It’s officially the silly season, and our gift to you is that of time back: no more trawling the internet for the perfect, unique something. We've taken the liberty to curate a selection of the best Christmas gift ideas this side of the North Pole.

From foodie finds to the mildly absurd, and proof that gifting jewellery and cosmetcis actually isn't too personal, here's what what we—sorry, your loved one—wants to see under a tree. 

Jump to the best bits:

Gifts Under $50
Gifts Under $100
Gifts Under $200
Gifts Under $300
Gifts 300+

Best Gifts Under $50

Ruby Playing Cards 

Price: $25.99

It’s not everyday that Aotearoa’s cutest clothing label releases an adorable playing card set—let alone with local artist, Shelley Botticelli. And at $25 a pop? Ruby, shut up and take our money. 

 

Artefact Tile Coaster Set

Price: $45.00

What happens when two lads with good taste turn their sights on creating sustainable tchotchkes? These gorgeous coaster sets. Perfectly toned to turn your coffee table into a little neoclassical nook. 

Made Of Tomorrow Plant Tracker 

Price: $19

For the plant parent in your life: Made of Tomorrow (the creators of the best diaries in town) have their very own Plant Tracker notebook. Like a milestone book. Only first blooms instead of first steps. 

Whitestone Cheese Co Giant Waitaki Camembert

Price: $45

Yep, dead seriously, a giant 900g slab of camembert (we’re talking a wheel almost the size of an A4 sheet of paper) is a perfectly adequate Christmas gift—so long as you get your timing right. 

Whitestone Cheese sells them online on the regular, and delivers them around the country. Trust us, they’ve gone down a treat in the past.

Mt Atkinson Reusable Coffee Bag

Price: $19.90

Impact your energy, not the environment. Mt Atkinson’s reusable coffee bag is chic, simple, handy for keeping the goods fresh—and actually keep your beans upright in the pantry, importantly. 

Who doesn’t want a teeny wolf peeking out of their sneakers? Silk Laundry got the memo, and granted this cute little crew sock creation. It’s maybe the most versatile option for a blind Secret Santa too. 

Silk Laundry Crew Sock Wolf

Price: $39

Who doesn’t want a teeny wolf peeking out of their sneakers? Silk Laundry got the memo, and granted this cute little crew sock creation. It’s maybe the most versatile option for a blind Secret Santa too. 

Two Dudes Shave Butter

Price: $14

Kawakawa to soothe, and a (literal) buttery texture to get you a closer shave. Plus, who doesn’t the Shave Butter by Two Dudes’ new look?

House Of Chocolate Smashable Chocolate Bauble Green

Price: $29.90

Allow your loved-one to 1) take out their frustrations and 2) enjoy a sugar-hit with House Of Chocolate’s smashable Chocolate Bauble, as part of their 2025 Christmas relief. Plus, you get a mini wooden gravel to keep in the kitchen for years to come. 

Poppy Lissiman Oyster Keychain

Price: $40.00

For the foodie, kitschy or chronically online person in your life: the most detailed loaded oyster keychain one could possibly shuck. 

Tessuti Croissant Hanging Decoration

Price: $45.50

Best Gifts Under $100

Zambesi Espresso Cups

Price: $70

It turns out that Zambesi, known for their shades of black, can churn out pretty chic colourful trinkets. Exhibit A, these red cups. Better yet, pick them up at their new Britomart Store. 

1919 Pineapple Bits Gin

Price: $77

The ultimate crowd-pleasing gin. A crisp finish and a punchy pineapple hit that will have your guests 1) demanding another round 2) cementing you as the person with good taste. Plus, it's made in Aotearoa by ruddy good folk. 

Raaie The Introduction Set

Price: $85

If there’s ever been a time to join the Raaie Skincare bandwagon, the Introduction Set’s, well, introduction, is it. Enjoy petite sizes of the Morning Dew Vitamin C Serum, Yellow Moonbeam Retinal Elixir and Cocoon Ceramide Cream (a must for keeping your barrier strong). 

