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.
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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