Nigella Lawson’s Christmas 2025 gift guide, plus 82 more very good presents from £3.95 to £2,950
Stumped for what to get friends, family or yourself this Christmas? Look no further than this gift guide, featuring expert suggestions from Nigella and recommendations from FT Weekend Magazine editors. Gift ideas for everyone and every budget abound: a tasteful play kitchen, Japanese paper goods, hand-forged chisels, matcha tea set, retro furniture, artisanal foodstuff, red lamb’s wool cardigan, independent film-club subscription, ereader, clip light, tie bar and portable power generator. Plus letterbox anchovies, mail-order butter, a monthly chocolate delivery and more.
Nigella Lawson’s gift guide
Gourmet Swedish crispbread
I know a packet of crispbread might seem like rather a mean present, but I just couldn’t live with myself if I let Christmas come and go without telling you about these giant Swedish crackers, the essential accompaniment to any and every cheeseboard. And don’t be downcast by the word “crispbread”. These bear no relation to the dimpled oblongs of cardboard you might associate with the name. These are magnificent discs, made with a hole at the centre so that, traditionally, they could be hung from a pole. They have a deep, smoky rye flavour, gorgeous maltiness and a resounding snap to them. Although Leksands do many crispbreads, including a Christmas one, it is this particular Mountain crispbread you need most urgently. Leksands Mountain sourdough crispbread, £7.90, ocado.com
A love letter to chocolate
In an ideal world, you’d be able to give a year’s subscription to Khourys chocolate, the brainchild of Philip Khoury, recipe developer, food writer and, until recently, head pastry chef at Harrods. Each month, he brings out a chubby slab in flavours that reflect the tastes and ingredients of cities he loves. That subscriptions are not available is not total cause for alarm, for his original Beirut bar is a permanent fixture and a particular favourite: stuffed inside the thick chocolate is orange blossom caramel, cashew cream and baklava. Just too luscious for words. Let the fever dream of Dubai chocolate fade from memory: it’s the Beirut bar that reigns supreme. And, actually, you can sign up on the site to get an early heads-up of any new flavour released. Understandably, they go fast. Khourys chocolate, £12, khourys.co
Mail-a-Malt
I am on record as describing this as simply the best malt loaf I have ever eaten. It’s dark, dense, fruity and squidgy, and comes in a charmingly illustrated drum. I use Wooster’s Mail-a-Malt service throughout the year, but at Christmas I rely on it to bring happiness to many others, as it means no gift-wrapping or post office visits. Wooster’s, a small family bakery in Suffolk, sends these out with a message from you to all over the UK. As with any malt loaf, it’s to be eaten in sturdy slices, spread so thickly with butter (see below) you leave teeth marks in it when you take each bite — what the Danes call Tandsmør. Don’t sleep on this one: they’re handmade in small batches and I can’t be answerable for your disappointment if they run out. Mail-a-Malt bread, £15.50, woostersbakery.com
Niche vinegar
There was a time I was rather sniffy about fancy flavoured vinegars, but I’m older and wiser now — or maybe it’s just that I’ve come across rather better-made vinegars. This one is a stunner. It just bursts with bright flavour. Calamansi is a citrus fruit from the Philippines that tastes like a mixture of tangerine and lemon, but with the sour intensity of lime and a heady fragrance that is quite its own. What I think makes this so instantly alluring is that it has a taste that is both reassuringly familiar and yet dazzlingly different. I use it, obviously enough, in dressings: it’s particularly good on bitter leaves such as radicchio or chicory, and I love it sprinkled over thinly sliced raw fennel along with sea salt and olive oil. It’s wonderful in soups and marinades or with fish. In fact, any food that needs a sharp spritz of citrus, including cocktails, will perk up with a splosh of this. Huilerie Beaujolaise calamansi vinegar, £17.99, souschef.co.uk
Ginger spice
If you’re visiting anyone who doesn’t drink over Christmas, I suggest you take as a present a bottle of Mother Root Ginger, which, mixed with ice and soda water, makes for a perfect alcohol-free aperitif. It doesn’t just taste of ginger, it conveys the very essence of ginger: spicy, peppy and peppery. (And if you can get your hands on a bottle of fruitily intense, fragrantly sharp Mother Root Rhubarb, grab it!) You might think it’s expensive for a non-alcoholic drink, but you need so little per glass that it lasts a long time, and it is a world away from all the sugary stuff teetotallers are customarily plied with. Just because you don’t drink doesn’t mean you have the palate of a child, after all. I adore this, though I do drink, by the way. I have been known to add just the merest splash of Cointreau to a glass on those occasions when I feel a positively homeopathic dose of alcohol is in order. Mother Root Ginger, £27.95, motherroot.com
