text: Header photo: Santa’s Donuts by Sugarfina
  If you’re gifting to a wine lover, look no further than small-batch wine shop Crushed Wines, offering two great curated gift boxes by an all-female team. The Festive Fun Curated Case ($828) keeps it light with some unique pours (low-sugar Extra Brut Prosecco by Francesco Follador, orange wine I’m Your Huckleberry from The Vineyard Party and Evolution Pinot Noir by eco-friendly Sokol Blosser). To splurge on your crush, there’s the Classy Christmas Case ($1,138), featuring Genevieve Blanc de Blancs zero- dosage sparkling wine, white 150 Lison Classico DOCG by Borgo Stajnbech and a spicy Chateau Guthrie red blend courtesy of Guthrie Family Wines. We heart the packaging too.
  Mindful Sparks is a premium drinks company founded by nutritionist Winston Lau, right here in Hong Kong. Its ethos is about mindful, clear-headed enjoyment, and it has a range of elegant drinks to offer the mocktail lover. They have relaunched their popular alcohol-free Liquid Gingerbread Man ginger ale ($32) to celebrate the festive season. We love warming, spiced ginger ale, and the hat makes it a perfect stocking filler.
  Order online or head to stockists around town
  ONLY Vodka Soda
  Support local and bring a 12-pack ($360) of ONLY Vodka Soda to your pal’s holiday shinding. This home-grown brand is the first zero-sugar, zero-carb, naturally flavoured premium vodka soda in a can. ONLY’s two flavours – Tahitian Lime and Yuzu Ginger – would make for a healthy, refreshing way to balance out all the heavy feasting that’s bound to take place at this time of the year.
  Order online or head to stockists around town
  Saicho gives us a nice alternative to champagne if your recipient is not in the mood for alcohol (or the hangovers that follow). This cold-brew sparkling tea brand, with its gorgeous floral gift boxes, has three varieties up for grabs: Darjeeling, Hojicha and Jasmine. We’ve tried these sparkling teas, and we enjoyed their crisp and light yet complex flavours, with just the right amount of fizz. We recommend the Saicho mix collection ($1,100) for gifting.
  TOASST x BOMSHBEE
  Another recommended gift option for an oenophile, wine club and concierge service TOASST has partnered with HK-based tableware company BOMSHBEE to offer two bottles of wine paired with two of BOMSHBEE’s beautiful hand-blown, fine-stemmed O wine glasses. This gift box ($1,380) comes in a choice of two options: red (Château Haut-Vignoble Seguin Saint-Estèphe 2013 + Vilafonté Seriously Old Dirt 2018) or sparkling (Vilafonté Seriously Old Dirt 2018 + Ferrari Trento Brut DOC NV).
  Tea WG’s festive music box tea sets ($488) are extremely covetable – you might even be tempted to buy one for yourself! These magical gift sets come in two versions – Christmas Wish and Christmas Tour – and are filled with the brand’s new mini tea tins, which are inspired by flavours from around the world. For example, there’s Noel in London, a black tea enhanced with notes of citrus, dark chocolate and spices, and Noel in New York, a green tea with notes of berry and vanilla.
  Sichuan eatery Chilli Fagara has two special hampers for the spice fiends in your life. The small Christmas hamper ($588) includes dried chillies, star anise, the brand’s new Jacked chilli sauce, Tang Sichuan sauce, knife-cut noodles, a bottle of Chinese liquor erguotou and a $100 dining voucher, while the premium Christmas hamper ($1,588) ups the spice factor with the inclusion of house-blend chilli powder, Sichuan peppercorns, bay leaves, pearl garlic, potato noodles, Ghost in the Pepper sauce, Mandarin Tang-erine sauce, chilli oil, a mulled wine pack and $300 dining vouchers.
  Order online (15% discount until 12 December with promo code CHILLIXMAS)
  Our favourite one-stop shop for gourmet gifting, city’super has a stunning range of hampers for all budgets this holiday season, available for ordering until 17 December. Dubbed “Fantasy Christmas Factory” this year, start at the top with the Christmas Extravaganza, priced just under a whopping $63K and pictured above, but there are much more reasonably priced hamper options. Deli Deluxe ($2,688) is a “wish list” of gourmet deli treats – caviar and foie gras, Parma DOP prosciutto and Normandy AOP Camembert, Catalonian cava and Provençal rosé – while Healthy Regimen – Asian ($2,688) is headlined by The Grand Hotel’s mutton hotpot, Sauce Lab’s black garlic chicken soup and a dried morel mushroom gift box.
  For a child (or young-at-heart grown-up who’s a fan of Sanrio), the Hello Kitty popcorn maker ($299) and Little Twin Stars candyfloss maker ($299) are super-cute non-hamper foodie gift ideas that are new to city’super this year.
  Feather & Bone
  Feather & Bone’s collection of festive hampers is packed with gourmet snacks and bevvies from around the world – a lovely choice if you want to gift a range of items. If you have a loved one in quarantine during the holidays, go for the healthy quarantine hamper ($1,198), featuring a health-conscious selection of fruit and veg, kombucha, oat milk and more, or the FAB quarantine favourites hamper ($1,198) for more indulgent items like Tony’s Chocolonely chocolate, six cans of Bondi Spritz and a bottle of Three Butchers Shiraz.
