Christmas is here already. How many people have started or even finished their Christmas shopping yet? Not me. I’m very good at leaving things last minute. I find with Christmas presents, there’s nearly always a formula for what sort of gifts. Here’s mine for Christmas presents to give your girlfriend. 

When it comes to Christmas presents, I have a simple rule. One special present and a few nice things to open. That is, if it’s someone important to me, I will generally buy more than one present for them. I think part of the fun of Christmas is opening presents, so the more the merrier. Of course this isn’t cheap, which is why I limit it to one special present, and I try to keep the other things around the £20 or less mark.

When you think of Christmas presents to give your girlfriend, there’s a lot of cliches that would also work if you gave them to your sister or mum. General items that stores target towards women, such as perfume or scarves. I think it’s perfectly fine to go for these items, it’s certainly easier. Don’t worry about buying unoriginal items for bulk up the presents under the tree. However for the special present, try to think of something more original and personal to your girlfriend.

Personal items could include jewellery which is seen as quite luxurious. I find jewellery to be quite intimate as well. There’s lots of options with jewellery which means you can make it very personal. It also doesn’t have to be too expensive. Etsy.com is a fantastic website with lots of hand made jewellery options at fair prices.

Expensive luxury items like shoes or bags would also count as a big gift if you know your girlfriend is into that stuff. One friend bought his gf a cheap second hand car (which you can get from £300) to help her get around in college.

Other special gifts you’ll need to do a bit more thinking for, as they should be personal and something you know your partner really wants/needs. Try to think if there have been any hints dropped recently. You can also think of items such as furniture, travel tickets ect which often work out nicely.

Extra surprises to give

I love giving lots of small gifts at Christmas. I think it’s much nicer when you have more things to open as it’s sort of an event for the day. There’s lots of inexpensive but useful items you can find. Another idea for future is to collect things throughout the year and store them for Christmas.

  • Journal or drawing pad – It might just be me and every girl I know, but I love buying notebooks and drawing pads. There’s lots of shops that do interesting covers. They always feel like they will come in useful (even if I never fully finish one before getting another). I also like things in book shape to wrap, they look so satisfying afterwards.
  • Scarves, hats, gloves – Scarves would be my go to from this list. Think of them like ties, you can always have different scarves to match with certain outfits. Matching winter sets of hats and gloves can also be very considerate and nice. Scarf patterns are also much more lenient with fashion, and it’s hard to buy an “ugly” scarf.
  • Bath products – Bathes are great because they’re a way of pampering yourself. A relaxing bit of me time. There’s so many bath products, such as bubbles or bath salts, bath bombs and even scented oils. They’re often packaged really nicely.
  • Chocolates and sweet – Is there ever a time when chocolate isn’t appropriate? I suppose if your girlfriend doesn’t like chocolates. Don’t think you have to go for posh chocolates though. It can be really sweet to just get a collection of chocolate bars and sweets that you know she loves. Maybe really old candies from her childhood. You can also find interesting sweets from around the world, such as Japan.
  • Books – I personally love books. I like the smell of them. The feel of them. I know not everyone is a reader though. There’s a lot of varieties of books that you can get. Fiction and fantasy for the geeks, cookbooks for the chefs, biographies of famous people for people who don’t normally read books..