Discover British Independent Shops Online
I am bringing to you, 12 days of indie inspiration. I absolutely love shopping at independent shops online. They have so many amazing products and I can’t wait to share all that I have found for you this Christmas.
Gift ideas and Christmassy things, available online in the UK.
I love independent shops, whether they are on the high street or online. They are amazing and I appreciate having them in my life. I want them to flourish, for more independent shops to open and I love giving them my money. Do you?
There are lots of reasons why we all need to shop independent this Christmas and ditch the big corporate shops and marketplaces. Help these fantastic small businesses thrive and keep them alive for our future.
I have shared lots of reasons why this is so important in my blog post Shop Small This Christmas : Independent Shops are The Best Way to Shop.
I am flying the shop independent flag and helping people shop independent by sharing some brilliant inspiration, ideas and ways to easily find these shops (because lets face it, independent shops online are very hard to find Google tends to favour the big boys).
I can’t wait to share it all with you and right here on this blog is where you can find all the links to everything I share and talk about.
Let’s all shop independent as much as we possibly can. Just imagine if every single one of the gifts in the image came from an independent shop 🙂 How fab that would be.
Do you have yours up yet? I have lots of decoration inspiration in my indie edit.
I have my birthday the week before Christmas and when I was younger my mum thought it was important to not mix Christmas with my birthday and so our decorations always went up after my birthday.
I have always continued with this into adulthood. Until last year, I realised putting up all the decorations early December is so much more exciting!! This year they will be going up early again.
Another tradition is each year, I buy one or two unique and unusual decorations to add to my collection of Christmas decor.
Since starting Love Our Shops UK, this has become easy. Many of the lovely shops on my directory have unusual, fabulous and unique decorations. I have pulled them together in my Christmas Decorations Indie Edit. There you can find lots of special decorations and take the links to buy them online.
DAY THREEDo you know someone who likes to make things? If you do, I have some ideas for you.
Firstly craft kits is often a good idea. Everything one needs to make something, perfect. I have pulled together a lovely range of Craft Kits in my Craft Kits for Adults Indie Edit. Lots of them are suitable for children too.
Buying tools, crafting supplies and books is also a brilliant idea. These are available at a number of different online shops on my directory – Craft & Hobby Category.
Isle of Auskerry is perfect for beautiful wool, from their own seaweed eating flock of sheep.
Beyond Measure have lots of tools and haberdashery perfect for sewing and yarn based crafts. Plus, some useful books and paper based craft supplies.
Simply Ribbons have a huge range of all kinds of beautiful ribbon.
Claire Salisbury Studios has some perfect gifts for creatives, bags, pouches and pencil cases.
Looking for a unique and thoughtful Christmas card? I have found some really lovely ones to share with you today. From a range of different independent shops and all available to buy online.
I am sharing 7 different shops with you, each one has a different completely different range,
Earlybird Designs is a card shop and have a wide range including some specifically for relations.
Daffodowndilly have gorgeous and cute designs on their Christmas cards.
Seasons Green have a wide variety of single Christmas cards and packs too.
The Chiswick Gift Company have 3 card designs, they are sweary and fun.
Shelley Nott Cards has some beautiful still life Christmas themed images, recreated from her wall art pieces.
Siop Cwlwm has a Welsh range of cards, in a variety of designs.
Poppy Treffry have taken some of their freehand machine embroidery pieces and created cards from them, in a variety of themes.
I don’t have any little ones to buy for this year but that hasn’t stopped me having a great time browsing some wonderful toys, clothes, memory books, story books and lots more.
First up for babies, you will find lots of ideas in this collection Gift Ideas For Babies.
Do you have babies or toddlers to buy for? Then ZIPPYUP have some lovely babygrows, onesies, soft toys and more. This award winning shop has a wide range and are the original zip up babygrow.
I have lots of lovely ideas for the ladies in your life. Firstly, I have created a wonderful Indie Edits of Costume Jewellery. It includes rings, earrings, necklaces and bracelets, plus a few pins and brooches too. A wide range and all would make wonderful gifts.
The Beauty & Pampering shop category have 2 gorgeous shops, each having a wonderful range of beauty and pampering products.
Alternatively the 3 wonderful shops in the Clothes & Accessories Category have some gorgeous gifts for women.
I have lots of love for stationery. Obsessed in fact. Buy me a nice notebook, a gorgeous pen, some washi tape or a beautiful pencil case, and I am happy. I am not the only one. So, today I am sharing stationery gift ideas. All kinds from lots of different shops.
