The Ultimate Christmas Gift Round-Up
With the dreaded C-word (not us, we’re lovely) around the corner, some of you may already have started your Christmas shopping. If you haven’t, don’t despair because we are here to rescue you with a brilliant round-up of gifts for everyone!
You may even find yourself dropping hefty hints to your loved ones after reading through this list. The C-Word Mag takes no responsibility for your own Christmas wish list increasing after seeing the fantastic stores below.
(P.S. We’ve even managed to snag you guys some exclusive discount codes!)
Festive feasts for the foodies
American Bites & Scents
American Bites & Scents brings a taste (and smell) of the United States to our fair shores. After noticing a distinct lack of options for getting the highly coveted skincare brand Bath & Body Works over on this side of the pond, American Bites & Scents was created to fill that gap in the market.
The minds behind American Bites & Scents also saw that the American candies offered by high street stores were often fairly expensive. They decided to bring extra value and a better, more personalised service to the UK market.
American Bites & Scents are working hard to keep our tastebuds tantalised with a wide range of different American snacks. From candy to crisps, popcorn to taffy, they have almost anything you can think of. They’ve even expanded to include goodies from other countries, such as their smash hit Cinnabon KitKats that came from Dubai!
They also recently developed a new online website that allows them to provide a quick and more streamlined service and reach new potential customers. American Bites & Scents is taking the market by storm with options to add to an open box, pay by Klarna, or even do both.
Their ‘My Box’ service extends to Facebook group members only, but admission is only a click away. Be sure to join the group to take advantage of this exclusive benefit and be the first to know of new lines and restocks.
Simply select 'Add to Box' at the shipping stage of your purchase, and you will get up to 5 weeks to add whatever you like to your own personal box and only pay one shipping fee for it all.
Check out the American Bites & Scents website for a massive range of festive snacks to make this Christmas that extra bit luxurious and to find a selection of gifts for the entire family.
Grab yourself a festive fifteen percent off your order with CWORD15 at checkout.
The Flaky Walnut
You can order almost anything through the post nowadays, but finding out about The Flaky Walnut’s mail order baklava was a revelation. Baklava is a traditional layered pastry dessert consisting of filo pastry, filled with chopped nuts, sweetened with syrup or honey.
For those friends and family members of yours with a sweet tooth, a box of tasty baklava makes a brilliant (and unusual) gift!
After a couple of months of intense taste testing, The Flaky Walnut burst onto the scene at the start of this year, with a small selection of flavours. Still, they are working on expanding their range, having already recently added the white chocolate and raspberry flavour.
The Flaky Walnut offers a range of different flavours inspired by desserts and cocktails, such as Cherry Bakewell, Lemon Meringue and Espresso Martini. Some of their flavours also come in vegan formulations, ensuring that nobody has to miss out on these delicious treats.
Boxes of their beautifully flaky, nutty baklava start at £8.99, but you can also opt for a 3 or 6 month subscription which takes the price per box down to less than £7. A six-month subscription will set you back a mere £41 allowing you to go on a flavoursome adventure for a full half a year. You can choose from their entire range of flavours. This includes postage to anywhere in Great Britain, which is an incredibly good deal.
If you want to purchase a box, or even a subscription for someone but aren’t sure which flavours they’d want to go for? Grab one of their gift cards and let your lucky recipient choose for themselves.
The lovely folks at The Flaky Walnut have even collaborated with us to give you a cheeky discount. The code CWORD will give customers 10% off any of their products. This even includes their subscription boxes!
Gifts for those who love scents
Houseproud Scents
Nothing gets me in the holiday mood more than the smells. Filling the whole house with delicious scents is a sure-fire way to kickstart festivities. Whether it’s for you or as a gift for someone on your list, you can’t go wrong with the offerings from Houseproud Scents.
Houseproud Scents began with just 20 different scents, and have since boomed into a huge range to rival the big guns, yet without the hefty price tags to match. Prices start at just £1, and the wide selection of different scents and products mean you can create your own gift set - and maybe even sneak in a few items for yourself!
Some of the different items they offer include:
wax snap bars
themed wax shapes
squeezy wax
gel wax
scented crystals
bath dust cones
shower steamers
shower whips
cold-pressed artisan soaps
bath bombs in a variety of different shapes and scents
If you just can’t decide what to include in your selection, don’t panic, because Houseproud Scents will come to your rescue with a range of premade gift sets.
With a budget to suit everyone, Houseproud Scents will put together a variety of selection boxes including wax, pamper goodies, and some nibbles.
Keep an eye out closer to the big day for these to appear on the website, or follow them on Facebook for an update when they’ll be released.
Snag yourself a wonderful 15% off everything on the website (not just Christmas lines) with code CWORD15!
Luxury art gifts
Faéna
I’m at the stage of my life where I’m able to buy any bits and pieces I want, which means I can be awkward to buy for. Having said that, I’m also at the point in my life where I want my home to be filled with classy artwork.
