A Christmas Gift Buying Guide to Bristol
Christmas is coming. YAAAAAAAY! In order to save you time, effort, and the embarrassment of buying presents that don't live up to your own exceptionally high standards of gifting, we've put together a Bristol-centric gift guide. Keep it local, keep it real, and keep your feet off the sofa yeah?
A session on The Wave
With construction on The Wave starting next year, you can book your place (or a loved ones) in the lineup with a 2 hour session for 100 smackers. You also get a photo gift pack so you show all your colleagues how totes gnarly you could shred and generally lark around like a poor mans Johnny Utah. There are a ton of other funding rewards too, from t-shirts to party invites. Who doesn't like a party?
Bass bass bass bass buttery biscuit bass
Correct me if I’m wrong, but Bristol isn't a major player when it comes to consumer electronics. When we do get the soldering iron out though, we like big performance from small packages (Well, I do). The Minirig packs a whopping 15 watts of power. It’s not really fair that sound doesn’t have a cooler name for it’s scale of power. Like horsepower. Let’s scrap watts. The Minirig has 15 bearpowers. Better.
Print yourself silly
With everything from quirky street photography to family portrait shoots, Le Shop is well worth a look for something that little bit different this Christmas. There are also a number of high quality prints available including some great shots of the much loved Bristol Balloon Fiesta.
Anything but socks
If you are looking for a t-shirt that stands out from the crowd then you have come to the right place. Maybe not completely stand out so much that people think you're making some kind of protest statement, but just enough for them to think - that’s a nice t-shirt, it truly is.[pullquote] "By selling top quality tees, that have been ethically made, we can raise a bunch of cash for projects that give a helping hand to people and help repair places affected by unfair fashion." [/pullquote]
And with Call of the Brave, you will actually be making a protest, against crappy working conditions. I’m talking sweatshops here, not your office copier running out of toner. The designs will only get printed when 12 or more people have pledged to buy them, which means no wastage, and also not much hope of my ‘Craig Charles leading a robot uprising’ design surfacing any time soon.
There are a number of other local t-shirt designers out there including Boodle and the bamboo-tastic Mabboo.
What a great Tshirt RT:"@SimpleLampoon: Rocking my @callofthebrave tee today. Everyone wins #WearTheChange #COTB0014 pic.twitter.com/aAwX85GijL"
— Freya Morris (@Freya_J_Morris) August 24, 2014
Booze-nanza
Get in the Christmas spirit and purchase a friend a cocktail class at Weber & Tring’s or the Milk Thistle (the latter also hosts dinner parties if you want to make it an even more extravagant evening) . Independent Spirit of Bath also offer cocktail classes and mini cocktail kits for the aspiring mixologist and although they aren’t in Bristol, they donated a prize to the recent @Bristol52 #FatherBristmas competition so are exempt from localism based lampooning. You can find a variety of local beer sets in various shops around town, in particular Wiper & True have gift packs at Grape & Grain on Glo Ro, sorry, Gloucester Road. Or maybe you could go big with a ol’ growler of beer from the team at Small Bar who have just celebrated their first year since opening! There are also mini kegs of Zero Degrees’ own delicious brews available.
Gift packs. 3 beers and a glass. Down the market.
A photo posted by Wiper & True (@wiperture) on
Epic Christmas Hamper
Source in St Nicks do bespoke hampers to order, which can range from a simple cheese and chutney package to a selection of the best local produce, including charcuterie, cakes and ciders.
Bristol is full of delis and little shops offering a fine selection of local produce; maybe mix and match some cheese and meats from No.12 Deli in Easton or get a gift voucher from Clifton’s famous Arch House Deli
Bags of Talent
Bags of character, bags of style, and made right here in Bristol are these handmade offerings from Lara Lindsay. Made to order, these are a premium product for the special lady in your life (you). Pictured is the 'Cranbrook' which I assume is named after the road in Redland. There is sensibly no offerings named after Catbrain Hill.
The Ultimate Cinematic Experience
For film fans, 20th Century Flicks on Christmas Steps have the perfect gifts – choose between a £10 gift pack which includes a voucher for 3 DVD rentals and free membership, or a voucher to use their Kino screening room to show your favourite films; it’s only £25 per movie, and can seat over 10 people – plus it’s BYO and the Cider Shop is only across the road…
Or if you are lacking inspiration of what to watch maybe buy your friend a ticket to the next Bristol Bad Film Club event – all profits go to charidee, don’t you know?
Witness the Festive Fitness
We all feel a bit heavier and groggier in the new year, so why not treat a friend to a voucher for one of Bubalu’s fitness classes, a gym induction with a personal trainer, or even a flexible mix and match fitness package? I’m particularly curious about the Showgirl Experience class on a Monday, and they do some mighty fine wraps in their café too.
