Much as I love Christmas shopping, choosing the “right” gift can be a minefield and a half.
I don’t want to waste money, I don’t want excessive plastic and most importantly, I want the recipient to genuinely love it.
For family and friends, a bit of personalisation is always a winner. However, I’ve found that some of the “famous” brand names can be 1) very expensive and 2) a bit samey-samey.
So I was genuinely surprised and delighted when Card Factory came to Mumbler to ask if we could tell our Mumblers about their brilliant (and great value) on-line offerings. The Card Factory store in Woolshops is my go-to place for birthday cards (and there is one in Brighouse in Commercial Street too), but I didn’t realise that their website offers LOADS of items that can be personalised.
We’ve also got 20% off personalised items from Card Factory for you! Get 20% off all personalised gifts when you use the code ‘XMAS20’ at basket.* (see T & C’s below)
My kids have unusual names and are always disappointed looking at stands of pens and notebooks with names on at museums. But Card Factory takes that out of the equation. It doesn’t matter how unique you name is, or how it’s spelled. You CAN have something with your name on, you can even have something with your photo on, and it will look fabulous!
At this time of year, we want to make it as quick and easy as possible to sort out Chrimbo presents (does anyone else feel like December is flying?). So we’ve made a list of our top 10 personalised gifts from Card Factory, all under £20, and all PERFECT for family, friends- or even yourself if you fancy a treat!
1. Water Bottle £12.99. An eco favourite and a fab idea for school-aged children. I’ve tried labels, pens, sharpies, you name it, to mark my kids’ water bottles in the past. But they never stay on and then inevitably get lost. There’s no way a water bottle with an uploaded photo of me and my little girl is going to accidentally go home with someone else thinking it’s theirs!
2. Personalised Stainless Steel Straws £6.99. Another brilliant, environmentally-friendly gift idea, and something that will get used time and time again. I don’t know about you, but paper straws just don’t work for me and my family, and my kids LOVE a straw in just about every drink. These make a great little stocking filler for children and come with their own cleaning brush too.
3. Travel Mug £12.99. I’ve already earmarked one of these for my mum this Christmas, and uploaded a photo of her and her grandchildren onto it. She can use it on her dog walks to keep warm – especially useful throughout the cold winter months! Great to help busy mums grab a coffee on the school run too! Another tick for those eco conscious amongst us. As an added bonus, most chain and local coffee shops offer a small discount if you bring in your own cup rather than using a disposable one. It’s a small change to make to save money and plastic.
4. Personalised Photo Cushion £14.99. A great way to capture a memory and keep it forever! We’ve just shown some of the mini-mumblers these online and one of them asked if she can get one for her best friend with a photo of them both on it. How cute is that? I’ve got a toddler, and you’d be surprised how much we take a cushion out with us! They’re ideal for long car journeys, train journeys – and great when you’re off on holiday.
5. Named Diary from £5.99. I love a slim diary – compact enough that it fits in your bag, but with plenty of room to jot down all those important dates! I find them so much easier than using my diary on a phone, and the best thing about them is they never run out of battery! In fact, I’ve noticed all my mum friends have a paper diary. So not only is it an ideal gift for a busy mum, but you can personalise it with photo uploads, and/or their names.
6. Personalised photographic calendar from £5.99. We couldn’t believe how cheap these were in the Mumbler office. Desk versions are just £5.99 and the A4 wall calendars just £7.99. These are another great way to capture several memories and would make an ideal Christmas present. You can upload your own photos and choose from three different sizes. I haven’t been in a family house that doesn’t have a calendar pinned to the kitchen wall! We all know the golden rule – if it’s not on the calendar,it doesn’t count! A must to keep any busy family on track throughout the year.
7. Personalised Tree Bauble £9.99. Christmas tree decorations are my weakness – especially if they contain a photo of my kids! I love how you can bring these out every year and reminisce about how sweet/young your little one was. You can upload a photo or simply personalise one of Card Factory’s many designs – we’ve ordered a photo upload one this year. Another great stocking filler, and an ideal gift for someone’s first Christmas!
8. Reindeer Christmas sack £6.99. Personalised with your child’s name, this lovely, soft Christmas sack is perfect for putting all sorts of presents inside! It’s 70cm x 50 cm, and will be lovely to lay out for Santa year after year!
9.Personalised Cheese Board set £19.99. This gift is perfect for the cheese lovers in your life! A heart-shaped personalised wooden cheese board, it comes with two cheese knives and a cheese fork tucked under the sliding cheese board lid. You can add two names and two messages of your choice, which are carefully engraved onto the board in a cute uppercase font. Beautiful, romantic and it will definitely be put to good use!
10. Mugs prices start from only £2.99. A great idea for your work secret santa! Card Factory has over 200 traditional and modern designs, with a wide range of personalised and non-personalised options. You can personalise with names and/or photos, and they even have mugs that change colour when they’re filled with hot water!
So there you go Mumblers – get shopping! We hope that you like our selection of beautiful gifts that are eco friendly, capture memories and are great little tradition makers!
All the items we’ve mentioned are dispatched within three working days, with most dispatched within 24 hours.
You can also get free delivery on orders over £20 at the moment (terms and conditions apply)- just look out for the free delivery code at the top of the Card Factory website.
20% off all personalised gifts when you use the code ‘XMAS20’ at basket.
Terms and conditions: Discount voucher is only valid at cardfactory.co.uk and is not valid in stores. All offer codes are applied to the value of the order excluding postage and are subject to our general terms and conditions. The offer code XMAS20 must be entered in the Voucher Code field on the basket page and applied in order for the discount to be deducted from the order. The voucher code entitles you to 20% off all personalised gifts, delivery charges apply. Offer excludes all store gifts and non-personalised gifts. Offer is valid until 11:59pm on Monday 16th December 2019. Unless stated, discounts cannot be combined and only one offer can be applied to any single order. Offers can be amended or withdrawn at any time and at the sole discretion of Card Factory.
We’re running a “Caption the Card” competition on Instagram on Monday, 9th December in conjunction with Card Factory and if you win, you will get £100 to spend on-line at Card Factory. Follow us (Calderdale Mumbler) on Instagram here and be sure to enter the competition before it closes at midnight on Friday 13th December 2019. (See T& C’s below)
Disclosure: While Card Factory has paid us so to write a blog about its products, the opinions given here are entirely our own. We’re genuinely impressed with the products on offer – so much so that I’ve just bough five items for family Chrimbo presents! I can’t tell you which ones though, in case they read my blogs 😉
Mumbler/ Card Factory “Caption the Card” Competition T & C’s
