BLOGMAS Day 2: Secret Santa Gift Ideas...

Welcome to Blogmas Day 2 lovelies! Secret Santa gifts can often be hard to buy. You often have a price limit and although it's just a jokey kind of thing, if you're anything like me, you'll want to get something that the recipient will get some use out of rather than it just going to the back of a cupboard/drawer, to someone else, or in the bin!

I've taken part in a few secret Santas over the years, mainly within a work environment, but some of you might be doing it amongst friends if there are a lot of you. I've experienced the limit to usually be between 5 and 10 pounds (excluding postage), so I've done a bit of research and thought I'd share a few ideas with you...

Secret Santa Gifts For Girls

1 - These Chocolate And Salted Caramel Marshmallows sound delicious and are handmade in Edinburgh, Scotland! Toffee d'or caramel and dark chocolate are swirled into 6 extra large marshmallows and solar dried with Isle of Sky sea salt. Salt and caramel or chocolate is actually a really nice combination. It can put some people off because they hear 'salt' and just think it's going to taste really salty. However, the truth is that it's often just a subtle saltiness that comes through and you'd be surprised at how nice the flavour actually is. This would be a lovely gift for someone with a sweet tooth and someone who doesn't mind trying something a bit different. You can buy them for £8 from Not On The High Street.

2 - Most people are familiar with Liz Earle and this Liz Earle Cleanse & Polish Christmas Edition Mini Drum would make a lovely secret Santa gift. Plus, it's such good value! It contains a 50ml Cleanse & Polish and a cloth. It's all packaged in a Christmas edition box, with a beautiful blue flower growing out of what looks like a bed of snow. It's a really peaceful and calming image. You can buy this from John Lewis for just £9!

3 - This Twinings 9 Tea Selection with 45 teabags would make a great gift for a tea lover! There are 5 of each teabags in the set and some of the flavours include, Lemon & Ginger Infusion, Peppermint Infusion and of course, good old English Breakfast. There should be something to suit all moods and even help you feel better such as the Orange & Lotus Flower green tea which contains antioxidants. This selection of teas is just £10 from Boots.

4 - These Get The Hint Wish List Sticky Notes are such a cool, novelty idea! These would be good for those beauty lovers or fashionista's who like flicking through magazines and staying up to date with the latest beauty or fashion products. Included are 5 sets of 20 sticky notes that say, 'I want this', 'love these', 'buy this', 'and this' and 'yes please'. You can buy these from Amazon for just £3.72.

5 - The Happy Jackson Headphone Case is one of my favourite products for the girls. I love how funky the case is and I'm sure any girl that uses headphones would love to own this! There is a cord wrap included within the case, so headphones can be wrapped around that to prevent the wires getting all tangled up. The cord wrap then fits nicely inside the press studded, stripy lined case. You can get this from John Lewis for just £8.95.

Secret Santa Gifts For Guys

1 - I think this Driver's Glovebox Kit is such a good secret Santa gift for a driver, especially a male driver as they won't have to worry about remembering anything essential for the car. All handy little bits will be inside this box and the recipient can just pop it in their glovebox for whenever they might need it. There are 10 useful items within this kit, including a snap light, plasters, mini pen and pad, plastic gloves and an ice scraper. For just £8 from Boots, I definitely think this is one of those gifts where the recipient will be glad to have it, even if it's in the glovebox for ages, when they're looking for something and they find it in this kit, they'll remember who got it for them and be chuffed!

2 - I think this Life Hacks Book is definitely something that would keep a man amused for hours. There are 130 hacks which help to solve everyday dilemmas. It includes everything from electric cable management to ingenious cooking methods and much, much more. It even shows you how to enhance your music listening experience with a toilet roll tube! This book is just £5 from Amazon.

3 - I had to include a sweet treat for the guys too and this Belgian Biscuit Selection is sure to please. This is a lovely selection of biscuits that are different to the normal biscuits that you might have all year round. It's suitable for vegetarians and contains 800g of biscuits and wafers in milk, dark and white chocolate coatings. It's making my mouth water just writing this! The biscuit tin is reusable and features a snowy town with a general store, a church and houses. You can buy this gift for £10 from Boots.

