Ah, the Christmas shopping. Much as I say every year that I’m going to be organised, I always, without fail, fail. Leo came home from school two full weeks ago to tell me that his teacher Mrs Lockwood had not just bought all of her presents, but that she had also wrapped them ready to go. This gold standard, high level, award winning style of organisation is, I assured Leo, far beyond my reach but I bow down in the face of such well planned coordination. My Christmas shopping routine generally goes like this: Reach mid December and realise that I haven’t bought any presents. Shout at children to give me Christmas lists RIGHT NOW. Children respond that they have given me said lists back in October. Go online, realise that everything on their lists are now sold out due to my inability to get my act in gear earlier. Panic, end up buying more expensive items out of guilt and paying £295 delivery charge to ensure that they arrive before Christmas Eve. Go on to Amazon to buy everyone else’s presents. All other family members end up with current ‘recommended for you’ products with the only choice criteria being that they are available on Amazon Prime next day delivery. Job done. Badly.

I’m not the only one in our family who is a Last Minute Larry. When I first met Joe, his family had suffered many years of his poor present buying. One year, he’d stopped off at the supermarket on the way back from the pub on Christmas Eve and bought his brothers matching Dennis The Menace toothbrush holders. His mum had a full cupboard of Body Shop baskets, a space forever permeated with the scent of Dewberry body butter and Peppermint cooling foot lotion. Their sense of relief when we met and I took over his present buying duties was palpable. Until four years ago, Joe was left with only one present to buy per year - mine. Unfortunately, after a series of unacceptable gifts including, but not limited to, Beyonce Heat eau de toilette and Duncan Bannatyne body lotion (this is an actual thing), I quickly realised that his present buying was solely focused on items that could be purchased as close as possible to the Meal Deal section in big Tescos on Clifton Moor during his lunch break. Since ‘Heatgate’ (I’d asked for Narciso Rodriguez but that wasn’t available in the supermarket), Ella has taken over his present purchasing and things have improved drastically, with a simple system of link sending by Messenger combined with a much higher budget, as set by myself. The adage ‘if you want something done properly, do it yourself’ has never been more applicable.

Social media has given us many things but one of the best things to have come out of the monumental growth of Instagram (and also influencer marketing) is that we now have access to a plethora of fabulous independent stores and businesses in order to choose our Christmas gifts. Before we were able to access them via our screens, it would be almost impossible to be able to discover them unless it was by word of mouth. Now, not only can we find both stores and independent artists via the platform but we can also start to be more considered and knowledgeable about where we are buying from. For the last three years, I’ve produced a Christmas Gift Guide focused on this burgeoning market of unique stores where behind every item there is a small, creative, independent hardworking company or artisan who are passionate about their product. These sellers put their heart and soul into making the buying experience as individual as they are and the customer service that they offer is personal and tailored. So here’s my (budget friendly) fourth Independent Store Christmas Gift Guide - hold on to your purse strings, it’s going to be a bumpy ride.

So there’s my favourites. Every one of these gifts has been thoughtfully curated, chosen or created by an independent store and is guaranteed (by me) to be well received. And best of all, not a bottle of Beyonce eau de toilette in sight. Happy shopping!

With thanks to the independent stores who put forward their products for this list and I’m really sorry that I wasn’t able to include them all.