This is the third annual Practical Christmas Gift Guide (find the first two here and here), and the mission remains the same: practical gifts for the person in your life who does not own a novelty mug. Who is puzzled by candles shaped like pinecones. Who does not want a miniature nativity set. People like me, in other words, who are a pain in the neck this time of year.
When describing this gift guide to friends, I say the ideal item is a zhuzhed-up workaday thing—something borderline essential that you might buy anyway, but a more delicious, longer-lasting, or better made version. Even better if whatever it is gets you outside. I hope you find something to give the fussy, gift-shy people in your orbit, or if you are one of those types yourself, that you pick up a few ideas to pass along.
1. The Complete Peanut Butter Gift Box from Butter Bike
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The peanut butter establishment must be shaking in its boots, is all I can say. This small batch peanut butter, made in Hampshire and jarred by hand, has unusual depth of flavour and is absolutely decadent on toast. My favourite variety is the Rugged (Butter Bike argot for “chunky”), followed by Smoked Chilli, and then a relative dark horse—Cinnamon Raisin (reminiscent of a nutty, cinnamon raisin bagel). All three are included in the Complete Peanut Butter Gift Box, so that’s where I would start, though if you have a seasonal soft spot for Chocolate Orange, the Festive Peanut Butter Gift Trio is the way forward.
2. Susanne Kaufmann St John's Wort Bath
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I am a Bather, particularly in the winter. This moisturising bath powder is a goody in January—when you get out of the tub and towel off, it feels like you’ve already lotioned your body. The ingredients are mild enough that it’s suitable for kids, and what started as a treat for me has been co-opted by the rest of the family. Susanne Kaufmann is an eco-friendly, natural skincare brand based in Austria and Switzerland, which I found while looking for breastfeeding-friendly products. They make a handful of other potions I could have gladly shouted about on this list. Two more: The Purifying Cleansing Gel, a deep-clean face wash that comes in a refillable glass bottle, and the Moisturising Mask, a hydrating cream that you can sleep in overnight for a more effective treatment.
3. Siân Esther Green Stripe Scalloped Brushed Cotton Pyjamas
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For a couple of winters now I’ve worn a green striped robe from Siân Esther, an artisanal pyjama company based in the UK. The robe is substantial, but not bulky, and looks elegant and jolly hanging from its hook (contrast piping; scalloped pockets). These pyjamas are made of the same weighty fabric as the robe, with a roomy box back pleat and velvet-covered buttons. They seem like they were designed for breezy single-pane windows on Christmas morning. On my list.
4. Petersham Nurseries Spring Flowering Bulbs
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There’s a first time for everything and this autumn, without any prompting, I remembered about bulbs. Obviously an indication of Age, and also because I was on the Petersham Nurseries website already, looking at boxes of matches (unexpectedly, Petersham Nurseries has the best selection of fancy matches, which of course, make useful stocking stuffers—had I not been waylaid by the bulbs, I’d probably be writing about those). I ordered the following varieties, all tulips: Mariage and Copper, which are so full they look like peonies; the romantic, ruffle-petalled Super Parrot and Cabanna; and the green-flecked White Valley tulip, a hot ticket that typically sells out. With every order of 5 packs of bulbs, they’ll throw in a pack of paperwhites.
5. YETI Hopper Backpack Cooler
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This handsome, hard-wearing backpack cooler is handy for hiking picnics (and essential, in our neck of the woods, since getting a wicker basket to the top of the ridgeline near us in Sussex would be impossible without a donkey). You can fit lunch for half a dozen people plus a couple of water bottles in the smaller size, and probably twice that in the larger bag. And I probably shouldn’t mention this, but when the backpack is off-duty, you can use it to ferry frozen chips from the grocery store. I hope nobody from YETI is reading this. It is beneath the dignity of such a nice piece of kit. YETI also makes a smallish coffee flask that I have become devoted to, called the Rambler Cup, and I use that as intended: to drink the same flat white for an hour without it going cold, out of a little magnetic opening you can flick open with one thumb. I collect flasks, and it is the reigning favourite.
