The festive season is in full swing and unsurprisingly there’s been much chat between my friends and I about presents — or to be precise — Christmas gifts for the hard to buy for.
We all have them, don’t we?
The father who has everything, the mum who doesn’t want anything and various other relatives — and friends — who have specific hobbies and aren’t really interested in anything beyond that.
It gives me a headache usually.
But this year I have managed to do all my ‘hard to buy’ present buying in one place. One stop shopping — minimal fuss and effort — with some fantastic results to boot!
I recently popped down to our local HomeSense store for some Christmas decorations and was blown away by the ‘non-home’ items they’d got in stock. I can say with some certainty that HomeSense have some amazing home bargains (if ever I need something for the house or garden it’s always my first port of call).
In fact, my friend and I have ‘HomeSense missions’ and regularly treat ourselves to an afternoon’s shopping in our local store, followed by a posh coffee.
Sorry, I’m digressing.
Anyway, they had SO many fab gifts — the shelves were literally rammed — with fabulous goodies for all the hard to buy for people in my life. Buoyed with renewed Christmas shopping vigour, I went back a week later, armed with my list of names.
Quick View of What You'll Find on This Page
Here’s what I bought for the hard to buy for people in my life:
For the cyclist
For the Gardener
We have a few keen cyclists — and gardeners — in our family, so to find appropriate and unusual gifts, for lovers of these hobbies, was fantastic.
Everything was so reasonably priced too — the little bicycle mug was just £3.99.
For The Glamourpuss
For the Gourmet
For The Vintage Loving Hostess
I’ve got a little confession to make here.
That gorgeous calendar may *not* actually be going to its intended recipient after all. It seems to have found it’s way on to my desk!
Oops.
And actually, I’ve decided that it might as well stay there, seeing as it looks so lovely ;) Anyway, on with the gift guide.
For The Man About Town
For The Newlyweds
The man about town is SO difficult to buy for, I always think.
HomeSense had some amazing gifts in this department; everything from cool earphones to the quirky little box of assorted shoe-laces in the pic above.
For The Little Princess
For The Stationery Addict
So that’s it. A veritable treasure trove of lovely bits and pieces, to delight and surprise even the most difficult person in your life to buy for.
As Gordon Ramsey would say:
Christmas gifts for the hard to buy for — done.
Caro Davies is a former art-director turned writer and content-creator, and editor behind UK lifestyle blog The Listed Home. She writes about home-related topics, from interiors and DIY to food and craft. The Listed Home has been featured in various publications, including Ideal Home, Grazia, and Homes & Antiques magazines.
These are amazing gifts and I love how you have put them into such sweet categories! Wow they do such cool items beyond furniture!! Need to get back there and pick up some last minutes gifts now! Great post :) Jess xx
Thanks so much love — it was a big old project!! Trying to shoot so many products in such poor light wasn’t my best idea ever!! Although I’m pleased with how it’s turned out! I absolutely LOVE HomeSense — they have the most fantastic range, don’t they? So good to be able to do all your Christmas shopping in one place!! :)
Wow, some lovely things there. (Oddly enough, now I’m a blogger my first thought was what a lot of work went into the photos! Must have taken ages!)
Bless you chick for saying that!!!! It real DID take ages!! Particularly as the light has been so awful over the last few weeks!!! They’ve got SUCH gorgeous products — really nice to see such a quirky range of things xx
This is full of such good idea! I love the stationart set xx
Wow — they had SO much in the stationery department!!! I was in my element — could have bought so many more lovely things! :)
I think this is one of the nicest gift guides i’ve come across this year so far, you’ve covered every type of ‘difficult’ recipient possible and styled everything beautifully. Homesense is one of my favourite shops, the range of products is amazing and they always have the best prices, i just wish you could buy online as our nearest store is 40minutes away! xx
Aah Nicki — that is such a lovely thing to read — thanks ever so much! I so agree about the online aspect — although I really LOVE having a good rummage in there too!! ;) It’s one of my favourite shops — have bought so many bits and pieces for the house from there! Thankfully ours is only 20 minutes away — although my husband perhaps wouldn’t agree that that was a good thing ;) Thanks so much for stopping by xx
What lovely gift ideas! I lol’d at the ‘cook like a man book’ !!! the tea set looked beautiful and i really love anything Cowshed! great post :)
Thanks so much Claire!! That Cook Like A Man book is amazing!!! It’s got some fab recipes!!! *Almost* tempted to keep it for myself!! ;) xx
Such a fab selection of gift ideas I’m finding it hard at the moment to find something for the in laws. I love the look of the cute bike mug.