  Teaming up with Feeding Hong Kong and ImpactHK, Green Common has debuted four “Be Kind” Christmas hampers and gift sets (from $168) that benefit the two local charities. Each hamper is filled with plant-based treats, including healthy snacks and vegan wine. Two of the hampers are wrapped in water-soluble #INVISIBLEBAG, which causes zero harm to the planet. What a great way to give back to the community and make a loved one happy at the same time!
  Plant-based chef Amy Elkhoury launched this aged plant-based cheese brand in Hong Kong a few months back, and now Nuteese has some wonderful hampers that would be perfect gifts for the meat-free eaters in your life. Made from fermented activated nuts, what sets this plant-based cheese brand apart from the pack is that the cheeses are aged for 21 days, allowing for their texture and flavour to intensify. The Festive Fizz Hamper ($1,188) includes three delicious plant-based cheeses (Truffle Hunter, Merry Cranberry and Cam Meets Brie), four varieties of gourmet seed crackers by Divine Indulgence and one bottle of Perrier-Jouët Grand Bru .
  On the carnivorous side of the hamper spectrum, check out Steak King’s USDA Prime steak hamper ($2,400), which includes two 300g USDA Prime strip steaks, two 300g USDA Prime rib-eyes, one 1kg bone-in rib-eye, one 1kg bone-in porterhouse, two 300g Ibérico pork chops and two varieties of peppercorn sauce. Your recipient will need a hearty appetite and a big freezer for these meaty goodies.
  A Freaking Dumpling
  A Freaking Dumpling is a charity initiative founded by Kingsley Wong, and these adorable ceramic chopstick rests ($268 for 2, $768 for 6 or $1,410 for 12) are shaped like dumplings (one of our fave savoury foods) and are one of the best local gifts around for your friend, family member or SO who loves unique homeware. There’s also a Christmas edition set of six rests ($858) that comes in a special gift box with their brand stamp and a limited-edition set of two ($298) packaged in a handmade reusable bamboo steamer. The idea is simple: for every one chopstick rest bought, six edible dumplings are made for the most vulnerable in Hong Kong. So if you’re buying a larger set with four chopstick rests, you’ll be donating 24 actual dumplings, while sets of 12 will donate 72 dumplings! A Freaking Dumpling is a partnership with one of our favorite charities, Feeding Hong Kong, which allocates these homemade dumplings every month. All HK orders of six or 12 sets come with a handmade bamboo steamer.
  The Peninsula Boutique
  The Peninsula Boutique always boasts a lovely festive gift line-up, but the highlight for us this year is the new bone-china fondue gift box ($680), an adorable cup featuring the five-star hotel’s much-loved Peninsula Bear, complete with a pair of golden fondue forks. We’re thinking fondue of the chocolate variety with this one, with the cup holding all your chocolate-dipped treats.
  Royal Caviar Club
  Sweet or savoury? Well, Royal Caviar Club’s newly launched pastry creation by renowned patissier Gael Majchrzak is a bit of both. The caviar millefeuille ($1,180 with 50g Royal Cristal caviar or $3,380 with 100g Royal Cristal caviar) features butter-soaked crisp pastry layers paired with walnut praline and the unexpected savoury element of cauliflower cream. Whipped white chocolate ganache and a decadent topping of the finest caviar complete this unique creation that’s ideal for any caviar connoisseur.
  Order online (3 days pre-order required)
  Charbonnel et Walker
  We love British chocolatier Charbonnel et Walker’s truffles anytime of the year, but their Christmas truffles ($228/105g) would make for very special gifts indeed. They come in three festive flavours: white chocolate with peppermint cookie, milk chocolate with gingerbread and white chocolate with eggnog. These would be ideal stocking stuffers.
  Fortnum & Mason
  Fancy-pants Fortnum & Mason is a glittering wonderland of festive foodie gifts, both sweet and savoury, from tea caddies to chocolate galore. It’s difficult to choose a favourite, but we rate the mini mince pie medley ($308) in four flavours (traditional, almond, St Clement’s with extra lemon and orange peel and Raphael’s with chocolate) and the handmade classic British Christmas puddings packaged in keepsake ceramic bowls, with the figgy pudding ($568) being the standout for us. It’s made with fruits soaked in rum and fig liqueur and coated in a layer of Fortnum’s fig and lemon preserve.
  Shop 022, G/F, K11 ATELIER, Victoria Dockside, 18 Salisbury Road, TST, 3916 8100
  Harry’s Kitchen Baking Studio
  Gift a Christmas confectionery class at Harry’s Baking Studio to a child who loves baking, fantastic for some hands-on bonding time. Available for booking until 31 December, these fun holiday baking classes include the ultimate Choc House of Claus ($1,080/person; 120 minutes) – a festively decorated Christmas house made of Belgium chocolate. Regular lessons are also offered for decorated cookies, cupcakes, doughnuts and cake pops at $580 and $680 for push pops and six-inch birthday cakes.
  Luxury candy boutique Sugarfina has some sweet stocking stuffer ideas. The brand’s adorable new holiday character cubes ($88 each) are at the top of the list. Santa’s Donuts are white chocolate-covered cereal bites dressed in white, red and green sprinkles, Holiday Presents are apricot- and pomegranate-flavoured gummies and Penguin Sparkle Pops are crunchy milk chocolate spheres filled with popping candy. Additional gift ideas include Santa’s Cookie Dough ($178) – chewy cookie dough bites wrapped in dark chocolate with walnuts – and Mrs Claus’ Peanut Butter Bites ($178).
  Purchase at the Harbour City and Times Square shops or Festival Walk pop-up
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