Inspire me - What do you want for Christmas? Especially non-stuff stuff.

[ExAstris]

DH is despairing as to what to get me for Christmas. I've been doing Marie Kondo so really don't want more stuff, though I guess if I can figure out a really nice version of something to replace an inferior version I already have that might work. DH finds it too hard to precisely get my taste/size for jewellery or clothes, and although there are lots of books I want I have so little time to read atm I have a backlog that will take me a year to get through so no more books yet! Things like toiletries or event tickets are bought from joint money anyway so aren't a present from him to me, IYSWIM.

I have a couple of DVDs on my list, a camera case, and a beautiful teapot. Bit stuck other than that, and lots of people will be asking.

So, what are you wanting for Christmas?

I have some big and small things I would like for Christmas...
A new Viktor and rolf flower bomb pefume as dd2 dropped mine
A case for my MacBook Air (for my birthday in December squee)
A huge white company winter candle
Some lush bits and pieces
A magazine subscription
Replacement bits of benefit makeup

How about a film subscription service? Something like lovefilm etc. Or an iPad type tablet? Some usable things like candles or picture frames or framed prints of something you love?

I would love a DSLR camera but they are £££££ so I would love currys/John Lewis vouchers to go towards one.

a horse

jumper
perfume
boots

I would like another watch but dh is talking about getting my car radio set up so I can use my Ipod in the car.

A subscription with Bloom and Wild to receive flowers every month.......

Some lamp bases from Susie Watson.
Doorstop and china to add to collection from Sophie Allport.
Voucher for my beautician so I can have nails/massge done when I fancy it.
A gorgeous,expensive new throw, that I wouldn't buy for myself.
Some new Waterford glasses.

The flower subscription idea is lovely. Non-stuff I would like would be:

A meal out at a lovely restaurant.

Swing dancing lessons

A subscription to the LRB or New Yorker (sort of stuff, I admit)

Theatre vouchers

Cinema membership

Museum membership

A fabulous haircut

Plants for the garden

Sugru to fix the stuff I already have

A day by myself in London to go and look at art

Tickets to a festival

A special meal at home

Someone to look after the children while we go on a long walk and have lunch in a pub

Spanish lessons

Stuff that is actually useful and that I need, eg socks, bras, power tools.

Stuff that will be consumed quickly eg chocolate, gin, whisky, wine, wasabi peas.

Very very boringly,

Replacements for my saucepans

A dozen John Lewis linen glass cloths, so much better than any other drying up cloth

www.johnlewis.com/browse/home-garden/kitchen/kitchen-linens/oven-gloves-mitts/_/N-dws

The John Lewis double cotton ( coarse) oven gloves, (so much better than foam inserts), or the silicone equivalents

My favourite scent, £112 for 100 ml

Continuing my friend status of a number of art galleries

Rejoining the RHS, When you get a gardening magazine ( that you can offload onto the doctor or dentist) and priority booking.

A weekend away, eg to a hotel du vin,

My fave soap.

Best present I ever gave anyone was a flight in a tiger moth.

I'm focusingn on things that will give me joy too this year:

Aromatherapy associates bath oil
Smythson correspondence cards
S'well water bottle
Fornasetti candle
Dempsey and Dempsey pyjamas

Oooh, lots of good ideas!

I have added a leather jacket, with trip to city to choose.
Love the flower subscription idea, and a case for my phone, and vouchers to have eyelash extensions done again - had them for my wedding best part of a decade ago and they looked fab, really natural.

National trust couples membership. DC all under 5 so free.

New bottle of "my" perfume
Premier Inn vouchers for weekends away to new places
Kindle vouchers
Cashmere jumper
New cycling jersey and shorts
Nice black leather belt (I have 1 belt, a brown one, and I spend hours swaping it between clothes).

I very much like this idea of presents for "people who have everything" being a very nice version of something they use all the time.

one of my favourite presents last year was a photo book. he put a lot of effort into choosing the best photos and i loved it.

Anyoldname76 one of my favourite presents from years ago was when DH took a load of photos of my gorgeous dog to the university print shop and had a photo calendar made. T'was lovely.

Hmm, I always find it difficult to make a Christmas list! Inevitably when relatives ask me I say I don't know, then I get round to making a list about 23rd Dec when everyone's bought me stuff I don't want/need.

This year I am on a diet, and hoping to have reached one of my target points for Christmas, so I wonder whether clothes would be nice....but then I already have loads of lovely things from when I was last rather a bit thinner!

I always like:
Prada parfum d'Iris perfume
A novel I want to read (and then don't get round to reading for months)
A massage - though in my experience if you ask for a massage people say they'll buy you one and it never materialises

I think I might like:
Some new makeup
New pillows, just some cheap ones. That's not really a Christmassy present, though, is it?
A framed print for the house

It's August. How do you guys know what you will want in 4 months time?

Delphinium I don't have very elaborate tastes/wants! And not much spare cash so I often mentally put things I want/need onto my Christmas list in the second half of the year.

Thanks for your answer Wayfarer. I just can't imagine how I will feel so far ahead, can't picture what clothes or jewelry I might be wearing or want to wear in December. Haven't identified the gaps yet!

Delphinium I go with stuff that I would love to have/do but can't justify spending on myself when my shopping is normally to make sure the children have everything they need.

So this year, my wish list is so far:

• Kleen Canteen because I can't justify spending £15 on a water bottle usually.
• A magazine subscription/voucher for lots of coffee.

Dh /me started buying each other courses for our birthdays a few years ago, as just trying to cut down on so much STUFF in the house, plus we get a day/2 days where we are not at work and are not doing dog and childcare!
I have had cookery (River Cottage, bread making), gardening and am shortly to do dressmaking/sewing crash course. Dh has done black smithing, wood carving, hedge laying and pottery.
Helps if you are a couple of old hippies like us, clearly - I can see would not be to everyone's taste.
Feels indulgent though, especially if involves a night away on one's own in peace!

Such a great thread - very inspiring!

Brilliant idea quince

Quince sounds great, are there any sites which list courses like this?

I'd like a georg jensen christmas tree star and a global breadknife to replace the cheap one that DH has blunted by cutting foam with it.

Also a pair of lovely scissors.