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  • The Betsy Benn Home & Gift Blog
  • Mother's Day 
    • Personalised Mother's Day Gifts
    • Mother's Day Gifts for New Mums
    • Mother's Day Gifts from Children
    • Mother's Day Gifts for Wife
    • Luxury Gifts for Mum
    • Alternative Mother's Day Flowers & Cards
    • Mother's Day Gifts for under £25
    • Mother's Day Gifts for Grandma
    • Gifts for Mum at Home
    • Gifts for Mum Out and About
    • Token Gifts for Mum
    • Pet Mum Gifts
  • Shop by Dept 
    • Best Selling Gifts
    • Art 
      • Personalised Prints
      • Quick Delivery Prints
      • Gallery Wall
      • Papercuts
      • Wooden Art
      • Velvet Art
      • Silhouettes
    • Stationery 
      • Notebooks & Journals
      • Planners
      • Greetings Cards
    • Home 
      • Key Holders
      • Cushions
      • Clocks
      • Mugs
      • Decorative Lighting
    • Accessories 
      • Keyrings
      • Travel Accessories
    • Show Me Everything!
  • Gifts by Occasion 
    • Easter
    • Father's Day
    • Mother's Day
    • Birthday 
      • 16th Birthday Gifts
      • 18th Birthday Gifts
      • 21st Birthday Gifts
      • 30th Birthday Gifts
      • 40th Birthday Gifts
      • 50th Birthday Gifts
      • 60th Birthday Gifts
    • Anniversary 
      • 1st Anniversary Gifts
      • 3rd Anniversary Gifts
      • 5th Anniversary Gifts
      • 7th Anniversary Gifts
      • 8th Anniversary Gifts
      • 10th Anniversary Gifts
      • 20th Anniversary Gifts
      • Silver Anniversary Gifts
      • Pearl Anniversary Gifts
      • Ruby Anniversary Gifts
      • Golden Anniversary Gifts
    • Weddings
    • New Baby
    • Christening
    • Graduation
    • New Home
    • Christmas 
      • Print at Home - digital downloads
      • Alternative Christmas Cards
      • Secret Santa Gifts
      • Christmas Tree Decorations
      • Baby's First Christmas
      • Christmas Gifts for Her
      • Christmas Gifts for Him
      • Christmas Gifts for Dog, Cat and Pet Lovers
      • Christmas Gifts for Teachers
      • Stocking Filler Gifts
      • Christmas Decoration Gifts
      • Christmas Gifts for the Home
      • Christmas Gifts for Travellers
      • Christmas Gifts for the Wow Factor
      • Christmas Gifts for the Organiser
      • Advent Calendars
    • Valentine's Day 
      • All Valentine's Gifts
      • Token Gifts
      • Sexy prints
  • Gifts by Person 
    • Gifts for Teachers
    • Gifts for Loved Ones
    • Gifts for Couples
    • Gifts for Pet Lovers
    • Gifts for Mum
    • Gifts for Dad
    • Gifts for Baby
    • Gifts for Children
    • Gifts for Friends
    • Gifts for Grandparents
  • Collections 
    • Botanical Gifts
    • Travel Memories
    • Maps and Coastlines
    • Sexy Prints
    • Letterbox Gifts
    • Music
    • Destination Bus Blind Prints
    • The Moon Collection
    • Photo gifts
    • Feeling Good
    • Travel Accessories
    • Staff Picks
  • Corporate Gifts 
    • Adventure Gift Box - Case Study
    • Literature Cushion Wrap Gift - Case Study
    • Bespoke Bookmark Launch Gift - Case Study
  • The Betsy Benn Home & Gift Blog

Betsy Benn Home and Gift Blog

Hello world, it's me, Betsy.

March 17, 2023

Well, hello! If we haven't met before, I'm Betsy, where have you been hiding? Or possibly, more appropriately, where have I been hiding? Spoiler, neither of us have actually been hiding, but getting seen in this world of online businesses can kind of feel like you're walking around with a Potter-esq cloak of invisibility. 

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Why do we love our travel memory prints so? Read all about it...

February 17, 2023

Our travel memories print is a like a tiny gallery in a single artwork that features iconic images from all your favourite holiday destinations or important cities and towns in the journey of your life. The print can be used as a memory board of a whole lifetime of travels and exploring, or as a record of just one amazing year of travel.

