57 Ideas for Advent Calendar Gifts - not sponsored by Heinz!

Advent calendars! There’s so much love in our house for the December countdown to Christmas and I have made SO many advent calendars for kids, friends and my very lucky other half that I’ve lost count.

A massive part of the attraction of an advent calendar that you create yourself, is that you can fill it with exactly what you want, things you know the person opening it will appreciate. Which is perfect if you don’t want your small one to be eating chocolate for breakfast every morning in December (same rules don’t apply to Mum or Dad though, right!)

If you want some inspiration on what to fill your advent calendar with, I’ve compiled some of my favourite ideas and thought starters below. Some are free, some are budget friendly, and some are more expensive so feel free to mix it up and use whatever is helpful. I’ve kept most of my suggestions to the smaller sized items that might work with either our paper advent calendar or our bespoke wooden initial advent calendar. But if you want to go BIG my friend, then you go for it!

I’m also trying to support as many other indie businesses as possible so where there are specific suggestions I’ve added links to their products.

For ease of reading I’m going to split the suggestions into “Teens to Adults” and “Primary Schoolers” but please keep in mind your own audience as you know them best. If you’ve got this far, you might as well read all the suggestions because lots of them work across the ages. Yay – let’s rock n roll.

Something free every day!

Actually, let’s start with free ideas that work across the generations. These could be a part of the advent calendar every day, or just popped into a few days – but they are very low cost, basically free ideas for a bit of fun.

1. One of my absolute favourite advent calendars that I made for Ben a couple of years ago included a small photograph each day. Either just him, or him with a friend or relative. And on the back of the photograph I wrote what the memory was of that day and he absolutely loved it. I think he was just coming up to 13 and he really enjoyed seeing pictures of him as a three-year-old and reliving days out or funny moments. After Christmas, he kept all the photos in his bedroom so I know he really did love it! Of course, there was chocolate in each day too – what can I say, my battle against chocolate for brekkie didn’t last long. But he's asked for photos again this year so, WINNING!
2. When we designed our balloon advent calendars we created a printout sheet of 24 Christmas jokes to be added inside each balloon. It’s easier than you think to put things inside a balloon before you blow it up. With the jokes for example, we printed long strips of paper which you then roll around the end of a pencil to create a small paper tube, which is very easy to then drop into a balloon or any make it yourself advent calendar. If your advent calendar has more space then you can upscale your jokes accordingly!
3. Pressed flowers and leaves. Did you know you can speed up the pressing and drying process of flowers in the microwave?!?! Well, me neither until I looked it up and now you do too. Maybe think about giving a glass picture frame as a gift on Christmas Day so the flower recipient has a cool crafty project to complete at the end of advent. 
4. Recipes – if you have a budding chef, printing out interesting recipes from the internet could be a cool and cheap way to spice up your December mealtimes. If you’re running with the theme then maybe add spices or dried ingredients into the advent calendar.
5. Pebbles – my husband collects pebbles that look like dragons’ teeth (you know what dragon’s teeth look like, of course.) He always keeps one or two in his pocket like some kind of fiddle toy. Anytime we’re on a beach I’m on the search for a pebble that will work in his advent calendar. So, it might sound like a cheeky advent gift, but I know he’ll appreciate the fact that I’ve thought about him in the summer and kept something safe until December – sometimes it really is the little things.
6. Comic strips cut from the newspaper – if you still get newspapers. Or hunt them down from a friendly neighbours recycling box. My Gen Z teen is amused by the novelty of a tiny comic strip. For a small outlay you could set about any old comic from eBay or a charity shop with a pair of scissors for a small dose of the smiles each day.
7. Recycled things from your own toy box – okay this one might only work with the younger kiddos but I have no shame in admitting that I used to pick a few Lego minifigs out of Ben’s existing collection and pop them in his advent calendar. Score one for Mumma!
8. A Spotify playlist. Did you know you can create a Spotify playlist and create a special code that is scannable from your phone? It then opens the playlist straight away and it’s kind of the 2020s version of the mixtape. To pull up a Spotify Code, just tap the “three dots” button on the right side of the screen while playing a song, or looking at an artist or playlist. To scan one, go to the search bar, tap the camera icon then hover the camera over a code on a phone, computer screen or printout.

So, you get the idea on add ins to your advent calendar that are free or really low cost. You can make those bits super specific for your person. Now, let’s spend a little!