Lots of liquorice
I take my liquorice very seriously indeed, as all those who relish its bitter complexity must, but a little playfulness is called for at Christmas. And so I draw your attention to the Lakrids winter selection box, which gives you a variety of deep, dark liquorice, covered in chocolate or a hard shell of flavoured candy that look like innocent bonbons, for all that they hide a dark secret: a berry red, sour-sweet crispy raspberry; double chocolate; fiercely salty black salmiak; dark and sea salt; salt and caramel; pale green sour strawberry; the beautiful copper classic caramel; and the uncompromising original. I can’t help feeling that as a present, this might count for even more if those giving it hated the stuff themselves. What an act of devotion it would be. Lakrids by Bülow liquorice box, £38.95, lakridsbybulow.co.uk
Superior soy sauce
The trouble with making my private Christmas present list public is that I run the risk of letting people in on the secret of what I might be giving them, but this is greatly outweighed by the pleasure of bruiting abroad some of my favourite shops, sites and producers. True, I mentioned The Wasabi Company in these pages last year when I wrote about my beloved Sanbaizu vinegar, but it has many other joys in store. Their Connoisseurs’ Soy Sauce Collection contains four little bottles of the most superior soy sauce: a bright, young, fresh one; a delectably savoury, twice-fermented, aged one; a gorgeous smoked one, a few drops of which are wonderful in dressings; and, rather thrillingly, a crystal-clear one. All in all, the perfect pick-me-up for jaded (or, simply, enquiring) palates. The Wasabi Company soy sauce set, £40, thewasabicompany.co.uk
Recycled boards
I am aware that a set of chopping boards doesn’t sound like the most exciting present, but the point of a gift isn’t to draw attention to your own fabulous originality, after all, and I don’t know a home cook who couldn’t do with these. They come in brown or black, are made from recycled wood fibre and, despite being super slim, are extremely sturdy. They’re heatproof (up to 167C), so you can plonk a hot pan on them, and you can put them in the dishwasher. They’re also beautiful enough to use for charcuterie or cheese. This set includes a large (38x28cm), medium (30×20) and a dear, little board (more useful than you might think, 20×15). Not a complete nightmare to wrap either; always a plus for me. Set of three chopping boards, £96, boroughkitchen.com
Play kitchen
On the whole, children have lamentably bad taste and are happy with any bit of garish plastic tat you care to throw at them, but unless you actively want to punish their parents, I advise you to go for something that won’t be a blight on the family home. I’ve never met a child who doesn’t like a play kitchen, and this wooden one in elegant eau de nil with its many mini pots and pans is rather a charmer. It’s a big present, both in terms of size and cost, but the website it comes from has a compelling collection of little wooden foodstuffs and playthings that I have given very successfully too. Just a warning, though: it’s easy to develop a bit of a fixation with all these little things and some restraint may be needed on your part. Wooden toy kitchen, £114.95, smallkins.com
Festive linens
Ritual is both salve and safe space for us frail humans, stumbling about seeking order in a chaotic world. I think it’s why we cleave to our festive traditions so zealously. And while I know it sounds wasteful to spend money on things that are destined to languish unused for 11 months a year, it’s not the cost per use that counts but the special value that accrues with each annual airing. This cheery Christmassy tablecloth comes out on December 1 every year and heralds the season in my house. I love its retro prettiness, and the gorgeous linen it’s made of keeps it on the chic side of kitsch. If you feel a tablecloth is too bulky a present to give, there are also matching napkins, which I’ve bought myself this year. By Hope Eden stripe linen tablecloth, £125, byhope.co.uk
High performance knives
