YOU HAVE LESS THAN ONE MONTH TO FINISH BUYING ALL OF YOUR CHRISTMAS GIFTS.
START TO PANIC!
LOL jk no need to panic, because if your friends and loved ones love food (and if they don’t, distance yourself from them this instant!) then I have the perfect selection of gift suggestions lined up for you, to take the pain out of all that endless internet trawling and Saturday nightmare buying on Oxford Street! You. Are. Welcome.
For the kitchen gadget obsessed…
Breville Blend Active (family size!) £25
This Breville Blend Active is amazing. I have both this and a Nutribullet, and for a third of the price of the latter, it’s a winner. It comes with four travel, lidded cups (2 tall, 2 short) so you can easily make up your breakfast and lunch smoothies at the same time for on the go (and so can your family or flatmates if you don’t mind sharing!) and it is incredibly easy to clean. Perfect for someone desperately trying to get nutrients into their life!
I am OBSESSED with my spiralizer and it has transformed my dinners to no end. I’ve eaten more courgette in the last year (I got mine for last Christmas!) than I care to think about, but turning vegetables into veggie-spaghetti is one of the best things! You could even go handheld and buy your gadget obsessed pal one of these… it would make a perfect stocking filler!
Nespresso Coffee Machine, starting from £65
Coffee Machines can be a little pricey but if you buy a new machine from Nespresso right now (before the end of January) you will receive £75 free credit to spend on whatever you want in store or online. That gets your A LOT of coffee, or even some of their gorgeous accessories.
Stand Alone Mixer, £149
If you or your friends are anything like me, you’ll have spent each episode of Bake Off this year swooning over the beautiful array of pastel coloured Kitchen Aids constantly being used. Unfortunately they each retail at around £400!! I don’t even love myself enough to buy one of those, let alone a loved one, but good news is you can get yourself a beautiful Stand-alone mixer from Aldi (of all places!) for just £149. Still pricey but if you don’t let anyone get too close they’ll never know its not the super expensive original!
For the one that enjoys a drink…
Umbrella Flask £15.99
This incredible Smuggle Mug Umbrella flask secretly holds 9 oz (266 ml) of your favorite drink & comes with 3 leak proof lid seals and a speed pourer. It allows you to discreetly bring in your own booze for cheap drinks at events or festivals. It is NOT a working umbrella… but it does allow you to drink to forget that it’s raining!
Christabel’s Cocktail Making Kit, £55
I’ve already mentioned this awesome little cocktail kit on this blog before but it’s worth mentioning again because it would make the perfect gift for anyone who fancies themselves a bit of a mixologist! This kit includes a gorgeous Copper Cocktail Shaker, 2 x Fentimans Rose Lemonade, 1 x 35cl Sipsmith Gin, Christabel’s Rosemary Syrup, Stirrers, 2 x Cut Glasses and a Recipe Card, and each kit can make approximately 7 cocktails.
Pickerings Gin Baubles £30
These are currently out of stock but availability will be returning in December, though you’ll have to be quick as I, along with many others will be trying to snap these up as soon as they become available again because they’re amazing. Each bauble is filled with 50ml of Pickering’s Gin (that’s a double measure to you and me) and is decorated with a Pickering’s ribbon to hang from your tree. Each pack includes 6 differently coloured plastic baubles. Sign up to their mailing list to find out when they’re next on sale!
The wonderful team at Tabl have you covered when it comes to beautiful pre-assembled boozy gifts. This stylish and sophisticated premium vodka kit includes Vintage Velvet, a new branch of the vodka tree, starting a whole new concept. Infused with chardonnay grapes this vodka is a true revelation. This gift lets you explore new flavours and try new things. A breakfast martini with Balinese tangerines? Surely you know someone who’d love a bit of that! The kit includes Vintage Velvet Vodka (70 cl), Awani marmalade, Ikorn popcorn, Long Flint cocktail x2, Nix&Kix, Fine Cocktail x2, HER Mini coffee extract and Chiltern Charcuterie truffle salami.
To give the gift of experience…
Gin Distillery Tour Voucher £25
Why not send your friends on a tour of one of London’s best gin distilleries? On the Sipsmiths tour you’ll be greeted with a welcome tipple and taken through London’s history of gin, its journey to becoming the spirit that’s loved by so many people today and Sipsmith’s role in sparking the latest gin renaissance. You will then see how our award-winning spirits are handcrafted on our beautiful copper stills, followed by a tasting of their range.