Suggestions for the teens to adults (but read through because some will work for any age)

1. Rocks or crystals. I already mentioned that 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. 
2. 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!
3. 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. I’ve ordered these sampler fragrances from Abercrombie and Fitch (shh – don’t tell my family) 
4. 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. Then I found these by Health&Her which are really similar and a bit cheaper. 
5. 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!
6. 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 had better be the non-alcoholic version of champagne for the price of nearly £3 per can! 
7. 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.  
8. 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 Starry Wolf Tree Ornaments are new for 2021 and come in a variety of colours.  
9. 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.
10. 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.
11. 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. 
12. 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. 
13. 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. 
14. On the same stationery theme - how about a gorgeous notebook, like these personalised notebooks from, oh look, us! (Wink) 
15. 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, 
16. 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. 
17. 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. 

18. Popcorn - amazing artisan popcorn makers at Popcorn shed - have this taster set of small bags of amazing flavours. Utterly delicious. 
19. 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!
20. 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. And man you can go niche - one of my faves is this Copper Boom pin  which takes it’s inspiration from one conversation on the show The Gilmore Girls. And for something seasonal and full of Christmas, how about this “ I believe” pin from Clary and Macy. 
21. 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! 
22. 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. 
23. 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.  
24. 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)

Suggestions for Primary School age children, adapt as necessary.

