Whether you're buying for an Adventurous Spirit, a Fanatical Foodie, a Domestic Goddess, a Yummy Mummy or a Dedicated Fashionista, we'll help you plan your shopping
I am knee deep in seasonal list hell. I have Christmas gift lists, lists for festive food shopping, Christmas card lists, holiday packing lists and of course daily task lists. All are ever growing and pretty much endless. I am now memorising them while I drive for fear of forgetting someone. Oh to be list free!
Too Many Gifts, Too Little Time
I have decided to share with you my somewhat haphazard lists and efforts at organisation. Obviously being based at Bicester Village I have daily access to hundreds of boutiques selling everything from panettone to diamonds. Believe it or not this can be a hindrance because knowing the Village inside and out I am totally spoilt for choice. There are too many amazing gifts to choose from and too many boutiques offering earth shattering discounts to visit in one hour. Lunchtime shopping missions need military precision and I’m not the marathon running type, especially in a pair of Vivienne Westwood platforms.
Doesn't yet come with brain-to-notebook adaptor, unfortunately
Can Santa Please Send Me An Elf?
What I really need is a List Angel, someone to magically create a direct link from brain and PC to Smythson notebook while I sleep. So imagine my glee when the Digital team, renamed in our office as Santa’s Little Helpers (I am now in total awe of them and indebted for life) created an interactive Christmas Gift Guide. I’d like to think they made it just for me, but really it is for all of you dedicated Bicester Village fans who want to pre plan your gift shopping before you arrive leaving more time to sit in Villandry sipping mulled wine and champagne cocktails while I’m at my desk making festive winter warmers in the office kitchen. It seems only right that we do save some of Starbucks Gingerbread Latte supplies for our customers.
I’m In Pre-Planning Paradise
In a nutshell, the interactive Christmas Gift Guide is an online personalised gift list which has helped me find the perfect presents for all the special people in my life; and it gave me a printable list for each person and a map of the village so I can find the suggested boutiques in a flash. With so many new boutiques opening and relocating I’m getting confused to what is where, so this is a handy tool. In the last two weeks we’ve opened Hearts On Fire, Aubin and Wills, Superdry and G-Star, and relocated Burberry to a bigger and brighter boutique! And you wonder why I can’t keep up?
Gourmet hamper from Villandry, £35
What I love about this online Gift Guide is that it made me howl with laughter. There are 24 personalities in the form of clever personas, with great comical sketches and witty descriptions that match many of the people I am showering with loving gifts this year. I actually wish that some of these personas I could bring to life and meet, they’re so good!
Jam Loving Jack
First to make my list is my best friend Jack. He is a total Fanatical Foodie who collects state-of-the-art kitchen gadgets that he never uses. The Gift Guide suggested items from Le Creusset and Villeroy & Boch among others. I hope he’s not reading this as personally I think he has a one track mind that never veers far from his stomach, so am thinking a gourmet hamper from Villandry or Carluccio’s would be irresistible for such a picky foodie.
"Shoe fund" purse from Anya Hindmarch (was £135, now £81)
Top Pal & Trendy Mum Tanya
My best friend Tanya on the other hand isn’t as picky with food but she is with fashion. She’s a typical Yummy Mummy and mistress of three kids under the age of 5, and despute hiding the bags under eyes with dark sunglasses all the time (!!) she still manages to dress like Olivia Palermo, always dressing fabulously chic especially for her hot dates with her husband. She says this is the secret to a successful marriage! I know she will love anything decadent and luxurious from Anya Hindmarch, DvF or Joseph to impress him with.
Newly Engaged Joelle
Joelle has just got engaged as is training to be the ultimate Domesticated Goddess. The Gift Guide illustration made me laugh so much I sent it to her, showing a mirror image caricature of her, with a feather duster in one hand and plate of cupcakes in the other. I know she is lusting over Cath Kidston and The White Company goodies for the home so I will probably kit her bathroom out with Molton Brown products to make up for the fact I have to give her something totally uninspiring from her wedding list when she gets married! I mean what is so great about vouchers for large white good appliances? She’s better off with a Bicester Village Gift Card!
Label Loving Sister Lola
The incomparable McQueen Novak
My 26 year old sister Lola is a truly Dedicated Fashionista and for me is the most exciting one to buy for but also the one where I am most likely to end up keeping her present for myself. I know that anything I get her from Marni, Dior, Alexander McQueen or Gucci, or in facts any of the designer fashion labels here, will delight her and render her speechless (god bless the silence) but if I am canny I will get some shoes from Jimmy Choo. Christmas is all about sharing.