4 - I think the Large Biscuit Pocket Mug is my favourite product for the guys. This would be fab for someone who works in an office or has their own desk and has regular cups of tea at work. Or it would be great for someone to just use at home, due to the handy biscuit pocket! The mug is made from ceramic and is dishwasher safe, so it's a well made mug and not something cheap that will break easily. You can buy this mug from Amazon for £8.99 and there are also images on there so you can see what kind of biscuits will fit in the pocket.

5 - This Teatool Teabag Squeezer is a handy little gadget that I can see men loving and it is likely to prevent those drips as you transfer a teabag from a mug to the bin. It really squeezes the teabag out and is one of those novelty gifts that actually has a job. I think this is a gift that will definitely be appreciated by a tea lover. It's just £6.99 from Find Me A Gift.

Have you got a secret Santa gift to buy this year?

Don't forget to like, comment and follow to keep up to date with the rest of my Blogmas posts :).

Thanks so much for reading lovelies!

Gem XxOo

Images are courtesy of Not On The High Street, John Lewis, Boots, Amazon and Find Me A Gift.

Alternative Advent Calendars (For Everyone!)...

I've seen a fair few posts showing alternative advent calendars recently, especially beauty ones. I've been thinking about doing a post like this for a while, so I thought now would be the perfect time as the 1st December will be here before we know it! I've gone down a different route and not included any beauty advent calendars but calendars that are a little bit different.

1. 12 beers of Christmas contains 12 craft beers created by award winning UK Microbreweries that have all been approved by the Best of British Beer tasting panel. The name suggests that the beers are designed to be drunk during the 12 days of Christmas which starts on the 25th December and ends on the 5th January. However, I do feel that as it's sometimes so hard to find unique advent calendars and even gifts for men, that this was too good an idea not to include. Of course, it could be used whenever really, so it could be started 12 days before Christmas day if you really wanted. The beers are delivered in a robust card Christmas tree, with each beer securely held inside. You can also include a message on a gift card for no additional cost if you wish. This is available from Not On The High Street for £49.50. There is another beer themed advent calendar on that website that is for the full 25 days in the run up to Christmas but this is a little bit more pricey at £115. Another option would be to hand make something like this whether it be bottles of beer in a crate with numbers covering the top or a handmade box. It might work out a little cheaper if you can get a good deal at your local supermarket. Overall, I think this is a great idea for a boyfriend or husband that drinks and likes to try different beers!

2. Advent Christmas Tea Gift Set contains a collection of 25 tea bags packaged in individual paper envelopes. The packaging for the tea bags are super cute containing Christmas themed quotes, sure to get you in the spirit for Christmas. The teas are sourced from well-known British tea companies, which I love! You can choose which flavours you want to be within the advent calendar, so you can match the calendar to the taste of the person you're buying it for. Although there are 25 individual tea bag packages, they aren't mounted like a traditional advent calendar but you can order a gift bag or a gift box with the calendar if you would like one. They are pre-made but I love that the company that makes and sells these are willing to work with you if you would like specific colours, designs or text. I love tea, so something like this would be right up my street. I'm sure there are plenty of tea lovers out there who would agree! You can get this from Not On The High Street for just £19.50 (edit: the exact advent version of this set doesn't seem to be available any more as of a couple of days after this post was published. The link I've included is for basically the same thing).

3. Lebkuchen Schmidt Advent Calendar is a luxurious biscuit advent calendar that is really rather special. It contains 25 biscuity treats that are packaged in individual boxes within a larger box that forms the calendar. There is a rip along section towards the bottom of the calendar that you open and the gorgeous little boxes appear showing their number. As you take boxes out each day, another box drops down with another number so you can just pick the corresponding number for each date in the run up to Christmas. It's such a lovely advent calendar and would appeal to so many people, both male and female. Who doesn't like a nice biscuit with a cuppa tea?! This is available for £35.99 from Selfridges.