1. Lego mini figures - new ones this time ;-) These little plastic people were a cast iron guaranteed hit with my small one from age 3 to, well, now quite honestly (15) 
2. I’ve heard the same said about Sylvain Families and Playmobile people - and no that’s not cheating listing them as separate things. They are completely, totally and utterly different!
3. Tiny, themed rubbers. To be honest they are almost completely useless as pencil mark erasers. But they come in cute animal shapes like blue whales and elephants and are kind of adorable. And really anything that encourages the smalls to be creative and pick up a pencil is good, right?!
4. Stickers! Oh man, when I was small, we used to collect stickers and put them in a photo album like the most amazing treasures. Highly prized were the smelly ones, padded ones (weird) and glittery ones. We’d agree swaps in the playground and everything. Whilst they may not have quite the currency they once did, small ones are still obsessed with them. You can go with character stickers if you like but why not just get a massive batch of metallic star stickers, wrap a few gifts in plain Kraft paper and set the small one loose with the sheet of stars?
5. Bath crayons. What’s not to love about getting creative with painty crayons and immediately becoming clean because you’re already in the bath? Nothing. Except possibly the purple tide mark left ON the bath - Pah, that’s what spring cleaning is for.  Another fun thing to do in the bath is blow bubbles so a small bottle of bubbles will be an inspired add to the advent calendar.
6. Finger torches. Oh, these were such a huge hit! Seriously good fun and because the pack is normally a pack of four, you can split them out across a few days. 
7. Staying with torches, you can’t fail to impress a small person with a torch beanie hat. You might go blind with them constantly running up to you and standing in your face, but their smile is more than worth minor ocular damage. 
8. Colouring In stuff. I’ve grouped this together because honestly it depends what age your small is at. These gorgeous, shaped crayons from Crayon Box are beautiful, and again in a handy pack so can be split across some days. But if you trust your kiddo with something like Sharpies, highlighter pens, art pencils, watercolours, paint pens - the list is practically empty. If you can go with Sharpies then also buy them some plain white converse style shoes as part of their Christmas gift and get them customising their own footwear. This is great at any age from 6-16 to be fair! 
9. Back in my day balloons were either lightbulb shaped, or sausage shaped and impossible to blow up. There were none of these heart shaped ones, or ones that make letters, or anything that had an integral light - but they all exist now. And kids love them just as much as plain ones - especially if you add uncooked rice and make a noisy balloon - which you will regret about 32 seconds after you do it, but it’s an option!
10. Glow Sticks. You know the ones that you snap and they glow! Just two and a connector will make a bracelet, and they normally come in packs of 10 or 20 so you’re good for a few days. Also, from previous experience, the stuff on the inside is nontoxic and it’s really not a problem if your small one chews the end off and starts glowing around the mouth. But, still, check the label, yeah?
11. Origami squares and some simple instructions. You can either buy a premade origami kit or you can cut your own square paper and get some instructions from the great and almighty internet. Keep the models age appropriate or you’ll end up doing all the work. Small origami stars are a great option for slightly older kids and they use strips of paper that you can purchase in packs. 
12. Balloon animals. Yes, this also deserves its own category because they are different from straight up balloons. For a start you need a pump - unless you have Olympic style breathing skills. For younger kids you could provide the balloon and the picture and an adult in the house becomes responsible for making the animal magically appear, or older kids might enjoy the challenge of creating their own. Like riding a bike, once you know how to make a balloon dog, you’ll never forget and it’s an awesome party trick.
13. Bath bombs - especially from Lush. They come in great shapes and colours (Santa’s and snowmen at Christmas time!) and make bath times a bit more fun. 
14. Plasticine! Move over playdoh, this modelling clay from my childhood is better than you in so many ways. For a start, Morph! And it doesn’t matter if you leave it out overnight, because it doesn’t dry out so much. And the finesse you can achieve in your model making…! You don’t have to be Nick Parks to make some really great characters. 
15. Plantable paper stars! What a way to get the smalls interested in gardening. These from Ruby and Bo are a much better idea than cress seeds in a hollowed out eggshell which was my childhood version! You can of course go straight to a seed packet if you’d prefer. Make it a herb or a salad thing and they can taste it. Not cress, cress is gross and put all eighties kids off salad for at least 15 years - even if it does grow quickly.
16. A comic. We all need something colourful and easy to absorb and it doesn’t feel like a reading exercise from school when there are so many fun pictures. Added bonus if there is a free gift on the front.
17. Paper chains. The easiest of decorations and so satisfying. Your small might do three links and then leave you to it, or three hundred and cover the whole house. The fun is in finding out! Love these bright ones from Baker Ross. 
18. Sock puppet. You remember that graveyard of socks by the tumble-dryer? Time to reincarnate one of them. It’s up to you if you want to include a sock and all the bits to have your small one MAKE a sock puppet, or whether you get creative with the glue gun and give them a finished article. Felt ears and a button nose are essential.
19. Kinder Egg. Or any kinder chocolate really. I don’t know why but their branding has really worked on me as a parent and I happily bought Kinder chocs for my small one. The eggs are great because of the treat, but if you want to minimise the sea of plastic washing into your house then I loved the little bars of kinder chocolate that also had a bit of cereal in them - like it was somehow a bit healthier? Yeah, I know!
20. A chapstick or lip salve. All kids love these, all of ‘em. And it is winter, it won’t do them any harm to be adding a bit of moisture to their lips. Opt for a flavoured or coloured one if you like.
21. Pokemon cards, or footie cards or whatever card they are in to. You could even get a pack of Top Trumps and fill each day with some crucial stats about dinosaurs, racing cars, whatever fills their little hearts with joy. Our local police force made their own version of top trumps all about their police dogs and my small was OBSESSED.
22. Folded paper dolls. Is this a lost art? It’s been literally decades since I’ve seen any. But some simple paper decorations, with little bits to decorate them, make for a fun morning.
23. Smart Putty. Not for unsupervised fun with the very young and even (ahem) some teens who absent mindedly leave the putty on the sofa for it to melt into the fabric of a cushion and give a certain mother an interesting day of soaking said cushion in vodka to remove the goo! All that aside, smart putty is a really great thing for anyone who loves to fiddle all the time. 
24. Magnetic letters /words/fridge poetry. Here’s a great one that you can tailor to the age of the child. Letters for the very young, key stage packs of words for KS1 and KS2  and actual Fridge Poetry for older ones (even adults like this one.) 
25. If you need one more and haven’t ventured into the world of exploding kittens then all I can say is “you’re welcome”. Quite simply the best card game that you can play with your smalls and I bet you’ll be challenging your partner to a few rounds after getting hooked. Also now available as a download for your phone. https://www.explodingkittens.com/

And just a word about shopping small and supporting your local economy. As this is a blog post we really had to link to online places where you can purchase these suggestions!  Not a single one of these links though, takes you to an Amazon page. Yes, a lot of small businesses also sell on Amazon, but that will not be the ONLY place they sell and you can support them by finding their own webshop, or sourcing any of these items in physical shops local to you. You might even be able to find some of these suggestions in local charity shops. Be creative and your advent calendar becomes a much bigger gift!

If every adult in the UK spent £1 a day with a small business, it would add £12billion to local economies. And what a gift that would be to all of us!

Hello October, we've been expecting you! I have to say the start of quarter four has me a little buzzing.

