It may only be September but...

We’re going to drop the C bomb.

No, not that one. The other one. The one that is a mere 92 days away (when we started this blog at least… sometimes they take a few days to finesse… sorry did we say finesse? We meant finish…).

As with all these things, there will be some dissent, but in our world there are three types of Christmas shoppers... (excluding any Scrooges who will probably pepper the comments on this post with bah humbug comments - and to you we say stop reading now and get back to being grumpy). Christmas is FUN. Stressful sometimes, sentimental and sad as well at times; it definitely sees the addition of at least 7lbs between the 1st and the 31st December in our house - this is the reason elasticated waistbands were invented*, but on the whole it’s a good time. The festive season and associated excesses may be the reason that dry Jan was conceived… but it’s a time to see loved ones, to remember those that aren’t with you anymore, and to hunker down and go all wintery.

*we like to think.

We digress. Three types of Christmas shoppers:

1) The we-did-it-already smuggos.

Harriet’s Mum is one of these. Starting her accumulation of gifts in the January sales, she spends the year picking up little bits and pieces, thinking about the person. Not always spending a lot, but always thinking of the recipient personally, by the time it gets to October and she counts it all up, she’s done (bar a card, though she often picks up her packs of Christmas cards in the January… the date and message don’t change much right!?). To these people we say congratulations. Through somewhat gritted teeth.

Approach 1 - whilst we have huge respect for it - cannot be used for anyone charged with buying for small children. This is why there is Father Christmas of course (who never really gets a break, see also elves), because he can read minds… kids are fickle, and often change their minds at the very last minute… so don’t get smug a few weeks out… things can change (and trust us, they change…).

2) Hmmmm, we put the heating on this week, let’s write a to-do list (to be done in late November at the earliest, but the doing of the to-do list makes us feel like it’s under control).

We fall firmly into this camp. About the time the kids start to mention what they’re writing on their list to FC (good old FC he knows them so well), we write a list of people, and we write what we’ll plan to get them. The list of recipients hasn’t changed much over the years, and the more organised amongst you (the sort of people who own address books rather than WhatsApping people to ask for their postal address every year without fail - not just us right?) will probably have a printed list of who to buy for.  

Living in Jersey this is a very sensible approach since things take longer to get here, and sometimes get halfway here only to be sent back again (without us even seeing them). But if you want to get hours of your life back (genuinely), then come to our website! Sign up to the newsletter! Follow us on the ‘gram! Because we’re going to be adding to our beautiful collection of gifts (which will be starting at £3.50) over the next two months making sure that thoughtful gifting is available in one place, with free in-town collection and next-day (and Saturday!) delivery available.

However, if you’re thinking about going all bespoke on someone, get in touch now at info@harrietandrose.co.uk - bespoke options (such as personalised ceramics) will take longer, and their order cut-offs will be earlier than the rest of our stock.

3) The ‘what it’s Christmas? Who saw that coming?’

Now we don’t want to cast aspersions, or to make huge sweeping statements about the men in our lives, but on the whole we would say that this category mostly consists of men… not all men fall into this category of course, there are some super-organised thoughtful men who do all the Christmas shopping, but the last minute dashes? The panic buying of wrong perfumes? That tends to be men.

Once - several years ago - Harriet and her husband agreed a £10 budget. Harriet went homemade and time consuming, but definitely thoughtful. Her husband - leaving it until Christmas Eve - hit John Lewis and emerged with yoga hand towel and a Kitchen Aid. Which rather undid the whole £10 budget thing (but has been used daily ever since… unlike the £9.99 hand towel).

Harriet and Rose’s last order date for Christmas will be Saturday 21st December which should make things very easy for you EVEN IF you are a last-minute panic sort of person who has run around St Helier and found nothing that's right. We can even gift wrap all your presents for you! But the earlier you order, the more stock and choice you’ll have. If you’re wanting to sort out something bespoke, or can’t even begin to know what to get for someone, then our gift-finder service is for you! But you need to get in touch before the 30th November to use our free gift-finder service (which you can read more about here) as we anticipate that we’ll be as busy as those elves come December, so will be focussing on our stocked items.

Whilst we totally understand that you probably don’t want want to think about Christmas yet (neither do we), what we want you to know is we HAVE been thinking about Christmas. For months. And we HAVE been ordering everything so it’s here in the island ready for you to order. And whilst you might not think about it again for another month or two, we’re here when you’re ready to…. oh, and in the meantime we’ve got loads of stuff on the website for any occasion gifts!