Christmas Presents for a Foodie

This is a sponsored post containing some items that were sent for review. This post may also contain affiliate links.

I do love Foodie Presents at any time of year but even more so at Christmas. Check out our round up of the best Christmas presents for foodies this Christmas – we’ve looked for a range of budgets, for drinkers and teetotallers, practical and that bit of luxury. Our foodies gift guide really has something for everyone!

In this gift guide, I’ve chosen a selection of Christmas presents for the foodie in your life. Some we have been sent to review and I have decided to include in this gift guide. Others, I use all year round and know they make the perfect present.

Alternatively, why not check out some of the great Restaurant Deals that are available at this time of year – Foodie vouchers always go down well!

Opies Fruits in Liqueur

For the past 20 years, Black Cherries in Kirsch have formed part of my Mum’s Christmas gift selection. My Mum isn’t particularly a huge foodie (I know! How did she have me?) but is partial to some of these. I prefer them with vanilla ice-cream but my Mum comes up with allsorts of varieties of ways to enjoy them. We have tended to buy them wherever we have found them & have mainly gone with shops own brand. This year though, we have been invited to try to master of Black Cherries in Kirsch, Opies. RRP starting from £6.50.

For culinary inspiration, Opies have also incorporated recipes on the inside of the packs. Alternatively they can, of course, be enjoyed in the simplest of ways; with a generous glug of cream or scoop of vanilla ice cream as an early evening dessert. 

There’s no need to waste the precious syrup either:  reduce it down with a little extra sugar to make a glaze for gamey meats like duck or goose or as a drizzle over salad leaves, chunks of goats’ cheese and toasted sourdough. Alternatively, make boozy ice cubes by mixing the syrup with a little water and freezing into a cube tray, or combine with gelatine and champagne for luxurious grown-up jellies. 

I’m loving that Opies have updated their jars to be Kilner Jars now – Great for reusing and storing stuff after the fruit has been enjoyed.

Starter Gin & Tonic Box from The Awesome Hamper Company

The Awesome Hamper Company offers a range of luxury, delicious and beautifully packaged gifts hampers perfect for every occasion. Each hamper is designed with high quality products from hot drinks to pamper products.

Delivery can be arranged all over the UK. Our hamper came in a beautiful sturdy box that kept the bottles and cans arranged neatly and safely. Wicker hampers are also available to order.

The Starter Gin & Tonic Box costs £36.50 with postage starting at £2.99. Each gin box contains at least 5 miniature gins with 3 mini tonic cans, along with a personalised message.

Visit the website to discover the full range of hampers available from The Awesome Hamper Company.

The Sweet Hamper Company

For the sweet toothed foodie, what could be better than a Sweet Hamper? My girls absolutely loved the variety of sweets inside our box. I requested no lollipops and this was no trouble.

Our medium box arrived with a mixture of traditional favourites, cola bottles and strawberries along with some newer favourites like the Stinger and a sweet pizza.

Ginger Beer Gift Box from The Dorset Ginger Company

The Famous Five Ginger Beer Gift Set from The Dorset Ginger Company contains a variety of flat, ginger-based drinks that are brilliant served on their own or as part of a cocktail. Flavours of ginger beer include Extra Strong Ginger and Cinnamon, in addition to original Ginger beer. The taste is really striking and so refreshing! A great gift! The Ginger Beer Famous Five set costs £18.15 from Dorset Ginger.

Chimmy’s Sauce Gift Set

How about a sauce set from Chimmy’s for the keen cook? This 3 sauce set contains a variety of chimichurri bottles including spicy and smoky BBQ. Available from Selfridges, Ocado, independent stores and their website www.chimmys.com, all three flavours can be bought individually, or a Trio pack makes a great Christmas gift for £14.95

Family Cookbooks

I really don’t think you can beat a good cookbook as a gift and this selection are some of my favourites from this year.

