Okay , we all know how this works by now. Over the course of the year, I keep a list of what I think are thirty (plus a charity-type suggestion) of the best gifts you could buy for Christmas. Then, at the beginning of December, I write it up and share it with you here on the agreement that you’ll hit me up on Twitter or in the comments with any other excellent gift ideas you have, especially if they’re from independent sellers. Enjoy!

1. Jar of Christmas Eve biscuits, £28

I am a sucker for a beautifully-iced biscuit. Combine the beautiful icing with lovely packaging, and you’ve got me 100%.

2. Turquoise sugar bowl with American walnut wooden spoon, £48

I know, ceramics and other handmade stuff can seem expensive. But I think it’s worth it: you get a thoughtful, one of a kind gift, and you’re supporting an independent maker. Double win.

3. Calvin Klein logo slim-fit stretch-microfibre trunks, £26

Make new underwear less boring by buying it in festive colours.

4. Carbs book, £10.50

This isn’t new out this year, but still nothing has beaten it in terms of excellent cover design, and who doesn’t love a carb in winter, right?

5. Retro neon pink cassette tape iPhone case, £25

Casetify make great (effective!) phone cases in hundreds of fab designs. I’ve had my eye on this one for months…

6. Monstera leaf earrings, £20

Cute earrings at the perfect price for a friend.

7. Corduroy notebook, £6.95

This is probably the best value notebook I’ve ever put on the list. And who doesn’t need a new notebook to add to the pile of other notebooks they haven’t wanted to spoil by writing in them?

8. Santa, £15

Super cute glass Santa to hang in the window, or on the tree, or y’know, anywhere they fancy.

9. Demi Moore, Inside Out, £10.80

Look, I know very little about Demi Moore or celeb culture in general, but this was co-written with Ariel Levy, the New Yorker staffer who wrote The Rules Do Not Apply, which is one of my favourite books ever, so I figure this has got to be good.

10. DKNY PJs, £77

Is £77 a lot for pyjamas? God, yes. Are these the softest, loveliest ones I’ve ever owned? Also yes. If you buy them from Figleaves on the day this post goes live, you’ll get 25% off, too.

11. Fleabag coasters, £8.47 each

Beautiful coasters from an independent maker to remind them of the best thing on TV in 2019.

12. Velvet alphabet cushion, £57

Ostensibly a gift for a child’s room. Is a child going to appreciate a £59 cushion? Didn’t think so. Your BFF will though.

13. Muji jersey bedding, £6.95-£54.95

I feel like I must have said before that I think snuggly bedding is an underrated gift. The Muji stuff is some of the best, and the duvet has a zip closure, so you’ll never lose the buttons in the washing machine.

14. Mimosa Society Patch, $9

Machine washable, iron on patch that I *wish* I’d bought when I saw it in the US over the summer.

15. Three Women, £16.99

One of the most compelling things I’ve read in 2019. Buy it for your friend who’s fascinated by female desire.

16. Coucou Suzette Ski Teacher socks, €15.00

*So damn cute*

17. Lobster emoji power bank, £30

Ever seen something you want for yourself, but can’t justify? Please welcome the lobster emoji power bank.

18. Cocktails in the One Aldwych Lobby Bar, £80

Four cocktails (service charge included) in one of the best hotel bars in London. Go with a friend, or go alone and people watch the hell out of the situation.

19. Shark pass case, £6

Great for office Secret Santa, I reckon.

20. Riedel ‘O’ Stemless Pinot Noir / Nebbiolo Red Wine Glasses, Set of 2, £17.50

Best thing about these, other than the amazing quality of the glass itself? Less risk of accidentally knocking them over when you’re in the bath.

21. Liberty Gift Coin, £100

I’m pretty sure that in-store you can get these for smaller denominations, but if you’re buying a big present for someone who lives in London, I can’t imagine anything cooler than a hundred quid to spend in Liberty in the form of *one big coin*.

22. Green housefly, £35.50

Face it, you’ve already fallen in love with him.

23. Ren Moroccan Rose Bath Oil, £10

I’ve put the full size Ren bath oil on the list before, but to be honest, I haven’t found any bath products this year that have impressed me more than the ones I’ve put on the list in previous years, so instead I thought I’d include the miniature, which is another good Secret Santa choice.

24. Cheese raclette set, £30

Raclette is such a fun meal to share with someone, but a mains-powered raclette set takes up a shitload of room in your kitchen and there’s always the risk of someone tripping over the cable when you’re cooking on it. Eliminate that risk by buying this tealight-powered version instead.

