Christmas Gifts for Mum

Can you believe there's only 9 more shopping days until the big day?! Christmas has come around so quickly this year that I have found it difficult to get into the spirit of the holidays, even when I put the tree up which is not like me at all! However, now all of my present shopping is done, my cards are bought and written and I have all my projects planned for the season, I am looking forward to spending a week with my closest family and celebrating being together. 

Whether you want to admit it or not, gifts and presents are a huge part of Christmas, and for some the meaning of the holiday (my personal meaning of Christmas, not being a Christian, is food, family and alcohol, but we'll get to that later) and whilst some people can reel off lists of gifts they would like (I'm looking at you younger siblings), it's usually the older female figures in our lives that are awkward to buy for. Mums and grandmas around the world utter the classic line for months before Christmas - 'I don't want anything but a good day', but I think we have all heard the horror stories of from the people who took this too literally and didn't get them anything, I bet there was hell to pay!

Going off my own personal experiences with buying presents for my Mum and Nan, there are a few fail-safe presents that is guaranteed to impress even the most fussy of mothers.

Candles

I have to admit, my Mum's obsession with candles has been passed down in my blood, as both my 10 year old sister and myself don't feel settled unless the house smells wonderful and there are at least a few candles flickering. One trendy scent this season is Vanilla and Bourbon, not the biscuit, but the alcohol. Yankee Candle's Christmas range features a gorgeous sweet version in a variety of sizes. This small votive cost just £1.80, however you would need to buy a votive holder to burn the candle in, which range from around £1.50 to approximately £10.

The larger candle was a bargain. I love shopping in TK Maxx and find the homeware products to be incredible and amazing prices. This larger Vanilla and Bourbon candle came in at £4.99 and has about 50 hours of burning time. I can guarantee that our house will be smelling amazing on Christmas day, all the way up to the New Year.

Corkcicle Air

This one is a bit more unique. If your mum is a wine lover, why not treat her to a Corkcicle Air? The original Corkcicle was simply an in-bottle cooler for wine that chills to the perfect temperature, unlike an ice bucket or, more simply, the fridge. By popping the giant icicle into the freezer until it is completely frozen, you can have perfectly chilled wine each time.

The Corkcicle Air, however, is a little more high-tech. Aerating wine has been popular for years, and is most common with red wines, however, it has been proven that white wines are also improved when aerated. Gifting this gadget will guarantee restaurant-standard wines from the simplest of bottles and for just £19.99, it's a steal!

Perfume

I have never met a woman who doesn't have her favourite perfume. My mum's usual perfume is Jean Paul Gaultier's Classique EDT, however, as I am shopping on a budget this year I've had to take a cheaper route.

The Cashmere Collection set from Next includes a 30ml EDP, a solid fragrance, a gorgeous candle (can you see what I mean by obsessed?) and a 10ml handbag-friendly EDP. This perfume was discontinued from Next a few years ago for apparently no reason at all, but the look on my Mum's face when I told her that it was back in stock guaranteed that I had made the right decision in buying her this set. Let's hope she is just as thrilled on Christmas morning!

I hope you find this helpful for the more awkward people to buy for. What have you bought for your loved ones this year and what do you hope to find under the Christmas tree on the 25th? Let me know in the comments!

*I was gifted the Corkcicle Air to review, all views are my own*

5 Things I Wish I knew at 15

It's always odd when you look back at old photographs, even from just a few years ago, and realise how much has changed. With apps like Time Hop, it's so much easier to see back to your former years and see how much you have grown and changed as a person and I think it is completely important to learn lessons from how you acted in the past to shape the person you are today. We all have regrets and things we wish we knew when we were younger so here are mine.

1. Friends come and go
We spend a long time thinking the friends we have are the only friend we will ever have, it's a common high school mentality. When I left for a different college, I made a whole new group of friends, then when I left to get a job, I found even more friends, pushing out the ones who weren't going to be there for the long term. The longer you know someone, the more time they have to change and sometimes this isn't for the better. New experiences shape and mould every single person and after major life events, some people will never be the same again. This is okay because it gives you the opportunity to find those who truly care.

2. University isn't the be all and end all
I had it drummed into me from a young age that I would leave high school, do my A Levels then go off to university to do a degree. Then the real world happened and I realised I wasn't ready to move out to go to school and I seriously did not want to continue with the education system after my time in college (I even cut that short). With all the training programs and apprenticeship opportunities available to young people nowadays, it's possible to get a leg up on the career ladder before graduates and have more job experience than those who have gone to university. Yes, a degree looks and sounds brilliant during job applications, but isn't relevant work experience more important?

3. You will not find a career in history
I had my heart set on being a historian during high school. I always got the best grades, it interested me and I thought it was my calling. How wrong was I? After starting college and taking up history at a more advanced level, I completely lost interest. I was covering subjects I had already looked at and the teachers were boring, I felt like it was a complete waste of time and over a period of months I lost my passion for the subject. I wish I had taken business studies to get myself a bit more experience in the field I never even knew existed (social media for business) so I could have spent less time unemployed. But, as they say, everything happens for a reason.

4. Stop fighting for a change in your grades. That A in English Language is brilliant
I used to strive to be the best. Who am I kidding, I still do, but when I was 15, this meant I had to get the best grades and after I was promised an A* in English Language that somehow changed into an A during the marking process, I was gutted. I fought and fought for a better grade, as did my English teacher who invited the exam board in for various meetings, but the grade never got changed. It stayed with me throughout college and I thought it would hinder a lot of opportunities for me, I wasn't actually as good as I had expected. However, when I entered the world of work, I found out grades in high school didn't matter and that B in maths hasn't got me very far. I don't remember half of what to do and I've never applied half of the equations to be every day life.

5. Your family are everything, stop pushing them away
I am very close to my mum, she's been there for me through everything and always respecting my ideas and understands why I act the way I do. She is my rock, but for years I pushed her away, like most stroppy teenagers. As I grew up I realised I only have one family and after a major bust up with my extended family last year, I grew even closer to my immediate family. You lose friends, you lose lovers, but you will never lose your family and I think that is the most important lesson I have learnt over the past 4 years.

Do you have any lessons you want to teach your younger self? Let me know in the comments!

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