Affordable Gift Guide: 2018

Affordable Christmas Gift Guide Under £50 Budget Gift Ideas 2018

Hey Owlets,

I have no idea where the last 11 months have gone, but it's Christmas gift guide season again! I've done things a little differently this time - I have an affordable gift guide, luxury gift guide and an advent calendar guide to share with you, with one product in each category because I'm not repeating the level of stress that I had last year! Today is the second of the three, which is my affordable gift guide. If you've not already seen my guide to alternative advent calendars, you can see that here. Now, I have lots of cool things to show you so I won't ramble on, time for the first gift!

BEAUTY

Affordable Christmas Gift Guide Under £50 Budget Gift Ideas 2018 Beauty Marc Jacobs Daisy Perfume

Idea: 

Perfume

Price: 

Marc Jacobs, around £50, but you could buy more affordable options

Where To Buy:

The Fragrance Shop

Why it's a Great Gift:

I LOVE PERFUME. There, I said it. Fragrance is one of those gifts that can go wrong, but if you know the person well enough then it can be incredibly special.

For me, perfume is magical; it's basically time travel in a bottle. When I smell Jo Malone's Cardamom and Mimosa I'm instantly taken back to my graduation day, when I spray Chanel Gabrielle I'm in Paris, and when I spray Marc Jacob's Eau So Fresh Daisy I'm back on board Independence of the Seas. 

Smells are one of the strongest triggers of memories, which is why fragrance is my favourite gift to give, but it can be tricky to find the perfect bottle. If you're planning to buy someone a fragrance this year, I would suggest doing some snooping first. Ask them what perfume they're wearing, say it smells nice and ask if there's any others they would recommend - that'll give you an idea of the type of scent they like. I'm no expert, so what I usually do is find out what perfumes they love, then go to the fragrance counter in any store and they should be able to recommend something that complements the list of perfumes you have, so they're more likely to love it. If you want to save more money I would recommend going to have a look in The Fragrance Shop - I don't know how they do it but I always seem to find my perfume at least £10 cheaper in there.


FITNESS/FOOD

Affordable Christmas Gift Guide Under £50 Budget Gift Ideas 2018 Breville Blender Fitness

Idea: 

Breville Blender

Price: 

Around £30

Where To Buy:

Argos

Why it's a Great Gift:

Don't get me wrong, I've had multiple blenders over the years but they usually end up shoved at the back of the cupboard unused. The Breville blender, however, is so convenient that I use it multiple times a week. I had originally planned for the food and fitness categories to be separate, but I really wanted to recommend this for both. 

The blender comes with multiple bottles as well as a juicer attachment - you simply screw on the lid with the blades and put it into the stand to blend, then you can swap lids and use it as a bottle rather than faffing around cleaning multiple different pieces and containers (like I said, I'm lazy!). It's also surprisingly useful too - it's strong enough to blend ice, blends finely enough that I can use it for blending things like nuts for baking, I use it to blend soup and to prep herbs and vegetables for cooking as well as the traditional smoothie.

It's a great gift for fitness lovers because you can make a smoothie and it's already in the bottle ready to go, you just need to change the lid. The bottle is strong so you can travel without worrying about dropping it, and it comes with different sized containers so you can tailor it to your diet. However, it's also great for foodies because it's an affordable alternative to the more fashionable blenders. It's great for speeding up cooking prep, and even comes with a juicer attachment so the juice goes straight into the bottle.


FOR HIM

Affordable Christmas Gift Guide Under £50 Budget Gift Ideas 2018 For Him

Idea: 

Best of British Beer

Price: 

Around £30

Where To Buy:

Direct from the website

Why it's a Great Gift:

I don't know about you but I always find that guys are the hardest people to buy for - if you ask them you get "I don't know" or "I don't want anything" which can make a difficult task almost impossible. Most of my answers for this gift guide have been "find something they like and think of something inspired by it" and this is no different.

A lot of the time Christmas is the only chance people get to let their hair down so if you know someone likes a glass of the strong stuff every now and then, it's a great Christmas present because you know it's something they'll appreciate.  One of the easiest ways to put a spin on this is to find out what they like to drink then try to a unique version of this - enter the Best of British Beer box.

