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5 of the best luxury items to gift this Christmas

Michael Atkinson takes a look at some luxury Christmas gift inspiration.

By Michael Atkinson   |  

With Christmas fast approaching, time is running out to decide on the best gifts for friends and family. You may even be looking for some inspiration to send as hints for what you might like to open up yourself on Christmas day.

Here’s a selection of some of the best luxury Christmas gifts available this season.

For the traveller – Chapman Cargo Range luggage

Chapman Cargo Range luggage

With travel, including international travel, back again, this Christmas could be the time to upgrade your luggage for your 2022 holiday plans. Chapman produces some beautiful luggage. Established in 1984, it makes classic, timelessly elegant, practical bags for travel. Chapman’s products are all handcrafted in their workshops in Carlisle by a dedicated team of craftspeople who have spent years honing their skills. Their commitment is to hardwearing, durable products which can last a lifetime and which never lose their sense of refinement and style.

Chapman places customer needs at the centre of their approach to product development. All their designs start with the customer – what they might need every day, for their business trip, for their weekend or their holiday, and then Chapman try and create the ideal bag or piece of luggage. 

They constantly evolve their offer and their latest range is the Cargo Range, which is a matching set of load carriers, featuring kit bags, holdalls, suit and boot carriers, stylishly available in either a navy blue or olive green. They are designed to be the perfect luggage accompaniment to a long weekend away or staycation and where you need extra space for your kit – whether that be for shooting, skiing, fishing, cricket, hockey or tennis. All the range is generous in size, enabling you stylishly throw in everything you might need for the array of activities you might be undertaking.

If you don’t quite find what you are looking for in terms of luggage needs, Chapman also provides a bespoke service and welcomes a discussion on how to design a piece of luggage to specifically address your needs.

The Cargo Range starts from £155.

chapmanmade.uk

For the chocolate lover – Montezuma’s luxury chocolate Christmas tree

Montezuma’s luxury chocolate Christmas tree

Montezuma’s is a premium British chocolate brand which supplies its chocolate in eco packaging – all its packaging is either recyclable, bio-degradable or compostable.

This year, the company has released a luxury chocolate Christmas tree, the perfect Christmas gift for the chocolate lover. The giant chocolate Christmas tree is handmade and hand decorated with gold leaf foil for the perfect sparkly Christmas touch. Made with a combination of Montezuma’s beautifully rich dark chocolate, smooth milk chocolate and creamy white chocolate and weighing a staggering 1600g, the solid chocolate Christmas tree is the equivalent to 18 of Montezuma’s regular chocolate bars.

The trees are handmade to order, individually cast and painted, so no two trees are exactly the same. Lovingly created by Montezuma’s chocolatier, these are show-stopping trees which make a spectacular centrepiece for the Christmas table or simply the perfect Christmas gift to delight the chocolate lover.

The chocolate Christmas tree is priced at £99.99. If you want a regular delivery of Montezuma’s luxury chocolate, they also offer a monthly subscription service for £21.99 a month which sees a delicious delivery of sumptuous chocolate through your letterbox.

montezumas.co.uk

For the card player – A luxury poker set from Noble Macmillan

luxury poker set from Noble Macmillan

Noble Macmillan is a quintessentially British brand which was founded in the early 1980s by Tom Dodd Noble and Adam Macmillan, the grandson of former prime minister Harold Macmillan. Originally known for luxurious photo frames and albums, the company now has a wide range of games, accessories, stationery and other luxury gifts.

All Noble Macmillan products are designed to last a lifetime, combining timeless craftmanship with modern style. They are unashamedly traditional in their approach, celebrating centuries old techniques and classic style, complementing this craftmanship with both conventional and contemporary colours and ideas.

For the card and poker player, Noble Macmillan has produced a beautiful luxury poker set to enable you to host your poker match in sophisticated style. The elegant luxury 300 chip set is hand crafted from wood and bound with calf leather, with decks of professional playing cards ready to show off to all your friends during poker night. The luxury leather poker box with soft velour interior and silver clasps and hinges comes in a number of colours – mocha, poppy and sapphire – and includes 300 clay poker chips, five poker dice and two decks of professional quality playing cards.

The Noble Macmillan luxury poker set is priced at £549.

noblemacmillan.com

For the lover of personalised gifts – Silverware from Alex Kirkwood & Son

silverware from Alex Kirkwood & Son

This deeply historic medallist and silversmith wouldn’t immediately spring to mind for luxury gifts and indeed, not many will have heard of Alex Kirkwood & Son, but this Edinburgh based business is one of Scotland’s oldest family run businesses having been established in 1826.

The company’s near 200 history is as one of the most historic medallists, luxury silversmiths and trophy makers in the world.

Over nearly two centuries, the business has made dies and struck medals for some of the rarest and greatest medals ever produced. Two of the most famous dies are the solid silver dies created for stamping the Great Seal of Scotland. The Seal is attached to official documents to confer royal assent by the reigning Monarch and is believed to date back to 1094.

The company also produced the prestigious ‘Livingstone Medal’, awarded by the Royal Scottish Geographical Society, creating the dies and striking the medals since the award’s inception. Over the years, recipients of the medal have included Sir Edmund Hillary, Sir Ranulph Fiennes, HRH The Duke of Edinburgh, Michael Palin and Sir David Attenborough.

Whilst you’re unlikely to commission a medal as a Christmas present, the company also provides beautiful hallmarked silver and gold gifts which can be personalised with the initials of the recipient or a significant date, to make them extra special.

Examples of gifts which can be personalised with initials or dates commemorating a special occasion include silver photo frames, traditional silver and gold cufflinks and crystal decanters. Hallmarked silver cufflinks start from £100.

alexkirkwood.co.uk

For the adventurer – Montane’s Apex 8000 Down Jacket

Montane’s Apex 8000 Down Jacket

Montane is a leading premium fast paced mountain sports outdoor clothing brand. All Montane kit is engineered for endurance. They specialise in innovative, lightweight, breathable clothing and equipment for endurance sports and activities in extreme environments.

For over 25 years Montane has worked closely with serious mountain professionals working in hostile conditions across the globe as a proving ground for garment design. From the British Antarctic Survey to British Mountain Rescue Teams, these professionals demand the toughest credentials from their clothing and equipment and they choose Montane.

Endurance expeditions and athletes are critical in the development of Montane’s garment designs ensuring Montane clothing is fit for purpose. From unsupported ventures to the North Pole, smash and grab route attempts on the North Face of the Eiger to high profile scientific work in the high Arctic, all of the athletes involved in these activities help Montane develop clothing that will withstand the harshest of conditions both physiologically and environmentally.

Montane has recently released the Apex 8000 Down Jacket. This is the perfect gift for the hardcore adventurer – an expedition specific down jacket for extreme environments.

Designed for use in the most extreme environments on earth, the Apex 8000 Down Jacket has been developed in conjunction with expedition leading mountaineers and tested in high altitudes of 8000m plus. The jacket is designed to be used with the Apex 8000 Down Salopettes as part of a two-piece system, which gives it versatility for use at lower altitudes or on polar expeditions. It is filled with 500g of the highest quality water-resistant goose down within a box walled construction. With the additional water resistance of PrimaLoft insulation in key areas, there is no compromise to functionality or features on this incredible piece of survival gear.

The Apex 8000 Down Jacket is £500 direct from Montane.

montane.com