These are the knives I use, and I have given this very set to quite a few family members and friends over the years to set them up properly in the kitchen. Elegantly as well as ergonomically designed, they have a comfortable heft in the hand and are robustly long-lasting. Good knives are necessarily expensive, so I can’t quite understand how Harts can sell nine of them for this price, especially since Furi is an Australian brand — and you’d actually have to pay more for them there. This set comprises a 9cm paring knife, 12cm and 15cm utility knives, a 20cm cook’s knife, a carving knife and fork and their signature 17cm East-West Santoku Knife, which is rather like a knife crossed with a cleaver. It really is a lovely (if lethal-looking) set, though you can get any of these knives separately too. Furi Pro nine-piece capsule knife-block set, £149.95, hartsofstur.com
Sculptural jug
I treated myself to one of these exquisite water jugs in Wasabi green a couple of years back, and there isn’t a day that goes by I don’t get pleasure from its beauty, whether it’s chilling in the fridge, on the table ready to be elegantly poured, used as a vase or on a shelf looking coolly sculptural. I’m also very keen on the one in Ink, a gorgeous Chagall blue, which I have given as a present once — though I have twice given it in the Wasabi colourway, as I can see it has broader appeal, quite apart from the fact that it’s made me so happy. If you wanted to sound a more festive note, you could consider the red. If you have any special-present-worthy friends who subscribe to William Morris’s view that you should “have nothing in your house that you do not know to be useful, or believe to be beautiful”, this is emphatically for them. Mud Australia water jug, £155, mudaustralia.com
Butter Box
I’m so excited to tell you about this perfect present that I can barely get the words out. Where do I start? It’s butter. It’s cultured butter, made on the farm where the cows graze and are milked. It is edible gold. And you can give a subscription of it. I can’t imagine a better present. If you can’t see that, we have nothing more to say to each other. Obviously, it costs a lot more than supermarket butter, but I’d rather splurge on this than pretty much anything else. In this regard, at least, money really can buy happiness. That’s to say, it’s impossible to eat this butter without feeling that there is actually good in this world. Surely you love someone enough to make them feel that way too. A year’s weekly supply of Bungay salted butter, £330, fenfarmdairy.co.uk
Letterbox anchovies
I love anchovies so much, I dedicated an entire chapter of my last book to them. The best anchovies are a luxury to be eaten just as they are: good bread, spread with the best butter and topped with these mink-brown fillets with their deep, rounded saltiness and rich, almost caramelly savouriness is the headiest of pleasures. Frankly, I can’t think of a better present for the anchovy-lover in your life than a year’s subscription to The Tinned Fish Market’s anchovy box, which each month delivers three tins of artisanal anchovies from the Basque country and Cantabria. If you can’t run to that, a one-off Sobadora selection box, containing five tins of the finest of the fine for £68 would be a rapturous treat. A year’s supply of tinned anchovies, £350, thetinnedfishmarket.com
Best of the rest
The FT Weekend Magazine team share what’s on their wishlists, in ascending price order
One clip to rule them all
For keeping your papers, notebooks, photos and other ephemera organised. Penco Clampy Pla-Clip, £3.95, londongraphics.co.uk
Japanese paper goods
Notebooks for the expert hobbyist and planners for type-A personalities. Laconic A5 Style notebooks, £5, twentytwentyone.com
Good-smelling sanitiser
It’s cool to be clean. This hand rub is refillable and gently cedar-scented. Wood night hand cleanser, £5.90, haanbrand.com
Fruit sticker album
This is not a sticker book of fruit, it’s a fun little book for collecting stickers from fruit. Fruit sticker album, £6, choosingkeeping.com
Classic coffee maker
A brewing icon for less than the price of a nice bag of coffee. V60 plastic coffee dripper, £9, hario.co.uk
Shapely spoon
Give the gift of at least three extra servings from a jam jar. Sleek spoon for jars, £9.50, alessi.com
Retro pencils
Lacquered Japanese pencils, their design unchanged since 1948. Tombow pencil retro, set of 12, £11.20, penstore.co.uk
Incense cones
The fragrant scent of roses, none of the mess and fuss of standard incense sticks. Rose incense cones, £18, earlofeast.com
A creative classic
The book to unlock your inner artist or at least build a journaling practice. “The Artist’s Way” by Julia Cameron, £20, bookshop.org
Patterned eye mask
Beautiful enough for a boudoir. Durable enough to chuck in the laundry. Matching PJs available. Alma fig eye mask, £20, desmondanddempsey.com
Ridged butter knife
