Christmas Gifts to Parcelona or Letterfrack, It's All in the Delivery
Planning Christmas when your family or friends are abroad can be disheartening, but there's a few ways of getting the holiday excitement going and sharing with each other to create special moments over the holidays. With a brother in Manchester and a sister in Melbourne for over a decade, I've become accustomed to sizing up the postability of gifts over the years.
Tayto Apron
Lest we forget, a screen printed apron based on the original 1980s Tayto crisp packet design....when crisps were a mere 2 1/2p! Made by Grand Grand (aka Fergus O'Neill). Fergus is an internationally celebrated designer who has won the nation's hearts and minds with his fun and thought provoking designs which proudly raise a glass to all that makes Ireland great.
A wonderful screenprinted cotton tea towel by Grand Grand featuring a beautiful, bold graphic of the Poolbeg Chimneys. Make it in to a wall hanging gift with one of our very handy magnetic frames, so they can admire it on their wall right away without the hassle of framing. (Though this will increase your postage cost, it's still doable, I sent one to Australia this year). For those of you who may have spotted the Tayto Tea Towel, I'm afraid we're all out of stock and can't get anymore before Christmas. But we have an awesome Tayto Apron on the way from Grand Grand, so watch this space!
A special, handmade in Dublin notebook from Badly Made Books is a great gift for any stationery lover, or for someone travelling.
The Gospel According to Blindboy
If they've been away for a while they may need to catch up with Blindboy, the nation's funniest, and possibly smartest social commentator at the moment. (If you haven't heard his podcast yet, check it out). This is a hardback, but still, books are easy to post.
Clover Rua Prints & Tea Towels
A great range of prints featuring the Poolbeg Towers or the Bridges of Dublin from Clover Rua, and new additions in their collection are these fab Bus Aras and Liberty Hall Tea Towels. You could pop one of these in an 'A4 Do Not Bend' with a Christmas card and if you send it early enough, standard post won't cost an arm and a leg.
Rampunctious
A brilliant new Irish card game for a group of friends or family, based on terrible puns!
Patriarchy Tote Bag
If they've been missing out on the feminist wave back home, this tote bag by Irish artist Sarah Devereaux makes a great present for your far-away-femmo-friends. And it's so postable. (Sold out at time of writing but back in stock v soon. Fill in the form on the product page to get notified immediately upon its arrival)
Christmas in Dublin Pop-Up Card
If you're sending a card, you may as well make it a pop up card!
Laser Cut Ornaments
Beautiful laser-cut ornaments made from Alderwood featuring intricate designs of the Ha'penny bridge and Poolbeg towers. Or if you want to send a little bit of Christmas to someone exploring the globe the Cosy Tree comes flat with a little stand so they can pop it up whether their in straw hut or a capsule hotel!
Often families can't travel home for Christmas because they have little babies. Hand-made in Clonakilty in Cork, these outrageously cute bibs are light as a feather and easy to pop in the post. Also with Christmas patterns coming soon!
Planet Zebunar
Planet Zebunar is a brand new interactive book with an augmented reality app for kids designed by Norah Patten who is to be the first Irish woman in space. A great gift for families or kids 6+ who are all about the STEM.
So there you have it, a few remarkable gift ideas from Ireland. And if you're not going to make it to the post office yourself, we can do the shipping for you. Pick anything from our collection of Irish gifts and we'll do the rest. Just let us know in the comment box that it's a present, buy a greeting card and let us know what note to include, and we'll send you a tracking number so you can make sure it gets there ok.
* ** We're not set up to ship to Australia and the US on our website, but if you're desperate, drop us a line and let us know what you want sent where and we'll see what we can do.
And here's the deadlines for posting abroad.
7th December: Australia, New Zealand, USA and other far flung places.
13th December: Europe
18th December: Great Britain
19th December: Northern Ireland
20th December: Republic of Ireland