The Mandagies 2023 Gift Guide Submissions

The Mandagies 2023 Gift Guide Submissions

The Mandagies PNW Travel Blog is a leading source in the Pacific Northwest for gear recommendations, travel inspiration, and photography insights. Their Holiday Gift Guides collectively feature more than 200 of the best outdoor gear, apparel, and accessories for their dedicated outdoor audience. Gift guides are published on TheMandagies.com, and promoted across:

  • Pinterest (35,100 followers, 6.6 million monthly viewers)
  • Facebook (3,600 followers)
  • Instagram (45,600 followers)
  • Email Subscribers (12,000)

These gift guide submissions are competitive, with each and every item fully evaluated and vetted by Berty and Emily Mandagie, using their gift guide review criteria. Each guide gets tens of thousands of online impressions per quarter. Find out more about how to submit your product to a gift guide below!

ABOUT THE GUIDES

The Mandagies host over 20 hyper-targeted outdoor gift guides catered to specific audience profiles including parents, kids, hikers, backpackers, and photographers.

Actively featured in The Mandagies holiday marketing campaigns (October – December 2023), these guides will showcase the best outdoor products and gifts for the 2023 holiday season. On average, 20-30 products are hand-picked for each guide and uniquely marketed to reach their target audience across several social channels. Visit our Gift Guide page for examples from previous years.

So far, TheMandagies.com has received nearly 2.5 million page views in 2023. Pinterest received 91 million impressions and 750,000 pin saves in 2020. Year after year, TheMandagies.com is a trusted resource for outdoor lovers and gift-givers all year long.

HOW TO SUBMIT

If you have a great outdoor-focused product, clothing item, accessory, or gift you’d like to be considered for inclusion in one or more of our gift guides for 2023, please click the link below to fill out the submission form. Products must be on physical store shelves no later than November 1st, 2023.

Due to the large number of submissions anticipated for review and the operational/logistical costs of running our gift guide submissions program, we charge a submission fee of $150 per product, per occurrence.

Please note: Submitting your product does not guarantee inclusion in our guides. However, please review our criteria below for insight on how we choose the products for our outdoor guides to determine if your product will be a good fit for our audience!

PRODUCT SAMPLES

One sample of each product must be sent to The Mandagies office no later than November 1st, 2023:

Emily Mandagie
PO Box 9280
1903 W Garland Ave
Spokane, WA 99205

Attn: Holiday Gift Guide Submissions

Samples will not be returned to you unless specifically requested, and sent with a paid return shipping label in the box with your samples. After evaluation, products are donated to local outdoor organizations or kept on hand for other media opportunities. If no samples are available, please send a video demonstration or other information to [email protected]

Please Note:

  • If you are shipping a large or oversized item, please email Emily before sending your sample.
  • Filling out a review request does not guarantee your inclusion in a gift guide. The $150 submission fee is for the time to review the product and is non-refundable.
  • If The Mandagies would like to include your product in a gift guide, you will receive a follow-up email with information on the next steps.
  • All outdoor products must be available for consumers to buy in the United States.
  • Products must meet our review criteria and quality standards.
  • Products must be available for purchase and in final production. We do not accept prototypes or kickstarters.

The Mandagies Gift Guides Submissions – Review Criteria

“So how do you pick the best outdoor gear?” The Mandagies spend all year testing out products on hiking trails, camping trips, adventures, and road trips.

We meticulously record and document gear, and why we think our audience would enjoy these products. We care a lot about providing our readers and followers high-quality, useful items for their outdoor experiences. There’s so much that goes into our gear testing process – here’s a little insight into how we do it:

BASIC QUALITY STANDARDS

All of the outdoor gear, apparel, and gifts must meet our basic quality standards. Manufacturers must be reputable, with available customer service resources for people who purchase their items. All products must be original, new, and packaged appropriately. We will not tolerate counterfeit items of any sort for review. If these basic requirements are not met, we will not consider these items for review.

USEFULNESS VALUE

Usefulness is very important to our readers and followers when it comes to purchasing outdoor gear. Gear can be quite expensive, so we evaluate whether or not the product is worth the price tag. Can it be used multiple times? How durable is the material? Can it withstand various types of weather? Are there multiple ways to use it? Though some items are certainly for specific uses (i.e. avalanche snow probes), we want to make sure customers are satisfied with the gear year after year.

ORIGINALITY

With endless gear available at retailers, why does yours stand out? We consider how original a product is, and if it adds more benefits than something that is already available. Is it a new way to make backpacking packs more comfortable? Are you using 100% recyclable material? We want to know what makes yours worth it!

LOCAL & SUSTAINABLE

Products made with sustainable materials, responsibly sourced, and local to the Pacific Northwest are all huge factors for us choosing gifts for inclusion in our 2023 Holiday gift guides. Do you give back to your community? Plant a tree for every purchase? Donate to local trails? Create your product in the PNW? Let us know what your company is doing to make our world and the Pacific Northwest a better place.

DIVERSE BRANDS & BUSINESSES

As a small business ourselves, we know how challenging these past few years. We are looking to showcase unique outdoor products by more small businesses, black-owned businesses, diverse makers, and indigenous-owned brands. If you think your product would connect well with our Pacific Northwest audience, we want to hear about it.

**Are you a BIPOC business owner? Email us and we will waive your gift guide submissions fee, however this doesn’t guarantee product inclusion.

ENJOYMENT FACTOR

At the end of the day, gear is really all about having fun outside. We will always choose products that bring joy and get people moving. We’re looking for products that help you connect to nature, whether that be in a community or by yourself. Products need to be engaging, useful and improve your outdoor experience. Let us know how your very own community has used and loved your product!