Aah Joanna — pop down to HomeSense if you have one nearby!! I was literally spoilt for choice. Maybe a lovely photo-frame with the family in? Or make up a lovely hamper of their favourite treats? xx
Being in the US, I have never heard of HomeSense before…but they need to come here! Great ideas and wonderful photos.
Aah thank you SO much Mary!! Although you have some AMAZING shops too over there!! Whenever I come over the the US I always come home wishing we had a Pottery Barn or Bed, Bath and Beyond!! It used to be Anthropologie too, but happily we’ve got a couple of those here now :)
Never heard of homesense before ^_^ The bike mug is super cute and I’m a stationary nut myself. Def gonna go have a nosey! x
I used to see HomeSense all the time in magazines but we didn’t used to live near one!! I was over the moon when we moved to where we are now, and I saw that I had a local store. DEFINITELY worth the visit, if you have one nearby!! Thanks so much for stopping by! xx
Oh my! They really are perfect! I’ve literally just leapt with Joy! I’m stuck on a few people and a few things in this post are perfect. I adore the stationary for myself too. I’ve just done a little cry though because there are none close to me and no online store. Although I feel this is the perfect excuse for a pre-christmas journey to a big beautiful city to do some much needed extra Christmas shopping for my family (and myself of course! ) xxx #love2blog
Aaah it’s SO annoying when there’s not one close by — but I LOVE your idea of a city jaunt before Christmas!! I promise you, you could literally get all your present buying sewn up in the one shop. Although I spent about 3 hours in my local store, choosing all this lot!! ;) xx
Oh my goodness! Love all of these ideas, the hard to buy for ones drive me crazy each year! This year it’s my Mum so this has definitely helped. I personally love the vintage hostess set and the little princess is super cute! Fab post xx
Thanks so much hun — it was such a fun post to put together. I was absolutely spoilt for choice!! SO many gorgeous gifts — and lots of unusual things too!! The vintage tea party book is absolutely gorgeous — some fab recipes (and cocktails) in there!! ;) xx
Some lovely pressies here. Now, if you could just persuade the lovely people at Homesense to open a store in Belfast! Reading this is reminding me that I still have a few hard to buy presents remaining….#MarvMondays
Aaah it’s SO gutting when there isn’t one close by!! I was absolutely thrilled when we moved here and found out there is one less than half an hour away!! Hopefully they’ll read this and grant your Christmas wish ;) xx
This post is gorgeous. I love the way you have styled it and put it all into separate categories. There is so much here that it is hard to pick favourite items. I adore HomeSense and find that I always come away with so much. I have done a lot of Christmas shopping there. There stationery stuff is fab and each time I go in I have to remind myself that I don’t need anymore notebooks. Hugs Mrs H xxxx PS. I think that I would have stolen that calendar too. It is gorgeous.
Thanks so much lovely. I really did have too many pics to be honest but I didn’t want to leave any out!! I probably could have split it between two posts. And YES! The notebooks in there are just fabulous aren’t they?! And the calendar — love it :)
Caro I was literally swooning all the way through. Such great gifts and your photos are just gorgeous I love the stationery, the Stationery in HomeSence is amazing, In fact I could spend a fortune in there x
Aaah thanks chickie!! That means a lot — I was panicking as the light was so poor — photography at this kind of year is awful. They’ve got some great suff haven’t they?! I need another little mission, before Christmas is upon us ;)
There’s some really lovely gift’s here! And I love how you’ve put all your ideas into separate sections, made it much easier to read! #Love2Blog
Thanks Ashleigh — I did think that it perhaps was a little bit much at first — there are SO many things to look at!! So nice that you think it’s easy to read :) Thanks so much for stopping by xx
Beautiful pictures as always! Such great little collections as well – I’d be after the vintage lover’s set or the stationery lovers selection for myself. But that’s typical isn’t it when Christmas shopping, coveting everything for myself?!
