Pride and Prejudice print
Pride and Prejudice print
Pride and Prejudice print
There\'s always one person on your Christmas list who is fiendishly hard to buy for, so we\'ve picked out our favourite quirky gifts for hard-to-buy-for people. Literary types always cause a present dilemma. You don’t have the cash to shell out on a first edition, yet buying an ‘ordinary’ book runs the risk of you a) buying them something they already have and b) coming across as hideously non-well-read. My friend Rachel falls into this category, and this year I’m stepping away from the Waterstones vouchers and towards these amazing wall posters by Spineless classics. This Pride and Prejudice print is massive but it is the full version with a gorgeous Darcy and Elizabeth silhouette.
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Pride and Prejudice print, from £80, Spineless Publishing, spinelesspublishing.com
Lomography Diana camera
diana camera lomography film camera
Lomography Diana camera
Teenagers are possibly the worst group of people to buy for. One week they’re like, totally in love with Justin Bieber, and the next they’re dying their hair turquoise and going out with a boy called Sabre. My cousin has just turned 16, and although her musical taste, hair colour and general take on life is bound to change a million times over the next year, she’ll still be taking pictures of herself making posey faces and sticking them up on Facebook. So, I’m planning on getting her one of these cool Diana cameras – not only will she be able to take arty, vintage-style pics of herself and her friends, they’ll be captured on film forever, so later on in life she can look back and try and work out what she was thinking when she bought those orange hair extensions.
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Lomography Diana camera, from £45, lomography.com
An eco break at Caban Casita
luxury log cabin holiday caban casita wales
An eco break at Caban Casita
Like many men, my other half is fiendishly difficult to buy for. So much so, that I’ve decided that instead of an actual gift this year, I’m going to treat him to a stay in a gorgeous log cabin in the Welsh countryside (and yes, I’m kind of spoiling myself here as well). Caban Casita is a gloriously kitsch log cabin deep in secluded Welsh woodland, and is perfect for a cosy, romantic winter stay. Decked out in retro furnishings on an eco-friendly holiday camp, it has everything you need to cosy up and forget about the outside world. Bliss.
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Caban Casita, from £149 for a three night stay, cabancasita.co.uk
Scratch Map
scratch map travel map novelty map present
Scratch Map
I have at least two friends who are jetting off to foreign climes next year, and although it’s taking a lot of effort to keep my jealousy in check (who wouldn’t want to slope off on a grown-up gap year?) I’ve been stumped as to what to get them as Christmas gifts that would tie in with their impending adventures. Step in the Scratch Map. This nifty geographical gift is perfect for planning out an adventure – just scratch off the surface of each country with a coin to reveal the brightly coloured fun underneath.
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Scratch Map, £14.99, from Firebox, firebox.com
Signature scent-making class, Homemade London
homemade london scent class create your own perfume
Signature scent-making class, Homemade London
Fragrance, that’s a safe bet, right? Wrong. I’ve lost count of the amount of bottles of unwanted perfumes my mother has amassed in her make-up drawer. Unless you know the intended recipient has worn the same scent for 20 years and isn’t going to have a total change of heart and style as soon as you’ve splashed out for a bottle of their usual, it’s usually a Bad Idea. Instead, why not treat them to a signature scent-making class? At Homemade London you can spend a few hours with the experts to come up with the ultimate personal scent, creating your own unique blend of fragrance whilst drinking tea and devouring some gorgeous nibbles. At £99 it’s slightly heavier on the wallet than the special offer shelf at Boots, but I think it’s worth it to come up with the exact scent mum’s been after for ages.
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Signature scent-making class, from £99, homemadelondon.com
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Vine-leasing
Hire a vine vineyard wine
Vine-leasing from an English vineyard
My dad is renowned in our family for being something of a wine buff. This usually results in some serious lazy-present-buying during the festive season, and although he appreciates the 20-odd bottles of wine he’s bound to be given every year by various friends and relatives, this year I’d like to break the habit and get him something slightly more thoughtful. Step in the vine leasing scheme from Chapel Down Winery. This British winery is selling leases to its vines, so you can ‘adopt’ a vine in its Kent vineyard – and in return, you’ll be involved in creating your own plonk, including an invitation to a harvest dinner where you’ll take away a case of your very own vintage. Much more thoughtful than a last-minute dash to Threshers.
