A 2023 Gift Directory
From Anavila's florist to Loewe's India leather lead, we've tracked down the hottest gifts to buy and bestow this season. Download the list as a PDF here.
From Anavila's florist to Loewe's India leather lead, we've tracked down the hottest gifts to buy and bestow this season. Download the list as a PDF here.
Petals Deas, who studied floristry at Jane Packer, London and worked as a stylist at Vogue India, has built a business out of her impeccable taste and hosting skills. Via her Velvet-een empire, you can send out the poshest petals - hand-tied and box bouquets - as well as shop ribbons, gift bags, boxes and wrapping paper printed with juicy Sicilian lemons and jumpy leopards. Now say meow and start wrapping our gifts already.
Order stationery via 9819922305, order flowers at www.velvetribbon.in, starts at Rs 150.
Years of research went into Sensing’s cozy-core “skin-smart” clothing essentials that are free of toxic dyes and chemicals (but not style); are built to be breathable, with innovative pH balanced fabric made from beechwood that’s comfortable on your skin; and best of all, they decompose into the soil once they are no longer wearable. Sensing’s Balance Capsule line of elevated essentials - we love the Pleats Please pants and solid coloured tees - for men and women fit super well, have a cute style element and feel like the hug you need this holiday season. Our favourite Sensing experience is to skip the season’s card parties, slip into a Sensing-something and host a house tequila party for Team No-Teen-Patti-Please.
Shop at www.sensingyourskin.com, 7506508474, Instagram, starts at Rs 1,799, currently 20% off on select items.
This “material exploration lab” based out of Bombay, creates a cool constellation of lamps from upcycled waste wood generated from construction sites and wood workshops. These wonder wood workers expose a cross section of plywood which is commonly hidden, resulting in lamps with sexy, sinuous patterns; see Hour Glass, Swivelling, Stretch Table and Belly lights. Our favourite is the lamp assigned with “Shy Guy” body language, bearing a cute downcast ‘face’ attached to a brass neck that can be lifted once the lamp gains confidence in your safe space.
9619824891,Instagram, starts at Rs 25,488.
Our gift to you this season is freedom from filling your beauty cart with a million things you are told you need but really don’t. Presenting brand new beauty label Refraction’s Saviour Salve, one product for literally everything: to achieve dewy skin; to banish dryness; to soothe inflammation, insect bites, minor cuts and burns, chapped lips, sunburn… the list goes on. Refraction packs this magical emollient-rich olive wax-almond-oil-shea-and-mango-butter gentleness in 100 gms amber glass jars, which are beautiful and easy to cart around. They don’t call it a Saviour salve for nothing.
To order, DM on Instagram here or Whatsapp on 8779290649, refraction.in, starts at Rs 899.
The clean-mean-glycerin team over at Purple Sage handcrafts chemical-free soaps using the cold processed method, crafting bars with pure plant based oils (sweet almond, apricot, olive) and delish ingredients that read like a breakfast menu: honey, oats, coffee grounds, chamomile tea, mango butter. Our pick - this Signature set of hand cut pink clay and coffee scrub soaps packaged in cotton paper bearing botanical illustrations. Great for personal and corporate gifting, is Purple Sage’s set of eight hotel-sized soaps (15 gms each) that allow you to sample their entire range of vegan, sulfate-free, eco-thoughtful offerings. “Each one is hand-crafted and therefore unique and beautifully flawed,” the team says, leaving us wondering whether they’re talking about soap or saps like us.
Shop at purplesage.in, 9920690311, Instagram, starts at Rs 220.
After the first time we were gifted this stack of hand stitched letter paper + envelopes, we returned to the Dear Hunt for seconds and thirds and fourths. Available in white with black stitching and black with white stitching (we love that the dark version comes with a white ink pen), it is packed in Obataimu’s trippy, soft signature tote that comes in great use for vacation packing or grocery shopping.
Shop at obataimu.com, Instagram, Rs 2,200.