Thanks so much Robyn!! That’s so nice of you to say — was struggling with awful light so it’s lovely to et a good comment on the pics!! Totally with you — I love the vintage and the stationery gifts — would like to keep them all for myself!! ;)
I love the categories and the styling on this post, you really have thought of everyone! I love the photo frame and the cookbook would be good for Ian who never cooks because he says he doesn’t know how to!x
Aaah the cookbook is AMAZING Sian!! Lots and lots of lovely recipes!! I’m no chef either — my boy does all the cooking in our house!! I should buy it for myself!! Then I could perhaps cook like my man ;)
What a fantastic group of items, you have picked out some great gifts and I love the pictures! We have recently had a HomeSense open in our town and I love it! I have picked up a few presents in there for Christmas too.
Aaah Steph!! So fab that you’ve got a HomeSense nearby!!! It’s brilliant but dangerous in equal measures!!! I’ve spent a small fortune in there over the last few years ;) xx
So many lovely things, I love the travel journal and I think you are quite right in keeping the calender, you deserve a treat too! I just love Homesense, we were so close to one in our old house and it was great for having a good look around, you can always find something different in there. Lovely gift guide Caro, your photos look amazing xx
Aah SO many lovely things!! It was a real struggle to narrow everything down — they had LOTS of gorgeous gifts!! I love it too — it’s my favourite place to spend an afternoon shopping! I’ve never been one for trawling round clothes shops but I LOVE shops that sell homeware!! And thanks so much for your lovely comment re the pics. I was panicking last week cos the light was atrocious. I didn’t think I was going to be able to take any at one point!! xx
You have some fabulous ideas there Caro, I love that the calendar is staying with you ha! That might have happened to me with Nigella’s new book. I love your pictures, so pretty xx
Ohmygod — I LOVE Nigella!!!!! I’m hoping someone *might* have put her new book in my stocking this Christmas!! ‘Feast’ is my absolute favourite — I bet this new book is just as good. If that had been in this little selection, I would have *definitely* kept it!!!! :)
Gorgeous photos Mrs. I really like the his and hers mugs (good anniversary presents too I reckon) and I love the marmite plate!!
Aargh — I LOVE the Marmite plates too!! I reckon even a non-marmite lover would like those!! ;)
Ahh what a great little selection of gift ideas Caro! I love the stationary one I am such a stationary addict that note book is so so cute x
aah me too Amy!! I LOVE stationery — how many notebooks does one girl need?? MY collection’s starting to get ridiculous!!! ;)
I love all of these! Such gorgeous picks (love that you pinched the calendar haha!) I’m going to have to buy the bicycle mug for my dad’s birthday, he’ll love it!x
Ah Harriet! They had SUCH lovely things!! It’s a wonder I only ended up with the calendar!! I could have pocketed LOADS more bits and pieces!! ;)
OK there are some great things I want there for me! Oh I sound so selfish, but I love stationary, and tea and can be a glamour puss, OK let me think of someone other than me, my hubby loves cycling! See I’m not completely self obsessed lol. Gorgeous ideas and thank you for linking up #mg
Haha!! I’m so glad it’s not just me that thinks this way!! Half the time I only choose gifts for people because I love them myself!! ;)
I love these! As I was reading through your post I started saying that the glamour puss gifts were definitely my favourite, but then I said the same thing when I got to the gourmet and again when I got to the vintage hostess! The thing is, there are just so many great gifts. I’ve seen lots of Homesense posts popping up recently and the more I see of them, the more I want to get down to one. Great post, fab christmas ideas :-)
Aah thanks so much pet! It was really difficult narrowing the gifts down — I could have selected for so many more people!! :) HomeSense are absolutely fab — I used to love it when my local TK Maxx had homeware but it’s awesome now that thy have a dedicated shop!
These are so lovely and thoughtful. I always have trouble buying gifts for the guys around me. Their wishlist is always so pricey!
Thanks so much! And yes — I agree!!