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Vine-leasing, from £180, englishwinesgroup.com
Retro diner telephone
diner phone black phone telephone retro
Retro diner telephone
In the New Year, myself and two of my best friends are moving in together after two years of individually living with a load of smelly boys. So, instead of getting each other presents this year, we’ve all agreed to buy something for the house instead. As we already have a vintage gramophone and far more arty black and white prints than wallspace, I’ve decided to continue with the vintage theme and buy us this vintage-style diner phone from I Want One Of Those, to replace the sad and tired handset I’m currently using. Despite being kitted out with a coin slot and rotary dial, it works just like any other phone, only with this one we can pretend we\'re dining out in the American mid-west. Yeehaw.
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Black diner phone, £59.99, iwantoneofthose.com
USB Mix Tape
usb mix tape music
USB Mix Tape
My friend Sally and I used to make mixtapes for each other all the time, but times are sadly a-changing and neither of us own a tape-deck anymore. Fear not, however – I’ve recently discovered the Mix Tape USB from Suck UK. This little usb memory stick will hold up to 2 hours of music, the same as an oldschool C120 cassette tape, and comes packaged in a nifty cassette-style case, complete with space to add in your track listing and some cover art if you’re that way inclined.
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Mix Tape USB, £12, suck.uk.com
Ghostbusters proton pack backpack
ghostbusters proton pack backpack
Ghostbusters proton pack backpack
This year I feel that my housemate Duncan has put up with rather a lot from me, what with my shoe collection spilling out into our living room most of the time, so with him working in film and being a massive movie geek, I know he’ll love this kitsch Ghostbusters backpack from Truffle Shuffle. Big enough to fit a few comics and his laptop in, it will also allow him to pretend to be Bill Murray when nobody’s watching. It’s based on the original design from the film, for extra geek points.
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Proton pack backpack, £40, Truffle Shuffle truffleshuffle.co.uk
Nippaz With Attitude Off Switch baby vest
Nippaz With Attitude Off Switch baby vest
Nippaz With Attitude Off Switch baby vest
This Christmas will be my first Christmas as an aunite, after my brother and his girlfriend became proud parents to baby Jake back in September. Since then the running joke has been that they can\'t find the off switch, and rather than get Jake yet another teddy bear (I mean seriously, how many does the child need) I\'m going to be getting him a selection of baby-grows from the excellent Nippaz With Attitude. This \'off switch\' one will do nicely.
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Off switch baby vest, from £16.99, nippazwithattitude.com
Love Bites ring by Me&Zena
Love Bites ring by Me&Zena vampire twilight
Love Bites ring by Me&Zena
Any twi-hards on your Christmas list? My friend Holly is a serious Team Edward fan, and whether you love it or loathe it, finding a Twilight-related gift that doesn’t have Robert Pattinson or Taylor Lautner’s torso splashed all over it is slightly difficult. So, I’ll be giving a nod to the Twilight saga without coming across as tacky with this fab vamp ring from Me & Zena. Holly will love the subtle vampy style, I will love the £12 price tag. Fangtastic.
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Love Bites Vampire Teeth Ring, £12, from Me & Zena, meandzena.com
Rock n Rose Eiffel Tower friendship bracelet
charm bracelet friendship bracelet Eiffel tower
Rock n Rose Eiffel Tower friendship bracelet
There’s only one other city in the world I’d like to spend Christmas in other than London, and that would be Paris. Taking a stroll along the Seine in the snow, drinking hot mulled wine in a Christmas market in Saint-Germain-de-Pres, watching the city lit up from the Sacre Coeur... However, I think all my hints to my boyfriend are falling on deaf ears, so until then I think I’ll make do with a little piece of French charm in the form of this gorgeous little Eiffel Tower friendship bracelet from Rock n Rose. Luckily for me it’s part of a wider range of charm bracelets including wishbones, anchors and lovehearts, so if anyone else wants to treat me they know what to do.
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Eiffel Tower friendship bracelet, £9, rocknrose.co.uk.
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