Giving (and receiving gifts) is an undeniably one of the best parts of Christmas. Sitting around as a family, opening gifts, is a special memory that so many of us have and share. Better than enjoying Christmas gifts for each member of the family, however, is a present that everyone can enjoy and share together.
Family-sized gifts give you the chance to celebrate the season together, opening it in unison and enjoying it amongst yourselves – a shared, novel experience at a time of the year when sharing is so important, where you can enjoy the gift together rather than individually.
But finding a gift that fits this description is difficult. It needs to have the ability to be enjoyed together during the Christmas period, with enough content that it can be shared around, and everyone can feel like they have had their share – plus it needs to be something that suits everyone’s taste.
With all these criteria, finding a family Christmas gift does sound tricky, but we’ve got a solution: a Christmas hamper.
What Makes a Hamper the Perfect Family Gift for Christmas?
Giving your family a gift of a hamper will bring smiles, laughter and an experience you can all share. Filled with tasty edible gifts and beverages, they’re a great Christmas gift for the whole family for a few reasons.
First, hampers contain a selection of different edible gifts, suiting a number of tastes, so everyone from Mum and Dad to the youngest have something festive they’ll enjoy. The contents don’t need to be consumed all at once, giving you the chance to enjoy them whenever suits you. Open and enjoy it just on Christmas day, on boxing day, or pick at it over the whole of the festive period.
Sharing hampers come in a variety of themes and varieties, meaning you can suit your gift to suit your family’s specific preferences – whether that’s for dietary requirements, alcoholic or non-alcoholic, or for your favourite foods with our cheese hampers and chocolate hampers. Plus, gift baskets or boxes come in a selection of sizes, so you can buy a gift that satisfies your whole family, whether you’re buying for just you and your parents or for an extended family. There are hampers perfect for three to thirteen people, or more!
The variety of items within Hampers also gives your family the opportunity to try and enjoy items they may not usually get the chance to try – giving them novel or new experiences they wouldn’t usually have. Finally, hampers are wonderfully presented in hand-woven wicker baskets and stunning gift boxes, giving you a central feature for you to gather round as you enjoy the treats inside.
Choosing a hamper for your family this Christmas give you a balanced gift that you can all share together for as long as you want it to last (or as long as you can resist eating it!). If you’ve decided that a hamper is right for your family this Christmas, the next step is finding one that suits. Let’s take a look at some great family-sized hampers from our 2024 Christmas range.
5 Things to Look for in a Family Christmas Hamper
Here’s a list of five things you should look for when choosing your family christmas gift hamper:
- Beautiful presentation in the form of a hand-woven wicker basket or gift box with colourful, themed wrapping.
- Prepared by expert hamper creators with contents specially selected from local and independent businesses with gourmet or luxury fayre.
- A wide selection of sweet and savoury food, as well as beverages. Variety in the contents mean everyone gets something they enjoy.
- A family-sized hamper needs to be big enough and have enough inside it for everyone who will enjoy it, small hampers just won’t do.
- It needs to be especially Christmas themed. This doesn’t just mean red wrapping, but festive food and drink to enjoy and add cheer.
Our Favourite Family Hampers for Christmas
This collection of hampers are the finest ones we offer at Virginia Hayward, hand-picked by our expert hamper creators as the best gifts for families at Christmas.
The Christmas Tradition Gift Basket
Filled with a huge range of gifts, the Christmas Tradition basket is a sharing hamper for families who love to share treats at Christmas time.
With a glitzy golden theme and a woven willow basket, this sharing hamper comes with decadent sweet and savoury treats from artisan independent brands. For those with a taste for salty snacks, the Christmas tradition basket boasts gorgeous Mr Filbert’s Applewood smoked mixed nuts and Maple Glazed ham crisps, plus sesame seed grissini handmake breadsticks and houmous for dipping.