From The Oven to the Table – Diana Henry – A gift from my sister but a book I will also gift to others for years to come. Diana Henry is one of the ultimate food writers and this book is definitely one you could take to bed to read (Anyone else do this?0 Currently £22.99 in hardback but only 99p on Kindle!

Persiana Everyday – Sabrina Ghayour £15.00 – This was a bit of a trendy book last year and I bought it on a whim. I soon found myself surprised by how many recipes I wanted to try and how readable it is.

Bold Beans – Amelia Christie-Miller – We are not vegan in this house but do like to explore how we can use more beans and pulses in our cooking and this book is brilliant for ideas. RRP £17.60.

Christmas Cookbooks

It can sometimes be difficult to pick between the really good Christmas cookbooks and the average ones but I highly recommend both of these. The Christmas Chronicles by Nigel Slater is a wonderful read, even if you don’t intend on cooking anything from the book. You can almost hear his soothing voice – he really gets me in the mood for Christmas. RRP £23.99 in hardback but sometimes as low as 99p on Kindle.

Advent by Anja Dunk is an utterly wonderful book. Absolutely jammed packed full of recipes that any baker would be desperate to bake. It also helps that Anja Dunk obviously shares my love of almond recipes and includes plenty of them in this book. RRP £20.00 in hardback.

Trifle Dessert Bowl

I feel properly grown up now I own my own trifle dessert bowl. I don’t even like traditional trifle, not being a custard lover but there are so many family sized desserts to use this bowl for. For example my Amaretto and Lemon Curd Christmas Trifle (with no custard).

This beauty was from Home Bargains at a real bargain price of £9.99.

Cranes Gin

I’m rather famous for enjoying a gin and tonic. Flavoured gins are fascinating too – just experiment with which tonic you find works best. I’m a bit of a purist and tend to find traditional non-flavoured tonics work best – particularly with this Cranberry Gin from Cranes.

Handcrafted in small batches, using the finest cranberries to create a smooth and fruity, yet delightfully sharp gin. Cranes Gin is award-winning receiving silver from the International Wine & Spirit Competition. It is a must try for any gin enthusiast, particularly over the festive period as over 70 cranberries go into creating each bottle. Cranes products are suitable for vegans and also Gluten-Free.

RRP £30 and available from Ocado, Amazon and https://drinkcranes.shop.

Cranes Cider

Another alcohol gift for your foodie friends. Again, Cranes have come up with a selection of fruit based ciders.

Cranes Cider Gift Set includes three refreshingly natural fruit ciders (Blueberries & Apples; Cranberries & Limes and Raspberries & Pomegranates), along with our branded pint glass. Cranes ciders are crafted using only the most natural ingredients resulting in them containing 30% fewer calories and over 40% less sugar compared to brand leaders.

Now available from Amazon and https://drinkcranes.shop. It is a best seller on Amazon. 

RRP: £16.99

Blackmoor Pans

I would be utterly delighted to receive these pans as a Christmas gift and suspect any respective foodie or cook, would be too. The beauty of these pans is that they are affordable and high-quality. Blackmoor are conscious that during a cost of living crisis, replacing kitchenware can seem like an unnecessary luxury. As a result all pans in the Blue Pro Range are at an affordable price – starting at only £19.99.

These beautiful pans are hard-wearing, non-stick and can be placed in the oven as well as on the hob (up to a temperature of 220C).

Blackmoor have kindly offered a 10% discount to any Casa Costello customers who order Blackmoor pans for the first time. Just use CASA10 discount code at the checkout.

The range of Blackmoor Pans available can be found at https://www.blackmoorhome.co.uk

Ramsey’s Gin

A name that surely everyone knows and a great addition to any gin fanatic’s collection.

Ramsay’s Gin is a delicious new take on a classic London Dry Gin inspired by the taste of Scotland. Delicious botanicals such as Mara Seaweed and honey berries are combined with pink peppercorn, fennel seeds, lavender and lemon verbena to create the perfect balance of citrus, floral and savoury flavours.