It’s 8 am and an army of sexy, sustainable warriors are lining up to ask us out to dinner. We consider the offer, when we see a sensuous open-knit men’s tee and women’s halter - both named Noir - and we gladly accept when we learn that they are spun using zero-waste tech, and upcycled from overstock cotton yarn. This Dinner line from our favourite green team at No Nasties is season-appropriate, adding stylish and sustainable pieces to our wardrobes, including a soft Vanilla jumper and vest, a Buttercup tee, a wild tank and matching skirt with an ooh-la-la slit. See you at 8! You can shop online, but if you are in Goa, we highly recommend a visit to their beautiful store.
Shop at www.nonasties.in, Store Locator, 9022544986, Instagram, starts at Rs 1,999.
One way or an attar, green artisanal perfumery Naso will have you and your room smelling heavenly. Their CORPO line offers up the sexiest rose water in the wellness yard, natural attars and a trail of perfume including our favourites: Tamarind Infused in Bergamot, Sarawak Mazzo and Tabac. Meanwhile, fragrance candles, incense sticks, diffuser oils and surround scents are built with clean ingredients and mean formulations - see Black Current-Lilac and Saffron-Musk-Amber - make up the CASA collection. Those paralyzed with gifting indecision, Naso’s present sets for him and her make total scents.
Shop at www.nasoprofumi.com, 9839701577, Instagram, starts at Rs 2,000.
Everyone deserves a good shag for the holidays and Nars offers the best one. The international beauty brand by French make-up artist Francois Nars, recently landed on India’s shores, offering up, among other things, liquid air matte lipsticks that really stay while you play. This one’s a feast-y shade of pink for those who are over seeing red.
Shop online at Shoppers Stop and Sephora, also available at select offline stores, Rs 2,500.
We imagine that Zarina Hashmi’s paint brush stroked the black and white hand made paper that lovingly wraps itself around Mollis’ vegan cold processed soaps made from plant based oils, butters and clays. Unwrap these and find quietly luxurious bars in colours of whipped cream and cashmere sweaters, blushing cheeks and burning caramel. Prettier still, shop their gift sets that include, along with a soap, one artisanal candle and a beautifully shaped wax tablet. Our favourite Mollis moment: when we found out that they will re-fill your old candle jars with wax, even if they were bought from another brand.
Shop at www.shopmollis.com, 9910275161, Instagram, starts at Rs 999 gift pack of 2.
Putting the ‘fun’ in fungi is May Home & Living, which sells random but cute disco lights shaped as nine inch mushrooms. For those who aren’t looking to take a trip, they also sell regular disco balls or Silver Balls as Posh & Becks would call them.
When she isn’t suspending mammoth moons over public promenades or great big ballrooms, artist Lekha Washington also makes the chicest little objects. Like This Five Fruit Holder, for instance, a long stainless steel stand that makes each of the five fruits it holds up, look like a piece of art. Available in brushed steel, mirror and rose gold; pear with your favourite farmers’ market bounty. This Diwali, she’d also like you to look up her Pillow Light (made in collaboration with Architectural Digest India) that puts a single bulb in the middle of a silver cushion.
Award-winning Sex Educator Leeza Mangaldas’ pleasure brand Leezu’s sells the best toys in town, and their bundles make for irresistible gifts. The Dream Team for Her bundle for instance, combines their iconic Pyaari, a palm-sized aqua blue and Barbie-core pink suction + vibration massager, with Love Jelly, the ultimate water-based lube. The Dream Team for Him combines the might of their newly launched and delightfully squishy Toofaan stroker with Love Jelly, its partner in crime. You can also get all three of the above products together - a menage a trois, if you will - in a gift box titled Couples Bundle.
Shop at Leezus.com, Instagram, starts at Rs 799.
A vase that does the Padmasana is the perfect gift for your flexi-sexy friends. An Ahmedabad-based studio makes this and a series of other ceramic single flower vases, each performing a different yoga asana. We’re currently sitting in the shade of their mint green Tree Pose vase.
Vegan rolling papers with flexible filter tips are packed in pretty blush and blue boxes, fun to burn for Diwali and gift your (friend) circle.
Kaagazz.in, Instagram, Rs 555 for 32 leaves and tips.