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Making ONE small change

December 29, 2022

One of my favourite mini organisation jobs for this time of year is filling out the new wall planner. All the birthdays, anniversaries, and events already booked get written in. Birthdays in ink, and events in pencil - you never know what will come along to knock an event off track, but a person's birthday is their birthday no matter what!

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Getting beautifully organised with our gorgeous paint-chip wall planner

December 29, 2022

The traditional wall planner needed some Betsy magic that's for sure. Here's how our wall planner life used to play out, tell me if this resonates. You buy what you think is a BIG wall planner. It's been beautifully designed too, so it looks great on the wall. Then you write ONE THING on a day and, *poof*, no more space for anything else on that day.

Does that sound familiar?

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Why I DIY my advent calendars

November 10, 2022

Now, if you're my age or thereabouts, you've seen the evolution of the advent calendar from a piece of card with pretty pictures behind the doors, to ones filled with chocolate (although it was crappy chocolate, but we were kids and it was still chocolate!) to significantly better chocolate ones, all the way to OMG ones that cost more than any other present I intend to buy this year.

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Making Christmas Memories - even during half term!

October 08, 2022

The autumn half-term always sneaks up on me. The summer holidays are so long and need such meticulous planning, I totally forget that six weeks later there's another break.

With the sunny days being shorter in supply and energy levels being a little lower after the return to school hours, everyone relishes the opportunity to hunker down at home and get COSY. The perfect opportunity to get creative and plan out some Christmas magic!

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How To: Destination Prints

September 28, 2022

 

How to create the perfect destination print.

The places and the spaces in between

We’ve been designing these personalised destination prints since 2010, and know exactly how to make your print look beautiful. Here are some of our top tips on how to choose the places for your artwork and how we’ll space it out to make it perfect for you.

Step one

List out your places. Take a day to let your mind remember all the places you've been, and what they meant to you. Here's a few suggestions on what to include.

  • names and birth dates of children
  • friendship groups
  • funny sayings unique to you
  • quotes / lines from favourite songs
  • international coordinates
  • meaningful dates
  • sporting venues or clubs
  • festivals & gigs
  • basically, anything that is important and meaningful to you
  •  birth town or hospital
  • road names where you’ve lived
  • schools & universities
  • favourite holidays
  • where you met, got engaged, or wedding/honeymoon location
  • places you’ve worked
  • important restaurants
  • achievements, like mountains climbed or races completed.

     

    Step two

    A lot of text, or not much text? The more characters you have per line, the busier it will look.

    This is down to personal tast and the aesthetic you'd like to achieve. Using single words/places per line will result in a cleaner look and feel. Adding details, such as a hotel name to a town you visited will allow for more variation in the text.

    Step three

    Choose a background colour. Orange is the new black (or ocean, or stiffkey, or rose, or sage, or smoke...)

    Step four

    Bask in the glory of being the best gift giver ever. Extra brownie points if you had it framed.

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    24 Genius Advent Calendar Filler Ideas for Teens to Adults

    September 23, 2022

    Rocks or crystals.

    My other half likes dragon tooth pebbles, but in fairness his pocket likes any stone that is interesting. I found a crystal shop last year that had heart-shaped stones and crystals and all sorts of other coloured and shaped rocks. Most were reasonably priced and made for a great addition to his advent calendar.

    A morning cuppa!

    I’m a big fan of breaking open the packs of individually enveloped teas – I especially love the Pukka ones and T2 – to create a nice morning treat in an advent calendar. If you want to add more then I’m also a big fan of individually wrapped biscuits like snack packs of Jammie Dodgers, Lotus biscuits, or Jaffa Cakes. This also works with different flavour coffee pods or hot chocolate sachets or the melty spoon individual portions. Mmm with hot chocolates you could even add a marshmallow!

    Mini toiletries

    There are so many around now, from the kind you get in the supermarket to go on holiday, to something more “treaty” such as the small bottles of shower gels from Molton Brown. FYI these tend to come in a box set which is perfect for splitting across your days. Last year I ordered sampler fragrances from Abercrombie and Fitch and they were all fab. Since then I have discovered Le Labo and Vilhelm Parfumerie who both sell unisex samples.

