✨✨Christmas Gift Ideas ✨✨
If you leave a lot to the last minute when it comes to present shopping then are filled with self-loathing as amazon parcel after amazon parcel arrives at your door, use this guide to be the Christmas person you want to be! Then, instead of stressing about gifts you can prioritise the important things: eating cheese (yes, I’m still obsessed with cheese), sipping mulled wine and listening to the Pentatonix Christmas album. Our gift guide is bit random, a lot outdoorsy and sprinkled with a bit of brilliance too. Happy Christmas people, it’s been a wild year.
PACMAT Picnic Blankets — Ordnance Survey prints
For the map mad among us, this is the perfect gift! We have bought one for an 8 year old map fanatic and a 74 year old (sorry dad!) walkaholic and both were recieved with joy and had rave reviews. No soggy bottoms reported! Featuring some of Great Britain’s favourite locations including Snowdonia, Dartmoor, New Forest, The Peak District, Yorkshire Dales, Lake District, Isle of Arran, Brecon Beacons, London, Loch Lomond and more! There is also many other bright and colouful designs; check out the website to see them all. Compact, waterproof, durable and machine washable. Get your mat on people!
The Almanac — A Seasonal Guide to 2022
I was gifted this for my birthday this year, and although 2022 hasn’t started yet I have had a peek and found an immense amount of joy within its pages. A month-by-month guide to the world around us including constellations, seasonal recipes, simple crafts, sunrises, tide tables, garden activities and more. In a world filled with digital attachments, it’s lovely to be able to connect with the earth whilst feeling the weight of a book in your hands.
An independent shop run by designers and friends who are passionate about the outdoors. Here you will find gifts that speak to the nature lovers, adventurers, climbers, wild swimmers and the up with the sunrise go-getters. The nature lovers will adore the foraging prints, hand drawn illustarions of nature and seasonal bookmarks (we have these!) Peek into their Christmas shop for delights such as gingerbread house bunting, Christmas crafts for children and sweet little woodland creature bookmarks — a great stocking filler at ony £5. These are all created with thought for the environment and everything is made to order. The kind of small business we love to support.
Random, yes, but this brand has made many a rainy walk enjoyable. I bought a pair of Sealskinz waterproof socks last year and my feet never, ever get damp when I wear them. Purchased on the advice of people in the know on Little Oxplorers, they have never let me down. Pricey? Yes, but worth it in my opionion. I actually got mine reduced in a sale and in neon pink because they were the cheapest; I don’t think the cows and sheep really care about the colour co-ordination of countryside walkers. I also have a dog-walker friend who swears by the warterproof gloves too, and I consider her an outdoor expert. They make hats, socks gloves and overshoes as well and will help you live by the mantra ‘there is no such thing as bad weather, only unsuitable clothing.’
If you or your Little Oxplorer likes to jot down observations whilst in the great outdoors then these waterproof notepads will be a brilliant addition to your backpack. Genuinely waterproof: write in the rain, wade through a river or go scubadiving and take notes underwater! Ok, I’m getting a bit carried away here as you might just want to go for a simple walk rather than go Bear Grylls, but it’s pretty cool right? I’ve bought one each for my little adventurers as a stocking filler.
Unique maps to Britain’s best bits! We have the Adventure Map and it has given us some superb inspiration for adventures , and opened our eyes to destinations we would never even have considered visiting previously. There’s a map for every interest: food and drink, literature, film and TV, music and more. Each one will educate, inspire and peak your curiosity. Warning: If you buy one as as a gift you will end up buying one for yourself too.
The bestselling book by Robert Macfarlane and Jackie Morris has been described as a ‘cultural phonomenon’ by the Guardian and was sortlisted in 2017 as one of Britain’s favourite books of all time on the natural world. The book itself was written in response to the removal of everyday nature words from a widely used children’s dictionary, due to underuse – words such as ‘acorn’ and ‘wren’ not spoken often enough from the mouths of children. Why? The growing gap between childhood and the natural world. Be part of the protest that bridges that gap and has children shouting these words from the depths of the forests. A powerful gift.
Crocodiles of the World experiences
Not down for ‘the stuff’? This year we have asked family to club together for a Crocodiles of the World experience for our two older boys, there’s lots to choose from: meet the meerkats (my friends did this for her son’s birthday, said it was brilliant!), meet the giant Galapagos turtles, meet the komodo dragons and the opportunity to feed the nile crocodiles from a feeding platform. Some experiences do have age restrictions and all are gifts to remember.
We gift this journal to everyone, literally everyone. Why? Journaling is emotionally cathartic, helps with emotional regulation and keeps us in the present when negative thoughts are trying to sweep us away. The HappySelf Journal packages all this up in such an engaging and visually fun way, and in only a few minutes a day of writing children will explore their emotional awareness, mindfulness, gratitude and build the blocks of a growth mindset. And it never feels like work! My boys have had these journals since they were 5; we used to fill them in together but nowadays they fill them in themselves. They have prompted some big conversations and also been a way of communicating the tough stuff. It’s not uncommon for one of my children to say ‘look at my journal after I’ve gone to bed Mummy’ and for me to realise that not getting full marks in their spelling test or being left out of a team at lunch has effected them more than I realised. An invaluable tool for children and parents.
I received two box sets of these gorgeous candles for my birthday and they smell UNREAL! I go through a lot of candles and this is one of the best in term of scent distribution and burn time. My favourite is the Lemongrass, which I light in my room when I’m working, and the Sandalwood, which is for the living room. Both scents travel around the house and people always comment on how lovely it smells — thank goodness as we have an elderly, incontinet cat doing the rounds on soft furnishings! My candles were packaged in a luxurious ribboned gift box with a selection of tea lights too. They have a Christmas selection on their website at the moment: Orange, Gingerbread and Cinnamon. Delicious. Hand poured using soy wax, essential oils, local botanicals and crystals. And they are an Oxford based start up too. Shop local!
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