A lot of people have put their Christmas decorations up incredibly early this year, understandably in need of an emergency joy injection. We’ve managed to resisted putting ours up so far (despite watching comforting Christmas movies since July) but are counting down to December 1st to go full-on festive. So we’re kicking off this year’s list with some tree decorations which will make great fillers for stockings or D.I.Y. advents calendars.
1. SET OF 4 BAMBOO GUITAR CHRISTMAS DECORATIONS, FROM £6.20, OAKDENE DESIGNS
2. DOLLY PARTON CHRISTMAS SWEATSHIRT, £16.99, TEEBLASTERS
Then, since so much of the Christmas socialising is going to be done over zoom this year, we’re sacking off dresses and sparkly footwear and making sure our Christmas jumper game is strong. This ‘Have a Holly Dolly Christmas’ one (available in red, green and black) is a favourite.
3. DOLLY PARTON, SONGTELLER: MY LIFE IN LYRICS, FROM £25, ALL GOOD BOOKSHOPS
Speaking of Dolly, her new co-written book, features lyrics to 175 of her songs and interweaves biography to include the stories behind some of the best songs every written, with the bonus of intimate personal photos.
4. THE STORY OF COUNTRY BOARD BOOK, £7, ALL GOOD BOOKSHOPS
While the grownups are reading about the country queen, why should the babies miss out? We’re training all our friends’ kids early by gifting this Story of Country picture book, introducing them to singers from Johnny Cash to Carrie Underwood.
5. CHILDREN’S COWBOY PRINT PYJAMA SET, FROM £19.60, CATH KIDSTON
For bigger kids, we are incredibly jealous this Cath Kidston cowboy print pyjama set is only available for ages 1-10. The print is also available on kids products, like wellies and a backpack.
6. COWBOY BOOT SLIPPERS, £22, LAZYONE
Fortunately, these cowboy boot slippers are available for all ages and will probably get lots of use in the new year, whether watching live streams or working from home. You can get these pink or blue ones by LazyOne in a few colours and from various online shops. Our preferred stockists Country 2 Western, owned by fellow country music fans have temporarily sold out, but do currently have this festive red and black rhinestoned pair for £16.
7. BEARD FACE COVERING, FROM £11. CHRIS STAPLETON
While we’re on the theme of lockdown chic, Chris Stapleton wins the lockdown merch prize for these buffs/face coverings, which will temporarily give you his signature beard. Little warning, they do ship internationally, but with current postal there’s no guarantee this one will get here in time for Christmas Day.
8. COCKTAIL DELIVERY BOX, FROM £19.50, NIO
Next, if Chris has got you thinking of Tennessee Whiskey, luckily cocktails are apparently the new flowers. Send your Tier 3 friends some Christmas cheer with a delivery of letterbox cocktails. You pick the drinks from a list of classics which includes country-song-worthy options like an Old-fashioned or a Margarita.
9. ‘HORSING AROUND’ UMBRELLA, £14, ETSY
The next months will involve a lot more outdoor socialising than a British winter usually calls for. So we’ve chosen this scenic horse umbrella as a cheap and cheerful way to swap drizzly grey skies for Montana-style Big Skies.
10. COUNTRY FESTIVAL GIFT CARD, FROM £10, THE LONG ROAD
To remind us that there WILL be live music and events again, we think these The Long Road gift cards toward tickets for one of the best UK country music festivals are a great idea. They’re instantly downloadable and available until 24th December. Just check your country fan hasn’t already got tickets for Leicestershire’s The Long Road festival, since ones for last year’s postponed event will be carried over to September 2021.
11. STETSON TRUCKER CAPS, FROM £35, STETSON EUROPE
While we’ve got to wait a while for things like In Real Life festivals, we obviously have a duty to spend our time researching what we might wear when said festivals resume. As much as we hate to admit it, a 10-gallon Stetson isn’t appropriate for every occasion. So we’re loving the range of Stetson trucker caps for those times when your fancy hat’s better left at home.
12. SCREEN-PRINT DESIGN T-SHIRTS, FROM £20, MORWENNA FARRELL
Finally, earlier this year CJ was given a beautifully framed screen print by Morwenna Farrell as a birthday present and since then we’ve been obsessing over the variety of this Norwich based artist’s unisex 70s style cowgirl t-shirt designs.
We hope some of these end up under your tree. Plus many of the gifts we’ve spoken about in previous years, like the beloved whiskey baubles, are still available, so check out the earlier gift guides for more ideas.
Now, just to figure out who/where/how to spend Christmas…
Brits in Boots 