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But, before you start worrying about the etiquette of an empty-handed Christmas, fear not. Allow us to introduce our 48-hour gift guide because, if you can’t bestow friends and family with your presence, you can at least offer them presents…
Click and Collect
While many shops are closed in Tier 4, click and collect services are still operating in these areas; major retailers including Argos and M&S are open for business until Christmas Eve.
For the perfect last-minute but luxury gift, we like the Diptyque Baies scented candle, which smells like an oven-crisped berry brulee (£47 from Selfridges). For something less luxe but equally lovely, Next’s homeware, such as this bobble cushion in cream (£22), will keep them cosy through the winter months. Act quickly, though: today is the last day you can place an order online and collect it in store.
Alternatively, head to the White Company for its lovely range of candle holders. Each artisan hurricane lantern has its own unique charm (£30). Call by noon to collect the same day in store, until Christmas Eve.
If you are based in London, Trunk Clothiers, a Marylebone-based menswear shop, offers a click and collect service from 11am until 3pm up to and including Christmas Eve. Head there for cosy fairisle knits. Meanwhile, luxury accessories brand Smythson offers a call and collect service from its New Bond Street and Sloane Street stores. Customers can collect curbside until 4pm on Christmas Eve.
Go hand-made
This year, more of us are embracing the trend for handmade gifts; online marketplace etsy.com recently saw a 326 per cent increase in demand for DIY crafts.
“Throughout the year we have more and more people coming to our website to look for making activities,” says Sophie Rochester, founder of yodomo.co, a website featuring online workshops and kits from a curated selection of artists and craftspeople. “During the winter months, the focus has been more around creating something special for loved ones.”
Floral stylist Willow Crossley says that hyacinths, which are available in most supermarkets and garden centres and easy to repot at home, are the perfect last-minute Christmas present. “There’s nothing better than receiving a handmade present, and knowing someone has taken the time to think about you; gifting plants feels particularly life-enhancing,” she says.
To add a festive flourish, Crossley recommends potting them in an antique cereal bowl, complete with a velvet ribbon. “If you can, go foraging for some moss to put on the top, and add some catkins to make a tower,” she says. Alternatively, she is a fan of gifting notepads that have been covered with vintage fabric cuttings; all you need is some material, scissors and glue (Copy Dex works best, apparently).
If you’re not a natural at crafts, then head to the Free Projects area at Yodomo. Here, you can access step by step guides which teach you how to make gifts using household items. For £4.99, you can attend an online course in making a macrame plant hanger using leftover rope. If you’re handy with wood, the website even offers a free course on how to make a chopping board, hosted by Tuscany-based woodworkers Samina Langholz and Andrea Brugi.
Experiences
Experience gifts are a bit of a gamble; we don’t know when restrictions will be lifted next year, so it’s best to choose ones with at least a 12-month shelf life.
If you have missed your annual loiter around the fragrance department then give your loved one the next best thing; a voucher to make their own scent that is perfectly tailored to their olfactory preferences (no need for a gift receipt). London’s Experimental Perfume Club offers a group masterclass, or a one-to-one session with a top perfumer.Prices start at £135, and vouchers are sent via email.
You can also look to the great outdoors. Fire pits were all the rage this year: if you know someone who wants to expand on their culinary skills, then an outdoor cooking experience day in rural Herefordshire might be just the ticket. Louise Wright, co-founder of the Woodee Range, teaches people how to cook outdoors using a fire pit: everything from paella to bread and hot cocktails. Email vouchers for one cost £125.
Online lessons
Why not give the gift of knowledge this year?
Silver Swans, the Royal Academy of Dance accredited ballet classes for older learners, is offering the opportunity to follow a professionally recorded classical ballet class via a private link on YouTube. The Duchess of Cornwall is a fan of the classes, which work wonders for posture, confidence and discipline (a single class starts at £5, contact vonya@theplushes.com).
Do you know someone who mastered the art of sourdough over lockdown? Why not challenge them to branch out into brioche, cinnamon buns and ciabatta too. The Epsom Bakehouse has plenty of online bread making classes running next year. All gift vouchers are delivered via email, and are available to buy up until Christmas Eve (£19 per person). Alternatively, personal stylist Linsday Edwards offers gift vouchers for a 90-minute personal styling and wardrobe edit session via Zoom. “It’s the perfect gift for anyone who has a wardrobe full of clothes, yet nothing to wear,” says Edwards. The vouchers cost £165 and can be downloaded instantly.
Breathwork – consciously using our breath for health benefits – has been one of 2020’s biggest health trends. Experienced breathwork coach Charlie Moult offers vouchers for single sessions via Zoom next year. When discussing the benefits of breathwork, she lists improved focus, reduced stress and increased energy; and, after the year we have had, what could be better? (One hour sessions £60). Meanwhile, Soho Farmhouse’s pilates teacher, Chloe Hodgson, has launched her own virtual studio with pilates-inspired workouts for fitness, strength and mental focus. Studio members have access to two new workouts each week, plus Hodgson’s vast archive (£16.67 per month).
Willow Crossley’s online masterclasses are the perfect present for a green fingered relative. Over 24 video lessons, Crossley breaks down the techniques, tools, suppliers and varieties she uses in her displays. The course also includes a downloadable guide (£127).
Subscriptions
Quick, easy and with no need to wrap, subscriptions are the perfect last-minute gift. Do you know a house-plant addict? Then a subscription to the Bloom Box Club will deliver a monthly box containing indoor plants, ceramic pots and surprise gifts (£39 per month). For those who are forever losing their socks, The London Sock Company offers a service, where the recipient will get stylish socks, delivered monthly, through their door. Membership starts from just £30 for three months, and you receive the gift certificate via email.
Children don’t have to miss out either. For a subscription that keeps on giving, try the Little Cooks kit. Each month, kids receive a box with the ingredients needed to make this month’s bake, a recipe card and some fun games to play while they cook (£8.33 a box). Especially timely if next year sees them stuck at home again.