25. Tickets to Hotter, from £16

I saw Hotter, a show about ‘what gets women hot’ at the Soho Theatre earlier this year, and I loved it. It’s doing another very short run straight after Christmas, and in my opinion would be a lovely activity to give to someone so they have something to do in those quiet days before New Year.

26. Edinburgh Gin Plum & Vanilla Liqueur, 50cl, £16

This makes the best, and easiest, prosecco-based cocktails, and everyone, from your neighbour to your nan, is bound to love it.

27. Orly nail polish, Passionfruit, £11.99

I don’t think Orly is necessarily the best quality polish, but it is the only brand that I’ve found that does a true neon pink that you can pick up on the high street. Passionfruits aren’t this colour, obv, but we’ll let that go…

28. Blue Gin Sequin Hanging Ornament, £25

I’m not going to apologise for the fact that everything handmade on this list is pretty pricey – that’s inevitable if you buy from small traders who make things with love and care. So yes, £25 is a lot to spend on a tree decoration, but I’d be delighted to receive this as a gift.

29. Fresh Mini Mask Marvels Gift Set, £25

I’m still not that familiar with Fresh as a beauty brand, but all my friends who’ve used it really like it, and I’ve not seen any other beauty gift sets this Christmas with packaging quite so lovely.

30. Moth bag, £12.95

A slightly weird gift by itself, perhaps, but how cool would this be gifted alongside a cashmere jumper?

This year, as well as a charity suggestion, if you’re in the UK, I’m going to use this opportunity to remind you that the most important thing you can do this Christmas is vote. If you’d like to make a donation to a charity doing great work as well, why not try Crisis at Christmas who provide a meal and lots of other useful stuff for homeless people on Christmas day.

All pictures are taken from sellers’ websites. No copyright infringement is intended. If you’d like a picture removing or crediting, please do get in touch.

2018 has been weird. I’ve been back on Twitter, and I’m fairly happy there. I’ve written *a lot* for the Smut Marathon (if you haven’t voted in the finals yet, please do – voting closes on Saturday night), and I’ve blogged a bit, too. Some stuff in my life has changed, a lot of stuff hasn’t. And one thing holds true … whatever else happens, there’s always a gift guide. So, here we go …

1. Bee print pyjama bottoms, £28
   Good because they’re a little bit quirky, but not so quirky that he’s likely to hate them, I reckon.

2. White wine carafe with oak stopper, £26
Wine carafes can be pretty old-fashioned, but not this one. This one is beautiful.

3. Custom size, stitch and colour blanket, £200+
I should be apologising for putting a *blanket* that costs upwards of 200 quid on here, but I’m sorry not sorry. Basically, all I want for Christmas is stuff that’s going to make me extremely happy in January, and I don’t think I’m alone in that.

4. Coucou onesie, £29
Babies are cute, babies in Breton stripes are cuter still and babies in Breton stripes with ‘Coucou’ embroidered on them are the cutest (except for perhaps babies in Oshkosh dungarees).

5. The Roasting Tin book, £6 + Falcon enamelware roasting tin, £22
This is a fab book, and makes a great gift when combined with an enamel roasting tin. There’s a veggie/vegan version if you prefer and you can follow the hashtag #tinlads on Twitter to see what other people are making from it.

6. Frog prince stuffed toy, £28.34
Not so much for little girls who might actually still believe in princes as for friends who are completely disillusioned with Tinder.

7. Gladstone library gift vouchers, £5+
Rumour has it that this is *the* place to get away and write in the UK, and I fully believe that rumour. Vouchers available from £5 upwards.

8. Sipsmith London Dry Gin Baubles, Set of 6, £25
I’ll admit that I think most alcohol-filled decorations are tacky, but these? Not so much. You can also get a sloe gin set if that’s a better match for your tastes and/or colour scheme.

9. Kiss me sweater, £295
Another ridiculously-priced item, but this one is justified by a) cashmere and b) super cute slogan. Buy it for someone you *adore*. A still overpriced, but slightly cheaper tee is also available.
10. European necklace, £25
*sigh*

11. Jo Malone Pomegranate Noir bath oil, £18
I am very late to the game with Jo Malone, I know. Truth is, I wanted to believe that it was overhyped and overpriced. Then I smelt Pomegranate Noir and had to try it. Be warned: the 30ml/£18 bottle is *tiny* so only buy it for people who understand little luxuries. That said, a little goes a long long way and I reckon it’ll last me fifteen baths or more.

12. London advent calendar, £12.50
This advent calendar has a beautiful cityscape and then festive stuff behind the windows when you open them. It almost makes up for it having no chocolate. Other cities also available.

13. Becoming, £16.99
This is so likely to be well-received that the only risk is that everyone you buy it for will already have it.

