Christmas Gifts They Will Love

Looking for Christmas gift ideas? We’ve put our thinking caps on and done the hard work for you to come up with the perfect list. We’ve got gifts for mum, gifts for dad, ideas for kids, gifts for your spouse and even fab Christmas present ideas for that hard-to-buy-for bestie and the grandma who already has everything.

Most of us have good intentions to start our Christmas shopping early – it doesn’t always happen though. But it really is worth getting on with it as soon as possible so that you can gradually knock over your list. You’ll avoid the stress of a last-minute rush and having to slam your credit card in that final pay week before Christmas.

Let’s break it down into groups to match the people who are probably on your shopping list. (We’ve included quite a few ‘experience’ gifts too, because life’s about what you do as much as what you have.)

Christmas Gifts for Women

Art classes can be a fun present for family and friends.

Here’s a news flash – mums, partners and grandmas don’t really want slippers. Our feet are just fine in the footwear we already own. Thank you anyway. Try some things from this list instead to make the special women in your life smile.

• Pamper vouchers: Treat her to a massage, facial or visit to the nail salon.
• Foot spa: Brilliant to own, but the trick is actually finding the time to use it. So, include a handmade ‘voucher’ promising to fill it up for her and deliver cups of coffee or glasses of wine while she relaxes.
• Art class: Did you know ‘paint and sip’ classes are a thing? Book a session as a gift for your bestie or sister (and a place for yourself too – it’s more fun with someone else) and she’ll be able to wave a paint brush in one hand and a glass in the other.
• Beach gear: There are so many cool beach totes and beach umbrellas out there – look for a fun botanic print. Don’t worry about doubling up – totes tend to only last a couple of seasons and it never hurts to have a spare.
• Earrings: Most women can never have too many! It’s a great way to show someone you really know them and understand their tastes… is she into fun dangly flamingos or classic silver hoops?
• Handbags: Ditto to the above when it comes to showing you get them. And no-one ever complained of having too many bags.
• Personalised calendars or photobooks: This is a great Christmas gift idea for grandma. Fill it with photos of the kids from the past year. It will be a nice change from just looking at photos on Facebook.
• Magazine subscriptions: We browse on our phones most of the time, but there’s actually lots of old school fun in getting a magazine in the mail on a day you were just expecting bills. Maybe a cool home reno or travel mag for your partner or bestie, and a crosswords mag or Women’s Weekly for grandma.
• Indoor plants: These are just huge right now – they look great, make you smile and can even help purify the air. We really dig gorgeous timber and ceramic planters and tumbling green foliage that’s hard to kill.
• Poinsettias: Yes, these are indoor plants too but they get their own dot point so that we can share a fun fact. These traditional Christmas beauties actually flower in winter in their native Mexico and the northern hemisphere. But in Australia and the southern hemisphere, professional growers turn up the chill factor and carefully recreate their natural flowering conditions so that we don’t miss out on their bright red blooms!

Christmas Gifts for Men

For the guy who has everything – a voucher to make his very own signature beer.

• Brewing experience: Seen all those microbreweries popping up in the ‘burbs? Some offer gift vouchers for brewing experiences where you brew and bottle your own 50-litre batch over a couple of visits. Lots of taste testing involved too, of course.
• Drones: Looking for a fun gift for your father? If your dad doesn’t already own a drone, get him one to try out in the backyard on Christmas Day.

  Custom photo socks: For the guy who has everything. Send in a photo of his favourite pet, or car, or kids, and get it plastered over personalised socks.

• Meat smoker: Did someone say brisket? Meat smokers are so hot right now. They suit all budgets – you can get portable camping smokers from as little as $60, right through to $4000 deluxe models.

A meat smoker is for guys (or girls) that take their barbecuing seriously.

• Hot sauces: For if he already has a meat smoker!
• Beard oil: For the hipster in your life.
• Manscaping voucher: Because hot towels, facials and great cuts aren’t just for women.
• A turntable and some vinyl: They probably never really went away but there is a resurgence going on right now. Today’s record players don’t need to be hooked up to stereos… look for one with Bluetooth to play through your dad or hubby’s Bluetooth speaker.
• Pop culture t-shirts: Pick his favourite Marvel superhero or gaming character.

What about some beard oil or a manscaping voucher for the hipster in your life?

Gifts for Everyone

• Endeavour Prize Home Lottery tickets: Imagine actually gifting someone a prize home and changing their life forever. Someone has to win it, so why not see if it can be a loved one? You can order your tickets online, email them to yourself and print them out, then tuck them into a gift that can be enjoyed immediately while they wait for the big draw… How about champagne glasses (ready to toast their new home if they get the call) or a beach towel (to spread out on a gorgeous Sunshine Coast beach – or use around their new pool).

