Giving Personalised Gifts this Christmas

For the past few years now, I’ve noticed I’ve been relying ever-increasingly on the internet for my Christmas shopping. Especially in December, when the shops go a bit mad and you can be stood in a check-out queue for upwards of thirty minutes, I’d much rather get my presents sorted in the comfort of my own home, tucked under a blanket with a warming cup of tea and the Buble Christmas album on. Whilst that’s plenty of reason enough to stick to internet shopping, there is another big positive to ordering online: the wealth of customisable and personalised gifts available. Since becoming a parent, and spending HOURS deliberating on what name to give Pickle, the concept of celebrating names has become so much more appealing to me. Never has the value of a name meant more, and so here are some of my favourite bits and pieces from across the internet, showcasing all things personalised.

Warning: these are real presents that I have to give as gifts this year. If you’re in the following list and don’t want to know what your Christmas present is, then stop reading now otherwise you’ll ruin your surprise: Mom, LPD’s Mom, Chub, and Cavan. You have all been warned!

Jewellery for Mums

I wanted to find something special for both my Mum and LPD’s Mum this year, and managed to find them both something unique, as well as finding a little treat for myself. For me, I ordered a cute little silver ‘t’ necklace (it’s the first initial of Pickle’s real name), along with a few extra chains in varying sizes so that I can choose to layer it with other necklaces. It’s great to have the option for different lengths, and it was really easy to order the additional chains by emailing their customer service team. Tip top service that I can whole-heartedly recommend!

Gold Braille Earring Studs, currently on sale at £34.61 (available from ONecklace)

I’ve never seen anything like this before. These Braille earrings are perfect for my Mum, who looks after Guide Dog for the Blind puppies. Her first puppy, Dan, recently moved onto his advanced guide dog training but her second puppy has already arrived – another black Labrador boy called Yada. There are so many rules she has to stick to to help train the puppies and get them ready for their advanced training, and I thought these earrings would be a lovely little subtle way to honour the amazing thing my Mum is doing. I got her initials in Braille (PP) but you don’t have to have the earrings matching. I was about to use my initials as an example but just remembered I have a double initial name too (HH!).

Engraved Mother Necklace, currently on sale at £46.16 (available from ONecklace)

This necklace was an obvious choice for my Mother in Law, a necklace with an engraved disc for each of her three children. Even though I call none of them by their ‘proper’ name, I decided to stick with the full versions of their names for this necklace as I thought my Mother in Law would appreciate that a little more; Jim, Pete and Chub doesn’t quite have the same ring to it as James, Peter and Elizabeth! This necklace comes not only in the 24k gold plated version I ordered, but also in silver and rose gold plating too – and can be customised with anything from one to five discs. There’s also an alternative version with each disc being a different metal colour too, which I think looks pretty cool.

Personally Presented

Personalised Christmas Woodland Mantel Decoration, £24.99 (Available from Personally Presented)

Little Pickle’s Dad picked out this wooden sign, and it’s SUPER cute. It’s really nice and rustic looking, with the painted wood and cute little animals. It can be personalised with any family name (the whole sign reads: The Hancocks family believes), and what I like about this as opposed to some other family decoration ideas I’ve seen is that it won’t matter if your family grows – as it’s just the family name rather than your individual names or a family portrait. This means we can have this on our mantelpiece for years and years to come and I hope it’ll be one of those items that Pickle associates with Christmas and looks forward to it’s unveiling every year.

Funky Diamond Personalised Pencil Tin, £15 (Available from Personally Presented)

For anyone that loves arts and crafts, a pencil tin is a great shout. There’s something nostalgically charming about having a tin rather than a cheap, flimsy clear plastic case (or maybe I’m just biased because all my old cheapy cases are starting to fall apart and look ridiculously tatty). Pickle’s Auntie Chub is a really talented artist and cartoonist, and she’s always on the go travelling up and down the country and around the world, so I thought this tin would definitely come in handy for her. Personally Presented have lots of designs to choose from, but I liked this funky diamond pattern as it was bright, cheery and geometric patterns never go out of fashion, right?

In Loving Memory Candle, £9.99 (Available from Personally Presented)

At the start of the year, we sadly lost LPD’s Dad. It was unexpected and sudden, and to be honest, I’m not sure it’s still even really sunk in. We wanted to do something to honour him this year at Christmas, so that it felt like he was still with us in some way, and this candle is a lovely way to bring his warmth and light to our festivities. We’ll definitely light it at the dinner table on Christmas Day. The candle has five lines of text that can be personalised, with up to 15 characters available on each line. Obviously, I let LPD choose the wording on our own – and I think it’s absolutely perfect.

Wise Words from The Book of Everyone, £23.95 (Available from The Book of Everyone)

The Book of Everyone have created this quote book aimed at 8-16 year olds, and it makes for a wonderful gift idea. Each double spread has a few lines of text – a phrase that might make them smile, laugh, feel loved or inspire them. You can choose how cheeky or heartfelt you want the sayings inside to be, and there are options to change or customise each page as you see fit. I also love that it comes with a few stickers too – for a bit of inspiration or uplifting wherever you need it most. I think this would be a great little gift to have to open first thing in the morning. My parents used to give us a little stocking of presents to open in our rooms to keep us entertained when we predictably woke up in a flurry of excitement at ridiculous o’clock. A book like this would definitely delay an early morning wake up by at least ten minutes!

Personalised The Snowman Book, £24.99 (Available from Penwizard)

Seeing as we’re off to see The Snowman at Coventry Cathedral this year, this personalised Snowman book ties in perfectly! A great way to remember what I hope will be a lovely family trip out. With the option to add in your child’s name, as well as customise their character’s appearance (hair colour, style, skin tone and clothes colour), this book is absolutely beautiful. I’m not even exaggerating when I say I cried when I opened it. I just keep leafing through the pages and getting emotional all over again. Pickle may be a little bit young to fully appreciate it this year, but again, I already can’t wait to snuggle down with him, year after year and enjoy this little piece of Christmas magic.

Discount: if you’d like to order one this year, I’m delighted to share a discount code with you especially for Little Pickle’s Mom readers. Use ‘PICKLE20’ at checkout to get a very special 20% off. T’s&C’s: not valid in conjunction with any other offers or discount codes. Discount valid on personalised books only. Offer valid until midnight Wednesday 13th December 2017. Penwizard cannot provide refunds for unused discount codes.

I’m really pleased with all my personalised gifts this year, and I can’t wait to see how well they are received by their intended recipients. As someone who has handmade LOTS of Christmas presents in the past, I love giving gifts that have obviously been well thought out and tailored for the individual, rather than something generic picked off the shelf. Will you be buying any personalised gifts this year?

Pin for Later?

If you’d like to save this and come back to it later, feel free to use the image below and save to a Pinterest board (maybe a secret board if you don’t want any gift recipients to see what you’re looking at!).

Disclaimer: this post includes PR samples that I chose in order to be included in this gift guide. All opinions and views remain my own. Prices are accurate at the time of publication.