The only gift guide you will need this Crimbo

Greetings one and all

Today I have stomped up and down Regent Street and Oxford Street and wished that my elbows and the power of my tut were deadly weapons. I've also spent over an hour on the interwebz, but lo, it is done! I have bought all my holiday presents (I don't technically celebrate Christmas,) plus some birthday presents and also some 'thank you for letting my stay in your lovely apartment' presents. In short, today I have been a gift-buying ninja. Don't just take my word for it. Even my fifteen year old niece reckons that I "buy the coolest presents" and as she's fifteen and a girl, she's notoriously difficult to please.

I am going to share my gift of getting gifts with you. Because I am all heart and also I'm fed up with reading gift guides that are full of lovely things with very unlovely price tags. So, are you ready? Credit card poised? Mouse finger set to click? Let's take it from the top.

For your own stroppy teenage girl

My So Called Life Box Set

Many TV shows have tried to capture the unique awkwardness of being a teenage girl but only My So-Called Life truly succeeded. Starring a heart-breakingly gamine Claire Danes as Angela Chase, no other series has highlighted the ups and and downs of best friends, impossible crushes and hating your mum as painfully and poignantly as My So-Called Life. Wanting to be Angela Chase and sighing over Jared Leto in a flannel shirt ("I love how he leans") are as much a teen rite of passage as starting your periods, breaking your curfew and getting drunk of Barcardi Breezers at your first grown-up party and hurling all over the stairs. (Maybe that last one was just me.)

This Is What A Feminist Looks Like t-shirt

Maybe the stroppy teenage girl in her life doesn't even think that she is a feminist, but it would be far more useful for her to channel her rage and stroppiness into fighting a worthy cause. What better cause is there then ensuring equal rights for women? Instead of feeling as if she has to conform to the quite horrific expectations placed on teenage girls by the media and their peers to look sexy without being sexual, this t-shirt is a way for her to stick two fingers up at patriarchy and the unfair demands it places on us and tell it to do one.

How To Be A Woman by Caitlin Moran

Which leads us nicely to this book, which will explain feminism far more cleverly and humorously than I ever could. I will not rest until this book is given to every girl (and actually every boy because they need to know this stuff and respect our mighty vagina power) on her fourteenth birthday.

Scarlett & Crimson My Beauty Collective (from Boots, £18)

If I hadn't spent a small fortune on my niece already, I'd totes be getting her this well-stocked beauty kit. Plus, it comes in a cool case that doesn't want to make you gag from excessive girliness.

For your artboy, design boy, cool boy – these are the only boys I know*

PANTONE Notes

All artboys love their Pantone swatch books, which contain just about every single colour known to man, woman and computer. If you borrow their swatch book without asking they will totes pitch a fit. So why not get them this set of Pantone notecards and envelopes so they can write you a proper apology for pitching said fit?

Just My Type – a book about fonts by Simon Garfield

I've bought this book for every artboy and artgirl I know. Now you might think that a book about different fonts would be hella boring, but you would actually be very wrong. This book is proper funny and interesting with lots of facts you could use to your advantage if you went on QI. Down with Comic Sans, I say! Cause I got a bad case of Geneva fever!

USB Mixtape

Very few of you will remember the days before even CDs when we made mixtapes for each other, complete with the static and hiss from a slightly scratched vinyl record and a charmingly inept, badly designed tracklist on the tape cover. The USB mixtape comes in a cassette case but is actually a USB flashdrive that you put your lovingly collated collection of songs on. It's charming. It's adorable and I actually nicked the idea from the lovely Liberty London Girl who has a lot of equally wonderful gift ideas on her website right now.

One of the most amazing t-shirts in the world, ever, ever, ever

I found this site ages ago and though I've linked to an 80′s t-shirt, who wouldn't want a t-shirt that said, "Hey, Let's make a John Hughes movie together?" Only someone who didn't have a soul, that's who.

Gifts for proper grown-up ladies

Tomato and blackcurrant scented candle

I love a fig scented candle as much, if not more, than the next woman, but there are so many inferior fig-scented candles out there so I was thrilled to discover this tomato and blackcurrant scented candle in Sally Bourne Interiors. It smells really unusual; the sweetness of the blackcurrant mixes wonderfully with the earthiness of the tomato and it's not at all cloying or artificial like some scented candles. I keep buying them for myself and then giving them away to other people.

The Diary Of A Provincial Lady by E.M.Delafield

The Diary Of A Provincial Lady is my go-to-read when I'm feeling a bit down. Written in the 1930′s, it's an account of the hapless Provincial Lady's domestic travails, whether it's having to find a new housemaid or a new hat or dealing with the vile "Lady B. who comes down wearing silver lace frock that nearly touches the floor all round, and has new waist-line. This may or not be becoming, but has effect of making everybody else's frock look out-of-date." This book couldn't fail to delight if given as a gift.

Paul A Young Sea Salted Caramel Bar

After extensive personal research, I can safely say that this is the best salted caramel that money can buy. It was a dirty job but someone had to do it.

SEW U: The Built by Wendy Guide To Making Your Own Wardrobe

What with us being in the grip of a horrible recession and also with the on trend return to crafts, this brilliant book shows you how to repurpose some of the tired, fashion backwards stuff hanging in the back of your wardrobe into the perfect dress, skirt or trousers. If, like me, you can barely thread a needle, it also guides you into how to work with a tailor to transform your dull duds into glorious garments.

Other gorgeous gifts for the people in your life

Donations

This is also traditionally a time to give something back, if you can afford it. I'm sure everyone has their favourite charities, but causes particularly dear to my heart are Macmillan Cancer Support, The National Literacy Trust which has a scheme where you can buy a Christmas present of books for children from disadvantaged backgrounds and All Dogs Matter my local dog shelter which is overwhelmed at the moment with the number of dogs being abandoned.

Real Food by Nigel Slater

I think cookery books are a great gift idea for someone you don't know that well or for an emergency spare present when you get an unexpected gift. Nigel Slater's books are the most besplattered in my kitchen. They're full of great, non-poncy ideas but also a handy reference if I need to check exactly how long a joint of lamb needs roasting!

Chocolate of the month club

Cheese of the month club

Everyone has something that they just love to eat, so how about sending some of their favourite foodstuffs every month? It's the gift that keeps on giving, adding delight and inches to their hips every four weeks!

DIY! Make a purse from a book!

I would love an Olympia Le Tan book clutch, I really, really would but they are far too spendy for my budget. Still, I love the idea of making my own one with a book that holds a particular fondness for me. And there is something particularly lovely about a home-made gift.

Time To Drink Champagne art print

This gorgeous art print sums up the festive season for me. Hell, it sums up my life philosophy!

Nine Uses For An Ex-Boyfriend by Sarra Manning

Finally, I am a great believer in buying a few small things for myself as I'm shopping for other people. My Crimbo Amazon order is testament to that! So, why not pre-order my next book, Nine Uses For An Ex-Boyfriend and when it arrives early February it will be a lovely surprise just when you really need it as all the festive stuff is over and Spring seems like it will never get here. Am I right?

So, there you have it. Hope I haven't screwed up any of the links and that this little guide is helpful and inspiring.

Live on,

Sarra x