10 Christmas gift ideas – Brusselsprouts deals included!

This time a year, we’re all running the same race: the Christmas gifts marathon. And while I consider myself a professional consumerist, I thought it’d be nice to change the chip for once, and try to give responsible gifts to the ones I love. I speak for myself when I say that during the year, I use plenty of my money to fatten big companies’ pockets like Zara, H&M, IKEA, you name them. Yet Christmas is also about family, values and celebrating the reunion of those we love. At least in my pagan books. So why not using this gift marathon opportunity to also encourage small entrepreneurs, family-run businesses, artisans and free-lancers? Really courageous people who, in my view, deserve way more attention  that we pay them.

Hope my little selection inspires you and you can enjoy some of the little “deals” we concocted just for you sprouters!

1-  Bake Christmas Box

I already raved about BAKE’s cookies, a.k.a the best cookies I’ve ever had. So why not offering the BAKE Christmas Box, which comes with all you need to bake a batch of BAKE cookies, secret recipe included! Also, you’d be buying it from Bérangère, the nicest baker I know. Personally, I needed one. Actually, I am baking my own BAKE cookies this evening! Order them online here for 17€; pick it up from various selling points (list here) or even from Etsy, for international orders!

TBS deal: Bérangère will be giving out one of the boxes! Keep an eye on the TBS FB page for the yummy contest to be published on our Facebook page next Monday!

2- Silvia Galli Christmas Workshops

Silvia Galli’s studio is a happy and dynamic enterprise providing communication, visual and event design services in Brussels and Milan. And lucky us, they are organising Christmas Temporary Workshops to design and create adorable Christmas gifts! At the ‘Sweet & Salty’ Design Workshop for instance you will create 4 delicious edible gifts. At the ‘Recipes in a jar’ workshop, you’ll learn how to transform 4 cute mason jars and fill them with 4 different recipes. Original, huh? Or how about encapsulating Christmas in a box and filling it with Christmas sweets? Then book the ‘Christmas in a box’ workshop!

TBS deal: 10% off the workshop price mentioning The Brusselsprouts. 15% if you’re a group of 4 and mention the blog. And if you round up a group of 10, you can have your own Christmas workshop, with 20% off mentioning The Brusselsprouts!

3 – Photo Course with Alohafred

How many of you (and your friends) have great cameras but are totally clueless as to what the hell ‘aperture’ or ‘speed’ or ‘framing’ is and where to set them…? Gotcha. A photo class with the super talented Fred from Alohafred could be the perfect occasion to finally get friendly with your camera and maybe discover a hidden talent? Photo class price: 145€

TBS deal: Fred will be giving out a light reflector (worth 25€) for every booked class mentioning The Brusselsprouts.

4 – YYOGA Discovery Pass

As much as I’m a material gal, I love “experience” gifts. So to compensate for the Christmas time stress, I think offering a yoga Discovery Pass at YYOGA could be a great idea. YYOGA is a contemporary yoga studio offering a wide variety of yoga styles. Located in the Sainte Catherine square, it’s Metro-friendly and close to other awesome things like Pimpinelle, Café Chicago, Icon & more.

10-day free pass for yoga classes: 25€

TBS Deal: a free “Full Pack” (mat, two towels and water) for the first 25 buying the Discovery Pass, mentioning The Brusselsprouts.

5 – Hei Shop & Tea

Careful. You’ll go into this Scandinavian lovely shop to get a Christmas gift and you’ll go in transe. Yup, that’s how pretty everything is at Hei Shop & Tea. I had to struggle not to binge-shop the entire place. Bénédicte & Simon curate the shop brilliantly. I especially like ferm living  & their Christmas collection, like the hanging advents calendar or the tree paper star! Great products in a great family shop.

TBS deal: A free coffee or tea for a minimum of 15 EUR spent in the shop. Perfect to accompany one of the BAKE cookies they also sell.

6 – John & Rose Christmas Market

I already told you all about John & Rose and their brunch. During the whole December you can visit their Christmas Market and find all sorts of little creative & handmade gifts and crafts:

Vincent Tilly ★ Iceberg candles
Héloise Rival & Ann-at ★ Paintings, Silkscreen prints…
ArtMyPlace ★ Photographs
Shayto – Bricolage Club ★ Silkscreen prints & illustrations
ONLIT Editions ★ Books
Suzanne et Ed&cie ★ Books

TBS Deal: For every 20€ spent at the Market, mention The Brusselsprouts and get a 10%-off voucher for your the next Brunch you book until end of January.

7 – WEHVE Wool Creations

WEHVE is a project very close to my heart. Not only because it uses Uruguayan high quality wool but because of the incredible woman behind it. Gesine is a firm upholder of social entrepreneurship. So when buying one of her knitted items, you wouldn’t just be offering your friend or family a beautiful & warm piece, you’d also be contributing to the livelihood of a Uruguayan woman in the countryside, preventing rural exodus and fostering the preservation of a national knowhow. Not bad. Not bad at all… Check their collection and the selling points here.

8 – OXFAM Unwrapped!

Sometimes we don’t know what to offer because the person just seems to have it all. Well, a lot of people have nothing. So why don’t you buy something to someone in need, on behalf of someone you love! What will it be? A chicken, a goat, school books, access to land…? Check out the website Oxfam s’emballe. Awesome initiative.

9 – PHOTOBOX Personalised Snowball

I was recently telling you how crazy I am about Photobox. They offer a huge range of things you can personalise with your pictures. A mug (they have golden and silvery ones!), a snowball, a calendar, a photo book… The kind of gift that spurs an “Aweeee” because they’re so personal, emotional and most of all, fun.

TBS deal: The first 5 of you to PM The Brusselsprouts on Facebook will win a 40% off voucher code to order one of the awesome snowballs.

10 – Pimpinelle Kitchenware

Last but not least, Pimpinelle. Aline has a beautiful selection of creative kitchen utensils, lovely dishware, gourmet products and books. Nothing high-tech, just your good old mechanical kitchenware in noble materials like enamel, ceramic or copper. Plus, it’s kind of a gift to yourself, since they’re probably going to show off what they’ve done with your gift and cook for ya! You clever little you!

TBS deal: A coffee or tea for every item bought at the shop mentioning The Brusselsprouts, until Christmas!

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I hope you’ve gathered some inspiration. Now go empty your pockets in the crazy Christmas marathon! And if you have more gifts ideas, share them! After all, the holidays are all about giving and sharing.

Oh my God I need some Grinch to pinch me. ^^

Anita