Golden palms jut out of brass tumblers; the lips of hand blown glass cups curl downwards; while stoneware cups bring eroticism to the table. Cup-town girls and boys, pick a cool vessel from InOrdinary’s cup collectibles that are fresh off an exhibit at Subko. Here, 18 contemporary artists, makers and designers - including Tarini Sethi, Thukral & Tagra, Sukhdev Rathod - re-define the everyday, ubiquitous cup, “with the intention to challenge conventional boundaries surrounding form, function, material”. Browse the collection of re-imagined cups curated by InOrdinary’s founder Priyansha Jain here.
Browse the re-imagined cups here + other found treasures at inordinary.in, 9967099992, Instagram, starts at Rs 3,000.
Everyone's favourite glass house residents, Pallavi & Deeksha, continue to make fantastic objects under the Glass Forest dome. New for the season are Honeydew glasses with colourful 3D dots that appear to us as tumblers wearing party dresses. Also see built-like-teepees Twilight Wine Glasses that are special enough to gift and functional enough to use; as well as tactile Bubble Votive bowl-and-glass set to prevent evil from crossing over your doorstep. All glass products are crafted and hand blown by Indian artisans.
Shop at glass-forest.com, Instagram
It is neither a psychedelic version of Earth as seen from a distance, nor a 2 am Janice Wong dessert. These super sought-after spheres are jumbo bath bombs from Coral and Sky, our favourite new bath and body bosses. Full of fizz, fragrance and skin-conditioning oils & clays, these sit pretty next to Coral and Sky’s other offerings: stunning handmade soaps, balms and lotions, body scrubs and the cutest magic mist shower steamers shaped like flowers. In fact, you can buy these ‘flowers’ coupled with other Coral and Sky products as part of their super gift sets. Stay balm and carry on.
Shop at www.coralandsky.in, Instagram, starts at Rs 450 for bath bombs & Rs 1,299 for a gift set.
Our favourite pillow talk people (its parent company has been supplying bedding to leading luxury hotels for over a decade) have ventured into the home fragrance business. Their soy candles - “scentimental fragrances that feel like home” - are available as: Bombay Serenity - inspired by fresh, reflective mornings; Urban Souk - which hints at an affair between spices and lazy afternoons; and the soft and soothing Dreamscapes. Only for the festive season, Bombaybrowny is customising their candle labels for those who would like to print a paramour’s secret on it or for a corporate who likes their logo to be splashed across everything. Yes, we’re looking at you in the monogrammed socks.
At Marine Lines Mumbai, shop at bombaybrowny.com, 9920166021, Instagram, starts at Rs 999.
From restauteur to wellness warden, Tarini Mohindar, founder of Cafe Zoe, now runs Be Experiences, curating and hosting the most remarkable healing circles, dance meditation parties, guided movement missions. Now, just in time for your dark thoughts, Be presents a line of Affirmation candles, each bearing a gentle reminder that you are Worthy, Loved, Fulfilled, Healthy, Fearless, Strong, Extraordinary & Grateful. Made with 100% soy wax in recycled glass jars, top quality fragrance oils ensure that these smell divine. We love the Tupelo Honey and Pomelo, and Lily of the Valley.
To order, call 9820291964, Instagram, Rs 850.
Combining French and Indian workmanship, this studio in Pondicherry specialises in leather craft, and has worked with global brands like Loewe, Celine and Balenciaga. Follow them on Instagram to find chic limited edition leather releases like grass-green bag charms, tan-hued cannage candle holders, and woven confetti-coloured hand cuffs and baskets.
Inquiries by email only to [email protected], Instagram.
Earlier this year, Chinmayee, a books editor and brand sherpa and Shruti, founder of Nivaala, cooked up Andaaz Publishing, a service that can create a professionally edited and designed book of your family’s heirloom recipes. We love that they have a special offering this gifting season: a compact, thoughtfully-designed cookbook with 10 of your favourite family recipes, 4 pictures and a foreword, designed, edited and delivered in 2-3 weeks, at an incredible price. We like to think of this mini version as a stunning amuse bouche to their main(s) longer cook-book format. It’s kind of like that Gaggan Anand Yogurt Explosion sphere: a petite but punchy present for your pedigree.