6. Marshall Kilburn III Portable Speaker
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We moved to a bigger house in the countryside this past autumn, and this blow-the-doors-off speaker was something I wasn’t sure we needed. I hemmed and hawed about it. In London, the dinky travel speaker that I received as a corporate gift ten years ago was fine, because we had so little space to use it in. If you wanted to have a little dance around, it was sometimes not even worth connecting to the small fry speaker at all. You’d just pipe music out of an iPhone like a caveman. But now, this portable, boom-box-like speaker is a joy. It’s retro-looking, with a swingy handle attached. We carry it to the kitchen, the dining room, the garden. It’s blasting The Chipmunk Song right this second. I’m crazy about it.
7. CYBEX Click & Fold 4-in-1 High Chair
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I first noticed these high chairs at a family club in London, when I was not in the market for a high chair (we already had one). They were sleek and sturdy and an eye-catching shade of watery-blue (other colours, too, though I stuck with the blue), but that wouldn’t have been enough to draw me in—the winning thing about them is that they fold down and can be put away in a closet. I couldn’t believe it, when I saw this metamorphosis happening. How many times had we heaved the high chair from our basement kitchen-and-dining-nook, two stories up, in order to hide it in our bedroom for a supper party? It did not cross my mind that there was any other way. We donated the old high chair and didn’t look back.
8. Votary Super Seed Facial Oil
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Last January I was having dinner with my friend Caroline Kent (of Scribble & Daub), whose skin was lambent as usual despite the raw weather, and I leaned over the profiteroles to ask her what she was doing for moisturiser. She put me on to Votary, a female-owned skincare business with products made in the UK, and specifically to this facial oil, which is a potent remedy for dry skin but safe for pregnancy and breastfeeding. It’s an all-purpose soother and doesn’t provoke my sensitive skin. I’m on my third bottle.
9. Auk Mini Indoor Garden
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The Auk is the ideal invention for people who like to cook and use fresh herbs, but are fly-by-night plant owners. Essentially, a kit arrives in the post, and you dutifully follow the instructions: fill four little pots with coco fibre (in lieu of soil), distribute your chosen seeds, and fill the bottom of the pot holder with water and plant nutrients. An adjustable light bar hangs over the pots, and you move it up as they grow. You cannot mess it up, unless you go away for several weeks and forget to refill the water, which we have done. Forget it, start again. My husband set ours up with our kids, and apart from anything else, it is genuinely charming to watch them become invested in the fate of the parsley.
10. Kindred of Ireland Vivienne Shirt
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Most of the clothing offered by Kindred of Ireland, a romantic, heirloom-quality linen producer based in Northern Ireland, is made to order, which typically means a 2-3 week lead time. The upside to producing items one by one is less waste, and the ability to customise or alter pieces for customers, if they ask. I have the Vivienne shirt: a loose, A-line blouse with asymmetrical buttons and delicate, handmade crochet along the collar. The shirt can be worn with the buttons in the front or back—I prefer them down the back, with a plain front.
11. David Austin Potted Roses
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Would anybody not being glad to see a tall box with a rose plant inside from David Austin? More exciting (the potential!), longer lasting, and a lot cheaper than a bouquet of roses. Bare root roses are the traditional format for planting in the winter, but for a gift, a potted rose is a little more presentable, and less work for the recipient. They arrive pruned back, so the top of the plant will not be beautiful—it looks twiggy, not dissimilar to the top of a bare root. However, the below-soil growth is established, and when the flowering season begins, the hope is that you’ll see more blooms. Three of my favourite varieties are peachy Roald Dahl, pink Scepter'd Isle, and The Generous Gardener, which will flower all summer and has a fragrance that will knock you out.
12. Heart the Lover by Lily King
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I almost never put books in these gift guides, because once you start, how can you stop? But look: the tender, irresistible genius Lily King published a new novel this autumn. That is an event. I’m saving Heart the Lover for the Christmas holidays, so I can’t even tell you about it. But I plan on choosing a day, alerting my family, and hiding out somewhere with my YETI flask. I think you should too.
