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SAY MY NAME, SAY MY NAME: THE BEST PERSONALISED CHRISTMAS GIFTS

This Christmas, give a gift that feels extra-thoughtful.

Written by High Life North
Published 05.12.2020

By Jenny Brownlees

If something’s (literally) got our name on it, is monogrammed, can be personalised or is adorned with our initial on it—we’re 100% on board. There’s something extra-special about gifts that are clearly intended with the exact recipient in mind. To do the hard work for you, we’ve rounded up the best one-off gifts that are guaranteed to please…

As if a gift of a sumptuous Jo Malone candle or fragrance wasn’t indulgent enough, you can now add a custom engraving and monogramming to give a gift that makes a lasting impact. Choose from two elegant fonts and engrave with a personal message, special date or initials. Even when the deluxe scent of a Jo Malone candle is burnt, many people now choose to keep glass candle jars and perfume bottles for everything from mini vases to desk-tidy decorations. One thing’s for sure, whoever gets this gift will cherish it forever.

This North East Based jewellery business offers a genius take on a personalised gift. This Christmas, why not surprise the special person in your life with a necklace with a nod to their zodiac sign? Scarlet Ocean’s products evoke a passion for beautiful and affordable demi-fine jewellery, and this rose gold necklace is an effortless way to work a personalised style.

A perfect gift little ones and parents of new-borns, Papier allow you to create your very own story to inspire a child to dream big. Customisable in everything from the cover, name, character and story itself, this makes an amazing gift that will be read again and again. There’s a whole host of adventures available in this tale of magic, with illustrations by Hip-Hip’s Allison Black. Ideal for those aged 0-3, at the end there’s even a counting page, so children can go back through the story and discover items hidden amongst the colourful illustrations.

If you have a tea-lover in your life, you’ll know the choice and quality of Tea Pigs is unmatched. Now, you can build your own box; perfect for gifting to someone you love. Not only will the name of the lucky recipient be on the box, but you can also choose everything from mini “piglet” packs, to full-size temple packs and more. Build your own selection of flavours or choose from set combinations, each as delicious as the next. After gifting this set, there’ll be serious brownie points coming your way.

FaceGym facials have been making waves in the beauty world, and for good reason. Their signature massage techniques, focusing on the 40+ muscles from the neck up, stimulate blood circulation and collagen, boost the lymphatic system and increase cell renewal. Now you can enjoy the benefits at home, using their ultimate ‘home workout’ tool. The Multi-Sculpt has six distinct edges that work to perform unique face sculpting techniques to contour and de-puff the skin while plumping fine lines and reducing facial tension. With 8 different FaceGym techniques to follow via the packs scan-able QR code, the Multi-Sculpt offers a full-face workout with transformative results. The Multi-Sculpt is fully customisable, with the option to engrave it with a name or personal message, making it the perfect gift for any workout-obsessed beauty junkies in your life!

Year-long, but especially around the festive period, we love having a new pair of luxe PJs to lounge in, and none compare to female-founded British brand YOLKE. Each pair is cut from YOLKE’s signature stretch silk blend, with silk buttons and an elegant revered collar. Adding a further luxe-feel to their already premium pyjamas, YOLKE offers bespoke monogramming services on all their stylish products. Working with premium embroiderers Hand & Lock, YOLKE’s monogramming start from £15 per letter. The brand have even teamed up with industry-renowned embroiderer Cressida Jamieson to offer bespoke names, florals and initials on all of their pyjamas and home ware linens, too. When nightwear this good, there’s no need to get dressed up this Christmas. 

Tony’s is the golden standard when it comes to chocolate, no question. We’re jumping for joy that it’s now possible to make your own version of the iconic, brightly coloured bars. Not only can you choose the colour, flavour and name—you can even add an image to the iconic bar. A great gift for those with a sweet tooth, (guilty!) Apart from each bar’s flavour being seriously delicious, Tony’s mission is just as sweet. The brand is working to make slave free, Fairtrade chocolate the norm, not just with their own bars but industry wide. Chocolate that supports amazing cause—win, win.  

If you have a dog-lover on your Christmas gifting list, we suggest treating them to this fashionable leather collar and lead combo, available in modern navy or classic tan. With a style-centric scalloped design and personalised pooch name, it’ll make an ideal gift for any pet lover. After all, our furry friends deserve to look just as stylish as their owner. 

Tori Murphy’s items are lovingly made in Nottingham, and are able to be monogrammed to add an extra-special detail. We love these cotton gym bags, but also have our eye on her stylish aprons—with our initials embroidered, there’ll be no mistaking who’s head chef this Christmas.

