If a one-off gift just doesn’t cut it for your special someone this year, here are some great present ideas that just keep on giving, from beautiful flowers to award-winning magazines.
Bloom & Wild
This Valentine’s Day, give the gift of blooms again and again with a letterbox flower subscription. Bloom & Wild lovingly handcrafts all its beautiful floral arrangements and posts them through your letterbox - an ideal solution if you don’t know when your partner will be home.
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The three-month Valentine’s deal starts with the classic but no less romantic gift of a dozen red roses, followed by two more spring bouquets mailed 28 days apart.
More unconventional arrangements and longer subscriptions are also available.
Perfect if your significant other loves cheese even more than they love you, The Cheese Shed offers various subscriptions tailored to all tastes and needs.
Its USP is the provenance of the cheese, with all of it originating from Devon and the West Country. “From the start, we’ve been clear that our focus is on selling artisan cheese from our region. In Tuscany or Alsace you’ll find shops that sell cheese from the surrounding area, we wanted the Cheese Shed to be the same,” said founder Ian Wellens. “After all, there are plenty of other places where you can buy Stilton or Emmenthal; we, on the other hand, will try and tempt you with Beenleigh Blue, Ogleshield or Haytor.”
The cheapest box contains three types of cheese (roughly 600g) delivered weekly, fortnightly or monthly. Whether you’re pregnant, vegetarian or have an aversion to a particular type, The Cheese Shed’s offering is fully customisable and delicious.
Culture monthly subscription, £23.49 per delivery, thecheeseshed.com
Authentic House
This eco-friendly subscription box is a monthly treat to help you and your significant other discover new ways to live well, by using less.
Authentic House’s Home Box subscription is one for the environmentally conscious and aims to help you master a sustainable lifestyle and support ethical UK independents.
There’s a huge focus on reducing plastic waste and the items included are “simple and useful so things like wooden toothbrushes, shampoo bars, pot brushes and essential oils”, says HuffPost.
Each box contains two to three items from two ethical businesses in the UK while you can also get vegan-friendly boxes.
It is one thing to have a pair of socks or a box of chocolates turn up in the post each month, but imagine being sent a monthly wrist watch. That is the promise of the new subscription club, Watch Gang.
Simply choose your level of indulgence, and get your watch collection underway. The entry level is very affordable – an “original” subscription is just $29 (£23) per month and offers watches valued at up to £115, so fairly cheap and cheerful. Next level is “black”, which is $99 (£78) offering watches which retail for up to £390, and heading towards more serious wristwear.
The next level is where things start to get interesting: a “platinum” subscription costs $299 (£235) and offers access to watches worth up to £1,150. Worth noting that there is one final level – “centum” – which is an invitation-only level that becomes available to Watch Gang members of a certain standing. This level costs £780 per month, but offers access to watches worth up to about £4,000. Think NOMOS Glashütte, Maurice Lacroix and more.
As an added bonus, every Friday one random Watch Gang member wins a Rolex, no matter which level they are signed up for. Extra incentive, in case you needed one.
Watch Gang, membership starts from £23 per month, watchgang.com
Craft Gin Club
The growth in popularity of gin in recent years has been nothing short of meteoric, so help a loved one get on board for 2019 by signing them up for Craft Gin Club’s monthly subscription box.
Every 30 days, the team at Craft Gin Club sends its members a full-sized bottle of a limited edition gin, along with a collection of delicious mixers, cocktail ingredients, snacks and a copy of Ginned! magazine.
With upwards of 45,000 members, this is the number one gin subscription club in the UK.
Craft Gin Club, £160 per year in monthly, bi-monthly or quarterly payments, craftginclub.co.uk
Cohorted Black Box
At £35 a month, the Cohorted Black Box is not a cheap cosmetics box, but with good reason.
“It features your more luxe brands,” Marie Claire writes. “The value of the box is typically over £100 and we dare you not to get addicted.”
Cohorted Black Edition Beauty Box, £35 per month for a flexible subscription, cohorted.co.uk
Not-Another-Bill
Not-Another-Bill works with independent and interesting brands to present an assortment of beautifully designed pieces spanning homeware, stationery, accessories and more.
At initial purchase, input the recipient’s profile into the questionnaire to create a personally tailored experience.
Not Another Bill, £24 per month for a flexible subscription, notanotherbill.com
Nudo Adopt
This very personal take on the subscription idea includes the adoption of an Italian olive tree, with its high-quality produce delivered straight to your loved one’s door.
Every three months, they’ll receive three 500ml tins of premium extra virgin olive oil.
Nudo Adopt, £145 for a year’s subscription, nudoadopt.com
London Tea Club
The London Tea Club researches and sources the finest teas from around the world, which it then brings straight to its members’ doorsteps in a fabulous subscription box.
Each delivery includes a range of three convenient sample-sized pots with the opportunity to purchase larger packs of favourites from its online store.
London Tea Club, $90 (£77) for a three- month membership, londonteaclub.com
Delayed Gratification
In an era of accelerating news cycles stepping back can sometimes be a good thing.
Delayed Gratification waits three months before reporting on any news story, allowing it to “revisit the news after the dust has settled to provide analysis and explanation, in beautifully designed and illustrated style”, The Guardian says.
Delayed Gratification, £36 for a year, slow-journalism.com
BeerBods delivery boxes
The expert team at Worcestershire-based BeerBods offers crates of 12 of the best beers from small, independent breweries across the globe and delivered direct every 12 weeks. Options include the Subscription Box, Beer Writers’ Dozen Box, Ones to Watch Box, Traditionalist Box and Modern Classic Box, each with a range of delicious beers.
BeerBods, £36 for 12 weeks, £70 for 24 weeks and £135 for 48 weeks, beerbods.co.uk
Cyclist magazine
Do you know someone who spends more time on a saddle than a sofa? Treat the cycling devotee in your life to a gift subscription to Cyclist, the world’s largest road cycling magazine.
Every month they’ll receive the most picturesque cycling routes from around the globe, in-depth exploration of the latest bikes and must have kit plus exclusives from the biggest names in the sport. Packaged together with inspiring photography, it’s the ultimate gift for cycling fans.
Save up to 21% on the RRP – gift subscriptions start from £28.99 (6 issues). Find out more at cyclistmag.co.uk/christmas
Enzo magazine
Treat a motoring enthusiast this Valentine's with a subscription to Enzo. A pure celebration of Ferrari, readers will enjoy archived photography showcasing the designers, engineers and drivers who created the legendary brand, together with road tests of the latest models.
Produced by the team behind Octane magazine, expect stunning photography, interviews with leading Ferrari personalities and track tests of the world’s most iconic racers.
£20 for an annual gift subscription (4 issues). Find out more at enzo-magazine.co.uk/christmas
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