John Lewis Tells Us What Everyone Is Buying Each Other For Christmas This Year

We hate to break it to you, but it is officially time to start planning your Christmas presents. The store decorations are going up and the organised among us are making lists, while the rest of us scramble for a clue at what’s even cool to buy for people nowadays.

Luckily for you, we have a Christmas expert ready to guide you through every type of gift receiver – a head of Christmas (eve)n. That is, Dan Cooper, John Lewis & Partner’s head buyer for Christmas trends.

Cooper spends years planning John Lewis Christmas offerings, and with all that time comes a lot of research. This year, they were able to split gifting trends into three distinct categories – technology meets tradition, sustainable and experience gifts.

‘There’s a definite bringing together of technology and tradition,’ he tells Grazia. ‘For example the brilliant board-game kNow!, which is played with your Google Assist as the adjudicator – so they ask the questions and verify the answer. The main point is that there’s no arguments and there’s no end to the questions that can be asked, so compared to traditional board games like Trivial Pursuit where once you’ve been through the cards you might know a lot of the answers, this is infinitely updating.’

When it comes to kids gifts, this is where technology thrives in the traditional games. Tonies Toniebox is a speaker filled with audiobooks told by an interchangeable toy character that sits on top of it. ‘It’s top of my list for at least three people,’ Dan says. ‘The whole idea is that it’s something other than an iPad, it was designed by two dads trying to get there kids off their devices. You can even record your own stories onto the characters so if you’re away on a business trip, you can still read your child a story.’

And then, on the flip side, Cooper’s research has found a strong desire towards disconnecting from all technology and social media. This is what John Lewis is calling the rise of the ‘experience gift’, where you buy gifts that enable people to switch off and get back to traditional hobbies we once loved.

‘There’s a whole trend towards botanicals and house plants, making terrariums, really sort of getting your hands dirty again,’ he continued. ‘You’ve got things like school of life, and all the really beautiful stationary encouraging you to be more mindful of your life and plan your life a bit more. And then there’s a massive upsurge in artist materials as people want to get off technology and spend a bit of time actually doing something.’

And so it seems that this Christmas, we’re turning nostalgic – not least because the trend towards buying hordes of gifts each other is becoming somewhat lacklustre given the climate crisis. Sustainability is not just a buzzword, it’s a necessity in the current climate.

That’s where Dan says people are moving towards buying timeless classics as oppose to big ticket items that may go out of style soon enough. ‘People are buying well and buying thoughtfully,’ he concludes.

Check out our pick of the best Christmas gifts at John Lewis this year...