To order, call 9560295837, email [email protected] or DM on Instagram here.
Weave it to Anjali from Blue Poppies to braid coconut leaves into the cutest baskets, giving floral arrangements a whole new form and function. We discovered her when designer Anavila sent out leaf bowls filled with loose Indian flowers like roses and marigolds to announce her new wedding collection. Besides this format, you can also order a dome-shaped basket for instance, where delicate flowers peek out of its lattice or a vase shaped leaf basket to hold long-stemmed flowers. Also delish is this dark and waxy arrangement of fashion’s favourite floral - anthuriums.
8451802277, Instagram, starts at Rs 300.
Filter coffee, snacks and spices from a Chennai family home to yours. Our favourite thing to gift is their coffee pack coupled with a brass filter coffee tumbler and saucer so you can enjoy the experience the way VS, their Thatha did.
Shop at vsmani.com, Instagram, starts at Rs 90.
You know that salty cousin you see only once a year? Or the bestie that adds namak-masala to every anecdote? We have the perfect gift for them: a gorgeous box of Ghee Roast or Masala Chai spice blend, made in small batches from age old recipes that are researched and preserved down to the last centimeter of a cardamom pod. Spiced Right also promises that these blends are free of any artificial flavourings or chemical preservatives, and made in a 100% vegetarian kitchen. So don't forget to add your non-veg-joke-telling uncle to the list.
Shop at spicedright.co, 9437023955,
They don’t mean to blow their own trumpet (mushrooms), but the showmen at the Shroomery say they grow the most fabulous mushrooms and after buying & trying, we couldn’t agree more. The stage is set here for all things shroom: high quality, chemical-free King Trumpets, white and pink oysters, shiitakes, black fungus, milky and nameko mushrooms grown at their five-acre farm near Gurgaon, and delivered fresh to doorsteps every day. Via their online store and retail partners across the country, Shroomery also sells dried versions, shroom Asian pickles, Roasted Shiitake Miso, a Bhu collaboration kombucha and a beautiful Mushroom Project zine with contributions from top chefs. Fun-guys, these.
Shop at shroomery.in, Instagram, starts at Rs 100.
One of our favourite food writers opened up her little black (berry) book to tell us where to get the best, fresh pesticide-free blueberries. Here's what we plan to do this Diwali and Christmas: get cute boxes, fill it full of berries, put bows on them and send it out. PS: They do cool, crunchy hydroponic greens as well.
Shop at seedlefarms.com, Instagram, 8591121684, Rs 500.
Camellias, wild roses and other botanicals bloom and burst in a master tea taster’s curated cups this season. Promenade through this legacy tea brand’s Diwali gift box aisle (online and in-store) to find beautiful boxes plus luxe leather cases that hold Sancha’s best specials; pick the Grand Collection, Tea Stories, Nectar Box with tea and honey, Camellia Blossom and more. In addition to top quality tea, they also sell the best entourage for your chai: infusers, spoons, pots, cups and tea cosies. We recommend a trip to their boutiques (Bandra and Kala Ghoda) where you can taste and personalise your hamper.
Shop at Sanchatea.com, boutiques in Bandra (26400840) & Kala Ghoda (40020852), Instagram, gifts start at Rs 750.
Rhine Valley hopes to “hero European artistry and traditional Indian techniques”, thus presenting small batch, preservative-free barks in sexy see-through packaging. These are studded with fruits and nuts and also available as dangerous but downright delicious snacking rochers.
Shop online and at Cococart stores, starts at Rs 400.
Few people have made mithai as exciting for us as the advertising professionals-turned-halwais over at Pistabarfi, who have mod-ed up an old family business. Last time around, we told you about their boxes of mini kaju katlis swaddled in linen fabric and slid into a slipcase created by Padma Shri awardee Gond artist Bhajju Shyam. Now, they do kaju katli molded in the shape of a chocolate bar, beautifully packaged and ready to toss into your bag. All India delivery, great for thoughtful personal + corporate gifting.
8169973967, DM @Instagram, starts at Rs 399 for a box.