A ticket for an Endeavour Foundation Prize Home lottery could turn into a really BIG present.

• Movie vouchers: Because we don’t have to watch Netflix every night. Gold Class is especially cool.
• Board games: These have been undergoing a revival the last few years. Great for family bonding and girls’ nights in.
• Double-walled tumblers and bottles: Keep drinks chilled around the pool for long lazy summer days.
• Axe throwing: Yep, it’s a thing. And it’s getting really popular. A great gift voucher idea for friends, partners or parents who need to let off a bit of steam after a big year. Just stand well back if you go with them. (And please note that, unlike the art classes above, you’re not allowed to have a drink in the other hand as you do it. Go figure.)

If you’re looking for something different, a voucher for a bit of harmless axe throwing could be just the thing?

Homemade Gifts

• Glass jars of treats. Save up your jars between now and Christmas, fill with homemade goodies and add handmade gift tags. Rum balls are a well-deserved classic, but you can also pack your jars with little shortbreads, fudge, homemade spice rubs, drink mixes or DIY layers of cookie or cake ingredients. Great for teacher gifts and neighbours!
• Christmas fruit cake: Things that are made with love and take time can be extra special. Don’t underestimate how thoughtful – and appreciated – a beautifully baked and presented cake can be.
• Homegrown flowers or succulents: Pop them in upcycled decorated tins.
• Kokedama: Make a mossy, twine-wrapped delight for the plant lover in your life.
• Recycled pallet outdoor furniture: There’s a fair bit of work in these but there’s still quite a few weeks until Christmas! Head to the School of YouTube – surely it’s as easy as it looks – and make friends with people working at places that use pallets.
• Framed or laminated art: Keep it simple and from the heart. These make lovely Christmas gifts for grandparents from the grandkids.

Sometimes there’s nothing better than a homemade gift from the heart.

Gifts for Kids

• Lasertag or trampoline centre passes: Run off some school holiday energy after Christmas.
• Indoor (or outdoor) rockclimbing vouchers: For older kids who want to just hang.
• Anything Marvel: For fans of the cinematic universe. (T-shirts, bags, action figures, bobble heads, water bottles, night lights, quilt covers, books…)
• Fitness gear: For teens who like to be active. (Yoga mats, kettlebells, swimming goggles, flippers, snorkel gear, fitness trackers…)
• Frozen II merchandise: Anna and Elsa are back in the cinemas from November 28. If you remember how the world went into meltdown over the first Frozen, you’ll know that it’s again going to be epic for girls under 10. The merchandise hit the shops at the start of October.
• Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker merchandise: This will be the other school holiday mega movie, backed up by equally plentiful Christmas gift ideas based on the film and its characters. It opens on Boxing Day.
• Cinema gift cards: Kids loving being able to buy their own popcorn and drink.
• Must-have books: The best new kids’ books coming out just in time for Christmas include : Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Wrecking Ball (November 5), Wolf Girl 2 (December 3) Dogman: Fetch-22 (December 10), and – for really little kids – The Dinky Donkey (The Wonky Donkey has had a little girl!) on November 1, and Bluey: The Beach (a lift-the-flap book based on the wonderful new Aussie children’s show) on November 5.
• A kid’s guide to moving house: Handy to have for if you, say, win a prize home…

An experience gift like rock-climing is a Christmas present and school holiday activity all in one.

Secret Santa Presents

• Whoopee cushion: Well, why not. We can’t be adults all the time.
• Bubble wrap kit: You can actually buy anti-stress bubble wrap kits filled with perfect rectangles of addictive plastic. Or just chop up your own and save the money (particularly if you draw someone you don’t like).
• Metal slinky: Great for chilling the mind on busy days.
• Chocolates and wine: A winner because even if the recipient doesn’t eat/drink them, they can still put them to good use entertaining over the festive season.
• Designer lunchbox: For the colleague who turns up every day with a Frozen or Batman sandwich container, or whatever they’ve found at the bottom of the plastics cupboard.
• Indoor pot plant: Because it makes the workplace feel less like work.
• Lotto quick picks: Because maybe, just maybe, it will save your workmate from having to come back to work after Christmas. (Only give this to someone you really, really like.)
• A pen: No, just kidding. Who the heck would buy that? Bad Santa!

Oh no, it can’t be nearly Secret Santa time again can it?