A butter knife that rips the butter to ribbons instead of your toast. ButterUp butter knife, £22.50, saltsmillshop.co.uk
Reflexology socks
Become an amateur foot prodder and solve all ills. Comes with a massage kit. Reflexology socks, £23.99, canles.com
Palestinian hamper
Oil, dates, za’atar and recipes sourced from farms all around Palestine. Zaytoun hamper, £25.95, amnestyshop.org.uk
Pet puzzle
A ball game that lets dogs play fetch solo. Wild One tennis tumble, £27, dogwalkstyle.com
Alcohol-free aperitif
The 0% drink of choice for many smart restaurants. Complex, botanical, delicious. (See also: Mother Root) Botivo, £27.50, botivodrinks.com
Tiny tracker
Like an AirTag, but without the bulk. Perfect for a wallet or phone case. Rhinokey trackable smartcard, £29, rhinokey.com
Bottle book
Instead of a nice bottle, give the wine lover in your life a way to document the bottles they’ve tried. Wine Journal, £29.99, moleskine.com
French lipstick
Get the bouche mordue (“bitten lips”) look favoured in Paris. No biting required. Bisou balm, £30, violettefr.com
Restaurant print
Your favourite dining spot, immortalised in a postcard-sized print. Illustration, £30, phoebe-rutherford.com
Advanced puzzle
Why pop a bottle of bubbly when you can put together a 1,000-piece puzzle of a champagne tower. Pop the Bubbly puzzle, £30, pieceworkpuzzles.com
Pocket power
Super fast, super small. This 10,000mAh power bank weighs 160g. Pocket Rocket power bank,£32.99, iniushop.com
Room spray
The scent used at The Bull in Charlbury, an incredibly fragrant pub. Pathless Wood, £35, lo.studio
Boss cap
Succession may have ended, but the words of Kendall Roy live on for ever. The Refined Spirit “I am the eldest boy” cap, £36, thegoto.com
Classic Casio
Simple, vintage design that even luxury watch geeks will appreciate. A168WA-1YES watch, £40, casio.com
Ceramic star
Bring whimsy and weight to your tree with this stylish topper. Star Christmas tree topper, £40, holly.co
Wallet 2.0
With an internal coin pocket and a tab to access your most-used cards. Trove cash wrap, £43, trove.cc
Storm-safe lamp
A petroleum lamp with 20 hours’ burn time. Good in a hurricane — or on a patio. Forét X Feuerhand Lantern, £53, foretstudio.dk
Thrown plates
One of the many attractive, eclectic ceramics available through this Hackney studio collective. Marbled plate, £60, klei.shop
Matchbox bling
This lovebird-embossed sleeve is a fireside extravagance to be enjoyed for years to come. Lovebirds matchbox sleeve, £60, matildagoad.com
Serving tray
A hand-painted ceramic tray made in Italy for the chicest of breakfasts in bed. Musae Studio serving tray, £62, thegoto.com
Boom bottle
A speaker stored in a bottle that doubles as a bass amplifier. Great for trips. Bluetooth speaker, £64.99, sodapop-audio.co.uk
Lip kit
A rejuvenating balm and a tint that even the make-up-shy would appreciate. Augustinus Bader lip duo,£65, spacenk.com
Rolling robot
Program the robot with simple commands and watch it come alive. For ages 5+. Cooper the STEM Robot, £69.95, learningresources.co.uk
Glass carafe duo
Everyone would drink more water if it looked this stylish. Maison Balzac carafe and drinking glass, £70, la-gent.com
Bonnet knitting kit
A new hat is a great thing. Making it oneself is even better. Wool and the Gang x Damson Madder bonnet knitting kit, £71, woolandthegang.com
Clippy light
The saviour of dark corners, boring shelves and hard-to-reach spots. Hay Apex Clip Light,£75, twentytwentyone.com
Traditional tie bar
To keep nice ties safe from wind, work or messy dinners. Foxhead pattern tie slide, £80, bensonandclegg.com
Mega mouse
It’s not sexy, but for all-day desk workers an ergonomic mouse is a game-changer. MX Master 3S, £89.99, logitech.com
Matcha set
Bowl, bamboo whisk, measuring spoon and more. This kit includes everything needed to step up your matcha game. Matcha ceremonial set, £90, moicha.com
A clever cartoon
From the New Yorker cartoonist, whose drawings are as characterful as his jokes are funny. Print, £90, willmcphail.com
Rod calendar
Enzo Mari’s mixed-wood calendar, first conceived in 1959, changes shape with the seasons. Calendrio Bilancia Wall Calendar, £92.42, shop.mohd.it
Two-tier toolbox
A tool caddy that’s too chic to live in the garage. Cantilever toolbox, £107, toysteel.jp/en
Cool clogs
Good news for the style-conscious, the shoe of the season is comfortable too. Boston TEX, £110, birkenstock.com
Baller kicks
A basketball-lover would be very happy if you bought them these shoes. Anthony Edwards 2 shoes, £110, adidas.co.uk
Little red book
The leather notebook that spawned a cult of stationery lovers. Roadbook notebook, £110.50, louisecarmen.com
Stylish steamer
Scandinavian design adds a bit of beauty to the most mundane of chores — ironing. Steamery, Cirrus 3 iron steamer, £112.50, steamery.co.uk