Gingerline Tickets from £55 (ish)
If you follow me on any form of social media you’ll know that i’m obsessed with the clandestine dining experience that is Gingerline. Well a new batch of tickets for the current explorations into the Chambers of Flavour are about to go on sale (30th November!) and this is the perfect gift to give anyone who enjoys food, theatre and secrecy! I’ve written a blog post about the current CoF adventures BUT you’ll have to wait until the Spring to read it… sorry! Just know that if someone bought me tickets to this, they’d be my favourite person in the world.
Cutting The Curd, Cheese Making Course £65
Another experience I can personally recommend (and have previously blogged about) is Louise Talbot’s wonderful cheese making courses. Not based in London (though occasionally the classes do come close) these afternoon long classes explore the basics of cheese making and throughout the afternoon you will learn how to make four different varieties which you can then take home to enjoy.
Underground Supper Club, from £49
And yet another previously blogged event that your foodie friends will love is the Underground Supper Club which takes place on what was once a Victoria Line tube carriage, based up in Walthamstow. At the classic supper club experience you can either sit privately with your chosen companion in a VIP booth, or amongst strangers on the social tables (which I would definitely recommend). On each you will enjoy a monthly changing four course tasting dinner complete with a welcome cocktail. This is such a wonderful gift – ask my Dad, this was his Christmas present last year!!
For those who like to wear their food on their sleeve…
Avocado Pyjamas £24
For those who love avocado (so basically everyone), these are the ideal pyjamas! ASOS never fail to offer wonderful clothes, including these soft touch jersey PJs with scoop neck and elastic waistband bottoms from their own ASOS collection. Oh, and there’s 20% off EVERYTHING this Black Friday weekend, until 29th Nov! go go go!
Rad Peanut Butter Sweatshirt £34.90
Peanut Butter is wonderful stuff (unless you have a nut allergy which must suck!) so chances are one of your friends would love to keep it close to heart with this super comfy bright jumper available from Rad. If Peanut Butter isn’t their thing, the good news is you can also display your love for a multitude of delicious things, including Nutella, Popcorn and Jelly!
Men’s Sushi & Hotdog Boxer Shorts £12.99
That classic dining combo of sushi and hotdogs are wonderfully displayed on these rather comfy looking men’s boxer shorts from H&M. Its sort of a rule that you get given underwear for Christmas, so best make them delicious!
Want to tell someone you really love them? Say it with a burger necklace from Not On The Highstreet. This cute little necklace comes with a sweet little message declaring your love for the lucky recipient, while subtly condemning veggie burgers…
And finally, something for the book worms…
Pret a Portea: High Fashion Bakes & Biscuits £8.77
My faaaavourite Afternoon Tea experience in London has released a wonderful book celebrating Prêt a Portea’s tenth anniversary with 20 of their greatest hits, including bakes inspired by DVF, Dolce & Gabbana, Moschino, Burberry and Jimmy Choo. This is the ideal book for the fashionista in your life who also has a bit of a sweet tooth!
Drinking great wine isn’t hard, but finding a great wine is much easier when you understand the fundamentals. Using artistic info-graphics and flowcharts, Madeline Puckette and Justin Hammack have created a robust resource packed with information. This is the perfect gift for the person you know who enjoys wine but probably couldn’t tell a Sauvignon Blanc from their Pinot!
Jay Rayner’s 10 Food Commandments £4.54
“The original Ten Commandments don’t offer those of us located in the twenty-first century much guidance when it comes to our relationship with food. And Lord knows we need it. We are crying out for our very own culinary Moses; someone with the scholarship, dignity and teeth to stand in culinary judgement.” Of course only one man could have written such a witty and brilliant book. Jay Rayner is hilarious in this short but sweet publication, and any foodie will struggle not to agree with his new commandments.
In this lively and exceptionally fascinating book, Niki Segnit takes 99 popular ingredients and explores all the ways they might be combined in the kitchen, so it’s the PERFECT book for anyone who likes to experiment with food and is looking for flavour inspiration.
So that’s it… 20 gift ideas for that food obsessed person in your life. Or treats for yourself… whatever. Christmas is about you just as much as it is about your loved ones, ya know. Just make sure you don’t leave it all to the last minute, like I inevitably will do!
Enjoy the countdown, y’all. Happy Holidays!