    Face masks 

    No, not those face masks - the pamper ones! The beauty of a face mask is that they tend to be single use and so they already come individually wrapped and normally in a box of three or more! I love the Spacemask ones that heat up and they are normally about £15 for 5. And the branding is all starry and I’m a sucker for great branding.

    USB Mini Disco Light

    Instant disco glow up from your laptop, PC or USB wall charge socket. SO. MUCH. FUN

    Sock it to them!

    Where do socks go to die? I seem to forever have a range of unmatched socks that live by the washing machine, waiting in vain for their lost partner until months later I end up throwing them away or making pet toys from them! Replenishing the sock drawer via the advent calendar is either going to be acceptable or not and I think the choice of socks makes a difference. Last year I found socks that featured famous works of art and they raised smiles-a-plenty, but were not that comfortable to wear if I’m honest. I’m raising the sock game with fun ones with slogans on about gaming and super lux ones of cashmere and bamboo varieties!

    Miniature bottles of their favourite tipple

    With our paper advent calendar, I pretty quickly realised that a miniature bottle of port would fit in the Father Christmas pocket – which seemed very appropriate as we always leave a glass of port out for Santa on Christmas Eve. Substitute alcohol for weird, wonderful or rarely allowed soft drinks for the teens or alcohol free folks. My small loves the San Pellegrino can drinks but we rarely have them in the house. They would be a welcome addition to his advent calendar. Or this Pokemon novelty drink which thankfully isn't brim full of sugar!

    Novelty foodie bits.

    Similar to the concept of herbs and spices with the recipe prints outs, but a bit more whacky. There’s always Christmas themed gift food around in November and December but they can be pricey for not a lot, wrapped in excess packaging and ribbon. So, I tend to buy unusual bits that I know are around all the time. I mean, check out the Gin-Chup and Gin-Mayo. Or for something sweet how about these gourmet marshmallow bundles from The Naked Marshmallow Company.  


    A personalised Christmas tree ornament.

    Yes, I’m going to plug our own products here, but a beautiful Christmas decoration is a really wonderful addition to an advent calendar. And if you add a date as well it becomes a special reminder of that year. Our Matisse Inspired Stars are new for 2022 and can be personalised with a name and a year.

    Winter wear

    So practical and so beautiful. I always think it’s a bit of a waste to wait until Christmas Day to give or receive a new woolly hat, knitted gloves or mittens. I mean it’s cold from October onwards. That’s two or three months of hat wearing opportunity right there! This is a bit bigger than your average advent gift, but so worth it. My fave bobble hat ever is from Eka Wear.


    A paperback book or a magazine

    Remember when things we read were made of paper? Yes, me too. Le sigh. Little plug now for bookshop.org. It’s the best of online shopping for books because you can nominate a local bookshop that you wish to support, they get all of the profit from the sale, and you still have the convenience of online.

    A keyring

    Yes, your person probably already has keyrings, but we have so many goddam keys these days! Bikes, sheds, lockers, so so many keys! I found one last year that matched the tattoo design my person has so it worked a treat. Or take it up a notch with these tweed ones, paired with a wooden tag that has your own handwriting on it. Or tug at the heart strings with your small ones handprint engraved on the keyring.  It’s ALLLL good. 

    Tea light candles

    Scented ones work a treat and normally come in packs so you can spread out across a few days. I love these ones by Homecrafted Candle Co. 


    Stationery items

    Who doesn’t love a nice pen or some funky post-it notes? Or pencils that say funny things - like these ones from Newton and the Apple. 
    On the same stationery theme - how about a gorgeous notebook, like these personalised notebooks from, oh look, us! (Wink) 

    Packets of seeds

    It’s really lovely to grow a plant from seed. You could go seasonal and try to grow your own Christmas tree, or opt for something a little more culinary with a fast-growing herb like basil. This grow your own herb garden gift set has a few different herbs, 

    Chocolate 

    Okay, you have to admit that it’s pretty impressive that I got all the way to 16 suggestions before I landed on chocolate. You know the kind of chocolate your person will love and what kind of chocolate you want to indulge in before breakfast, so suggestions from me are kind of redundant. A personal fave in this house though are the mini penguins or reindeer that Hotel Chocolat make. I just wrap each one in a bit of greaseproof paper before popping in the advent calendar. Or for a touch of nostalgic luxury, these gold foiled chocolate coins from Fortnum and Mason which can be spread out across the days. 