The last three months of the year are always our busiest (we do about half our years' orders in those three months) so we wait for October to arrive with an equal mix of excitement and trepidation. We plan as much as we can but we'll never know exactly how it will go.

This week has seen Team Betsy doing a final sweep of stock levels, product descriptions, and emergency snack rations. You'll be relieved to hear there are plenty of snacks! So, come on Christmas, what have you got in store for us?

Have a wonderful weekend, and maybe check on your own snack stash. Is it too soon for the mince pies?

It's rare that I get a moment to pause and pick up an actual paintbrush, but that rare moment happened this week and I painted this guy. The original plan was to draw him on my iPad, but my favourite adobe programme wasn't working so out came the watercolours. 
He's destined to feature on a new Christmas tree decoration that we're launching later this month. You can watch a timelapse of me painting him here.

Do you paint? Or do anything else crafty that you don't always have time for but absolutely love when you do it? Maybe you can carve out some time for it this weekend - it really is great for the soul.

Here's one from the archives that I absolutely adore; our first laser-cut Christmas card. When I doodled the design I thought it would look so smart with the word HO, repeated three times. At the back is the empty space of HO, then the cutout, standing-up letters of HO, and then the drop shadow of HO. Ho Ho Ho (Merry Christmas) 

I keep toying with the idea of refreshing the design and running off a limited edition. What do you think? Would this float your Christmas boat? Drop me a line and let me know if that's something you'd be interested in.

I think we had the last sort-of-summer day in the magical surrounds of North Devon visiting friends who have just moved there. By the time we got home, it was definitely dresses away and jumpers out. It was so beautiful, just check out that sky! 

Ben even had a spur of the moment surf lesson from Ollie. The water was amazingly warm but I think he was still pleased that we hired a wetsuit. Just look at Willow trying to get in on the action - daft woofer. xxx

What a magical week this has been with both the Autumn equinox on Tuesday and the most beautiful Harvest Moon the following night. Each morning has been filled with gentle sunshine, illuminating the suddenly heavier dew and the many, many webs in my garden!

It's prompted a little Autumn Clean in my world - like a Spring Clean but on the opposite side of the calendar - and I've actually tidied my workstations, both in the studio and at home. I'm sure this will now induce a week of me not being able to find anything because I have "put it somewhere safe" but on the surface at least I feel very organised!

Have you felt the shift into a new season?

Sending you the very best of Friday vibes as always, and have a wonderful weekend whatever you have planned.

It's thirty years to the day that Nirvana's Nevermind was released, and to celebrate BBC6 Music are playing ONLY songs from 1991 all day. I'm not sure if this is going to make me feel old or like a 17-year-old again, but either way, I'm totally on board! I might even dig out my old flannel shirt and DMs - yes I was THAT stylish. 

Stop motion has become my latest love! Initially driven by those pesky algorithms that say that video content gets more views on social platforms than still images, but now I'm kind of addicted. I keep thinking of new ways to show a product or a feature and seem to have about a dozen ideas in my head at once. My skills are trying to catch up to my imagination, though I still forget some basics like keeping props still! 

Here are some stills from my latest stop motion for one of our notebooks. 

The last image is my very basic setup to hold my camera phone still, and directly overhead of my "image zone" - it's been unbelievably useful. Then I edit everything in Video Editor which most PCs come with as standard and Bob's Your Uncle!  Watch the final video here! I'd love to hear what you think.

Apart from one very wonderful catchup with some old school friends in Northampton, I've mostly been sticking close to home the past couple of weeks. My knee has healed enough to be able to join Andy and Willow on the daily walks at Crickley Hill and I can't believe how quickly it seems to have switched to Autumn! It's only been four weeks but the sun is setting lower and earlier, and the bright purple thistles have changed to their silvery, skeletal selves.

I'm ready for it to be Autumn, I think. The days still feel long enough to achieve the things but the slight nip in the air is kind of thrilling - just me?

Welcome to Anthology 03!

As I type I'm recovering quite nicely from a little knee op with the assistance of a well-poofed corner sofa, a mug of soup, and a fresh loaf of sourdough from local deli, Bakers and Graze. Turns out it really is the little things that we turn to for comfort!

I hope your weekend is looking restful/adventurous/full of family and friends* and here in Cheltenham we have NO RAIN forecast for the whole of the Bank Holiday! Some of my recoup hours might be in the garden.

(*delete as required ;-)

Last Friday was all about Christmas with a long and hectic photoshoot with business pals Lola And Blake and the marvellous Felt So Good.