We love it for weekends away—and for introducing out-of-town-guests to Aotearoa’s best skincare and ingredients this Christmas.

Mecca Maxima Mini Optimist Energising Fragrance Mist Set

Price: $66

A favourite in our fragrance wardrobe (the layering possibilities are next to endless) the mini set of Optimist Mists will take a giftee from day to night, party to poolside, Barcelona to Rarotonga.  

Latibule Lyra Vase

Price: $75

You’ll be known as the friend with really gold taste when you gift someone the Lyra Vase by Latibule on Christmas Day. In twenty years from know, you’ll be able to throw around a “knew them before they got big” card. Ain’t that the gift that keeps on giving? 

From Nina Pâtisserie Perfumed Candle

Price: $75

Patisserie—the headliner in From Nina’s candle collection—is one of those scents you can safely blind-buy. You have our word. Or, you have the ingredient list (which is one of the most accurate we’ve ever seen and smelt). Biscuit, vanilla, dark chocolate and a subtle layer of coconut. 

Mecca Maxima Brush Hour 8-Piece Brush & Creaseless Clip Set

Price: $87.00

The most-bang-for-buck makeup brushes on the market, packaged into the most bang-for-buck gift set for Christmas. Oh, plus some makeup clips. Merci, Mecca

Tronque Ionic Dry Body Brush

Price: $70

On firm rotation year-round, Tronque’s Ionic Dry Body Brush is the gift that keeps on giving. Literally. 

Feeling sluggish? It kicks your lymphatic system into gear. Skin feeling crepey and gritty? It lifts dead skin cells, manually exfoliating (super helpful for pilling on your upper arms, we find.) Nervous system wrecked? It regulates and promotes healthy blood-flow—all after a soothing self-massage

Best Gifts Under $200

Kip & Co Piccadilly Turkish Bath Towel

Price: $144.00

Sure, it’s a ruddy-absorbent towel. But it’s also a bit of an eye game dotting between the colourful strands in Kip and Co’s Piccadilly Turkish Bath Towel. 

Lush Deck The Halls Box 

Price: $135

Hallelujah, a Lush gift pack for those of us without bathtubs. Heavy on the shower gels and caramel tones. Plus, it has one of our absolutely fave (bright blue) scrubs: Reach For The Stars.

Pro tip for the one bubble bar in the box? Pop it in your linen cupboard as a gentle scent infusion (and thank Lush Hamilton’s Manager, Chelsea, for the tip).

Maat World Tiger Mat At Daeda

Price: $145

The mat that would make anyone take up yoga, regardless of their shivasana abilities. We’re talking about the chic Tiger Matt, from Daeda. 

Kowtow Pyjama Set 06 

Price: $169

We could make a joke about sleeping on Cloud Nine in this KowTow pyjama set, but we wouldn’t want to distract from the fact they’re made from repurposed fabric. An organic cotton poplin, to be precise. 

Sage & Claire Venus Bowl

Price: $165

The bowl for any and all trinkets: from keys to your assortment of half-used lipglosses, a collection of lemons or a freshly-made puttanesca. Sage and Claire is at it again. 

Tahi Ritual Set

Price: $149

Proof that good things do indeed come in three, is Tahi’s Ritual Set. Though it’s touted as a more mini version to their hit skincare, each bottle is still a generous 50ml. Small enough to keep you going on a carry-on-packed holiday, but big enough to work into your summer skincare routine.

Best Gifts Under $300

Eleventeen Ceramics Going Bad

Price: $220

Because who doesn’t need a ceramic banana in their life? Or a gooey pizza slice. Or a set of ears. Or a swan thingy. Just go, find a wonderfully absurdist dish or knick-knack at Eleventeen Ceramics before it sells out, and thank us later.  

