Can you believe it’s already time to start thinking about holiday gift guides? This will be Pretty Opinionated’s 6th year of sharing awesome gifts for the whole family. I’m actually a little late this year in opening up submissions. October just kind of appeared out of nowhere. I do have gift ideas in the works already, though, and I’m definitely open to sharing more fabulous products with my readers.
Get Featured in the Pretty Opinionated 2016 Holiday Gift Guide
If you have a fantastic product that you think will make a great gift, send an email to [email protected], preferably with something like “Gift Guide Submission” in the subject line. Please note that this email address is different than last year. My other “official” Pretty Opinionated email account got overrun with spam, so I went back to Gmail. Before submitting, please skim the guidelines below to make sure your product is a good fit.
I have some exciting news before we get into the guidelines. I’m so happy to share that my husband is back home (for good). While this means great things for me, it’s also good for all of you! He’s a professional photographer and a former Navy journalist who worked for multiple news stations. Basically, he rocks at taking pictures and shooting video, which means great things for all of us (I get an in-house pro and you get amazing pictures of your products on my blog).
What types of products do we accept?
Pretty Opinionated reviews a pretty wide range of gift ideas for the whole family. My major rule for gift guide submissions is simple: if you would seriously give it to a loved one or friend, then go ahead and pitch us. If giving it would cause your friend to never speak to you again, then it’s probably not a good fit. Basically, as useful as, say, foot fungus cream is, it’s not really something you’d stick under the tree! That said, we do have a few things at the top of our “wish list.” These are products that really resonate with my readers (and with me or my reviewers!). Check out the links for some examples.
- Tech gifts: including photography equipment, electronics, anything computer-related, accessories for the XBOX One or Nintendo 3DS and so on.
- Subscription Boxes: I am crazy addicted to these and am actually planning a series sharing all my favorites across all categories. We’re open to many categories here, as I have yet to meet a type subscription box that I didn’t like. Our favorites include: “geek” boxes (for gamers, especially, I alternate between a few already for my son), gourmet goodies, beauty boxes and pet boxes.
- Gifts for Pets: I have several cats and a dog (sadly, I lost my two girls this year at age 15, but Coop is still with us). Cooper will love you forever if you send something for him. He can smell a “dog surprise” box before the UPS driver even pulls up my road! Alex the Fuzz and Zoe love testing out cat goodies.
- Toys and gift ideas for kids: We can cover quite a wide range here between me, my writers, and my niece and nephew. My son is 11 and is all about the tech toys right now. Emily has three beautiful kids ranging from 2 and up. My super smart niece is turning 3 on Christmas Day and my brand new insanely adorable nephew is just about 4 months old right now. See, wide range!
- Foodie gifts (my husband can actually cook. Like, seriously, he’s awesome. Me? Not so much.) This includes everything from kitchen gadgets to gourmet treats & ingredients.
Of course, that’s just a short list of our most wanted, we’re open to other ideas. Check out my review policy for more details about the types of things that Pretty Opinionated typically covers (ignore the turnaround time, though, it’s shorter for the gift guide).
What do I need from you?
We only accept full-size, non-returnable products. While I don’t have a specific required minimum dollar value for gift guide submissions, please respect the fact that writing a review takes time and that the product is compensation for our time. I’ll also need any social media links you would like included in the post. If you are having a special deal for the holiday season, let me know about that before I write the post so I can tell my readers!
How much does it cost?
I do not charge for reviews. As long as you are providing us with a full-size, non-returnable version of your product that we discussed, there is no charge for gift guide inclusion. If you prefer not to provide product, please contact me for my sponsored post rates. Also, I reserve the right to round up products in a themed post where it makes sense to do so (see What to Put in a DIY Gift Basket for Chocoholics, for example). For gift guides, I do not put competing products together in the same post. If you absolutely want your product featured on its own, please let me know and we will discuss it. I will say, though, that themed roundup-style posts do significantly better on social media (especially Pinterest).
When is all of this happening?
The 2016 Gift Guide category will go live during the last week of October (possibly earlier). I will continue accepting submissions through the first week of December for products that can only be purchased online and through December 10th for “last-minute” ideas that can be bought in stores.
