£20 present needed ASAP for female

[jocktamsonsbairn]

DM has just landed me with a request! She forgot she's seeing her friend (pretend aunt) and her daughter on Thursday and has a present for my aunt. However she forgot about needing a present for her daughter who is lovely abd who has helped both her mum cans mine out during covid. She's 56, likes reading, eating and drinking but quite fussy apparently. Quite well off and likes quality over tat. Not into make up, scarves etc. No idea of her likes/dislikes other than this (and that she likes going on lovely villa holidays and city breaks) as I've not seen her since we were kids!
So oh wise shoppers of Mumsnet, any ideas?!! DM can't use internet and can't get to shops till Thursday!

Budget £15 - £20. TIA

Book token. I am very fussy what I read and even DH doesn’t get it right.

Candles, cosmetics and anything like that would be a wast of money as I hate most candles and my skin knows what it wants and that’s very limited.

Good, glad a decision has been made!

I'm roughly in that age bracket and think what you are getting is perfect.

Scented candles are a massive No from me as a gift, unless the person buying it happens to know what you like (good luck, in my case, as I don't like scented candles At All unless they're lime!)

Ditto all face/hand creams - never use them.

Perfumes mostly smell like cat pee on me (acidic skin)

Books/book vouchers - YES!
Decent dry white or red wine - YES!
Cheese selection - YES!
Chocolates (so long as there's no bloody salted caramel) - YES!
I do like a nice scarf too but I have faaaar too many and am trying to stop myself adding to the collection.

White company handcreams are lovely.
For £20 you could get a lovely hand cream and hand sanitiser
(the seyshelles one smells amazing) or a candle.

thebailliegiffordprize.co.uk/books/minarets-mountains-journey-muslim-europe-by-tharik-hussain

This book looks amazing! As do others on the list. Thank you to the lady who suggested this.

A ‘fun’ gift could be something from Betty’s Tearoom. They have some lovely gifts in a range of prices.

ButtonMoonLoon - you might want to read the thread first …

I can't pass by the word 'female' without posting this
Just get a voucher OP.

I would say DONT buy a book for someone you don't know... its impossible to know what they already have, already read or even like.

My DS is a prolific reader, she's a speed reader and can read multiple books a day and does pretty much every day... I would never dream of attempting to get her a book in the past.

Even less so now as she doesn't read physical media anymore, her house was overrun with books (which took up a massive amount of space) and now reads Ebooks only as she doesn't have to physically store and get rid of them afterwards.

I find myself in full agreement with @EdmontinaDancesWithOphelia. Please spare me cheap nasty toiletries, which will go straight to the food bank, and scented candles, just to the re-gifting drawer. Books need to be new and well chosen, but I'm oddly fond of my simple thin slice of wooden bookmark (£4.50/£12 for 3 from a NT craft place IIRC). I would always be pleased with a bottle of estate-bottled olive oil. BIL does puzzles and gets through pencils superfast, so a box of posh pencils with erasers would be much appreciated.

That's what I love about Mumsnet!!!🤣🤣 Trying to find a present for a 56 year old that an 80 odd year old wants to give and there are all sorts of accusations going on!!!🤣🤣 my DM hobbling off on a tinder date when she can't use that "internet thing", (with dad giving her a lift) to me being anti feminist or whatever for stating the biological fact that the recipient identifies as female 🤦‍♀️ .
Anyway DM is now happy and I have found a list of things I'd actually quite like as a middle aged female (yesI was born female and identify as such ) so thank you to all of you who responded positively and thanks for the laugh the rest of you gave me!

Edmontina thank you for suggestions that suit me!
And yep Boots 3 for 2 only exist for when you get the person you most hate in works secret Santa...

Some of these suggestions are bewildering.

For the love of god do the book thing. (You can always tuck in the receipt in an envelope in case she wants to exchange.)

How about some nice olive oils or foodie things .

2squared The way MN conversations work best is on the understanding that every poster will read the full thread, or at least all the Original Poster’s posts, before adding their own comment.

Particularly where there are already over 100 comments, it is highly unlikely that any standard response has not already been posted. It’s also likely that the OP’s situation or opinion has shifted, even slightly, over the course of a conversation.

It’s really fun if you actually engage fully with the whole discussion.

A bit harsh but thanks for the helpful advice on what is my first day on mumsnet .

You’re very welcome!

(Oh, do you have your Settings arranged so that your posts, and the OP’s posts are differently coloured to everyone else’s? Makes navigation through a thread much easier. Though I don’t know how it works on the app, I use the mobile site.)