The Slummy single mummy super dooper Christmas gift guide

There are very few things I love more than Christmas.

My children obviously, just about, and Millionaire Matchmaker if it’s an episode I’ve not seen before and I have a bottle of wine and bag of cheese and onion crisps open, but apart from that, not much.

Things I love about Christmas include:

• Being able to eat Roses for breakfast without fear of judgment
• Collecting piles of Christmas catalogues and imagining what I would buy everyone if I won the lottery (and by everyone I mean myself)
• Watching Love Actually on Christmas Eve whilst frantically wrapping presents and guzzling Harvey’s Bristol Cream
• The pre-Christmas shopping trip to Marks and Spencer where I let Bee and Belle put anything they like in the trolley
• Buying presents

Buying presents is my Best Bit. Good presents mind you, none of your tat. There is nothing that makes me want to poke myself in the eye with a sprig of holly more than those nasty gift box sets you find in places like BHS where someone has thought that a miniature jar of Marmite and a cheap, branded butter knife in the large box makes for a considerate gift. I like Marmite, but come on, just add it to your Ocado shop like a normal person.

To help you escape the horror of the Marmite gift set I have picked out some of my favourite gift ideas for all the family:

Personalised mince pie plate

You’re going to have to give this one as a pre-Christmas gift, otherwise it’s not going to be much use. The good thing is though that you can keep it for ever and get it out every year, creating a really lovely family ritual. Add names to your mince pie plate to make it extra special. (Add your own if you are looking to embrace your inner child.)

Available from Born Gifted for £15.99

Diana Silks

If you want a really unique and special gift then your best bet is to shop through very local retailers, independent gift stores or sole traders. There are so many ways to find individual crafters nowadays and it’s much more fun to spend your weekends visiting local Christmas fairs and browsing Etsy than making a mad dash around a crowded Toys R Us on Christmas Eve.

One of my favourite recent finds is Designer Silks by Diana. Diana’s designs are absolutely beautiful and she works her magic across a whole range of products including dresses, shirts, scarves, ties and interiors. She takes commissions, so how about asking Diana to create a one of a kind Christmas design for you?

Visit Designer Silks By Diana for more gift ideas.

Spineless Classics

This is a really cool idea for book lovers who already have more books than they are ever going to be able to read in their lifetime – a poster that contains every word from a single book. I’m not kidding, every single word!

Obviously I’m going to have to give this Moomin one to Bee and her Moomin Baby, but they have all sorts – children’s books, Shakespeare, classic novels, non-fiction – there are loads to choose from. You can choose to buy just the poster, or order them as framed prints if you’re looking to splash out.

SPECIAL OFFER: You can now get the Moomin poster from Spineless Classics for £19.99 instead of £34.99 with the code ‘EXQUISITE’, plus money off lots of other designs too. Find out more here.

Handpicked Collection

Handpicked Collection combines two of the items on my list in one. First they have an awesome catalogue, so that’s fun. Second, they sell this rather lovely carafe, which I intend to fill with Harvey’s Bristol Cream ready for Christmas Eve:

 

I’m definitely going to feel like a proper grown up swigging out of this rather than straight from the sherry bottle.

Once Christmas Day is over and your house has twice as much in it as it did the week before then you’re going to need some ideas for how to organise all your new gifts. This book, ‘Creative Ideas to Organize Your Home’ is going to be invaluable here. I especially like the cute storage tins made from the pages of old books.

Carafe £24.95 and book £14.95 at Handpicked Collection.

Hotel Chocolat

You know how I said I didn’t like festive gift sets? Well I make an exception for all things chocolaty. They aren’t going to sit in a cupboard for a year, they are going to get eaten, probably on the same day. If you want something that says you’ve put in a bit more effort than just picking up a box of random chocolates in Sainsbury’s then you can’t go far wrong with Hotel Chocolat.

Mini-stocking available at Hotel Chocolat for £9.99

SIMS 4

Now I love Belle, of course I do, and I love hanging out with her, but sometimes I am really very happy for her to spend a couple of hours sat quietly in a corner playing with her imaginary family instead. Bee was a big SIMS fan when she was younger and Belle has inherited her passion – if I let her she would spend literally days designing homes and creating families.

Currently available from Game for £39.99

The Wasabi Company

Looking for one last awkward gift for that friend or relative who has everything? I’m willing to bet a Marmite gift set that they don’t have any fresh wasabi…

This wasabi is grown and harvested in Britain, using traditional Japanese methods, and is just what you need to blow away the Christmas cobwebs. Choose your products and they’ll be packaged up for you in a lovely gift box; just don’t stick it under the tree for weeks as it needs to be refrigerated.

Find out more at The Wasabi Company

Where do you like to shop for Christmas gifts? Have you found anything fun or unusual this year?