Find all the inspiration, browse and buy, in my Stationery Indie Edit.
Lots of different shops with lots of unique stationery items. For all ages and tastes.
DAY EIGHT
We mustn’t forget about our furry friends. I have pulled together a selection from some lovely pet shops. Some can be personalised. Something for dogs, cats, horses, ferrets, rabbits and guinea pigs too. Plus something for our garden birds.
I have found some lovely gifts for the owners too.
You will find some ideas in the Collection, Things to Buy Your Puppy/Dog. Things to suit all ages of dog.
I also have an Indie Edit, The Best Dog Supplies, which has some brilliant ideas from several shops, including Pawshtails, Hoobynoo, Little Soap Company and Trusty Dog Food.
For the pet lover, see the brilliant Gifts For Humans selection at Hoobynoo.
For some Christmas themed pet gifts, Christmas Pet Gifts at Hoobynoo.
For cat, horse, guinea pig, ferret and rabbit gifts see the shop by pet range at Hoobynoo.
…and finally, our wonderful garden birds would love a gift this Christmas. Wiggly Wigglers have you covered with this one. If you have a garden bird lover to buy for, then this is perfect.
DAY NINE
Not sure about you, but the men in my life are always a little tricky to buy for. So, I have some ideas for you from some lovely online shops.
Fun and Unusual Gifts: Red Hen Trading have a brilliant range of gifts for him. Lots of variety.
Small Gifts and Stocking Fillers: Seasons Green have a varied and useful range of Gifts For Him.
For the pet lover: Hoobynoo have some brilliant pet themed gifts like mugs, coasters, clothing and pet portraits. Sister Sister have a range of dog and cat themed hanging ceramics.
Gifts under £20: See the Belle Modelle Gifts for Him Collection
Gift Books: a wonderful range of books and journals perfect for the men in your life at From You To Me.
Gift Sets: Hair, wash, body and shave. All natural and all with 20% off at the moment. From the Little Soap Company.
Themed Gifts: Home Gifts Garden have a selection of car, motorbike, cycle themed gifts in their range Gifts For Boys
Stocking Fillers and Fun Gifts: you can find these at The Chiswick Gift Company.
Welsh Gifts: You can find a wide variety in the Gifts For Him range at Siop Cwlwm.
Garden and Wildlife Lover: From composting to feeding the birds, including a gift voucher for worms! A great range at Wiggly Wigglers
DAY TEN
Sometimes you just want to give a small token at Christmas and maybe it is a little tricky to decide what to get. When this happens to me, I usually turn to buying a lovely candle or a thoughtful wall print.
Inspiration and a wide range of products can be found in my 2 Indie Edits below. Both have links directly to where you can browse and buy online.
DAY ELEVEN
I love receiving gift vouchers. Especially from a lovely independent shop. Not so keen on ones from that big marketplace!! I really do not like giving them my money. Anyway, I digress 🙂
Gift Vouchers really are a win win. You get a pressie, you get to shop for exactly what you want and you get a delivery. Fabulous!!
I have found lots of lovely vouchers from lots of different online shops. You can find them all here Gift Voucher Indie Edit.
DAY TWELVE
As we head into the last few days of online shopping for Christmas, do the UK a favour, shop independent. Honestly, every order (no matter how big or small), that you give to an independent shop helps them survive and thrive. If they are thriving, then the UK is thriving. It is as simple as that.
Thank you for being part of Love Our Shops UK, shopping with independents and using my directory and inspiration to help you shop independent, more and more every day. It makes my day, it makes the shop owners day and when your purchase arrives, it makes your day too.
So, in these last few days of Christmas shopping, remember the little guys and go give them some money, it is the best way to shop.
…and if you are one of those amazing people who is super organised and done all their Christmas shopping (that isn’t me) why not treat yourself to something lovely from an independent shop. You definitely deserve it 🙂
I hope you found all this helpful and it has inspired you to shop independent more this Christmas. After all, it is the best way to shop.
Happy browsing and shopping 😊
Barbara
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All opinions in this blog post are mine. At the time of writing all shops mentioned are members of my shopping directory. Though I mention lots of shops here, you must form your own opinion as to whether the shop and their products are for you. Clicking on a shop link will send you to their website, from there you are covered by their terms and conditions.
Tags: Christmas, Independent Shops Online, Indie Edit, Shopping Inspiration