If you ask me what my love language is, there’s no denying: I am a gift giver! It was a recent question from a friend that inspired me to pull together a list of some of my favourite gift subscription ideas (for both the U.K. and the U.S.).
Though I prefer to receive love in a different way (my receiving love language is quality time), I do like the idea of the extended joy that comes from a gift that keeps on giving. Subscription boxes have become the next best thing—from food to wine, to chocolate, flowers, beauty products and beyond. Subscription boxes are here to stay and make a wonderful gift option for that special person in your life.
So here is the round up of my favourite gift subscriptions to help make your loved ones feel extra special:
1. Flower Subscription
If there is one way to make me feel special, it is receiving flowers. So naturally, when it comes to gifting, I gravitate towards giving flowers to friends and family.
Freddie’s Flowers is a company that I have used for the last couple of years and they have never disappointed. They offer the most beautiful seasonal flower bouquets delivered straight to your door—with pedal power! Their gift subscription allows you to send regular deliveries to your gift recipient. All you need to do is choose how frequently you want to send flowers and for how many months.
Cost: £29 per flower box
For friends based in the U.S. I’ve been using a company called Ode Á La Rose to send flowers. They offer the most elegant, luxurious bouquets of flowers with a French touch. To my delight they also offer gift subscriptions! Their subscriptions start at $68 (for 20 stems) with a minimum subscription period of 3 months.
Cost: Starting at $68 per bouquet
2. Chocolate Subscription
When I think of chocolate, I think of Hotel Chocolat. They are my favourite shop for seasonal chocolates and chocolate gifting. They offer two types of chocolate subscriptions: the Monthly Curated Collection and the Sleekster Subscription.
The Monthly Curated Collection includes a surprise collection of hand-picked treats that include filled and solid chocolates, biscuits and more. You can choose from four different genres: Mellow, Dark & High Cacao, Tipsy or Everything.
The Sleekster Subscription features some of Hotel Chocolat’s most celebrated recipes. The Sleekster is available in seven different genres: Everything, Milk to Caramel, Serious Dark Fix, Exuberantly Fruity, Tipsy Truffles, Patisserie and Unbelievably Vegan, and includes 27 chocolates presented in a chic packaging.
Cost: Starting at £24.50 per collection
Unfortunately Hotel Chocolat have closed their online shop in the U.S.
3. StoryWorth Subscription
Everyone has a story worth sharing. I learned about StoryWorth a few years ago when I was looking for gift ideas around Christmas time. Their service immediately grabbed my attention as I reflected on the many questions I still wanted to ask my parents and the idea of preserving their answers (or stories) in a beautiful book.
StoryWorth is year long subscription that sends open-ended questions once a week to the recipient. You can either pick your weekly question from a list of hundreds of questions, allow StoryWorth to randomly choose a weekly question for you, or you can come up with questions or your own. Every week, StoryWorth emails the recipient the question and all they have to do is respond to the email with their answer (they even have the ability to add pictures with every story if they choose to). At the end of the year long subscription, StoryWorth will collect all of the stories in a book and send a copy of it to the gift recipient.
I had so much fun reading my parents stories each week—and I learned so much!
Each subscription includes a year’s worth of story prompts for one storyteller and one hardcover book with a black and white interior (and a full colour cover). Additional books can be purchased at the end of the subscription year. The company is based in the U.S. and therefore the subscription package only includes U.S. shipping (international shipping is offered at an additional cost).
Cost: $99 per storyteller
4. Coffee Subscription
If coffee was a love language, it will probably trump quality time for me. It is not so much the caffeine that has me hooked but instead the comfort of a hot deliciously tasting (and smelling!) cup of joe first thing in the morning. But let’s be honest, who can resist that extra spring it puts into your morning step?!
Coffee people are my people. So when it comes to subscriptions, I love to gift a coffee subscription to my fellow coffee drinkers.
While I have used a few different companies over the years—new ones seem to emerge by the day—Balance Coffee offer a highly rated gift subscription service. They source their beans worldwide and roast them in London. Choose from a three, six or twelve month gift subscription that will send a specialty grade medium-light roast to your gift recipient. Just add a bag size and grind setting and you’re good to go—their coffee will ship on auto-pilot.
Cost: Starting at £31.99 per subscription
Trade Coffee is often called the “netflix of coffee”. It is the variety of their service that first landed me on their gift subscriptions. Trade Coffee works with roasters from across the U.S. who are sourcing specialty coffee. When you buy a gift subscription, your gift recipient will be asked to take a quiz that will match them with the varieties that best suit their personal tastes. They can then customize their order frequency, grind setting and even choose their own coffees.
Cost: Starting at $40 per subscription
5. Pasta Subscription
Italy is by far one of my favourite destinations to travel to. I largely attribute my love for Italy to its culture. Food is a very important part of any culture and the emphasis that food plays in the Italian culture is undeniable. It is in the kitchen and around the dinner table that social connections are made and strengthened. To me, it evokes a sense of belonging and a feeling of love.
My love for Italy and Italian food is shared by many of my closets friends and family. Because I don’t have Italian food very often (watch out waistline), I find it a particularly indulgent gift to give.
Pasta Evangelists deliver fresh restaurant-quality pasta straight to your door. Their 5 star recipe boxes include enough pasta, sauces and garnishes to serve between 2 to 6 people. Choose from their one, three, six or twelve month gift subscription plans and your recipient will be able to select pasta dishes from their weekly menu.
Cost: Starting at £34 per plan
For those residing stateside, Sfoglini offers a Pasta of the Month Club that includes 1 box of their organic semolina pasta and 1 box of their specialty pasta. The Club box, as they call it, provides maximum flexibility as it does not include sauces or any additional ingredients needed to prepare your scrummy pasta dish. Instead, they include a few recipes to serve as inspiration as their dishes often require fresh seasonal vegetables and herbs, pantry staples, and sometimes dairy or meat, that they believe is better sourced independently. Choose from a three or six month gift subscription.
Cost: Starting at $70 per plan
These are my tried (and mostly tested) gift subscriptions that I love and would recommend to anyone looking for gift ideas! Have you received any gift subscriptions that you can’t stop talking about? Share them in a comment so we can all be inspired and learn from others in this community!