Behind the alcoholic literary puns are 8 bottles of specially selected beer - each one is from a different independent micro brewery so by buying the box you're supporting small businesses as well as taking the guess work out of whether you've chosen the right thing (I can't stand beer so it'd be impossible for me to know what a good one is!).

I will freely admit that I don't have a clue when it comes to beer, but as I was opening this my friend's eyes lit up as he enthusiastically explained the difference between each of them and what makes them special. It's a great gift idea but it should come with a warning label that you may receive a free lecture on ales. For my friend at least, this was the perfect gift!


HOME


Affordable Christmas Gift Guide Under £50 Budget Gift Ideas 2018 Home The English Beagle

Idea: 

Small home bits to brighten their day

Price: 

From £25

Where To Buy:

From their website

Why it's a Great Gift:

When someone has just moved house or just loves decorating, buying them something to use in their new home makes great sense, but it can be a bit of a minefield. You don't want to get them anything too big and I always feel uncomfortable buying a home gift because you don't want to mess up their decor by buying something that doesn't fit in. To get around this issue I like to give them something that won't have a big impact on their space but will make them smile.

The English Beagle are a small business based in Kent - I've known them for about a year now and they absolutely take the hassle out of buying home gifts. I feel like home gifts are usually aimed at a 20-something female, so when the recipient doesn't fit into that category it can be really challenging to find them something. English Beagle actually splits their home gifts my gender, age and by what interest they relate to (such as travel gifts or gardening) which makes it easy to find something great. I also love the fact that they do gift boxes - this mug, coaster and tea towel can all be bought separately, but come together in a gift basket for £25. You can choose what goes in the gift box or leave them to choose for you and it all comes gift wrapped so you don't even have to think about wrapping it - I love a lazy gift!

I was kindly offered a voucher code for you - if you use "OWL" at the checkout you can get 20% off your order. It's not a referral code and I'm not being paid, they were just lovely enough to offer you a discount!


TECH


Affordable Christmas Gift Guide Under £50 Budget Gift Ideas 2018 Tech Phone Accessories


Idea: 

Phone Accessories

Price: 

Whatever you want to spend

Where To Buy:

Anywhere, but if you want something stylish I recommend Skinny Dip!

Why it's a Great Gift:

Tech gifts are usually super pricey - you can buy something online cheaper but it's probably a bit sketchy, and buying any tech gift from a store would usually cost you £50 or more- not to mention how difficult it is to choose the right thing. Instead I wanted to focus on something useful and thoughtful, but affordable for you. Every time I open Twitter I see complaints about a phone running out of battery at the worst possible moment, lost earphones, smashed screens or broken cables.

The "Phone Survival Box" is, in my opinion, the best tech gift ever and it doesn't have to cost a lot of money. This gift works better if you find out what phone they have, but it can be done without knowing. First of all you want to get them a case to protect their phone when it's dropped; if you know what kind of phone they have that's perfect, but if not you can buy them a wallet that fits their phone, like this one. Next up, a battery pack so they can charge their phone on the go - they're available pretty cheaply. Of course they need something to plug in, so you could buy them a few leads (one for each bag or backups for when it breaks); if you don't know what kind of phone they have then you can buy leads that have an adaptor attached so it can be used for either. Once you've sorted charging and breaking it's time to look at earphones. Apple removed the headphone port recently, so if you aren't sure what phone they have then you can pick up some great affordable wireless earphones - Skullcandy do a pair for around £15. An optional extra to include would be a pop socket that sticks to the back of the phone and you can hold that so you don't drop it - mine is a ring that I slide over one of my fingers and it's much more secure.

Finally, present everything in a box or in a small pouch that they can throw in their bag for when they're travelling. It'll look like a luxury gift, but it probably cost you around £30 and it's something that they'll really appreciate.


TRAVEL


Affordable Christmas Gift Guide Under £50 Budget Gift Ideas 2018 Travel Storyteller Keyring

Idea: 

Storyteller Flagmate

Price: 

From £15

Where To Buy:

From their website

Why it's a Great Gift:

Every year that I write gift guides, I come across something that I love so much that it becomes part of my every day life - last year it was my "Owlet" necklace and this year's choice is the Flagmate. I feel like gifts for people that travel can be really difficult to choose, because they often can't take a lot with them and unless you've travelled yourself you probably don't know what they need. You can, however, give them the gift of their own memories.

