Not going to lie—one of my favorite things about the holiday season is gift guides. I enjoy making them and scrolling through them far more than I do actually figuring out what to get people. But I've come to realize that more often than not, I find gifts for my loved ones via a gift guide. Moral of the story: They're effective.

A benefit of shopping for gifts online as opposed to in person is that there are extensive gift sections on practically every retail site. And I spent the better part of a workday scrolling through some of them in hopes that I'd be able to narrow it down to the very best items (tough gig, I know). It was a successful day because I was able to narrow it down to the five most desirable gifts from the likes of Nordstrom, Amazon, Free People, and more. Scroll on to check some items off of your gifting list while there's still plenty of precious time (but not for long).