Faéna is a Dutch digital artist who simply oozes talent. Having spent years perfecting her craft and finding her signature style, Faéna is my go to for all things artistic. From business logos, to family recipes and everything in between, Faéna can bring your ideas to life.
One unique gift idea is a dog portrait. Immortalise your furry friend by commissioning Faéna to create a digital portrait based on your favourite photograph. Prices are a flat rate per pooch and the lead time is approximately two weeks, although she does get booked up pretty quickly, so act fast.
Another brilliant gift idea is to have your family recipe illustrated. I was stuck for a gift earlier this year and Faéna came to my rescue with her recipe artwork. All I had to do was provide the recipe and let her work her magic. It now has pride of place in our kitchen and is definitely a huge upgrade from the scrap piece of paper we had it written on before.
It’s important to remember that you will need to arrange the printing of art from Faéna yourself. The trade-off for having to do it yourself is that when you purchase custom art from Faéna, you get all rights, meaning you can print it whenever and wherever you’d like. This means that you could even give a copy to every family member to cherish, especially for family recipes.
With Christmas just around the corner, make sure you reach out sooner than later to ensure your artwork can be completed in good time for gift giving.
Taylor P Starnes Art & Photography
If you’re looking for something a little unusual this holiday season, look no further than Taylor’s incredibly unique style.
When asked how she developed her signature style, Taylor credits her mother, in a gently (but lovingly) backward kind of way. She says, of growing up “My mom was very into monochromatic design themes. So my environment was all black, white, grey, and the occasional splash of colour.”
Breaking that tradition, when searching for her own style of art, she found herself veering toward wanting to do bright and in-your-face kind of colour schemes and making them as wild as possible.
When asked about her inspiration, Taylor told us: “I never really watched many movies or tv shows that most people my age had already seen or were super into. So as an adult, a lot of my friends were super surprised by how little I knew of pop culture in those areas. So we compiled a list of “must sees” and I basically started painting what I was watching and it evolved from there into music and other pop culture icons.”
Not only is she a fantastic photographer, but she’s also a master of all mediums of art work. Have a chat with Taylor through her website or pop her a message through her Facebook page to see how Taylor can help you find the perfect gift.
For the kids’ bedrooms or playroom
Bespoke by K
The wonderfully talented K behind Bespoke By K can bring your child’s favourite movie, tv-show or book to life in a fun way that will win you major points this Christmas.
These amazing personalised superhero paper mache letters might even tempt you to steal the credit from Santa, this year! Starting at just £10 the letters are 20cm tall and can be created in a wide range of designs.
With her signature letters inspired by popular children’s themes, K can turn her hand to anything that may be your child’s latest obsession. From dinosaurs to classical books, K can work with you to create a design that fits perfectly with your child’s bedroom theme.
Bespoke By K doesn’t stop at kid’s decor. She also makes personalised gift bag tags and cards for any occasion. Whether you’re having a themed holiday party and want to add an extra special touch to your party bags, or you’re throwing a baby shower and feel like wowing your guests, let K know the occasion and she can put something together to fit the event.
And, before you get jealous of the fabulous new decorations for your kids’ rooms, it’s worth noting that Bespoke By K also offers classy artwork for any room of the house. A simple frame is all that’s needed to make the artwork pop.
Check out Bespoke By K’s Facebook page for more details, and make sure you quote ‘C Word Mag’ to get yourself an incredible 20% off your purchase.
Don’t forget the dog
Jess's Doggy Treats
What kind of pet parent would you be if you forgot to get festive treats for your furry friends? Jess’s Doggy Treats has your back with Christmas selection boxes just for your pooch.
These selection boxes cost a total of £16, including next-day delivery. The packages will be dispatched on December 20th, meaning that they’ll arrive in time for the big day, but not too soon that they’ll go stale before celebrations occur.
Contents may include:
beef biscuits
turkey & cranberry biscuits
bacon brownies
peanut butter brownies
pretzel
cupcake
doughnut
cakepop
Does your furry friend have allergies? Jess even offers a wheat-free box to ensure nobody has to miss out on the goodies.
Check her out on Facebook or Etsy to place your order. Be warned, there are limited numbers of these boxes so please act fast to make sure you don’t miss out.
Gifts for decorating the house
Patchwork Bunny
Personally, by December 1st, I like my house to look like Christmas has exploded all over the place. I don’t want to stop at decking the halls - I want to deck everywhere that stays still long enough to be decorated. That’s where The Patchwork Bunny comes in.
Whatever colour theme you have for your tree, The Patchwork Bunny can create something that complements it perfectly. From bunting sporting all of Santa’s reindeer, to something a little more subtly festive, The Patchwork Bunny is incredibly talented and can bring your ideas to life.
With her handmade personalised stockings, bunting, and advent calendars you can have your entire house dressed for the occasion.
These neat little handmade personalised aprons are perfect for getting the kids involved in baking cookies for Santa. They come with a personalised wooden spoon and a themed cookie cutter meaning all you have to supply is the ingredients to start making tasty Christmas cookies. Just make sure you save enough of them to leave with Santa’s glass of milk.