4. Jelly Belly Advent Calendar contains 24 pyramid bags of Jelly Belly beans, a great alternative to chocolate advent calendars. I think it's especially good for those that can't have chocolate or prefer sweets over chocolate. I love this and would be so happy having this as my advent calendar. It looks so well put together, even down to the Father Christmas image on the front being made up of jelly beans. This calendar is just £15 from John Lewis, which I don't think is bad to be honest considering alternative advent calendars aren't always cheap anyway.

5. Wera Tools Advent Calendar is a fab alternative advent calendar for men as it contains tools! However, it doesn't mean that it isn't good for those women who like to diy ;). It contains 24 high quality tools including a screwdriver, bottle opener, Rapidaptor bit holder, mini-check etc. Wera is one of the leading manufacturers of screw driving tools operating worldwide so you know these are going to be high quality tools that will be useful and last a long time. I think this would be great for someone who needs new tools or someone that has just moved into their own house and doesn't yet have any tools. It would be great for so many people for so many different reasons. You can get this from Amazon for £49.95.

6. Personalised Scratch Family Activity Advent Calendar had to make an appearance in my post because I thought it was such a sweet, novelty idea for the whole family to get involved with. The calendar is based on a sturdy piece of card with 24 scratch circles. Each circle reveals a challenge, craft or activity to do on the countdown to Christmas. For those of you that have children that can't have chocolate this is a great alternative that will still make little ones happy. One example of an activity is to have a fancy dress dinner! You can choose to personalise your calendar if you wish for a little extra meaning it will include your family name instead of just saying 'Our Family Advent Calendar'. You can buy this calendar from Not On The High Street for just £8.50. I'd say this would be something that you could hand make for your family and put peelable stickers or paper flaps over the activities, but I think it'd be quite cool for the activities to be a surprise for parents too. That way you can all talk about the activities together based on your first impression of each one and for the price at least you know it won't break the bank.

7. Hotel Chocolat Truffle Advent Calendar is a little bit different to the traditional chocolate advent calendar as it's designed to be shared. There are 24 windows and behind each window are two baby truffles, so 48 in total. The flavours sound amazing, they include salted caramel, gingerbread, mulled wine and cinnamon. I think this is such a sweet idea and I can imagine me and my hubby enjoying this together. I can imagine this being lovely for parents, two friends who live together, siblings etc. This one does contain alcohol in some of the truffles, so you might want to bare that in mind. You can buy it from John Lewis for £26.

8. Fortune Cookie Advent Calendar consists of a 24 day countdown to Christmas with handcrafted fortune cookies made in delicious flavours. Flavours include apple pie, chocolate and chilli and strawberry and mint. The fortune cookies are all free of artificial colours, flavours and preservatives. The company that makes these air dry their own zests, grind their own spices and enjoy creating new flavour combinations, so you know you're getting a good quality product. Each fortune contains a double sided traditional, festive or fun message and you can choose the combination of messages (not the exact messages, so nothing will be spoiled) before you order. The fortune cookies come in individual clear bags sealed with the date at the top and these are all packaged in a larger box. You can purchase this from Not On The High Street for £32.99.

9. Nutcracker Advent Charm Calendar I think would make a great alternative to sweets and chocolates for young girls. It comes as a jewellery box style calendar with a cute little pop up Nutcracker theatre scene which is revealed when you open the top of the box. There are two trays inside the box, each with 12 compartments which hold a silver coloured bracelet and 23 charms. How sweet! I can imagine little girls being thrilled with their new bracelet and being able to add a charm every day in the run up to Christmas. You can buy this from Not On The High Street for £16.95.

I've noticed alternative advent calendars being talked about a lot more this year on Twitter and I think it's great that brands are all trying to re-create their own each year. I remember a time when it was just those simple solid chocolate advent calendars and nothing else. They've come such a long way and it's great and adds another element of excitement to the whole run up to Christmas.

What alternative advent calendars have you seen?

Are you having a traditional chocolate advent calendar this year or something a little bit different? 

Comment down below, I'd love to know!

Thanks so much for reading!

Gem XxOo

*Images courtesy of Not On The High Street, Selfridges, John Lewis and Amazon.