Our friends at Dawn Nurseries cut three Christmas trees for us - and yes we did get some odd looks at the recycling centre afterwards - and we had 19 different models of varying ages arrive throughout the day across six room sets as well as some outdoor shots. 

Our amazing photographer, Laura, captured some really beautiful images a few of which are below. We were all on hand with our own cameras too, taking the odd bit of video as well so you'll definitely see those crop up in stories.

Thanks so much to everyone involved, especially Harriet, who turned over her beautiful house to us for the day! If you're a fellow small biz owner then I highly recommend teaming up with other local businesses for shoots like this.  

Well, we didn't go to Italy! Like many, our international travel plans are temporarily on pause, but I know how much we'll love it and appreciate it even more when we do eventually get to return.

Instead, we decided to spend a few days in Brighton. We've been before but only as a fleeting visit and always with a course to attend, or friends to visit, which didn't really leave much time for a mooch and a wander. That's the best part of going to new places isn't it? The mooching!

We had a lovely wander around The Lanes, and found the Record Store Day release of Alive by Pearl Jam in a local record shop, Cult Hero, which made my day! And I couldn't go past Cass Arts without stopping in and geeking out over the paints and pastels. I had to take a photo of their noticeboard. I call it "How Artists do Business Cards" ;-)

Are you planning any holidays at the moment? 

My sofa day today is heavily punctuated by cuppas, which got me thinking about our first mug designs from 2012. 

We'd never really thought about making mugs, or anything other than art prints to be honest, when Scottish-based mug company, McLaggan Smith, approached us about turning one of our Union Jack prints into a mug design. Of course, I thought it would be a bit weird only having one mug so I designed another one to go with it, inspired by my lifelong love of dunking a biccie in a cup of tea. 

I'd completely forgotten until I looked it up just now that the mug went through a few design changes. Originally, I'd wanted it to be a full colourful rainbow of stripes. However, mug printing is not as straightforward as I thought and the professionals recommended sticking to a range of five colours, and preferably not featuring pink (apparently pink is notoriously difficult for consistency!)

From left to right we have the initial concept, the first redesign, and then the final version. Yellow was too difficult to read and again a bit tricky with the consistency issue. And we had to lose one biscuit to size it all better, so shortcakes bit the dust.

Without a doubt, the best part of the development process was sitting with a stopwatch, a hot cup of tea and a pile of my favourite biscuits to see how long each would dunk for! 

I love how they turned out and it's still my favourite mug to use at home. 

And a very good Friday afternoon to you!

Did you get a fleeting week of sunshine last month, and then poof, it disappeared? Us too.

Honestly, it feels less odd to be thinking about Christmas when it's raining outside (and Christmas is our main focus now!) but it would be nice to see a few more hot days before we admit that summer is on its way out.

If you happen to be in London, or heading there over the summer, I found a weatherproof, soulful way to spend an hour in the shape of an immersive Van Gogh Experience. 

Not to confuse you, but there are currently TWO different Van Gogh experiences in London. I guess that's what happens when no-one owns the exclusive rights to his images! 

The one I went to was Van Gogh Alive in Kensington Gardens - just opposite the Royal Albert Hall. It's there until September when it moves on to Manchester and I can thoroughly vouch for the quality of the pastries and hot chocolates in the garden cafe afterward!

Lightly animated and set to music, his most famous works of art are supersized and projected all around you. The way he saw the world takes my breath away.

It's suitable for all ages and my top tip is to try and go in the first or second slot of the morning. It's slightly cheaper and much quieter than later in the day. 

   

  

Well, hello friend!

Welcome to the very first in our Anthology series of emails, I'm so pleased you're here.

What's this Anthology all about then?

Well, you'll have seen emails from us before when we launch new products, or we have a promotion coming up, but this one is a bit different. We're throwing back the covers on just what it is we're up to every couple of weeks.

What we're listening to, where we've been, what we're celebrating, what we're pondering on - and asking you what you're up to as well.

So, grab a cuppa, maybe a biccie too, and let's get cosy.

If I whisper the word Christmas would you mind? Fab! I knew you'd be on board. 

Since we bought the new big printer (affectionately named Cookie Monster, because we name all our printers after Sesame Street characters and because he is blue and HUGE) my mind has been racing with ideas on how to add colour to all our products, but especially Christmas tree decorations. I also have a little bit of a thing about adding birds to my Christmas tree, so naturally, a bird-themed Christmas tree ornament is in development. 

