Last minute Christmas presents

We have had Cyber Monday, Black Friday, Mad Friday, which presumably was followed by Hangover Saturday, and also Panic Saturday and now I am introducing

Oh bloody hell this is really happening and I have done bugger nothing Monday”.

Or

I was really organised and ordered it all on line weeks ago but now thanks to useless delivery companies I have no idea where any of the stuff is and am starting to panic Tuesday

Or

Was really smug and thought I had done it all but now I have realised I have to get presents for the thing we are going to  tonight and I have no time to go into town Wednesday

Whatever the reason if you need to buy presents you will be surprised what you can get in your local supermarket and with a bit of a imagination you can put together some great presents.   I have grabbed a hamper that we were sent a while ago and used it to photograph these, you will probably want a smaller one but these can be picked up from garden centres and can be part of the gift.   At least by shopping in garden centres and supermarkets you can park right outside and not have to battle multi storey car parks in town.

So what to get then?

 

A bottle of Greenall’s gin , a new Moleskine notebook and £20 to get some new business cards.  Three things any blogger will appreciate I am sure

Bumper box of Tesco Finest truffles and a voucher to buy dinner in Waitrose so they can have a night off or they can treat themselves to something in John Lewis

Maybe you have a friend who likes to do a good deed every now and again.   How about buying a present that supports a charity, either a well known one like Oxfam (who currently have a sale on some gifts and then can be printed at home) or a less well known one like the Chelsea Pensioner’s Hospital. 

How about three bottles of red wine?  Lindeman’s (from £5 a bottle) ; William Hardy Shiraz (which is available in Tesco, Morrisons, or Asda and comes in a gorgeous gift box for £9.99; and the Marques de Casa Concha Cabernet Sauvignon 2012 which is £11.99.   These are three cracking bottles of wine that wine lover would enjoy. 

Or maybe your friend is more or a white wine drinker?  The Lindeman’s Chardonnay is just sunshine in a bottle and will remind them of lazy summer afternoons.   The William Hardy’s Chardonnay has a definite hint of peach to it and is great with turkey, available in a lovely gift box for £9.99. The Ned Noble Sauvignon Blanc is great with Christmas pudding or with a celebration pudding (you can buy it in Majestic for £12.99)

There are often really good producers of great food being made locally how about putting a few together?  Maybe even picking a place where the person grew up or lived for a number of years.   This one is for my dad as we lived near Melton Mowbray for 20 years and Dickinson and Morris are by far the best Melton pork pies. 

For the friend that has travelled, or would like to, how about a collection of goodies from around the world?  Daelman’s Stroopwafels from Holland?  Jules Destrooper luxury biscuits from Belgium?  Or a selection of chocolate to make yummy hot chocolates from different countries around the world, available in Waitrose from a company called Kokoa Collection? 

Vouchers for an experience are always a winner, and are printable from home so you can do them at the last minute, hence LastMinute.Com.  So how about a voucher for a brewery tour followed by lunch alongside some Magners (they do a new lower calorie version, just 103 calories in a bottle,  too which is great for this time of year when we are eating our own body weight in mince pies and still want to get into our favourite little black number on New Year’s Eve)  

Everyone knows a chocoholic.   So how about some truffles from the Co-Op or Tesco and a big box of Guylian?   Those salted caramel truffles are to die for and they also do a salted caramel Irish cream that is rapidly disappearing in our house. 

Maybe there is a budding Tom Cruise in your life who sees themselves as a bit of a demon cocktail maker?  All the supermarkets sell cocktail shakers though this one is a spinner and makes great cocktails effortlessly.   Team it up with a really good bottle of gin or Vodka.  This Snow Leopard Vodka is for sale with Ocado and a percentage goes to help these endangered animals. 

Many of us have friends who are intolerant to certain foods, such as gluten or dairy.  How about getting a selection of goodies from Nairns that they can eat?  Often slightly more expensive than “ordinary” biscuits or chocolate this will be a welcome treat.   Supermarkets also do dairy free chocolates too for the lactose intolerant.    But be warned, they won’t share

And last but not least, the good old port and cheese.  This is an Old Boys Tawny Port from Waitrose and is around £20 a bottle.  

   I hope this has proved useful and shown some ideas of things you can grab at the last minute from supermarkets and that your Christmas is a stress free one!

HAMPER: MODEL’S OWN 🙂