SUNNUPP Grove Mat

Price: $249.99

One of the sleekest sustainable creations to come out of Aotearoa, Sunnup’s woven outdoor mats are all kinds of cute (and practical). They can be cleaned down with a damp cloth (or even a hose!) after a big day at the beach, park, or wherever your lounging adventures may take you. 

But wait, there’s more. They’re mold-resistant, UV-treated and each mate approximately 100 recycled plastic PP bottles. Ruddy cool. 

New Balance U509V1 Sneakers

Price: $190.00

A neutral with some high-octane tones. Lush. We love any iridescent riff on a classic—the U509V1 included.

Hommey Merino Alpaca Throw

Price: $299

A hug in gift form, a throw blanket is one of those items that NEVER goes a miss. Especially when it’s Alpaca merino. Well played, Homey. 

Best Gifts $300+

Beach Blunt Umbrella

Price: $399

Aotearoa’s most sleek slingers of umbrellas have turned their sights (and good taste) to beach umbrellas. Recycled PET fabrication, 50+ UPD protection and a unique “Sand Anchor Kit” to keep it firmly in-place. We love your new work, Blunt. 

St Agni Large Connolo Bag

Price: $705

The Connolo Bag is one of those rare and in-betweeny sizes that’s compact enough to schlep it around day-to-day life. But, just as easily, it stores your essentials for a weekend away. Plus, who doesn’t love something that looks and sounds like a fave italian treat? Worth every penny, we say. 

Baina Sulis Bath Robe

Price: $325

When a bathrobe has ‘heavyweight’ in the title, you know it’s gotta be a goodie. More than a wearable hug, Baina’s gorgeously no-nonsense Sulis Bath Robe is good for the body (100% organic cotton—no nasties here,) spirit (hello easy pockets) and soul. 

Frater Bedlam Fragrance

Price: $449

A fragrance for anyone with taste, Bedlam brings wild orange, spices, musk, cedar, vanilla and overall debauchery into one fragrance. The ultimate unisex fragrance, it’s another reason why we we (and soon, your loved-one) are obsessed with Wellington fragrance house, Frater.

Ninja Luxe™ Café Espresso Machine

Price: $1,099

There’s a party in your kitchen and 15 drinks are on the menu. Everything’s taken care of by the Ninja Luxe™ Café Espresso Machine: grinding, weighing the beans, frothing the milks and churning them out in cold filter, cold brew and espresso styles.  

Le Creuset Cast Iron Bread Oven

Price: $655

Ain’t this the cutest pot-belly you’ve ever seen? Let alone with something doughy tucked inside. We’d suggest gifting the Cast Iron Bread Oven to a flatmate (you know, reaping the goods that you sew) but we really don’t think they’d be able to prise it out of our hands.

LVR Lover Pearl Earrings 

Price: from $345

A dainty pearl number: plus some. LVR’s chic droplets, in collaboration with Meadowlark, are solid proof that buying jewellery ain’t too personal. Well, not when these classics are on the table. 

Playstation PS5 Console

Price: from $884

Who can believe, Playstation is officially 30? We can when it’s sitting under our Christmas tree. And especially when we then devote our entire Christmas day to gaming, bringing out our PS4 and PS5 games on this baby—all in-between bites of ham, of course. A blissfully underrated Christmas Day combination, we say.

D.S. & DURGA Steamed Rainbow EDP

Price: $342.00

The weirdest perfume (in a good way,) Steamed Rainbow is one that suits everyone. It’s an online-only fragrance at Mecca, so let us explain the gist: familiar, but totally absurd. Lived-in but fresh. It smells like antiques and liminal spaces. Orange, musk, weightless water, green cedar, violet. 

 

Stolen Girlfriend’s Club The Curbed Spacer Ring

Price: $449

Understated and Overstated, Stolen’s Curbed Curbed Spacer Ring creates just enough tension on your finger. THe only tension we welcome on Christmas Day. 

Need some stocking fillers? Here are the best Christmas gifts under $50.

Main image credit: 35mm Co | Puma | Sophie

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