The century-old Parsi Dairy Farm at Princess Street recently got a cute updated look, new products + a vending machine and their famous milk drops have been upgraded to The Great Indian Toffee and sold in a round illustrated box that’s great to gift. If you are hosting, their ice cream barfi and pink and neon kulfi popsicles are super fun to serve.
Princess Street, Marine Lines, Instagram, Rs 200.
Sweet tooths meet sweet truths at Mezmo Candy that creates treats you can trust. Founder and health coach Megha joined hands with confectionary chef Rameet (IHM, Le Cordon Bleu) to create wholesome “jellies”or gummy fruit candy that tries to be good for you; they contain real fruit pulp, no white sugar, preservatives or chemical dyes, promote gut health and get this - each adorably illustrated package claims to have as much fibre as 1 banana / 2 cups of spinach / 1 cup of avocado. bpb recommends: the Very Strawberry with its audacious kick of licorice and the puckery Tarty Lemon. We also urge you to suck on the Perky Peppermint before you kiss someone.
Shop at mezmocandy.com, 8055439773, Instagram, starts at Rs 525.
This is the hottest bean-to-bar chocolate brand to come at us in 2023, making food nerds all over India go loco for cocoa. If you are in Hyderabad, definitely visit their 10,100 sq ft Banjara Hills space that houses a karkhana, cafe, chocolate lab and classroom. Get visiting friends to bring back dark chocolate tablets topped with freeze-dried strawberries, and coconut-curry leaf bonbons; and watch their Instagram page for all-India delivery dates soon.
At Banjara Hills, Hyderabad, Instagram.
Famed French bakery and confectionery (1862), which made the pastries for Sofia Coppola’s Marie Antoinette, delivers macarons to Mumbai from its Delhi store. We’re building a box of Virgin Pina Colada, Marie Antoinette, Rose Petal and Lemon macarons; they deliver all their products except pastries and viennoiseries across India. We’re also excited to relay that Ladurée will soon be saying enchanté to Mumbai as it opens its first city store here in December.
Call 89888 88811/22/66 to request pan India delivery, Instagram, starts at Rs 235.
Bazaar India digital editor and our favourite maker of food memes, Sonal Ved’s latest book, India Local is a kitschy-cool collection of the country’s breathless list of local street food recipes. Favourite and far-away dishes are broken down and served up, and supported by travel and NatGeo photographer Karam Puri’s delicious photographs. Fun to gift to NRI cousins and friends who can’t stomach the real thing.
Shop wherever you buy your books, Rs 1,995.
Crepe Station proprietor Nicolo Morea and his partners recently launched Gutsy, sending out thick, fresh, good-for-you Greek yogurt packed into posh little glass jars. Further navel-gazing reveals that Gutsy is yummy and healthy, high on protein and available in a bunch of appealing flavours, like Very Berry, Strawberry Ripple, Mango and the latest Bircher Muesli Breakfast. Glad you went with your gut, Nicolo!
Shop via Instagram or call 9076202022, starts at Rs 150 for natural Greek yogurt.
Here’s a K-fruit to go with your giftee’s K-drama obsession. Crash landing in the space recently vacated by Foodhall in Bandra is Food Square, a gourmet store whose Korean pear box feels luxe and lush, delivering 6 aromatic sweet-tart fruits, each dressed in scalloped foam skirts. A thing of (K) beauty!
At Linking Road, Santacruz, 9833355199 for delivery, Instagram, 2,000 per kg.
Fresh off the boat from a Sicilian vacation, our favourite Flour Girl put together a pastry box made up of her Southern Italian loves: Torta Delizia (orange marmalade-filled sponge cake that wears an almond crown); Barchiglia (toasted almond frangipane tart topped with ganache); and two Sospiris (tiny lemon-scented cakes with a dewy sugar glaze). And while founder and baker Janki may not repeat this exact same combination, follow her on Instagram to drool over and order weekly limited edition boxes. We’re told that another Italian themed one will follow soon. And of course, if you are hosting, her flower-festooned cakes make for the best centrepieces.
Instagram, Rs 1,350.
