clipboard gift guide 2021

it may be early, but it's time to get into gifting season

October 31, 2021

Welcome to clipboard, a weekly newsletter about clothes, hospo, Tāmaki Makaurau and getting your Christmas shopping done early. This week: the best things you can buy for the loved ones in your life. If you enjoy clipboard, you can contribute financially by clicking the button below. I do not earn any commission from links, although brands, if you do affiliate links, hmu!

tis the season

Today is the last day of October, and if you are looking at this email yelling “why are you making me think about Christmas already?” to you I say: thank me later. Worldwide supply chain issues, lockdown and the ongoing struggles of NZ Post to meet courier demand mean that it truly is time to get your A into G if you want to have presents under the tree.

To that end, I have three key tips for your gift purchasing this holiday season:

  1. Buy as many gifts as possible from the same place, to ease on the couriers

  2. Buy vouchers

  3. Buy fewer, better things - words to live by

Here are some things to buy and places to shop

one stop shops

NZ Post is asking people to do their shopping in bigger orders, to reduce courier delays. It’s also better for the environment to reduce the overall number of packages you order, and it certainly looks like a good chunk of retail is going to be online for a while yet. Here are some stores you can cross everyone off your list at.

Your local bookstore

Books are the best gift, in my opinion, because there are good books for everyone, and a thoughtfully chosen book can go to show that you really know the person well. To that end, a very high proportion of the gifts I will be giving this Christmas will be books, whether it’s a cookbook, the new Sally Rooney or a lovely coffee table book. My favourite places to buy books are the lovely online-only Bookety Book Books, as well as Auckland staples Unity Books and Time Out, but the most important thing is that you shop local.

Everyday Needs

Everyday Needs has been my go to for thoughtful gifts for years. You can go in and buy presents for all of your loved ones in one go. Everyday Needs focuses on lovely pieces, with a strong Japanese and Scandinavian influence. What makes their wares so nice is that they have the version of classic items that you may not be able to justify buying for yourself, but that will bring a satisfied smile to the person you buy it for.

subscriptions

I love to both subscribe to things and receive subscriptions as a gift, they’re truly the gift that keeps on giving. As a devotee of local media, I recommend magazine subscriptions: Metro and North and South are bastions of local journalism and print media, but take your pick - every dollar spent on local media is a dollar well spent, if you ask me. You could also make contributions to The Spinoff or Stuff on their behalf, for the gift of warm fuzzies and a rich media industry.

You can also buy cool subscriptions to other, non-magazine things! The natural wine experts at Star Superette run the Star Wine Club, a monthly selection of six wines that you can order on an ongoing basis, or as a one off. Coffee Supreme, my favourite of the big coffee roasters, also offer subscriptions, for the coffee snob in your life. There are plenty of other great options around, as well, although I’d steer clear of Hello Fresh.

vouchers

More thoughtful than cash, less chance of choosing wrong, a voucher is a great way to support businesses you like and give the gift of choosing something just right. Double win, you can also buy vouchers for hospitality spots which are struggling at the moment. Here are a few businesses I’d love to get vouchers from (hint hint), but I’d recommend doing your own research:

break in case of emergency

If all else fails, everyone wants AirPods. It’s just a fact.

to sum up

This is going to be a Christmas unlike any before, so it’s important to make the whole process as easy on yourself as possible. Make a start early, and don’t worry too much about it all - people love to get gifts! If you’re a better person than I, you could also do something thoughtful without buying anything at all!

Not to be too earnest, but I’m just hoping that, come 25 December, I’ll be able to give my family a hug, as well as gifts.

That’s all for clipboard this week, thanks for reading! The weeks all keep feeling a bit worse than the one before at the moment, so I hope that you are taking good care of yourself, whatever form that takes, for me it’s mostly retail therapy, video games and takeaways. Clipboard will be back next Sunday morning, in the meantime you can follow me on Instagram, or get in touch via DM or email.