What’s even better, she’ll work with you to have everything custom made from scratch, so if you have a specific colour theme in mind, the Patchwork Bunny is likely to be able to accommodate. And if you don’t have a theme planned? Let her loose and just wait to see what ideas she comes up with.
The Mothercraft
The Mothercraft is a mother daughter duo working together across the country to ensure that all of their orders are fulfilled to the highest standard.
From their absolutely adorable personalised marshmallow family tree decorations, to their cute Santa mugs, The Mothercraft has a wide range of gift ideas to peruse.
Are you fed up of writing out labels for your child’s eleventy billion presents? Nab yourself a sheet or two of these clever labels, and make sure that Father Christmas doesn’t take all of the credit for the presents this year at the same time.
What are these cute looking characters? Cutlery holders that double up as place settings, of course!
Prices of all their items include postage meaning what you see is what you pay, making everything excellent value for money!
Best for Stocking Fillers
Bitch and Bobs
Just because it’s Christmas doesn’t mean you have to say goodbye to the spooky aesthetic. The wonderfully named Bitch and Bobs is a one-stop shop for all your gothic candle and alternative home decor needs.
We particularly adore these incense cones and incense burners that look like smoking cauldrons when you use them.
They also offer a range of Christmas scented candles, along with a whole host of different quirky products decorated with sassy slogans.
Let everyone you encounter know that you’re a punk rock princess with one of their travel coffee mugs, or make sure all your goth stuff is in one place using one of their makeup bags.
If you’re looking for something unique for your home or for your token goth friend, check out Bitch and Bobs on Etsy - their latest restock went live November 5th - and don’t forget to use code CWORD10 for 10% off your order.
With a little personal touch
A Rochford based husband and wife pair, Jon and Kelly balance parenthood with carefully crafting a range of beautiful bespoke gifts.
From gorgeous wooden bookmarks to photo-coasters that take old family snaps and make them lasting, their talents are endless.
Simply put, you contact them with an idea, a product or merely a whisper of information about the person you’re buying for, and they work with you to design the perfect gift.
Alternatively, if you’re a business owner yourself, get your brand kitted out with fresh new gear for the new year.
Check out their Facebook page or email them at jon.withalittlepersonaltouch@gmail.com or kelly.withalittlepersonaltouch@gmail.com to see how they can bring your personlised ideas to life.
Cressida Rose Planners
We all know someone obsessed with planners - in my family it’s me!
Cressida Rose Planners is an affordable range of planner accessories available exclusively on Etsy. They have a wide range of goodies and even offer bundles to get you started on your BuJo (bullet journal, for those not in the know) journey.
I like how they have different themes with a variety of products for each theme, which means you can either keep to one aesthetic or mix and match for a truly unique planner.
From stickers, to journaling cards, Cressida Rose Planners has everything you need to get yourself organised going into 2022. Whether you’re using a traditional diary or mixing things up a bit with a fully customisable bullet journal, accessories from Cressida Rose Planners will help keep you interested and allow you to really make it your own.
They also sell a few other accessories that would be amazing stocking fillers, such as badges, pens and even notebooks.
Snag yourself 15% off the entire range using code CWORD15 at checkout.
Behind the Damson Door
Behind door number one, the damson door, we have the super talented Sarah with her wide range of wares.
Get your kid involved with decorating in a creative way by giving them their very own Christmas box. WIth this kid’s colouring Christmas box, they have everything they need to create their own tree decorations.
The kit has plain baubles, pens, a paint pen and has the string to get the baubles tree ready. It even includes some sweets for them to nibble on while they work.
Be the host(s) with the most(s) with these amazingly cute and unusual place settings. Is the turkey not quite ready yet? Keep your guests entertained by letting them build their own reindeer, and have them with antlers in a colour that matches the rest of your decor.
For other gifts, check out the rest of the Etsy store for a large selection of excellent gifts, from stocking fillers to Secret Santa presents.
We particularly love the dog bandanas that come in a wide range of different styles.
Remind the strong women in your life just how much they can achieve by getting them one of these classy as heck tablet covers.
Or, if you’re not a fan of the miserable weather and want to remind yourself that there are warmer days to look forward to, get yourself into holiday mode with this funky multicolour wipe clean plastic holiday wallet. It’s perfect for storing all your important documents in one place so all you have to worry about is what you’re going to day drink at the airport!
For 10% off across their entire store. use code CWORD10, in addition to the free postage that is included for most of their items!
With a huge variety of different stores above, we know you’ll have made a big dent in your shopping. Well, either that or you’ve added to your own wishlist a whole bunch! Oops… we’re sorry, not sorry.
Don’t forget to check out our outfit inspo article so the tree doesn’t have to be the only thing decorated this year.
Happy holidays, stay safe!
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Hana Ames is a cat mama, feminist, enjoys cooking, playing board games and drinking cocktails. She has been writing professionally since 2018 and has a degree in English literature. Her website is www.hrawriting.com and she is always interested in discussing new projects. Catch her on Twitter @hrawriting and Facebook: www.facebook.com/hrawriting