We're thinking of a gilded birdcage and varying numbers of birds to represent family members.

The colours by the way just absolutely pop on Cookie! Cobalt blues and peachy pinks - yum.

I can't wait to try and take photos of them soon, if I can find a Christmas tree.... and possibly make some mince pies, maybe a bit of gingerbread, just to get in the right headspace of course.

June has been all about #CampaignShopIndependent and we've been supporting Holly Tucker and her team at Holly&Co in getting the word out. The Holly&Co team even hit the road on this beautiful double-decker bus and asked us to create a bespoke bus blind destination print to capture all the places the bus stopped.

We went along to the ribbon cutting at Catherine Colebrook's awesome new shop - the Department Of Hope, Joy & Wonder - to hand over the bus blind to Holly and to do a bit of independent shopping of course.

Shopping small and shopping locally keeps local businesses alive and thriving. If you want that wonderful bookstore to keep hosting read-along nights, or you want that local cafe to keep making the brownies you love, or you want the country pub to be open for the Sunday dinner you want to take your brother to when he visits, then you have to use them or risk losing them.

Today is #ShopIndependentDay so consider voting with your money and support an indie business or creative if you can! They will LOVE you for it.

I'm surrounded by notebooks as I type (and in life in general to be fair) but my favourite is always the current doodle book. Here is where I sketch out the bud of an idea from my head that might one day make it to becoming a product.

Sometimes, it's a really hasty sketch like I'm trying to catch the butterfly of a thought before it flies away. Occasionally, it will be a perfect vision already fully formed so I can transfer it to paper more neatly.

I always then fly it past the rest of the team to see if they like it, or can add to it, or even think it's possible - some of the things my brain thinks we can do, the laws of physics haven't quite caught up with yet!

I love looking back through the doodlers and here's a great example of the initial idea to finished product from way back in 2015.

I had absolutely no idea how to create a paper advent calendar that would hang like a garland,  or even how to suspend each shape, I just knew it would look stunning when finished.

Beautifully photographed here by the splendid Yeshen Venema, a whizz with a camera based in Islington. 

Three elements of the perfect personalised notebook.

We had a baby! Okay, not an actual human baby, but each time we launch a new product that we have poured our heart and souls into, that has been in development for, well, nine months, that we can't stop looking at because we're a little in love with it... it does sort of feel like we've had a new baby!

We're beaming like some kind of proud parents, can we introduce you to our new creation?

If you're anything like us then a good notebook is definitely something to get excited over! The humble notebook is to so intrinsic to our daily life. There's something so alluring about a great personalised notebook, despite the very handy notes functions on our phones, or a well thought out Trello board!

Perfect for doodling, or ideas on the hop, or writing down your thoughts at the end of a long day, or planning your next business dreams, or keeping memories safe of your growing babies or your exciting travel adventure. You can stick pictures in a notebook, or press a wildflower between its pages, or spray it with the scent you wore that day. Try doing that on a phone!

Are you ready to dive deep into the world of Betsy Benn notebooks - it'll be a beautiful journey I promise.

Our Favourite Things About Notebooks

Let's start with the heart and soul of a notebook; the paper.

Have you ever chosen beautiful correspondence paper? Or maybe been given paper by your mother to send a thank you letter after Christmas? Can you remember holding that paper in your hand and how comforting the thickness was, how something fragile could feel robust at the same time? This was the memory and the sensation we took with us when choosing paper for the inside of our luxury notebooks.

So, when you open our notebooks you'll find 160 pages of pale ivory 100gsm paper. We tested eight different types of pen on our paper samples to ensure that the one you love to write with will settle beautifully on the paper.

After a poll on our Instagram stories (thank you so much for taking part!) we went with lined paper over blank. Blank is great for sketching and doodles and we know some people prefer that (yes, even Betsy herself) so we specified feint lines to achieve a great compromise for the doodlers! And those lines, they're not too close together - your words need space my friend.

We weren't quite done there with the paper. We wanted to add some extra beauty so we ensured the corners were rounded and we coloured the edge of the paper to match the cover of the book. I don't know why such a simple addition makes an enormous difference but it does. A little bit like adding lemon zested buttercream to a Victoria sponge cake, not entirely necessary but oh wow does add it a zing!

