I’m sure you know I appreciate a well-stocked bookshelf, but have we talked about puzzle shelves lately? As the season turns, for once it’s my puzzling cabinet and shelves that need TLC and not my bookshelves. It’s been so much fun to see what’s been stored away over the warmer months and think about which puzzles I want to work in the months to come: I believe in the importance of having a good selection of puzzles for whenever the mood strikes.
The puzzling mood strikes more often once it’s gets chilly: we just pulled out our first puzzle of the season! (Because I know you want to know: it’s Galison’s Autumn at the City Market, for the second or maybe even third time.) That means I’ve been taking a look at what we might need to add to our stash—and by that I mostly mean I’ve been lovingly surveying the new jigsaw puzzle options available for 2025. (To make room, I’ve also done some culling and passed along some puzzles that I never intend to do again—honestly, probably because they were too hard for my taste—to puzzle enthusiasts who might appreciate them more.)
I always look forward to replenishing my puzzle hoard as the weather cools down. We like to keep a wide variety to choose from during the winter months, which is prime puzzling season around here. Because puzzles make great gifts, we also keep some unopened ones on hand should an unexpected gifting need arise.
A puzzle mat makes a nice add-on for a puzzle present. Another fancier option: A friend gifted us this awesome puzzle board during a hard season when I was doing a huge amount of puzzling and it’s been the best (and most therapeutic) gift. A mat or board makes it easy to move puzzles-in-progress from a prominent surface like a coffee table to somewhere out of the way: we are constantly moving our puzzle board down to our low coffee table (last weekend, during our team’s football game) and then back to a higher table when we’re no longer focused on the puzzle. I know we’re not the only ones interested in preventing curious pets from stealing or chewing on pieces, not that Daisy would ever dream of doing such a thing (ahem).
This roundup of puzzles is a great way to treat yourself or someone you love. I hope you enjoy perusing them as much as I did!
All puzzles featured here were chosen because we love them. If you buy something through our retail links, we may earn an affiliate commission. More info here.
Holiday puzzles
Galison Snowfall On Main Street, 1000 Piece. A busy, snowy city street comes alive in this foil jigsaw puzzle.
Galison Snowy Night, 500 Piece. There’s something undeniably beautiful about snow falling at night (when I’m not driving in it.)
Galison Happy Hanukcats, 500 Piece. I can’t tell if these cats prefer sour cream or applesauce on their latkes but they all look happy either way.
White Mountain Christmas in The City, 1000 Piece. This brownstone looks so cheery!
Galison Home for The Holidays Christmas Countdown. This Advent calendar features twelve 42-piece puzzles that create one 500-piece puzzle of a cozy indoor scene. How cool is that?
Bookish puzzles
White Mountain Puzzle Library Book Puzzles, 1000 Piece. Puzzle within a puzzle is fun.
EuroGraphics The Greatest Bookstore in The World, 1000 Piece. I wish I could stop by.
Ravensburger The Book Palace, 1000 Piece. This reminds me of Daunt Books. Anyone else?
Laurence King The World of The Great Gatsby, 1000 Piece. Go on a tour of the world of The Great Gatsby with this unique puzzle. It includes a poster that details all the characters and places that are featured.
Cavallini & Co. Library Books, 1000 Piece. A classic home library with a vintage flair.
Flora and fauna puzzles
Galison Ephemeral Tulips, 1000 Piece. How gorgeous are these tulips?!
Ravensburger Canadian Collection: Blossoming Beauties, 1000 Piece. Love the bright colors.
Galison Liberty Aurora, 144 Piece. Galison collaborated with Liberty London for this design AND it’s a wood puzzle.
Cobble Hill Birds on a Wire, 500 Piece. For all the birders.
Cavallini & Co. Vintage Wildflowers, 1000 Pieces. A beautiful botanical design inspired by the Cavallini archives.
Galison Lighting 101: Houseplants, 500 Piece. This might be worth getting solely because it comes with a keepsake book box to store the pieces.
Destination puzzles
White Mountain Puzzles Rainbow Umbrellas, 1000 Piece. This will be great to work on when it feels like winter will never end.
Galison Coast of Italy, 1000 Piece. I can never resist a Michael Storrings design.
True South Appalachian Trail, 750 Piece. This illustrated map puzzle might have you making plans to hike the trail yourself.
Miscellaneous puzzles
Cobble Hill Love You A Latte, 500 Piece. I can’t wait to drink a latte while working on a latte art puzzle.
Galison Spot of Tea, 500 Piece and Galison Tea Time, 1000 Piece. Both tea puzzles are so cute, I couldn’t pick just one!
Ravensburger Spices & Herbs, 1000 Piece. It’s too bad this spice market image isn’t scratch and sniff.
White Mountain Bowled Over, 500 Piece. This is such a bright, cheerful design.
Liberty Puzzles Kite-Eating Tree, 419 Piece. Such a cute Snoopy and the Peanuts scene.
Do you have any recent puzzles you recommend? I’d love to hear about your favorite puzzles in the comments.
P.S. 25 beautiful and engaging jigsaw puzzles for the winter days, 25 jigsaw puzzles so enticing you might not mind winter weather, plus 20 favorite board games to beat the rainy (or chilly) day blues. And for a different kind of puzzle satisfaction: The joy (and nerdery) of a crossword puzzle routine.
8 comments
Huge fan of any of the Eeboo Puzzles. Mother & daughter owned and you get to learn about the artist. Bonus there’s typically a playlist to listen to while you’re puzzling. They have some cute Christmas ones.
A favorite of mine too! One I really enjoyed was Swedish Fishing Village, for the lovely colors. Jane Austen’s Book Club is a good one too. And for the holidays am also planning to do their new Swedish Holiday Kitchen puzzle. You can order directly from the company or many are on Amazon. I love hearing suggestions of new puzzles to try. https://eeboo.com/collections/new
I have heard good things about Eeboo so I need to check them out.
I love the very splurgy Wentworth puzzles from the UK. The way the wooden pieces fit together is brilliant. It just makes me feel better when I’m working on one. Except, for the short period about 3/4 of the way through, when I become convinced there are pieces missing. Of course there aren’t pieces missing, I just can’t find the pieces I need! Does anyone else do that?
I often am down to the last 20-30 pieces and think that those pieces can’t possibly be enough. But there are!
I love the Ordinary Habit puzzles. A bit pricey but if you go with a 500 piece puzzle it isn’t bad. My favorite has been The Wolf and I, a cozy set up with a woman reading on her sofa with her dog/wolf and nighttime stars beyond the window. I’ve mostly done Galison puzzles with Birdhouse Lane my recent favorite. Also did one called the World of Jane Austen but not sure of the producer.
I recently planned a get away to Boulder, CO to spend some time in The Boulder Bookstore and I stumbled upon this wooden jigsaw puzzle store called Liberty Puzzles. What’s really cool about their pieces is that they are not shaped like ordinary puzzle pieces but instead they are unique and beautifully shapes like butterflies, flowers, animals. They are pricey but I bought one for my daughter and she loved all the beautiful pieces almost more than the puzzle itself. libertypuzzles.com
I’ve recently become a huge fan of Piecework Puzzles. Beautiful, colorful designs
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