It’s that time of the year again, the time when friends start casually mentioning Christmas gifts - and you realise you need to start looking now in order to avoid last minute panic buying.
Perhaps you might want something cheap but it has to have a touch of class, for that one high-maintenance friend or relative. Brown Thomas might be the perfect place for fancy little gifts, if you’re making a six digit annual salary that is. But are there more affordable gift options in the luxury shopping destination?
We found a bunch of classy and stylish things you could get your loved ones under €5 or €10. Since they’re cheap, you can either get one small thing per person, or make a cute little hamper for someone, depending on your budget (and how close you are to them).
Read more: Where you can spend your One4All Voucher this Christmas
Gifts for under €5
Willie’s Cacao Venezuelan chocolate for €4. Comes in two flavours, Milk of the Gods and Raspberries and cream
Christmas tree ornaments. Make your gift something your friends will remember you by each year when they decorate their Christmas tree. There are options for €3 and €5.
Vanilla fudge, in a fancy and sustainable packaging for €3. Simple but with a pretentious twist, it’s the perfect snack to throw into someone’s Christmas gift bag
Christmas napkins – practical, festive-themed and only €4.95. Found in the home decor section
There are more options for under €10 in Brown Thomas that would make the perfect little gift for a friend, a relative, or a work colleague. Most of them are edibles from the Food Emporium, but giving marmalade or luxury chocolate spread has a nice ring to it. Think of all the sweet messages you can write in the accompanying Christmas card.
Gifts for under €10
Cocoa and hazelnut spread Suprema Nocciola – €8.00
Dark chocolate Gingerbread man – €6.00. Perfect for dark chocolate lovers
Fortune and Mason marmalade – €8.00. Comes in different flavours
WALLY AND WHIZ Red Reindeer gift box containing pomegrenate with dragon fruit candy – €9.00
Italian chocolate Vench’ – €8.00. Comes in a fancy heart-shaped packaging
Speaking of heart-shaped romantic presents, Charbonnel et Walker’s Milk Caramel and Sea Salt truffles come in a lovely heart-shaped box and are exactly €10.00
House of Dorchester truffles – €10.00
Mini Marshmallows Whittard for €9.00
Irish handmade nougat – €8.00
A.p. donnelly & sons traditional boiled sweets – €6. Made the traditional way, these handmade Irish sugary sweets are sure to invoke fond memories of days gone by
Other classy yet affordable stuff you can get from Brown Thomas that isn't food:
Other affordable gifts
The Little Book of Self-Care – €8.00. The perfect gift for that one friend who’s going through a break-up or just needs more self-care time in general. For the same price, you can get another book in the series, The Little Love Book, which is a heart-warming collection of uplifting quotes and practical exercises that capture the nature of love. Perhaps to be given to the heartbroken friend a few months after the self-care one, once things start looking up.
Christmas bauble for €6.00.
A set of Elf on the Shelf Christmas cards and national stamps – €10.00.
We all have friends who are obsessed with making their homes a cozy, comfortable place - or we are those friends! In either case, here are the perfect presents for them:
Small homeware gifts
Embroidered towels for €9.50
Beautiful napkin rings for €9.95
Napkins with silver snowflake embroidery for €9.50
Ortigia - fancy soap in an even fancier box for €9.95.
Christmas towels. At €10.95, they are technically slightly above our budget but are still super cute and affordable.
Most of the stuff we found were on the top floor - the Food Emporium and the general home section. There was no success in finding something affordable in the clothes or lingerie department, but this wasn’t very surprising.
Results in our quest for affordable skincare and beauty products under a tenner were almost the same. One of the employees just told us, “I don’t think there’s anything below €35 euro on this floor.” But we found something on that floor too in the end.
The skincare brand The Ordinary has lots of products under €10 so they’re worth checking out if you’re set on doing your Christmas gift shopping in Brown Thomas.
If you find yourself to be one of the last-minute shoppers later this month, that might actually work out in your favour. There’s a Christmas discount expected around Christmas week, employees told us. The only downside is that the exact dates haven’t been announced yet.
Are you doing your Christmas shopping at Brown Thomas? Or have you found any bargains yourself down the years in Dublin? Let us know in the comments below.
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