When we thought about how you might use this notebook our list was almost endless. There were the ordinary lists and everyday reminders that you just need to write down to keep track. There were the sublime moments in life like planning a travel journey and researching all the places you wanted to stay. Or the simple but soulful process of keeping a diary. However you want to use your notebook, we decided it would definitely be beneficial to have a ribbon place marker, which of course has been dyed to match the cover of the book.

The big "thing" that a notebook has over any electronic way of keeping notes is just how wonderfully tactile a real book is. When you pick up a Betsy Benn notebook we wanted you to adore it a little. To just keep stroking the cover, your finger tracing the engraved details, and be rewarded with the pleasure area in your brain firing all over the place. 

We're utterly delighted with the vegan PU leather covers that we sourced. Each book looks and feels like it's covered in a high quality leather, but no animals were harmed in the making of these books. Wonderful products should be wonderful for the planet too, don't you think?  

And then, we were thrown a curve ball! The company that makes our books offers both hardback and softback covers. We loved both, but we plumped for the softback covers because they were a little more individual, stood out from the crowd, and just felt more us. So, why do we have both hardback and softback books now available on the website? We could spin some kind of customer choice story here, but honestly, there was a communication issue somewhere along the line and hardback notebooks were made instead of softback notebooks. And this was only realised on the day they were due to leave the factory - potential nightmare scenario! 

We had the email confirming that we'd ordered softback notebooks so we didn't need to accept delivery of them and could've asked the factory to scrap them all and start again with the correct order - but that felt so wrong. They were perfect notebooks, not what we had ordered, but certainly not landfill fodder! And I worried that *someone* would be in trouble with a boss somewhere. So, we took both versions. And honestly they are so beautiful we now can't choose a favourite and we get to share them with you too!

Now you really do have a great choice, but it was one of those happy universe accidents and not an actual plan. I kinda love that though. We’d love to hear which version you prefer.

Explore your new favourite notebooks here.

If you can’t get together with the family at Christmas this year, send a mini stand in!

One of the absolutely best bits about having a job as a creative maker is that I have the coolest machines to play with. So, when I get an idea we can just play around with it as a team until we get it right. The very best ideas come from a need, and if we ever needed a form of connection with the people around us, it was this year! 

That was the starting point for this fun filled Family In A Box. I really wanted to have a fun way of seeing the family, of being in Christmas photos with them, even if we couldn't physically be in the same place. And so the minis were born!

We’ll use your digital photographs and make gorgeous mini wooden versions of you to post to your loved ones.

Imagine the fun to be had, positioning your mini wooden substitutes next to the gravy boat at the Christmas dinner table, standing next to the biscuits with a morning cup of tea, or thoughtfully posed in the background of a selfie?! The Instagram opportunities alone are worth their weight in gold.

It's been bloody brilliant to see how people have embraced this concept. So far we've had many many families being posted overseas, or to the other end of the country, but we've also had a cancelled 80th birthday party box of guests and 12 wedding guests, dressed in their finery, as a gift for the bride who now can't share her day with her besties.

How to order :

We just need a full length photo for each person that you want to include. From the top of their head to the bottom of their feet. And honestly it might save you hours of scrolling time if you take new photos on your phone just for this.

Don't leave it too long though - we've been a bit taken aback by the popularity and we're rapidly running out of wood to print them on.

And if you want a full chess set of all your friends and family - DEFINITELY get in touch as I really want to do that!

First things first - we're still open! 

We thought for a long time about whether to have a break, how that would look, what kind of business we would come back to if we did and what our impact is on the other businesses we work with and our customers. 

It's the 19th March 2020, just a little bit before lunchtime and just short of three weeks since the first case of Coronavirus was confirmed in the UK. So much has changed in that very short space of time! Things moved rapidly from the word on the street thinking "it's just another flu" to all UK schools and universities being closed for the foreseeable future and many people following advice to self isolate for 7, 14 or 84 days! 

So, of course, we've all had to react just as quickly. Make on the spot decisions about where we need to be, what resources we need in place (kind of wishing I'd bought shares in Andrex right about now!) and how we're going to carry on functioning; as an individual, as a family, as a community and as a business. And those speedy decisions are made by our gut instincts because we're a bit triggered at the moment by our flight or fight responses. If there's one thing that shines a light on the core values of a human being, it's pressure like that!

