When holidays come, your mom is usually the hardest person to select a gift for, especially since she raised you. Even though you might not have the slightest idea about what she wants, going for something conventional might work in your favour.

With the holiday season fast looming over us, go for a 3 birthstone necklace for mom. This type of jewellery has a customisation birthstone setting, which means you can opt to choose her birth month gemstones or combine a few others in the necklace.  

 Why you should opt for a necklace as a gift to your mom

There are only a few things that can make your mom happy. One is seeing her family happy, and the other, hopefully, is jewellery. No woman would say no to a beautiful necklace (or any jewellery for that matter). 

So, for special occasions, think of something that will last her forever, like a 3 birthstone necklace for mom. Not only will it resemble your everlasting bond, but it will also serve as a lasting memory of your precious moments with her. 

A necklace also holds one of the most compelling symbols to solidify your connection with her. It can be a cherished possession she can wear anywhere, holding a piece of your heart with her.

Moreover, a birthstone necklace can hold a hidden message of love. You can opt for different stones in one setting, a birthstone for you, your mom, and one gem resembling your dad’s birth month. So in a way, you are not only hitting home, but you are giving her something to remember the whole family by. 

Choosing a birthstone by month

Tradition has placed a birthstone for every month of the year, based on Biblical accounts. The placement of each birthstone also stems from the traditions and beliefs from around the world. So, for instance, children born in January are given the garnet stone while those born in November have the topaz stone.

The following stones are assigned for each respective month:

• Garnet
• Amethyst
• Aquamarine
• Diamond
• Emerald
• Pearl
• Ruby
• Peridot
• Sapphire
• Opal
• Topaz
• Tanzanite

These stones have their meanings based on how tradition has placed them per month of the year. 

 A heart-warming gift your mom will adore

There are very few heart-warming gifts most moms adore. But none of them compares to a piece of birthstone jewellery. Gifting your mom a necklace is an adorable and sweet gesture and a suitable way of showing her your love and care. It is something she can carry with her everywhere and a great keepsake for her to remember you with. 

And not only that, but a necklace can also mean more than just a decorative ornament. Birthstone necklaces, for instance, imbibe a meaning of luck or good fortune. Take, for example, the emerald stone, which is symbolic of strong love or the aquamarine, which signifies the purity of the sea and its crystalline waters.

A birthstone necklace can have different meanings based on its wearer. A word of advice, however, for anyone, including mothers who would like to own a 3 birthstone necklace – look for a jewellery maker that allows you to customise your gemstones in a single jewellery setting. 

Having the option of choosing your birthstones is an accurate step in the way of creating a unique piece of memory that you can truly call your own.

Christmas may be the most wonderful time of the year, but it is also the busiest. On top of all our usual work and family commitments, we now have to order presents, decorate our homes, wrap the said presents and literally add task after task to our already crowded lists. In addition to this, our social calendars can become quite packed, with parties, visits to family, Christmas shopping and meet ups, school plays, panto’s, Christmas fetes, the list is quite literally never ending.

But the house and all its chores remain unforgiving. We still have to cook, clean and do all that laundry. Or do we? The cleaning definitely has to be done, but you could reach for a takeaway menu just this once to cut down on the cooking, and maybe you could try out a laundry service, especially if you have some very special pieces that need cleaning in time for Christmas.

Laundryheap is a 24 hour laundry service that is known as the Uber for laundry. The service is a home pick up laundry service that enables users to have their laundry picked up, washed and delivered within 24 hours. It is an easy to use service which can be booked online or by downloading and using the app, and also offers dry cleaning, and ironing for an all round easy laundry experience.

The service is currently available in the UK in London (where the company is based), and also in Manchester, Birmingham and Coventry, as well as i Dublin, Dubai, Sharjah and Amsterdam.

I love the idea that you can have your washing collected from your door, and then back again ready to wear, or at least hang up, within 24 hours. I love that using the app you can track your collection and delivery in real time, and that they have live chat support for any questions you might have about the service before you opt in. The dry cleaning option is just brilliant at this time of the year, when we have clothes that we just can’t throw in the washing machine – that special dress, the tuxedo suit, items for a black tie night out, even that perfect velvet dress that you always wear on Christmas day.

If you are struggling under the strain this year, maybe you should try out the Laundryheap service and give yourself a little break, leaving your time to do something else.

If you are buying presents for your children they have probably already presented you with a list as long as their arm detailing what they would like this year. So this guide is more about some different ideas for stocking fillers, and gifts for babies who haven’t yet started to demand the universe complete with a unicorn.

A Personalised Toy From The Personalised Gift Shop

Babies are notoriously hard to buy for, but a personalised item is a lovely way to celebrate a first Christmas. The Personalised Gift Shop has personalised items for all ages, and I just love the Personalised Guess How Much I Love You Large Plush Hare.

The Hare, from the iconic children’s story can be personalised with any name on the ear. It stands at 23 cm tall, 13 cm wide, and 10cm depth, and is super soft, making it lovely for a baby or a young child. This is a present that both baby and child will enjoy and treasure.

A Baby Toiletries Hamper From Johnson’s Baby

If you are buying for a very small/newborn baby, you may choose to go down the route of buying something that is actually practical and useful for both baby and parents.

