It’s a sad fact that beneath all of the sparkle, Christmas can be an exceptionally wasteful time of year.
From the mountains of wrapping paper discarded on Christmas morning, to the throwaway stocking fillers in single-use plastic, the waste created during the season of goodwill is enough to make anyone wince.
But there’s an easy way for food & drink lovers to skip the eco-guilt that comes with splurging on unnecessary tat, whilst also helping to support local food and drink producers, chefs and restaurateurs.
Buying gift vouchers from a local independent restaurant or producer is an easy way to give a Christmas gift that feels good but also does good, too. And that’s because:
They can help to keep indie food businesses going during the hardest months
The last couple of years have been horrendous for hospitality. And just around the corner, are those cold, dark, skint months at the beginning of the year; when Netflix subscriptions soar, everyone’s doing Dry January, and ‘new year, new me’ diets abound. A few December gift voucher sales will help our local restaurants keep the wolf from the door until Spring.
They’re inherently low-waste
Most indies use e-vouchers or paper gift certificates. Pop a paper gift voucher for your favourite indie inside a home-made xmas card and you have a plastic-free present that can be recycled after use, too.
They give the receiver something to look forward to
The January slump is hard to bear, but getting a restaurant gift voucher for xmas means having something nice to look forward to for when all of the festive fun has long since passed.
My fave indie food & drink gift vouchers for Christmas
Though definitely not an exhaustive list, here are just a few of my favourite options to get you started:
- Bacareto – Ask at the bar
- Matsudai Ramen – Gift Vouchers and Ramen Subscriptions
- Curado – Available via email
- Heaney’s & Uisce – Gift Vouchers
- Nook – Gift Vouchers
- Milkwood – Gift Vouchers
- Kindle – Gift Vouchers
- Asador 44 – Gift Vouchers
- Waterloo Tea – Gift Vouchers
- Wild Thing – Gift Vouchers
- Pettigrew Tearooms – Gift Voucher
- Purple Poppadom – Gift Voucher
- Tidy Kitchen – Gift Vouchers
- Cardiff Wine Passport – Gift Vouchers
Further afield…
- The Angel Hotel, Abergavenny (pictured above) – Gift Vouchers
- Paternoster Farm, Pembroke – Gift Vouchers
- Wrights Food Emporium, Llanarthne – Gift Vouchers
Fancy something a bit more hands-on?
Cookery classes, tastings and foodie masterclasses also make for great xmas gifts – and plenty of local restaurants, chefs and producers have come up with their own curated experiences for the average Joe or Jane to enjoy.
From bread making to cake decorating, patisserie classes, gin distilling and brewing beer – the list is almost endless – and ‘experience gifts’ are proving popular with people who would rather make new memories than collect more stuff.
You can browse a whole range of experience gifts in Wales at https://discoverdelicious.wales/experiences.