Memmo make it possible for your loved one to enjoy a personal connection with a well-known profile this Christmas. There’s everyone from football stars to actors, TV and comedy favourites right down to Santa Claus himself. They have made it so simple to a request for a greeting, in-joke or even a fancy speech, which is recorded and sent direct to you. If you have someone in your life who’s a super-fan of everything from Game Of Thrones to Mean Girls, one thing’s for sure—reactions to these clips will be unbeatable.

Atlas & I are the go-to gift brand for vintage maps. From prints to placemats, cushions to coasters all their unique gifts are printed with a gorgeous vintage map showing a sentimental location. It could be where a loved one got married or simply the place you call home. Choose from a variety of map styles and scales on their website to personalise your bespoke gift, all handmade to order in Great Britain. A wonderful gift for anyone who is a dog lover and likes to go walking is the Walking Print with Personalised Map. The antique map shown behind the printed silhouette can cover a favourite dog walk or local area around their home.

Inspired by British elegance and the understated glamour, we love Astrid & Miyu’s delicate jewellery that’s ultra-stylish, yet appropriate for everyday wear. With a range of trendy but ever-classic items in silver, gold and rose gold, there’s something suit everyone’s taste. For a Christmas gift that’ll be loved for a lifetime, the brand offers custom engraving. We’ve got our eye on this beautiful interlocked rope ring and blossom pendent necklace. 

Ditch the smartphones and get the whole family together for some creative fun this Christmas with these fabric painting kits. With everything you need to design your very own t-shirt, the Fab Dab Do kits are a great activity for the Christmas holidays. There’s a range of festive stencils to choose from with baubles, snow globes and traditional jumper patterns. Perfect for rainy afternoons and sleepovers, you’ll enjoy hours of entertainment with these kits.

When starting her London-based business, founder Nika Diamond-Krendel learned that only handful of leather workshops were left from what was once a thriving textile culture, due to British brands outsourcing their manufacturing abroad. Now, Paradise Row offers quality, sustainable and personalised pieces made right here in Britain—like this gorgeous green Laptop Cover, which’d make the perfect gift for a tech-savvy friend. We’re thinking about personalising our entire WFH set up with the brand’s personalised Desk Mat, too.  

Imagined by French perfumer Emmanuelle Moeglin, the Experimental Perfume Club has set out to demystifying the secret art of perfumery, making fragrance feel truly personal.  With both their online training academy and fine fragrance collections, the EPC empower people to explore and experiment with fragrances, in order to be the designer of their own personalised perfume. Through gifting their Discovery Set, you can offer a perfume-lover the chance to blend each of the EPC’s fine fragrances together in a truly unique way—allowing them to create a signature scent that’s all their own. You even receive a £25 voucher with the set, to redeem toward a 50ml Essential of your choice, or to use in a private creation session with founder and perfumer-extraordinaire Emmanuelle. After all, bespoke is the future of the beauty industry—you heard it here first.

Adding a personal touch to storing jewellery and accessories, this gorgeous green velvet box is adorned with an alphabet letter of your choice, unzipping to reveal three handy compartments. For an elegant finish, the box piece has two-tone sunrise lining and a pink tassel zip pull. A guaranteed people-pleasing present that anyone would be proud to display upon their dresser.

In 2006, Lancashire-born Rachel made every piece of jewellery from her kitchen table, selling via a market stall in London’s Spitalfields. Now, the jeweller’s British-based brand is loved by fashionista’s world-wide for their quality and trend-led pieces. Give a gift that means more, by choosing the lucky beneficiary’s initials on these stylish gold hoops. We also love the drop-style version, and matching chain necklace, if you were looking for a set for your BFF. 

We like our tech to reflect our personality, so say goodbye to boring cases and hello to Azurina’s on-trend monogrammed cases. Perfect as a Secret Santa gift, anyone would love this stylish touch of personality added to an otherwise lack lustre item.

This gorgeous gold foiled bauble is perfectly personalisable with up to five names and three lines of custom text available to be added below the stylish stockings. Making a truly special Christmas gift for a family, to celebrate a baby’s first Christmas, the first in a new home and much more—this is an all-round people pleaser that can be used and adored year upon year.

The gin lover in your life will be blown away by this luxurious gift, offering a personalised gin blend that’s all their own. Using 58 Gin’s high-quality ingredients and award-winning gins, you are able to choose a flavour profile and pick up to six botanicals from over a dozen options, before a master distiller conjures up your unique recipe. This means you can gift a one-of-a-kind gin that can’t be created or bought anywhere else. You can even come up with the name to be added to the two trendy-looking bottles, which are then wax sealed before being deliver to your door. A gift to be remembered.

