Our 10 Best Christmas Gift Ideas!

With Christmas decorations all around, we can quickly become overwhelmed with stress as we try to dream up a sleigh-full of perfect gifts to show our nearest and dearest how much they’re loved. While getting it right is a great feeling – what you may not know is, gift giving causes the pleasure and reward centres in your brain to light up as though you were actually the one receiving the gift – sometimes the pressures involved in finding the perfect gift can really take the shine off. That’s why this Christmas, we’ve collated the 10 best gifts ideas, so you can tick of your gift list and focus on enjoying all the spoils this festive season.

1. Food glorious food

This is a gift that is always appreciated and can be as tailored or generic as you want. Big box retailers like Myer and David Jones always have a selection of delectable hampers available, but there are advantages in curating your own perfect box for that special someone. From selecting all their favourite foods, to international cuisines or a dedicated chocolate hamper, you can hand pick glorious gourmet goodies full of your loved one’s favourite things. Best of all, there’s no chance of this one ending up in the unwanted pile (or even worse, heading straight to landfill) – as summer entertainment ramps up, so do the occasions to eat and devour delicious foods.

2. They’ll never lose their essentials again!

The new Apple AirTag is an affordable gift that everyone needs in their life. Easily added to a keychain, wallet, bag, remote control (or all the above), the Apple AirTag links to your iPhone or tablet making losing things a thing of the past. By simply opening the factory installed ‘Find My’ app, Siri will point you in the direction of your lost item.

3. Home baked with love

Put those lockdown-learnt baking skills to good use and whip up a batch of Christmas cookies for family, friends, neighbours, or colleagues. Home-baked gifts not only save you money, but they’re planet friendly, and are often more meaningful than something picked up online or at the shops. Best of all, if you’ve got kids, they’ll love getting involved and any imperfections can be explained away! Need some inspiration? Here are 5 of the best Christmas cookie recipes.

4. Give a bit of balance through books

Gifting an old-fashioned, physical book is a great way to bring a bit of balance back into our lives – it demands an escape from multi-tasking and calls for a stint stretched out on a beach towel or lounger for some serious relaxation. The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck by Mark Manson is our favourite pandemic antidote read, but whether you have a fiction lover, cookbook collector or teen to consider, the Barnes & Noble Best Books of the Year has you covered.

5. Make their mug smarter

Who hasn’t received a novelty mug for Christmas? Well, this one’s a little different, a little more useful and a whole lot less novelty. The new Ember Mug from Apple lets you keep your coffee, tea or hot chocolate at the precise temperature you set it to, so you’ll never be faced with a neglected, lukewarm beverage ever again! Controlled via an app on your iPhone, you can track your consumption, customise the LED colour and save pre-sets for your favourite drinks. The battery life allows the Ember to maintain your chosen temperature for just under two hours or pop it on its dock for a cup of coffee that will last you all day.

6. The one gift they didn’t know they needed!

COVID has us sanitising and washing our hands countless times a day, but most of us have forgotten about our smartphones. When did you last clean yours? With the average person touching their phone over 2,600 times per day according to this study, and research pointing to your phone being dirtier than a toilet seat, this is a big part of our lives that could do with a regular clean. UV phone sanitisers get rid of 99% of all the nasty bacteria and can also be used on other germ-infested contenders like keys, credit cards and more. Harvey Norman stocks a limited range and Amazon stock plenty of options. This is one gift they didn’t know they needed but will be grateful to receive.

7. A present for your pooch

Admit it, you purchased a pandemic pet. Here’s the perfect gift for your new pooch – particularly if you’re heading back to the office and they’re enduring a little more alone time. Launched through crowdfunding platform Kickstarter, the Wickedbone is touted as the world’s first smart and interactive dog toy. USB charged and controllable from your mobile phone (if you don’t want to use the Autoplay mode), this bone-shaped toy puts a whole new spin on the phrase ‘gaming device.’ Fur parents will love how easy it is to use, and fur babies will love how it reacts to their play and entices them to keep playing by moving around on its own.

Source: Mr Gadget

8. A gift that keeps on giving

A lot of green thumbs were found in 2021, with plenty of us spending more time in the garden and developing an appreciation for the simplicity of homegrown produce. Indulge your recipient’s zest for the homegrown by gifting a fruit tree that will keep on giving for years to come. From Avocado Tree Starter Kits to vitamin C boosting potted citrus trees, there’s something suitable for every space –apartment balconies to big old fashioned backyards.

9. The at-home mixologist

When options were limited, our appreciation for the skills of the bartender at our local watering hole soared, and many of us brushed up on our own skills. Support your gift recipient’s newfound skill so that they can mix you a drink in style with an at home, happy-hour cocktail kit. If you know their favourite tipple you can purchase a bespoke kit, or leave the options open with a cocktail shaker set to suit all budgets.

10. Face masks, the new socks

Socks as gifts are so pre-2019 and according to Google Trends, the worldwide search for face masks is still very much yet to reach its peak. It looks like we’ll be wearing them for a while yet, so why not replace their disposable old surgical blue with something a little more enviro friendly and fashionable. Whether you go for the reliable comfort of Bonds, take the high fashion road with Marc Jacobs or opt for homegrown favourites Culture Kings or Christian Kimber. Perhaps even a festively themed mask from The Mask Life, there’s something to suit every style!

Source: Christian Kimber

Now relax and spread the Christmas cheer

Whether you plan to hit the shops or buy online, we hope you’re one step closer to having your gifts sorted and now have a little more time to relax and revel in the Christmas cheer. Remember, for the impossible to buy for, there’s always gift cards! We hope these gift ideas allow you to relax and enjoy this festive season, from all the team at First National Real Estate we wish you a Merry Christmas and a Safe and Happy New Year.

While we hope you find this information helpful, please note that it is general in nature. While we may mention goods or services provided by others, we are not specifically endorsing them and can’t accept responsibility for them. For these reasons, we are unable to accept responsibility for any loss that may be sustained from acting on this information (subject to applicable consumer guarantees).