Ramsey’s gin has an RRP of £28.00 and is available at https://www.edenmill.com

Steven Brown Shortbread

We appear to have become family of Highland Cow fans in this house, so when I spotted this tin of Shortbread in a Steven Brown branded tin, I knew it was the perfect gift for Mr C. Prices start from £8.99 depending on the size of tin from the Steven brown website. Since finishing the biscuits, the tin has come in so handy and we have so many compliments every time we turn up somewhere with it.

Cocktails by Post

These Nio cocktails are perfect for the foodie in your life that lives far away. The packaging is super compact, yet really appealing. I loved watching the cocktail slosh away in its pouch. We tried the Gin Sour, Negroni and Gimlet. The cocktails arrive ready to serve – Its up to you whether you add ice or not but remember NIO stands for Needs Ice Only.

They have around 22% Alcoholic volume and have suggestions of how to serve each cocktail on the back of each packet. The actual cocktails contain premium brand liquor – The Gin Sour, Gimlet and Negroni all use Tanquerey Gin and have 2.2/2.3 units.

You can choose from a selection of over 20 cocktails to build your own box at NIO Cocktails. A box of 3 comes in at £19.50 and the more popular sharing box of 6 cocktails is £39.00.

Baking Tins

A baker can never have too many baking tins. I very rarely get round to buying myself new bakeware so to receive some as a Christmas present feels very special. The navy bakeware range from Zyliss are just lovely. My muffin tins are years old and well loved/battered. The range can be found at the Zyliss website. (At the time of publishing, the Zyliss website is having a update so not accepting new order – Zyliss can also be found at Amazon) The range is all non-stick and can withstand temperature of up to 240C without warping.

Subscription Box

Subscription boxes have become so popular. No matter what your interests are, there’s surely a subscription box for you. The Spice Pioneer sent me a selection of their foodie spice boxes and an extra special, Gin & Tonic Garnish Box. With every order, you can get one of these Gin & Tonic Garnish boxes worth £14.95. These are such a lovely gift at a start price of £27 for three months worth of spice & herb deliveries. Each box gets menu cards with a meal suggestion (The G&T box gets a Guide to Drinks Pairings). We are currently enjoying working our way through a Caribbean flavours box complete with Jerk Rub, Maple Syrup, Chipotle Chilli & lots more. If buying a gift for someone else, you can arrange their gift to be sent to them via email.

Personalised Prosecco

Its always good to have a spare gift for that person who turns up unexpectedly laden with presents. I love the idea of this Personalised Prosecco from Find Me A Gift. We designed what we wanted on the label ourselves but purposely kept it quite general. There is the option to have the recipient’s name on there and whatever date you like making it not only suitable for Christmas but birthdays/engagements etc. Personalised Prosecco is currently on offer at £24.99 for a 75cl bottle with presentation box included.

Haribo Gift Sets

Now obviously we can’t forget the children! At Christmas we have a steady supply of sweets available for visiting children (Plus my own girls eat their own fair share too!) These HAribo gift sets come in super handy – From the Mega bag containing a variety of 20 small packs of Haribo sweets to the Sweet Medley with a presentation tray. I also think the Starmix Christmas Cracker will come in handy for additional gifts and stocking fillers. Information on Haribo products and stockists can be found on their website.

Chocolate Hamper

I can’t believe I’ve got this far down a Christmas Gift Guide without mentioning chocolate. No gift guide would be complete without a chocolate set and this Gourmet Chocolate Hamper from Find Me A Gift is lovely. It can be given as a whole gift or even separated into lots of little presents. We are looking forward to trying the Topitoffs (A circular ring of chocolate with a decorative pattern that can be placed on top of your hot drink). Our Chocolate Hamper contains 6 Topitoffs, Chocolate Fruit & Nut Gourmands, 6 Mini Chocolate Cupcakes & a Marshmallow Hot Chocolate Stick RRP £19.99

Now with even the foodies of families, you will always find someone that a food gift is not that appropriate for. I’d like to add a couple of non-food gifts that we really like that may be suitable though.