Gemma 
Welcome to Day 2 of Blogmas At Home 2025! 🎄🎀✨
It’s that time again, when I collate all of my favourite purchases, gifts & generic things from the year gone by and call it a ‘gift guide’. The following items are all ones that I’ve been loving this year & think you guys (or your friends, family members and assorted other loved ones) might love too!
As always, I’ve organised this year’s gift guide by price to make it as helpful as possible, so hopefully there’ll be something on here to suit every budget!
If you want even more gift ideas, you can check out my gift guides from the previous two years here:
- 2024 Christmas Gift Guide
- 2023 Gift Guide for Bullet Journalers
- 2023 Gift Guide for Knitters and Crocheters
- 2023 Gift Guide for Bakers
Also, a quick disclaimer! All of the products in this guide have either been purchased independently by me for myself, or purchased by friends/family for me as gifts. None of the links in this post are affiliate links, nor does this post feature any ads/brand partnerships.
Table of Contents
£15 or Less
Problematic Summer Romance – Ali Hazelwood, £9.99 from Waterstones
Look, we all know that Ali Hazelwood is popular, but I would argue that Problematic Summer Romance, one of her 3 (!) releases this year, is severely under-hyped. This was my most highly anticipated release of 2025 and it definitely lived up to my expectations: my favourite book of the year by FAR.
The Gnomes of Grimblewood – Sarah Schira, £11.85 from Amazon
Is anyone surprised this made the list? The Gnomes of Grimblewood is a knitting pattern book that has brought me such fun & joy all year. The book contains 8 finished gnome patterns, plus the ability to mix and match individual elements to make your own Franken-gnomes, so it’s really good value for money!
Persephone Books, £15.00 each (or 3 for £40.00)
Persephone Books is a Bath-based company that reprints neglected books, predominantly by 20th century, female authors. All of the books in their main collection feature the same grey, hardback cover and can be purchased for £15 each. It’s a great way of buying a book for people who love to read that will still surprise them! Plus, Persephone Books has a great section on their website called ‘May We Recommend?‘ which contains loads of suggestions of titles for different readers & preferences, which makes gifting them (and buying them for yourself) even easier!
£20 or Less
Tales from the Hoop Christmas Felt Letter Kit, from £18.50 on Etsy
I bought this kit for myself as a festive project this year (more on that in a future post— the photo above is just a little sneak peak!) and I LOVED it. You get absolutely everything you need to make the cutest Christmas decoration(s), plus detailed, easy-to-follow instructions and helpful hints. The letters themselves are surprisingly really straightforward and speedy to make, so I really enjoyed the whole process! You can choose which/how many letters you purchase (after the first letter, the price increases very marginally, so definitely buy them together if you want multiples!), so it’s really easy to personalise them to your own family/friends.
PacificKnitCo Doodle Decks, from £19.00 from PacificKnitCo
Funnily enough, my mum and I both bought each other Doodle Decks for Christmas last year and they are exactly as fun as they look online: they’re essentially sets of little colourwork charts for knitting, with each chart printed on a separate ‘playing card’ (hence the name: Doodle Deck). There’s a huge range of different collections: I have the Arctic Expansion (£19.00) and the Autumn Deck (£22.00), but I also have my eye on the Romance and Fairytale packs!
£25 or Less
Fenty Skin Hydrating Strengthening Lip Oil, £21.00 from John Lewis
Everyone has their own skincare concerns/struggles, and mine is 100% chapped lips. Matte lipstick is my worst nightmare (and, if I’m being honest, even regular lipstick causes me some problems!), so tinted lip oils are right up my alley. My mum bought me this one for Christmas last year in the shade Black Cherry and I’ve been loving it all year long. It’s a kind of oil/gloss hybrid, so it’s really nourishing and hydrating, while still looking really lovely on the lips.
Rare Beauty Tinted Lip Oil, £21.00 from Sephora
Another lip oil for good measure, the Rare Beauty versions are slightly less glossy and slightly more of a stain than the Fenty Skin one, but still super hydrating and wearable on a day-to-day basis. I have three shades (from left to right): Affection (a deep purple: not my usual colour, but surprisingly flattering in moderation), Delight (very much a my-lips-but-better shade) and Joy (a bright peachy, summer-y hue).
Fruitcake Vinyl – Sabrina Carpenter, £21.99 from Sabrina Carpenter UK Store
Sabrina Carpenter’s festive offering is equal parts fun, ridiculous and festive (in other words, it’s an underrated masterpiece). I have the ‘Fruit Punch’ colourway from last year (because I’m a sucker for a limited edition) but, this year, it’s available in the classic ‘Olive Green’ shade, as well as the (slightly more expensive) ‘Milky Clear’ edition, so there are lots of options!
£30 or Less
The German Christmas Cookbook – Jurgen Krauss, £26.00 from Waterstones
Do you guys remember Jurgen from the Great British Bake Off? I was obsessed with him, so when I saw he had a cookbook coming out this year (and that it was Christmas-themed no less), I threw out my previous vow to refrain from adding to my Christmas cookbook collection this year and snapped it UP. The book is full of both classic recipes and modern twists: I was worried it would be a little too similar to my other German Christmas cookbook (Advent, by Anja Dunk), but it’s not at all!
Olaplex No. 3 Hair Perfector, £28.00 from Cult Beauty
This was the first product from Olaplex that I ever tried and I fell in love immediately: I’ve been using it on special occasions (it is pretty pricey) ever since. It’s essentially a hair mask, so you put it on wet hair, then leave it for a while before rinsing it out and washing your hair. I really notice that my hair feels so much healthier, stronger and softer after using it!
The Loopy Whisk: The Elements of Baking – Katarina Cermelj, £30.00 from Waterstones
My sister bought me this cookbook for Christmas last year and it has been game-changing. Gluten-free, dairy-free, egg-free and vegan baking can all be exceptionally challenging and for years I just could not figure them out… until this book. It’s filled with scientific explanations, clear guidelines and simple substitution advice that can be applied to your own recipes in order to adjust them to your preferred diet, along with a plethora of ready-adapted recipes. I really think this book is a must-have for any baker.
£50 or Less
Crumbs – Ben Mims, £34.95 from Waterstones
One more cookbook for good measure, this one solely focuses on cookies/biscuits. Sold already? I thought so. If that’s not enough, though, the cookbook quite literally takes you on a cookie tour of the globe, supplying iconic (and lesser-known) recipes from all over the world. If you’re a fan of my Baking Around the World series, you’ll love this book.
Ocean Bottle GO, £38.00 from Ocean Bottle
Look, everybody needs a good, refillable water bottle and this one, partly made from recycled, ocean-bound plastic is my absolute favourite for when I’m out and about (which, admittedly, rarely occurs, but does happen sometimes). It’s lightweight, has a straw (the dream) AND not only does the purchase of each bottle fund the collection of 1,000 plastic bottles from the ocean, but for every refill (you can record them on the app), Ocean Bottle collects a further 5 plastic bottles before they reach the ocean.
Anddddd that’s my 2025 Christmas Gift Guide! I hope it’s helpful!
Gemma
xxx