The Flagmate is a keyring with hand painted flag charms that can be added to remind you of each country that you've visited. The company's founder wanted to find a way to give back having met adults that couldn't read or write while travelling in less developed countries, so 10% of each sale goes to charity, with every £1000 paying for 4 children to go to school for a year in less privileged countries. Each flag can be engraved with the date they visited or what happened there, so even if you don't know you could do a bit of Facebook stalking and just add the year. Having received my own to review, I can truly say I love it. Every time I look at the flags it reminds me of the trips I've been on and makes me smile. It's a little more effort to create this gift, but it's incredibly thoughtful and something that the recipient will treasure and be able to add to.


FOR THE PERSON WHO HAS EVERYTHING 


Affordable Christmas Gift Guide Under £50 Budget Gift Ideas 2018 Happiful Mental Health Wellbeing Magazine Subscription


Idea: 

Magazine Subscription

Price: 

As much as you want to spend

Where To Buy:

Anywhere, but Happiful is available online.

Why it's a Great Gift:

I hate these kind of people - the ones who have everything and never offer any clues if you ask them what they'd like. My Dad is one of those people so I've had plenty of practice - recently he's started reading magazines on his iPad which gave me an idea. For people that have everything I tend to opt for experiences rather than material gifts, but a magazine subscription is a great way to show them you know what they like without spending hours agonising over it; there's magazines on everything from cruise ships to cats so all you need to do is find out what they like and find a magazine to match their interests.

If you want to go completely different, I received Happiful magazine in a PR package and loved it! I'm definitely guilty of being a workaholic and stopping to read the magazine forces me to take some down time. The magazine is full of tips on how to improve or maintain your mental health and wellbeing as well as personal experiences from the writers. I think this one would be perfect for the people who are always on the go, as a way to remind them to slow down and take time for themselves.


STOCKING FILLER


Affordable Christmas Gift Guide Under £50 Budget Gift Ideas 2018 Stocking Filler Life Organisation Santoro London

Idea: 

Life organisation gifts

Price: 

As much as you'd like to spend 

Where To Buy:

On their website

Why it's a Great Gift:

Okay, you've made it to the end of the main categories, but what if you want if you want to get them an extra something or you only give small gifts? I love stocking filler gifts as I feel like they're more creative and you can have fun with them. Every single year Mum says she wants a diary and Dad says he needs a new notebook so all credit to them for this idea.

Stationary is always a great stocking filler as it's something we all use but never have lying around when we need it - a pack of pens, a mini pencil case, a diary or notebook are all great gifts, and I love these offerings from Santoro. I always love supporting small businesses, and having spoken to the Santoro team many times I can safely say they're some of the nicest people I've worked with on The Owlet. They sent me a few owl-related gifts last year and since then they've seen a lot of use. I love having the smaller pouch in my bag day-to-day to hold my phone charger, wifi charger and earphones so they don't get lost or break from being retrieved from the abyss of my bag. I also love the bigger pouch for when I'm travelling - it fits my battery pack, vlog camera, phone charger, wifi charger and camera charger as well as my earphones so nothing gets lost when I'm out and about. My love for these pouches are also helped by the fact that they're owls, and the embroidery is done to look like feathers. But even if your friends aren't owl obsessed, these small bags are a great stocking filler gift.


That's it for my affordable gift guide this year - hopefully this has helped take some of the Christmas shopping stress away from you and given you a few ideas. If you're looking to splurge then make sure you come back in a few days for my luxury gift guide - all the same categories but with a higher budget.

What's the best gift you've ever received? Let me know in the comments and hopefully it'll inspire others!

Love and Feathers, 
 The Owlet 💜 
You can find me on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram & Pinterest



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*Just so you know, some of the links in this post are affiliate links meaning I make a few pence if you choose to buy something through my post, but this doesn't have any effect on what I choose to recommend to you. Buying through my link won't cost you any more and I really appreciate the support, but if you'd prefer not to use my links then have a quick Google and you'll find them pretty easily!
      

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