The Men in My Family
The list is endless. My brother is a typical Metrosexual Male. He spends more time in front of the mirror than I do and loves his expensive shoes almost as much as I do. I keep telling him there is only room for one true shoe-aholic in the family but he is obsessed, clearly this is a genetic illness. Any shoes from Bally or Church’s will do, even on trend boxers from Calvin Klein or a shirt from Diesel would go down well. My Father is not so much a Trendsetting Dad but more of a Mr. Impossible and as a good daughter I want to get him something he will cherish like a last-a-lifetime pen, monogrammed leather travel bag or some Links of London precious-stone cufflinks, not that I am trying to bribe him for his air miles of course.
The gorgeous Mulberry raspberry agenda
For My Gaggle of Girlfriends
That’s already 6 presents and I haven’t even included Mia my friend who is a true Adventurous Spirit, most happiest skiing, sky-diving or driving through Europe in a super duper car rally; she’s climbing Kilimanjaro next year, because if Cheryl Cole can, then she can too. Hmmmm. It’ll be Helly Hansen, Jack Wills, Musto (I love this behind the scenes video of Zara Phillips) and Timberland for her. Clara is an Indulgent Princess who likes luxurious at-home pampering sessions and would adore a silk eye mask from Agent Provocateur and Nessa my Time Poor Workaholic / High Flyer friend who could do with relaxing with scented candles from Kenneth Turner would probably find a Smythson notebook, Mulberry organiser or Tumi or Furla laptop case for on-the-job luxury more useful. I am beginning to lose count but think so far, and that is without the postman, doctor and dentist (alcohol or smellies always good here) I am now up to nine.
The Young & The Old Are So Easy!
And so to my three little god-ducklings. My Little Lady-In-Training Sophia will like anything that glitters or is pink. This means Bonpoint and Marie Chantal for clothes and Accesorize for sparkly hair ornaments. George is a true Little Boy Warrior and a denim fiend, so Fat Face is the place to go and Louise is still a Bonny Baby and happy with anything but her Mum loves Petit Bateau. My Grandparents in Paris can have a Bicester Village Gift Card each, easy to buy online and they can use them at all the Chic Outlet Shopping® Villages in Europe. I may have to visit La Vallee Village with them in January, only because it would be rude not to.
Halleluyah!
Phew! See how my Gift Angel has helped me plan in advance? I totally have the Christmas spirit now! I have my map and gift lift itemized so I can shop for all 12 over the next week during my much sacred lunch hours. Just three gifts to buy a day and a treat for me is what I think Santa has instructed? Isn’t it? I’m thinking Anya Hindmarch pocket organizers for my reward. I also sent the Gift Guide to my friend Brendan, he is truly hopeless at buying gifts, especially for all the women in his life, and with me being one of them I sent him suggestions for me too!
Some Pointers & Prizes
I have some inside tips for you. The map is your ticket to win some fabulous prizes such as a £500 or £250 Bicester Village Gift Card or lunch for four (if only I wasn’t an employee – sigh). Just take your map to the Visitor Centre after you’re all shopped out! While you’re there, don’t forget to get your gifts wrapped in our exclusively designed paper by Paul Smith, with donations to Make-A Wish Foundation. Also check the website daily for special offers and come later in the day, we’re now open for late night shopping. Did I mention there is complimentary mulled wine and mince pies after 5pm? I’ll save some for you.
After a leisurely lunch at Villandry, I embarked on the second leg of my expedition with renewed vigour. I had to do Smythson very quickly indeed otherwise I really would have bought the entire shop and as for Vivienne Westwood, well, ‘accessory heaven’ probably sums it up very succinctly. I didn’t buy ten sweaters in Ralph Lauren but I was sorely tempted by a mannish wool coat that I dithered over for a good twenty minutes but decided to leave as the sleeves were a touch too long. That said, Bicester Village offers an alterations service so if I’d wanted it badly enough I could easily have fixed that. As I predicted, I couldn’t leave Ralph Lauren empty-handed so I invested in a khaki green canvas tote bag which will serve me well as an everyday bag for all year round. That ticked one of my ‘luxury basics’ boxes. Next, to Wolford for the black long-sleeve body I’ve been wanting to buy for months. I entered with an open mind, thinking I might have to settle for less. But no, they had the perfect piece, in my size at a very good price. Another tick in the ‘luxury basics’ box.