This is complemented by a selection of sweet treats like Grandma Wild’s Luxury Mince pies and a Millionaire Shortbread Tray Bake, a duo of Australian Chardonnay and Shiraz, and a bottle of Italian Prosecco to pop open and celebrate with. Plus, with a set of 6 Grand Illusions partridge crackers, there’s a moment of laughter and fun to be shared too. This is ideal for families of six people or less, with enough gifts to last all the way through Christmas day and boxing day.
The Twelfth Night Basket
For those families partial to dark, rich food the Twelfth Night basket is a fabulous sharer stuffed with full-bodied tastes of red wine, chocolate and cake that can be enjoyed well before the 12th night comes around!
This hamper is hand-packed with rich flavour for tastebuds at all times on Christmas day. Enjoy a steaming mug of Café Direct Columbia Reserva ground coffee before a wintery morning walk, paired with a slice of toast lathered in Merry Berry Christmas Jam (and take some slow-roasted almonds and peanuts with serrano chilli & blossom honey to pick on!). Some Savoursmiths Wagyu Beef with Money and Mustard crisps are the ideal lunchtime snack, and feel free to dig into some berry-licious popcorn through the festivities.
Once the Christmas meal is over you can dig in again for the ultimate cheese course of Gouda cheese stars, cranberry & chilli relish, and multiseed crackers, to be enjoyed with a glass of Sauvignon or Merlot from Domaine Grauzan in France. Enjoy all that and you’ll have just scratched the surface of this sharing hamper, which is great for families of six or more.
The Decadence Hamper
For those with massive families to accommodate – or if you’re hosting a big Christmas party for your relatives – our Decadence Hamper contains a huge selection of nibbles and beverages to feast on. With contents to enjoy all across the festive period (if you can hold yourself back), there is a harmonious blend of Christmas treats and delicacies to enjoy.
Whether you love sweet or savoury snacks, the Decadence is loaded with something to suit your tastes including wonderful fresh foods. Begin the feast with kalamata, olives a glazed cured and cooked Wiltshire ham, plus slices of smoked salmon and gravadlax. If you enjoy cheese before dessert, then tuck into a selection of wensleydale, farmhouse cheddar, camembert and stilton paired with your choice of savoury biscuits and crackers, with extra pairings like spiced fruit chutney. Or, if you’ve got an insatiable sweet tooth, there’s almost too much to choose from; Black Forest gateau shortbread rounds, wild berries soft nougat slice, panettone and a luxury brandy Christmas pudding is just the start. And when it comes to a drink, you’ll have to contend with choosing between white wines, red wines, prosecco, and even a reserve port. A huge sharing selection that can be enjoy by twelve or more.
The Celebration Hamper
Suit the most expensive tastes or provide your family party with a luxury selection of treats they’ll always remember, with our iconic Celebration Hamper.
We’ve called it the “epitome of refinement”, a phrase that the celebration hamper not just matches, but exceeds, with its beautiful gifts and exquisite presentation – with all the contents nestled inside a bespoke Brown Kubu trunk adorned with gold accents.
When it comes to the contents, we’ve carefully selected our most prestigious hamper to be filled with an ensemble of indulgent treats that will have the whole family lusting for more. To give you a taste, you’ll be enjoying everything from an entire side of smoked salmon to boar game pate and white truffle crisps. You’ll be diving in for the plethora of cheese, perfectly paired with onion marmalade with garlic and traditional Piccalilli. Start and end the night right with a vintage selection that would make some wine cellars envious – 2 bottles each of Lyme Bay English Sparkling Wine Brut Reserve, Sancerre Chateau De Fontaine-Audon and Borgo Dei Cilliegi Amarone Della Valpolicella plus Fine Tawny Port and Salcombe Gin. If you are looking to create a lasting family memory this Christmas, this sharing hamper with be something your family will never forget.
The Perfect Sharing Gift
Make this Christmas one to remember and share together with a hamper that you can enjoy all at once and all together.
For more sharing gifts, take a look at our browse our 2024 Christmas hamper range which has a wealth of options to make your festive season special.
