another self-help style book, but focused on K-dramas specifically, I haven't had a chance to read this entire book yet but I'm very intrigued by the way entertainment comforts as much as it distracts.
- "I'll Love You Forever: Notes from a K-pop Fan" by Giaae Kwon - Not technically until March 2025, I got an advance copy of this book and cried and laughed my way through it due to finding the essays by Kwon about her relationship with K-pop to be very relatable and understandable. I've been a longtime reader of Kwon's K-pop personal essays from the days of Catapult, so excited that this book will be out soon.
- "The Band" by Christine Ma-Kellams - This is a wild ride of a book, that is 100% fictional but seemingly inspired by the author's life and her relationship and perceptions of BTS, Bang Si-hyuk, GLAM, and K-pop overall. I need more people to read it so we can talk about it.
And the blankets and pillows to snuggle with while doing that reading
Juicyhead has a variety of K-pop-inspired products, but it's their blankets that will make you feel wrapped up in the warmth of some gorgeous art that happens to be inspired by various eras and albums of different K-pop acts. Many other vendors also sell K-pop inspired blankets, so if you want a giant throw featuring your bias' face, you can do that too!
Line Friends has been well known for its K-pop collabs ever since launching BTS's BT21 brand back in 2017, and their cushions and stuffed animals inspired by artists are the perfect recipe for a stuffy snuggle buddy. Current collabs feature (G)I-dle, NewJeans, Zerobaseone, and IVE. (The Zerobaseone Zeroni stuffed animal collection is currently soldout on Line Friends' site, but if you're anywhere near NYC I spotted many of the items at K-pop Nara a few weeks ago.)
And don't forget to keep your plants cozy in their own little Horanghae pots inspired by Hoshi of Seventeen.
Take care with K-beauty selfcare
Obviously, this is not a new idea, but the year we're leaving and the ones ahead of us are feeling like an era of stress for many of us.
I've never actually bought or opened one, but I love the idea of advent calendars. Laneige's Manifest Glow set is pricey but looks like a really fun set if you're a fan of the brand's bestsellers. Glow Recipe has another similar populars-focused advent set, their Glow Library Vault Kit.
I (like many people) am very into Beauty of Joseon lately so if you're looking for something smaller than a multi-day calendar, their Rice Wonderland Holiday Kit looks like it was designed by an illustrator of children's folk tales. Not going to lie... I'm tempted to buy it myself!
And, if you're need of masks, Dr. Jarts has a gift pack on-sale. If you keep it for yourself, I'm sure nobody will tell.
To try a bunch of brands' items, Soko Glam has a best of 2024 set currently on-sale, their Best of Beauty set.
And for anyone who suffers from skin conditions that lead to chronic dryness (like your's truly), a hand cream or body lotion always feels like a must. I recently was introduced to the Korean scent brand Elorea, and their hand creams sound lovely.
Cozy clothes for those days and nights at home
I've been following Sundae School for years now, and have been eyeing their fleeces for cuddly, stylish warmth for ages. Their gochujang knit set is absolutely adorable, and honestly the more time I spend on their site and social media the more my bank account is at risk.
And for those nights when you need some emotional clothing support, there are many, many K-pop acts that have official collaborations with brands to create things like pajamas, sleep masks, and even robes.
Floofy photocard holders
I've mentioned a few times in Notes on K-pop that while I myself am not a PC collector, I really admire people who are. And being a frequent taker of the New York City subway, I've increasingly seen more and more people with photocards attached to their bags as keychains. Some of these little fluffy holders shaped like bears or puppies have really made me smile, and I imagine they're quite lovely to own or gift to your loved ones.
Comfort cook your way towards the future
One of my favorite things to do instead of focus on pretty much anything that's more important, is cook. Which means that I've kept my eye out for all the good K-pop oven mitts and trivets, and the apron inspired by Jungkook's Calvin Klein ad abs. I need Staub or someone to have a collab with aespa or SKZ in 2025, please!
And if all else fails... gift cards to ticketing websites, like Ticketmaster or AXS, are my other go-to. What better thing to get your loved ones for the holidays than the emotional support of attending their favorite K-pop concerts?
