We Are Twinset
16th November 2016

CHRISTMAS SHOPPING 101

<u>CHRISTMAS SHOPPING 101</u>
Who’s with us when we say that we’re already feeling the Christmas panic?! With less than 6 weeks until the big day, it’s time to get serious with that all important/terrifying Xmas shopping. As you can imagine we don’t take present buying lightly, it’s a cleverly thought out process and something we actually both really enjoy doing. It’s all about getting organised in advance & working out what we’re buying for who and from where. In fact, we like to get sneaky in the months leading up to the festive period working out what our beloveds want and dropping subtle hints. There’s nothing worse than buying people gifts they don’t like or need!
For us, there’s just one simple rule when it comes to the buying process & that’s do it under one roof. We’re all about making life easier for ourselves and whilst we do order a few bits online we love hitting the shops to really suss out the best gifts at the best prices. With that in mind, this weekend we headed to one of our favourite shopping haunts, Bicester Village to do exactly that…get Xmas pressie ready! We braved the pouring rain and even managed to drag out our hubs with as well! {Not only for their epic photography skills but also to help us pick out the gifts for the guys in our family.}
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Philippa’s wearing:

49 Winters coat | L.K. Bennett bag | Boyarde stickers | Zara jeans (similar here) | Attribute London boots

Sarah’s wearing:

49 Winters coat | Anya Hindmarch bag | New Look jeans (similar here) | Attribute London boots

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It was such a lovely surprise to see one of our favourite florists, Nikki Tibbles from Wild At Heart had decked the village out in festive floral delights!

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Here’s the lowdown on what we bought for our family…

M U M S
You may not know it, but our Mums (like us) are very similar and are actually really good friends! That made present buying super easy as we knew we could buy them the same thing and they would both be delighted…sneaky! With the London weather being utterly dismal a luxe scarf or a pair of leather gloves were on the hitlist and being fans of Mulberry we headed straight to the outlet at Bicester to check out the goods. Aside from being tempted by the prettiest colour pop display of rainbow purses & wallets we had a good look around (mentally shopping for ourselves as well!) & found two perfect pair of gloves. One black & one brown in the softest leather at a great price. Job number 1….done!!

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These Anya pouches were also so lovely but we were sold on the Mulbs!

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B R O T H E R S
This was an easy one to buy…Having stylists as sisters and not being that interested in shopping we obviously always buy our brothers clothes! So why break a habit of a lifetime, right?! They both wear casual clothes to work as well as the weekend so it was straight to Ralph Lauren to get them a sweater that would work for any occasion. Whilst we appreciated the epic polo shirt display in store; it was a sleek grey knit that we knew they would love. Perfect for work or the weekend – we couldn’t resist we got them matching gifts too… there seems to be a trend here!

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S T O C K I N G  F I L L E R S
Whilst we usually only get our immediate family gifts there’s always a few people we like to buy a little something for or even extra stocking fillers/secret Santa gifts for our nearest & dearest. In fact we were really impressed with the amount of gift options there were at Bicester for under £50. One of our go to filler gifts for the men in our life are a fresh pair of pants! Calvin Kleins are always a hit with the hubs and with a washing basket that fills up as quick as ours, you can never have too many! Price £24 for pack of 3 (RRP £36)

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Cowshed is one of the newer stores at Bicester Village and as you know one of our guilty pleasures (is it wrong that we have our Cowshed pedis booked in for the next few months?!) Their range of candles, body care and gifts are heavenly and when you can buy them at a discounted price, it makes so much sense to stock up on a few goodies there. Our fave is the  “knackered cow” candle.  (Price £22 RRP £36)
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Smythson is another go to brand for us when it comes to buying gifts. A gorgeous notepad or diary in that infamous blue packaging feels like such a treat and in our opinion you can never go wrong with a little Smythson. The ‘Hip, hip, hooray’  notepads were the ones that ended up in our going home bags for a few lucky work colleagues…

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L U N C H  B R E A K

A Bicester trip wouldn’t be a Bicester trip without a pit-stop at our favourite Farmshop. We know we’ve said this before, but a visit to Farmshop is a reason to visit Bicester in itself! The four of us were beyond the point of starvation at this point so please don’t judge the amount ordered!!

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G R A N D M A S
Our darling Grandma’s, two very special ladies in our lives and the women we look up to more than anything. We couldn’t leave them out when it comes to gift giving! They are both real home bodies and Friday night dinners at their house are where some of our fondest memories are (separately not together!) With that in mind we headed straight to The White Company for some gorgeous home goods. A White Company  candle in “flowers” was the perfect gift which we know they will use all the time. It’s so great to find the things we love (and buy) full price with a discount and in such a gorgeous store!

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O U R S E L V E S !
Surprisingly (not!)  we may have found a little gift for ourselves whilst we were at Bicester…The Jimmy Choo store there is too good to be true! If you’re making a visit be warned…they have everything!! We’re talking the “Rebel” bags we love, the statement flats we live in AND the heels that got away…yes, the velvety ‘Rosana” beauties with the  leather tie strap. We loved them the minute we saw them at their press day but we could never justify the splurge – we own too many heels! But at Bicester Village for a fraction of the price…the temptation is real!  We just hope the boys got the hint…we will report back on December 26th!!

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**This post is in collaboration with Bicester Village. All images, opinions & text our own. Thank you for having us Bicester :-)**

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