An ex-sous chef at O Pedro runs the Chutney Collective which celebrates “India’s countless versions of chutneys” with the most fun versions you’ve eaten, including a Boujie Tomato, Aged Dates and Black Lime, and a built-for-summer Watermelon Komum Chundo - a sweet-sour-salty flavour bomb that they recommend you old-school sandwich between two Monaco crackers. Also a favourite - vegetarians look away - is an intense Mangalorean Prawn Pickle, a very prawn-y, granular, red-brown aromatic paste loaded with warm spices, finishing with a ripple of heat. Gift a bunch of Chutney Collective’s jars to a friend and they will find it hard to ghost (pepper) you.
WhatsApp Chutney Collective on 8355853230, or DM them on Instagram, orders must be placed two days in advance, Rs 300 for 180g of Tomato + Black garlic.
Pastry chef Heena Punwani (ex Ellipsis, The Bombay Canteen, O Pedro) is opening a new Bombay bakery soon and it’s going to be sweet! It may be presumptuous of us to list this in a Diwali list, but we’re hoping it will be a gifting option sooner than Christmas comes around. So bookmark this. If you follow Heena on Instagram, you’ll see that recipe trials are on in full swing and she will hopefully whisper her 2023 shutters-up date on social media real soon.
Opening soon, follow @tiffintales on Instagram for more.
We like to think of this “purpose-driven luxury gifting company” as the fact checkers of presents, marvelous monitors who screen labels and products to ensure that your final gift box champions socially conscious and environmentally responsible brands, as well as women-led organisations. Their Diwali line of boxes are full of multiple brands and their delicious offerings like caramel toffees from the Himalayas and kesar from Kashmir, incense cones and essential oils, organic honey and detox teas.
Shop at boxesofgoodness.in or order on WhatsApp, 9820290764, Instagram, starts at Rs 1,350, special rates for bulk orders, customisation and personalisation for 25 pieces or more.
Ever since chef Thomas Zacharias from The Locavore recommended the Black Baza Cascara to bpb, it’s become a favourite thing to gift our coffee-loving friends who frankly, need to drink less coffee. Cascara is the sun-dried skin of coffee cherries that is great to brew into a low-caffeine tea or make into a syrup for cold beverages. Although it does contain caffeine, it is about a quarter of that of coffee and jam packed with antioxidants. A hip sip for the season.
Shop at store.blackbazacoffee.com, Instagram, start at Rs 210.
Bangalore's dreamy artisanal cheese brand by chef Manu Chandra (ex Olive, Toast & Tonic, currently Lupa) is now well spread across Mumbai. Their Four Cheese Gift box which is both beautiful on the outside and brilliantly crafted on the inside, is a present we’d love to receive. Hint, hint. PS: Chef Chandra uses very very carefully sourced organic A2 milk to make cheese, which is their stand-out feature. This Begum rules!
To shop, DM on Instagram, 9731669332, starts at Rs 3,800 for 4 cheeses of 200 gms each.
New York’s iconic Magnolia bakery opens in Bandra! It may be a few seasons too late but we’d still like to carry Bradshaw a batch of Blueberry Jamboree cupcakes home to serve at a party, and save the classic Magnolia banana pudding to eat in bed after all the guests leave. Fine, we’ll share if you’re still skulking around.
Maqba Heights CTS No.F/862, Pali Road, Bandra (W), 9009166214, Instagram.
Your favourite silver-covered diamonds are blushing at the thought of seeing you soon. How sweet. An Ode To Gaia’s pink hued kaju katlis are subtly flavoured with natural rose extract; they are eggless and dairy-free and call themselves Gulaab.
Shop at anodetogaia.com, Instagram, Rs 700 for 200 gms.
Also, big love for our perennial favourite sweeties featured previously on bpb: Bombay Sweet Shop, Provenance, Parisserie, Bottega Italica, Kashmir Rare, Eighth by Anurita, Paul & Mike, Big Bear Farm, SR Foods, TwentySeven Bakehouse, Jeena Billimoria, Basque.
Don't forget to dip into our archive of super useful bpb Long Lists for recommendations on where to frolic and feast in Goa, the best home improvements to make, the hottest snaxx for your hunger and tried-and-rested beauty buys.
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