14. Deadly nightshade bra and brief/thong, £61
There’s almost always pretty underwear on the SBOS gift guide, but frustratingly, that means it often doesn’t even go up to my size. This is the year that changes – this set is available in DD to GG cup sizes.

15. Felt mice standing decorations, £25
I’ve already bought these guys for someone and believe me, they have *attitude*.

16. Luxury mohair bed socks with chocolate hot water bottle, £20
The chocolate hot water bottle (which is an optional extra) takes what would be a nice present for e.g. your grandma and makes it just a little more interesting. Plus, you can upgrade to cadhmere socks (+ £18) and get a message printed on the box.

17. Paco Rabanne Pure XS For Her Eau de Parfum 50ml, £62.50
It was the snake on the bottle that first made me try this (careful, there’s no snake on the 30ml bottle), but the fragrance is really nice too, and very similar to the YSL Black Opium scents, if you happen to be buying for someone you know likes those.

18. Paperwilds notebook, £25
I have fantasies about a stocking that contains chocolate, champagne, nail polish and a really nice notebook. This one would do…

19. Plant lady embroidery, £37.24
Embroidery is a cool and affordable way to buy art, because there’s no need to frame it. Buy this ironically for your best friend who kills anything green immediately

20. Essie Good as Gold nail polish, £10.95
You can probably get this cheaper in Boots – I did – but it’s not on their site at the moment, hence the Amazon link. It should cost you around £7.99, and it’s a beautiful metallic/chrome gold that’s perfect for Christmas.

21. Reindeer pen and chocolates, £6.99
A good Secret Santa gift, I reckon, especially for those of us who work in industries where we love a good pen, and consume a lot of chocolate. John Lewis do the same product in slightly different designs.

22. Glass trinket boxes, £11.50 each
These are cute and they’d make a good value stocking filler. If only the lobster one wasn’t sold out!

23. Corrupted, £7.99
I spent ages editing it, the least you can do is buy a copy of it for someone. Plus, it’s excellent – check out the reviews.

24. Dishoom currency, £10+
People who live in London will likely already know about Dishoom, which is a small chain of Indian restaurants. What they may not know about is that, instead of vouchers, you can get Dishoom currency to give as a gift – each coin is worth £10 and you can get them (and spend them!) in any of their restaurants.

25. Tickets for Six, The Musical, £9.50+
Six is an utter, spoof X-factor style joy – it’s clever, it’s original and it’s the perfect gift for any friends who love history and/or royalty (somehow I have more than one such friend?!). It’s touring a few UK cities before Christmas and is then on in London until May 2019.

26. Space NK travel bag, £24
This is where practical gift and stylish gift meet. Because it’s transparent, it meets airport hand luggage restrictions, but it’s also sturdy/well-designed enough to act as your full-time make up bag. If you were feeling super generous, you could also fill it with minis. 

27 . Care instructions raw sweatshirt, $64
Stay Home Club is another brand that’s becoming a bit of an SBOS gift guide staple. Sorry about that – it’s just that their stuff genuinely makes me smile.

28. The winter warmer hamper, £33
Wine in a flat bottle? Cool! Bloom & Wild pack their gifts really nicely, offer great customer service and do decent and regular discounts that mean you rarely have to pay full price.

29. 100 dogs, £4.99
This is a great stocking filler for a little one – and, if they’re already more of a cat person than a dog person there’s a cat version coming next year, too.

30. Kate Bush felt hanging decorations, £24.99
I stumbled upon these just after posting last year’s gift guide, and was gutted not to have seen them sooner. They tick so many boxes: handmade, kitsch, funny. I can’t imagine anyone who wouldn’t love them.

31. International women winemakers case, £115
The gift guide is always supposed to be thirty items, but I couldn’t resist more wine (sounds familiar…). Urchin is a wonderful independent wine merchant in Margate and they’ve created a six bottle case of wines produced by women. If it’s out of stock (it sometimes is) or is out of your budget, you could research other wines produced by women and create a different/cheaper selection, I’m sure.

32. There’s also usually a charitable cause suggestion as part of the guide. This year, it’s Crisis at Christmas which, for £28.18, provides a homeless person with food, somewhere to sleep if they want/need it, and a whole load of other great stuff. Support your local food bank, too!

All pictures are taken from sellers’ websites. No copyright infringement is intended. If you’d like a picture removing or crediting, please do get in touch.

As ever, if you have other great suggestions for gifts, especially from independent sellers, please leave them in the comments or hit me up on social media – I *love* discovering new stuff! Let me know too which items on here you particularly like – it helps me to plan the next gift guide!