Eliza is one of my closest and dearest friend since high school; we instantly clicked with the conversation, we share a lot of interests, and we are both very ambitious in our professional areas. And our children play together very often; we try to create sort of a family bondage between them based on respect and support so that they grow up to become true friends that will always have their backs in any situation. After all, that’s one of the things that truly matter in life, right?

Having kids while building a career is everything but easy; don’t get me wrong – I love kids, but they’re so demanding! They need food and juices all the time, change of clothes, baths and a lot of attention. Add to that those few hours of office work (or with a client in my case), and you’ll end up with a heavy headache, feeling cranky and nervous all day. And that situation, my dear fellow mummies, can escalate very, very quickly.

We share this problem with Eliza, so we started doing yoga to relax ourselves a little and maintain our smiley faces throughout the day. I manage the situation with Matthew somehow, but Eliza doesn’t seem to get the benefits of yoga because her two kids aren’t giving her the needed time for that. So I decided I was going to introduce her to the alternative way for relaxation – aromatherapy. I thought of aromatherapy gift baskets, and instantly knew she will love the idea; it doesn’t require her to do anything, just enjoy the magic these essential oils create.

Choosing the right scent is crucial here. I personally love vanilla because it reminds me so much of ice cream, cake and chocolate – all my sweet sins. Plus, it doesn’t stimulate the nervous system, so it really relaxes you. Now, Eliza doesn’t really have a preference in aromatherapy smells, so I chose lavender for her as lavender is known for slowing down the activity of the sympathetic nervous system. This means you instantly feel relaxed, because the part of the brain that responds to stress is being calmed. So, if you’re into the idea of creating aromatherapy gift baskets for your friends or family members, make sure you pick a scent they’ll really like and enjoy; a lot of people are smell-intolerant and some scents can really cause them unpleasant reactions.

The next step would be to choose the right products. For Eliza, I picked three products I think she would use most.

• Candles – scented aromatic candles are simply a must-have. The market is full of amazing candles in various shapes, designs, colours and most importantly, in almost all scents possible. Plus, candles are a decorative element which can really contribute to the overall appearance of your rooms – guaranteed by an interior designer like me. I picked the Mosaic Soy Candle with wax made of soy – all natural, burns a lot slower than paraffin and most importantly, it does not have petrol soot emissions. And the glass jar the candle comes in is just amazing.

• A package for carry-out – I wanted to give Eliza the chance to always have the calming effect of lavender with her, so I bought her the LaverMint Gift Pack which contains two small bottles of lavender essential oil and a spritzer so she can always have this amazing scent with her and relax when stress unexpectedly hits.

• A package for the bedroom – the bedroom is the ultimate soothing oasis, and if you aren’t relaxed there, chances are you won’t be relaxed anywhere. So, this amazing Ultimate Romance Gift Pack comes with three components: a 100ml massage carrier oil, 10 ml Romance and Intimacy Synergy blend, a spritzer of 50 ml and a Ceramic Vaporiser of the most sophisticated design (I got one for me as well). The blends are a combination of few essential oils: Yilang-Yilang, Rose, Patchouli and orange – for yours and your partner’s satisfaction.

Finally: aromatherapy gift baskets – the name says it – a basket is needed for the gift to be complete. I love, love, love DIY projects, so I decided to make the basket myself. Pinterest is full of amazing ideas, and the one I chose for Eliza is fabric baskets – you can make these pretty fast and easy; all you need is fabric in some fancy colour and a few tools to help you with the construction. The end result is a very cute basket like those on the photo below.