Découpage paperweight
Who says a paperweight can’t be a work of art? John Derian paperweight, £125, choosingkeeping.com
Eyelet wallet
A fashion industry staple. Minimalist, distinctive, slightly cultish. Comme des Garçons eyelet zip pouch, £135, ssense.com
Old-school sound
A cassette player, but with bluetooth. Made by a company dedicated to reviving tape. Edith cassette player, £129, wearerewind.com
Customisable candle holder
Combine the chrome elements to build a centrepiece sculpture. Stoff Nagel candlestick pack of three parts, £133, royaldesign.co.uk
Film club
A year’s access to all films on the indie-skewing Mubi platform, plus a weekly free cinema ticket. Mubi Go, £149.99, mubi.com
Cashmere bandanna
A bandanna, a neckerchief and a headscarf all in one — endless sartorial potential. n°35 bandanna, £150, extreme-cashmere.com
Pocket-sized multitool
All the bells and whistles — including an actual emergency whistle. Signal multitool, £154.95, uk.leatherman.com
Barista-grade gadget
For making a better latte, matcha or hot chocolate at home. Milk frother, £179.95, smeguk.com
A better backpack
As ergonomic as a hiking pack, but it opens flat like a suitcase. Allpa 28L backpack, £180, cotopaxi.com
Cotton nightshirt
Get a chic, full night of rest with this oversized, cooling, soft pyjama shirt. Fineline long nightshirt, £198, finnishdesignshop.com
Kindle alternative
This phone-sized ereader makes for the most portable of reading experiences. Palma 2, £238, boox.com
Marble moment
What’s cooler than being cool? A cool marbleised wine bucket that’ll keep your bottle perfectly chilled. Ice bucket, £250, jonathanadler.com
Japanese buds
Noise-cancelling and incredibly well-defined audio from the high-end brand. Technics AZ100 earbuds, £259.99, panasonic.co.uk
French chore jacket
Old-school workwear but make it chic. Also available in blue. Mont St Michel work jacket, £260, labourandwait.co.uk
Fearless filmmaking
A camera designed with extreme environments in mind — including underwater and extreme cold. Osmo Action 5 Pro, £265, dji.com
Low-slung seating
A reproduction of a ’70s classic. Buy two and it’s a sofa. 60 Scoop chair, £275, habitat.co.uk
Quote clock
Time will tell with this clock; it uses quotes from literary classics to mark the moment. Author literary clock, £280, amazon.co.uk
Deep tissue therapy
A massage gun to soothe away aches and pains while on the sofa. Theragun Prime, £299, therabody.co.uk
DIY facial
Goodbye salon, hello home care. Exfoliates, depuffs and hydrates through gentle sucking. Shark FacialPro Glow, £299.99, sharkclean.co.uk
Cup shelf
To delight fans of Danish design and/or collectors of interesting kitchen ceramics. Sætter 3, £326.97, saetter.dk
Capless fountain pen
The retractable fountain pen of choice for discerning pen enthusiasts. Pilot Capless fountain pen, £330, cultpens.com
A year of chocolate
Craft chocolate bars delivered once a month. Tailored to your preferences. Chocolate subscription mixed box, £369.95, cocoarunners.com
Sculptural storage
The wall organiser to bring order to an office, kitchen, studio or kids’ room. Uten. Silo RE I by Dorothee Becker from Vitra, £375, aram.co.uk
Scottish knitwear
What’s even better than a Christmas jumper? A timeless red cardigan. Lamb’s wool Ada cardigan, £385, and-daughter.com
Power station
A portable generator for camping, power outages or a prepper’s go-bag. Portable power station, £399, jackery.com
Magic tableware
A porcelain sphere that transforms into a dinner set for two. Seven-piece dinner set, £415, villeroy-boch.co.uk
Kooky classic
For the whimsical design lover. Aalto’s classic stool illustrated with Moomin characters. Artek + Moomin Stool 60 by Alvar Aalto, £430, aram.co.uk
Go-anywhere gamer
A console-like playing experience with the convenience of a portable device. Steam Deck 512GB OLED, £479, steamdeck.com
Aerial powerhouse
Smooth tracking, 2x zoom, good night shots and vertical filming options at under 250g. Mini 5 Pro drone, £689, dji.com
The good table
A 24-piece stainless steel cutlery set for six people. Concorde, £845, christofle.com
Sailor′s mate
Built for life at sea. Maps, boat command, tidal alerts . . . and a regatta timer. Quatix 8, £869.99, garmin.com
Craft carvers
Hand-forged chisels from Japan, whose woodwork tools are considered world-leading. Nijihiro set of chisels, £1,099, niwaki.com
Playful timepiece
Inspired by vintage flip clocks but designed for the modern home. Font clock, £1,980, establishedandsons.com
Rugged luxury
A smart bag with the heft of heavy-duty trekking gear. Backpack, £2,950, prada.com
Find out about our latest stories first — follow FT Weekend Magazine on X and FT Weekend on Instagram
