Actor, mother of four, and Blake Brown founder Blake Lively doesn’t have a standard gifting equation (see the Tom Cruise coconut cake). Instead, she’s aiming for perfection over timely. “I always admire when people have a signature gift that they bring to parties,” Lively says. “But I always tend to overthink these things. I want to give the most perfect, totally custom gift.” Sometimes, she jokes, “that means the gift arrives in February.”
When we meet to celebrate her hair-care brand’s collaboration with bracelet and bag company Stoney Clover, she’s just getting started. “My mom always taught me how good it feels to give to other people,” Lively says. “When you’re a kid, thinking about the holidays, it can be a lot of ‘What do I want?’ But my mom always made it as magical to buy for someone else.”
There is one go-to thing that she’s been gifting friends recently: Mahjong sets from the female-owned Oh My Mahjong. “I have been teaching friends how to play Mahjong, though I need to say I’m not a certified teacher. But I know enough to teach my friends how to play with me, and in the end, I always end up gifting them my own set because they are obsessed and want to practice.”
This year, she’s also excited about what will be waiting under the tree for husband, Ryan Reynolds. “I’m not going to say what I got Ryan, but I really nailed it,” Lively says. “I actually thought of it last year, but I didn’t have enough time to get it done. But I made it in time for this year.”
When it comes to her children’s wish lists, it’s all the usual suspects—KPop Demon Hunters merch, Jellycats stuffies—along with a whole lot of Etsy shopping via their mom’s phone. “We’re a pretty crafty household and like to make things. Because of that, I think that they really appreciate handmade things. I’ll go in my Etsy cart and have like 147 items.”
“I can’t talk about giving gifts without bringing up this amazing program that Baby2Baby has right now,” Lively adds. It was important for her to get her kids involved, too. Each of them was paired up with a child their age to help fulfill their wishlist. “It really helped them understand and visualize that there are kids their age, in the same city as them, who are in need.”
Lively admits she isn’t quite in the post-Christmas mindset yet (and isn’t into resolutions), but she’s looking forward to a New Year’s Eve party. She recently shared her go-to date night hair with Blake Brown products (it was very Gossip Girl coded), and how she’ll be wearing her hair to watch the ball drop isn’t that different.
“I only wear my hair up when I’m cooking or parenting,” Lively says. “I tend to be drawn to things that are really classic and timeless. I like a nice, pretty, deep wave. My trick is to blow-dry my hair and wrap it into a tight ballerina bun and spray it with a ton of hairspray. When I take it out, instant waves.”
Have a beauty or wellness trend you’re curious about? We want to know! Send Vogue’s senior beauty wellness editor an email at beauty@vogue.com.