So, how have we reacted? How have you reacted? What's going on in your head, in your family, in your community and in your business? I'm sure that we've all been in conversations lately that seem to enhance our level of calm when the rational voices are speaking, and equally, there have been conversations that have deepened our sense of panic when the fear has been speaking.

In the words of motivational speaker Jim Rohn:

“You are the average of the five people you spend the most time with.”

The people we surround ourselves with are the biggest influence on our behaviour and attitudes. Which means, the people you are around — what they’re thinking, saying, doing and becoming — sets the course of your life. The people you spend the most time with shape who you are. They determine what conversations dominate your attention.

From my perspective that is never more evident than in times of unprecedented crisis like this. And if we really are the average of the five people you spend the most time with, then I must be "average amazing" because my two teammates, Catherine and Rachel, are outstanding. 

Just as a tiny bit of background. I'd already been out of the studio for nearly two weeks after a small shoulder surgery before Coronavirus really hit, and that in itself had come about with only two days notice! Just as I'm getting to the end of my "sling phase" (seriously stylish - keep an eye out for blue nylon slings on the catwalks soon) and could be getting back to it all, my husband comes down with the dreaded symptoms and we're in full lockdown.

These two wonderful women took everything in their stride, covering all the physical work that I couldn't do, receiving in good humour all my brain dumps of work that could be done, moving computers and stock around to create emergency contingency plans for if they have to work from home long term and generally lifting mine and each other's spirits. What diamond's they are. And have always been actually - I didn't for one second expect any less of them.

So, if they are two of my five, then I already have an amazing baseline!

Having their immediate and unwavering support has enabled us as a business to keep going and offer our lovely customers a few little extras as well. We sent out an email to our newsletter subscribers this week to say that we're now, and for the foreseeable future, offering free gift wrapping and gift messaging on all our products. If you are sending something directly to the recipient because you can't see them in person, we'll do our best to make it a bit more special - just let us know it's a gift and what gift message to include. So, a little bit like this but with ribbon and some added pizazz! 

We also tried to think about how we could show our appreciation to the front line workers in the NHS who are under so much pressure right now. All we could think was to offer as big a discount as we could. So, if you're an NHS worker and need to send someone a gift, we're offering a 35% refund on your purchase. Just send us a pic of your NHS ID card (with any sensitive info hidden if need be) along with your order number and we'll do the rest. If there's a better way to do that, then let us know - it's the only way we could think of for now.

Widening the circle, what about the rest of the community? How's that going? How's your local world reacting to this?

Okay, yes there has been panic buying. It's amazing what makes people feel safe and I honestly think the majority of that behaviour has been motivated by fear, not reckless selfishness. The result is the same and I really hope that behaviour is coming to an end now and supermarkets are starting to put measures in place to manage that situation. Outside of that, I'm so heartened to see the good and the brave that is rising up everywhere I look. Neighbours are reaching out to each other and making sure the vulnerable are looked after; friends are having virtual coffee meets to keep each other sane or doing food drops to those self-isolating; humour, in general, has notched up to a new height on social feeds proving that there really is one great human reaction we all have in common (see Dame Julie Dench's sheep hat for example!)

Here are some of my favourites:

• Adobe giving all it's subscribers an instant free two months access - this is very niche to the creatives but so very helpful!
• The Find - independent cafe in Cheltenham announcing free hot drinks and 50% off food for NHS workers
• Oliver Jeffers reading one of his storybooks every day on Instagram at 6pm - #letsbeboredtogether - other authors are also doing this.
• National Trust opening up their green spaces for free to encourage outdoor healthy walking
• Joe Wicks running a PE lesson every morning for free at 9am on YouTube - aimed at kids who are now at home.
• Holly Tucker at Holly&Co dedicating her staff and days to compiling and sharing all the information they can find and verify on the impacts of this crisis on small businesses.
• the Notonthehighstreet.com community of sellers putting community over competition and sharing all the resources, offers of doing post runs for each other, all the good things.
• The Indigo Girls free webcast concert last night that 60,000 people watched - never seen them stand so far apart! 
• Sports clubs donating the food they'd bought in for match days to charities.
• Free books posted to those who need them from companies like Bookishly and individuals like Scarlett Curtis.

And so, so many more. Really everywhere you look, the best is coming out in people. And it just keeps coming. Each small action prompts another small action in our communities, both the physical ones and the virtual ones. Maybe then, actually, we're not the average of just the five people around us. Maybe we're greater than the average.

Love to you all

Betsy and her team of superwomen