    Gingerbread, or other biscuity goodness

    Did you see our stop motion on Instagram where we filled our advent calendar with gingerbread shapes? Everything about that was fun - from making the gingerbread, playing with the animation, and eating the gingerbread! Okay, mostly eating it was the fun part. If you love to bake then Christmas gingerbread is really cool. You can get the kids involved as the dough is pretty forgiving and one batch tends to make dozens of biscuits. They will not stay fresh for 24 days so it probably can’t be the only thing in your advent calendar. Extend the life of each biscuit by wrapping in foil or grease proof paper and load the biscuits in the first few days. They can be frozen - so you could always refresh the advent calendar a few days at a time, but my December is too busy for that level of organisation! If you’re not into baking then there are lots of places to get amazing iced biscuits or you could search out individually wrapped artisan bakes. Waitrose make these individually wrapped Gingerbread men. Or you could buy an amazing set of iced cookies from The Biscuiteers. These dog ones are amazing and if you sign up to their newsletter you’ll get a handy 10% off code on your first order.

    Popcorn

    Amazing artisan popcorn makers at Popcorn shed - have this taster set of small bags of amazing flavours. Utterly delicious. 

    Tickets to something

    Something happens to time during the Christmas season. Ordinary time is out the window and there are days that seem to last 32 hours!  But we do normally get a window of opportunity to slow down and appreciate time with our loved ones. And just sometimes, a little bit of structure is a good thing, like taking time to go to the pantomime together, or the cinema, or a show at an art gallery, or one of the many illuminated forest trails that pop up in arboretums. And if it’s something you’d be doing regardless, then add it to the advent calendar! Even if it’s not a “paid for” event, why not create your own tickets for it anyway? Your time together is beyond value!

    Enamel pin badge

    Every human I know has an enamel pin badge. Maybe it’s just my echo chamber, but these small little accessories have exploded over the past few years and it seems there’s one for everybody, every topic, every occasion, and every colour scheme. For something seasonal and full of Christmas, how about this “ I believe” pin from Clary and Macy.

    Tiny Christmas Lights

    Last year I found a simple string of lights that you can plug into a USB - a really easy way to add some Christmas cheer to your workspace, or working from home space! 

    Micro magnetic beads

    A very cool desk toy but definitely not to be left around young children or inquisitive pets. These tiny magnetic balls can be shaped and piled and constructed and are really pleasing to play and fiddle with. 

    Paper Sculptures

    For the crafty ones this is a great project. There are so many different types out there and once you start looking you’ll see you can purchase completed ones, DIY kits that include the paper, or just downloadable instructions like this one on Etsy.  

    Nailed it

    A new nail varnish, or a curvy emery board, or funky nail care product of your choosing. We literally all have nails - we should all be looking after them in one way or another. And no, biting them off does not count. Also nailed it - 24 suggestions for an advent calendar for the grownups (or nearly grown up teens)

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    Planning a big milestone birthday event

    September 14, 2022

    There’s a certain expectation if you’re the spouse, child or best friend on the planet of someone who’s approaching a BIG milestone birthday. You need to make an occasion of it, possibly throw a party, definitely make it memorable and unique. And I have to tell you, the bigger that birthday number gets, the harder it can be. If for no other reason then they have been there and done that on previous birthdays!

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    Top 10 Token Gifts for Dads (perfect for Father's Day, Christmas or just because!)

    June 09, 2022

    Our Dads are unique, and quirky, and fun, and they always say they don't want anything for Father's Day! 

    The question I have to ask myself is, do they *really* not want anything for Father's Day, or do they just not want any more comedy socks?

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    Father's Day 2022 - Gifts as unique as he is.

    May 23, 2022

    Let's find something unique and meaningful together in our Father's Day collection. And, btw, if you can't see quite the thing you're looking for then do get in touch. We're the experts in creative gifts and we love a challenge.

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    The end of year gifts that teachers REALLY want.

    May 20, 2022

    As we approach the end of another school year, our thoughts turn to teacher (and teaching assistant!) thank you gifts. Choosing the perfect way to say thank you can be tricky, and sometimes time consuming, so here's what we know.

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