We are now entering the time of the year where for a lot of us, we start thinking about festive gifting, but not only that - for me, this is the time of year where my husband and I have our anniversary coming up, as well as my own birthday, and then the most wonderful time of the year at the end of December (phrasing it this way as even I, a literal festive elf, think it's a little too early for the 'C' word)
As someone who has been dubbed a great gift giver, (which I am very grateful for, as I do try incredibly hard as I absolutely love to give gifts that my friends and family like), I thought I would put together a blog post where I recommend some of my favourite places that I return to time and time again when there are things to be celebrated like birthdays, engagements, or even 'just because'.
Jewellery
I love to gift jewellery, and two small businesses that I think make incredibly stunning pieces are Constellation Co and Junk Jewels. I absolutely love all things cosmic so Constellation Co is perfect if you have someone in your life who loves star signs, the moon and the stars like I do. I bought myself and one of my best friends matching rose gold disc necklaces which feature a glittery saturn and moon pendant, and I honestly wear mine everyday - it's fantastic quality and so, so pretty. I can't wait to see more releases from this store and hold myself back from buying everything, either as a gift to someone else, or for myself.
Junk Jewels also feature some cosmic jewellery, but they also branch out a little bit more into other styles such as kaleidoscope/rainbow jewellery, which is a collection of brightly coloured pieces which are absolutely gorgeous. I also bought my bridal party their 'tie the knot' thank you bracelets from here, so they're also a great place to go for items like that. I also have a 'happy' necklace from their rainbow collection which was gifted to me, and it's really pretty and reminds me to be positive - a number of their pieces feature positive affirmations like this, and I love that.
Moving on a little bit from jewellery, I also love Lisa Angel and while they do sell jewellery, (and stunning jewellery boxes like mine below), that's not all they do. Lisa Angel also sell scarves, bags, purses, keyrings, homeware and even dried flower bouquets. I absolutely love browsing this store when I have a loved one's birthday coming up, as you really can find most anything here. I once bought my mum a gorgeous teapot and some coasters from here, at the same time as getting some cute little earrings for myself, just to give you an example. While writing this post, I discovered that they have a whole festive section on their site now where they sell gift wrap, decorations as well as personalised food and drink gifts. What a perfect site for a gift giver.
Stationery
Martha Brook is an absolute dream if you're shopping for someone who likes to organise their life in a paper-based format. They do gorgeous life planners, personalised notebooks, photo albums, desk pads, you name it. They also have a 'gifts' section on their website where you can find miscellaneous items such as memory books, wallet cards, date night idea boxes and so much more. I absolutely love this store, they also have foiled birthday cards, and if you know me well, you know that anything foiled, particularly foiled in rose gold, I will recommend with my entire heart, and so that's what I'm doing here.
Food
I really enjoy giving people gifts that they can eat or drink. Some of you will remember that I did a Yale course online at the end of the last year, and one of the lessons I learnt during it was on purchasing gifts which thwart hedonic adaptation, (the idea that we get used to things and then they don't bring us happiness anymore - I spoke in detail about this in this post and this one) Anyway, because gifts which are food and drink don't stick around long enough for us to get used to them, the theory is that they can't disappoint us as they're more of a positive fleeting experience as opposed to a material item. Two places which I love to buy sweet treats from are Biscuiteers and Baked by Steph. I love both of these stores as who doesn't love to receive personalised biscuits/cakes to their front door from someone who would like to say anything ranging from 'thank you' to 'congratulations on your engagement'. Biscuiteers mainly have themed letterbox sized biscuit sets, so your loved one receives 3-4 biscuits which are to do with a wedding, birthday, or seasonal times of the year like Halloween. Such a lovely idea!
Baked by Steph also do a similar thing, but you can also purchase themed DIY Icing Kits from here, along with macarons, and entirely customisable cookies. I love to gift Baked by Steph cookies using this option because you can, (within reason), write out whatever you would like in cookie form, and your loved one can literally eat your 'congratulations' message. It's a really lovely idea, and I will continue to send these out to my friends until they stop me, but I have a feeling that they might not do that...
Bridal Gifts/Wedding/Event Planning
I am absolutely obsessed with Team Hen and Ginger Ray when it comes to shopping for someone who is currently planning their wedding/hen do, or for me personally, when it was time to thank my friends for being in mine. I bought my bridesmaids their one-size-fits-all 'bridesmaid' robes from Ginger Ray, but as well as this, this has also been mine and Stephen's go-to store while we're planning the decor for our wedding reception next year on a budget. If you're throwing a party for someone as your gift to them, this is the perfect place to start looking as they honestly do everything from balloons to themed party bags, and table confetti.
Team Hen is very niche which is why I've spoken about it last, (but not least), as it is mainly gifts for brides and their bridal party. I bought each of my bridesmaids 'will you be my bridesmaid' bracelets, 'bridesmaid' sashes, and glittery lapel pins from here when I put together my bridesmaid 'proposal' gift boxes in 2019, so I definitely recommend this store for that if you're looking to put your boxes for this together soon. I also bought 'team bride' temporary tattoos, 'team bride' love heart sweets, and hen party games from here, so if you're someone who is helping a bride plan their hen do, this is the perfect place to go.
Happy gifting! xo
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