Johnson’s Baby Products are a mainstay of most babies lives, so why not put together a hamper of some of the faves. The bedtime range is soft and gentle, and choosing a few items that could then be placed in a wicker basket or pretty box could be a gift that is not only lovely, but could also help the new parents save a few pennies on essentials. Alternately, Boots have a lovely gift set which could also fit the bill.

JOHNSON’S® Sleep Tight Set £12.00 Click to visit Boots

Perfect Stocking Fillers From BrightMinds 

At Christmas, it is very easy to buy children lots of items that can be classed as mindless fun, but it is also good if you can add more thoughtful presents, things that can stretch the mind and the imagination.

BrightMinds toys do just that. They have a wide range of goods on their site, and I love the fact that toys are sorted by age, rather than into girl/boy catogories. Their toys are well made, often have an educational slant, and will last way beyond the Christmas period.

The Canvas Pop Art Tiger is perfect for a child who loves Art. Using stencils and an array of colours, your child can create their own version of a piece of Pop Art on a totally blank canvas. Great for rainy days, or those boring times in between Christmas and New Year.

Another perfect stocking filler that I would’ve loved to have received as a child is Djeco One Big Dressing Room. A modern take on the paper dress up dolls, the Big Dressing Room has three dolls, lots of outfits, and can certainly be used as part of imaginative play – what is the girl dressing for, where is she going, who is she?

This is a present which is beautifully boxed and would certainly make a perfect gift for a child with an interest in clothes and fashion.

A really cute, but really important gift is Booktail Bookmark Dog. Further down in this guide I feature some books, and really believe if you are giving the gift of books, you should also be teaching children how to love and respect them. A bookmark is part of this message, as it stops children from turning down the pages, and these bookmarks in particular, are so lovely and cute that they can only encourage a child to want to pick up a book in order to use them.

The Booktails come in a range of six designs, each with a different animal, but I personally love this adorable dog!

The Perfect Christmas Eve Pyjamas From Nutmeg

The rise in popularity in the Christmas Eve box makes pyjamas a good choice to give as a gift just before Christmas. Nutmeg, the range of clothing that is sold at branches of Morrisons supermarkets, have the most adorable Christmas pyjamas that are suitable for the whole family, perfect if you want to take that special family shot on Christmas Eve.

The Bear PJ family are the cutest, and warmest pyjamas that you will really enjoy wearing this festive season. The children’s version have long sleeves, come in sizes right up to 13-14 and have a lovely illustration on the top, and soft tartan bottoms.

The PJS are a collaboration with children’s cancer charity Clic Sargent, and 75p from every pair bought will be donated to the charity.

A Picture Cushion From Vistaprint

An unusual gift idea for a tween or teen could be a personalised cushion from Vistaprint that incorporates a favourite photograph. This could be a piccie with their friends, or even a special photograph with a hero.

I have created a cushion for Joe with one of his football heroes, Charlie Austin of WBA, using a photograph taken at a recent signing session. This is another practical gift, perfect if your child is in the middle of a bedroom makeover, but it is also very special due to the one off nature of the gift.

Sweet Treats From Haribo

Even if you are very strict about sweet treats at all other times of the year, at Christmas, enjoying a little of the sweet stuff is a given. Haribo always have some really brilliant gift ideas at this time of the year, and this year is no exception. I love the HARIBO Hamper which is a mixture of  sweet and sour Bear Buddies, Squidgy Strawbs, Jelly Beans, Balla Stixx, Chamallows and delicious Dummies Z!NG.

HARIBO Pip Polar Bear Z!NG and Puck Penguin Gift Boxes

There are also the very cute HARIBO’s Pip Polar Bear and Puck Penguin gift boxes which are beautifully packaged for Christmas. The HARIBO Pip Polar Bear Z!NG are raspberry and blackcurrant polar bear and paw-shaped jelly pieces that make a magical addition to any Christmas list. The HARIBO Puck Penguin features an  array of jelly and foam penguin-shaped pieces in a flurry of fruity flavour combinations including peach & vanilla, blackcurrant & vanilla and strawberry & vanilla.

Beautiful Books for Christmas

I love giving books as gifts at Christmas, especially when the recipient is a child. What could be better than a gift of knowledge, especially if it is a book that parents and children can read and enjoy together.

The Natural History Puzzle book is a beautifully curated book which guides you through the history of our incredible world with hundreds of questions certain to confound and amuse children and parents alike. The themed quizzes and puzzles are a great way to spark interest on everything from ancient fossils and dinosaurs to human evolution and the natural world around us. It is the sort of book that can help alleviate boredom over the Christmas period.

For football fans what about the Harry Kane Fan Book, which is packed with stories and facts about the England striker, along with lots of colour photographs. This is a book that could work for a child who you know loves football, but you’re not sure of their team, with Harry being an England hero, this is sure to please.

For younger children, a personalised “Goes to Sleep” bedtime book could be a lovely idea, and even an aid to help your child go to sleep easier. The book has been written by George Berkowski, with beautiful illustrations by Kasia Dudziuk and has been created in partnership with ‘The Children’s Sleep Charity’. Each copy is personalised for each individual child and you can also add a photograph of your child inside the cover, along with a dedication.

The book is beautiful and bright, with really appealing illustrations and a lovely, exciting story to follow.