As if the gift of Estee Lauder wasn’t enough, you can now engrave products as a complimentary service with any purchase in selected stores. Further to this, in December, online engraving of the brand’s award-wining Advanced Night Repair is available at a cost of £5. Why not give someone the gift of great skin this Christmas?

Got a sweet-toothed friend or family member to buy for? Make them feel special with their very own unique gift jar packed full of vegan sweets. Candy Kittens are the go-to for big flavours and sweets that taste as good as they look. They’ll do the hard work for you, adding a special message to the jar and sending it where it needs to go. Ideal!

Whilst socks might not seem like the most exciting gift, and are often the butt of ‘bad Christmas gift’ jokes—we’d beg to differ on this occasion. We all need great quality socks that’ll last, as let’s face it, we wear them daily. Here, Genevieve Sweeney has made her ultra-luxe socks, which are made in Derbyshire in a family-run mill, a lust-after item. From the popular merino wool marl and fine Solline silk tweed, to the sparkling Serora stripe; there’s the option of hand-monogramming to create a truly unique gift. From £14 a month, you can gift a luxurious sock subscription, but can also select to have the first pair sent to your address so that you can gift them in person. All remaining socks will then be sent to your recipient, who’ll receive a surprise pair of socks showcasing Genevieve’s signature blend of premium yarns and contemporary patterns in seasonal, statement colours every month. Holey, old socks be gone.

Captured Keepsakes has been creating quality lifecastings and keepsake jewellery since 2009. It was then that founder Sarah began her mission to capture moments in time. Now you can also buy these gorgeous and unique products online, and keep memories in artwork and jewellery that you can truly treasure for years to come.

Give the gift of some shut-eye this festive season, with M&S’ luxe embroidered eye masks that look way beyond their price point. Taking stylish sleepwear to the next level, anyone would love this pressie, clearly meant just for them.

Anthropologie’s bistro-style range has been flying off the shelves, so get in there quick when gifting these chic letter coasters that are sure to brighten up anyone’s bedside table.

These stylist hessian Christmas sacks celebrate a baby’s first year on earth, in a gift that quite literally has their name on it. Designed and printed in the UK, the sack is large enough to cater for even the most generous amount of presents, and is sure to be used again and again. 

Music lovers will adore these high-quality headphones, compatible with IOS and Android devices, with the capability of pairing up to all Bluetooth playback devices, including Apple, Samsung and all other major brands. With long-lasting battery life, they provide up to 8 hours constant use, a 10 metre range—not to mention the ultra-cute case, personalisable with a first name. 

Nothing is chicer, or suits everyone, like a camel scarf. Now, you can gift this seriously soft scarf complete with free, custom monogram embroidery. We’re putting this straight on our Christmas lists, thanks.

Any child will love baking-along when wearing their very own personalised apron, making bake-days extra-special. Gifting this super-cute animal apron could mean you’re helping create a star chef in the making.

If you’re after an unusual customised gift,  the 101 Reasons scroll box is sure to give the one you love a smile. Use the pen to write 101 reasons why the person is special to you—from 101 reasons why you love them to 101 reasons they’re the best Mum. Then, each time they turn the wooden dial, they will be treated to this perfect personalised gift that’s extra thoughtful, and straight from the heart.

Monogram makeup is surely the height of sophistication—and with a £50 spend, you can enjoy a complimentary engraving service on a whole host of Lancome’s beloved products. We’re planning on gifting our friends a selection of the brand’s stunning L’absolu Rouge Matte Lipsticks, complete with a personal message.

Since everyone will be spending more time at home over the festive period, why not treat that special someone to a dressing gown fit for a Queen? Cut from sumptuously soft cotton, these waffle gowns provide chic comfort in abundance. Choose from a pallet of pastels, before adding that final touch with Hay’s custom embroidery service. 

Handmade by Becky Cocker in a small studio on the North Devon/Cornwall border. This practice involves using centuries-old hand leatherworking techniques to create minimalistic, modern pieces with serious style. Personalised with initials or a maximum of three characters for an extra-special touch. Becky is able to personalise a whole host of her items, we have our eye on her tan cross body bag, too. 

This specially selected sherry-matured whisky from the Ben Nevis distillery is bottled exclusively for The Whisky Exchange, able to be personalised with a choice of luxe label and custom messages. This is the ideal gift for any whisky lover.

Lovingly hand-painted and complete with pet’s name, talented maker Camilla creates stunningly realistic portraits of our beloved furry friends. If you know someone that’d love to add their pet BFF to their Christmas tree this year, look no further for a gift that’s sure to delight. 

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