If any of your friends or family members live in France or just miss traveling here, a French Christmas gift will surely warm their hearts. In this article, I gathered a few fun ideas for Christmas gifts you can purchase online that any Francophile would love to get. As I live in Bordeaux, many of my ideas are related to the SW of France, but not only. I also included books and food-related items that I personally really like. If you live in Bordeaux, I added to the list a few Bordeaux experiences that could replace physical Christmas gifts. Before we start, don’t forget to check out my Christmas markets in Bordeaux article! Now let’s get festive and dive into my list of French Christmas gift ideas.
Books – the perfect French Christmas gift
The most beautiful villages in France
This is probably my favorite gift to give to people who live here or are planning to travel to France. Les Plus Beaux Villages de France is a label given to beautiful rural villages in France with a rich cultural heritage. I’ve been using this book since my first year living here and it led me to discover the most magical places in France. If you’re looking for a traveling book or just a reference book to some of the most beautiful places in France, this is the book for you.
French cookbooks for foodies
People who love to cook would be happy to get a French recipes book to add to their home library, especially those who don’t live here and can’t get good French food very easily. There are many books about French cuisine, some contain only recipes and others also include personal stories of the authors or anecdotes about French food, the latter are my favorites. Here are a few of my recommendations for cooking books as a French Christmas gift.
As I live in the Southwest of France, I love recommending books about this region and in the food section, there are two really good options.
French Country Cooking
French Country Cooking is written by chef Mimi Thorisson who is a famous food blogger living in the Medoc wine region. Her beautiful book includes 100 recipes, photos, and many stories inspired by her family life in the county side of Bordeaux.
The Bordeaux Kitchen: An Immersion into French Food and Wine
The other one is a very detailed book about the Southwest of France cuisine called The Bordeaux Kitchen which is written by Tania Teschke, a writer and photographer who lives in Bordeaux.
If you enjoyed traveling here, you’ll love this book as it focuses on local recipes that are hard to find in other regions of France
Mastering the Art of French Cooking
One of the most popular French cuisine books in English is written by Julia Child, an American writer, and a TV personality, who lived in France for many years and has introduced Americans to the secrets of French cuisine with her popular book Mastering the Art of French Cooking. If you’re not into cooking I really recommend reading her other bestseller about her life in France, called My life in France.
Creative French Christmas gifts
From time to time I see amazing maps of France that show different wine and food regions as well as the main monuments to discover in the country. When I see one I really like I always think that it can be a beautiful gift for someone who loves France. Here are a few creative and beautiful maps I found that you can purchase online.
A map of all the places you shouldn’t miss when traveling in France.
A funky gastronomic map of France – get famiar with the speciality of every region
A puzzle map of France – so you can play and decorate your house
Wine and food-related French Christmas gifts
A Limited Edition Case of Bordeaux Wine for Christmas
If you want to surprise someone who really loves wine, I have an amazing gift idea for you – a limited Edition of Bordeaux wines selected by a Bordeaux wine expert, Nicolle Croft! The Case includes six bottles of red wine from both the right and left banks of Bordeaux made by passionate small independent producers in Bordeaux (2 bottles of each from 3 different producers). Nicolle is a wine tour guide who works a lot with small producers in the region so the idea behind this set was to cut the middlemen and introduce you to excellent Bordeaux wines directly from the producers to your door. The case comes with full tasting notes and advice on how to prepare the wine, along with links to tasting videos for each wine so that you can taste along with Nicolle in your own home. Also included in the pack is Nicolle Croft’s new book ‘Bordeaux Sip by Sip’ with tips, anecdotes, and advice on how to find the best value in this amazing wine region, something I recommended people to read when traveling to Bordeaux. The price of the Christmas Bordeaux Wine Case is 145€ (plus a delivery fee for shipments outside of France).
I have been collaborating with Nicolle quite a lot in the last few years and I can promise you from personal experience that this will be an amazing gift to your loved ones or even something for yourself to enjoy the festive season. You can see more details about the wine included in the pack in Nicolle’s blog post and feel free to contact her directly by email (nicolle@sip-wines.com) and say you came through Lost in Bordeaux.
Cognac cocktail set
We can’t talk about SW products without talking about Cognac! Apart from being a popular liqueur, the Cognac region is also a popular destination for those traveling to the region. If you’re planning to travel here soon, you can book a visit to one of Cognac’s famous distilleries like Hennessy, Remi Martin, and Meukow.
However, if you’re looking for a gift for someone who likes Cognac you can be creative and buy a Cognac cocktail set. Camus is one of the big Cognac houses that sell a set like that online – here’s a link to their cocktail set.
Cheese Board – wine bar style
There’s almost nothing travelers to France love more than French cheese. A very cool gift for someone who misses France can be a beautiful cheese board to help them recreate the vibe of a French wine bar. Here’s one I particularly liked.
French box – a French gift for foodies
This one is for my American readers! If you really miss French food, this is an amazing gift to yourself, while you prepare for your next trip to France. There are a few companies that send beautiful food boxes from different countries in the world, however, this one is specialized in France. Bon appetite box has several options with different food snack combinations and this time of the year they even have a special Christmas box, with French sweet specialties. Currently, they deliver only in the US. Check out their site here.
A fun experience for those visiting the region
If you’re in Bordeaux, you don’t have to buy a product, instead, you can think of a fun local activity your loved one can experience in Bordeaux.
Buy opera tickets
The Grand Theatre of Bordeaux is one of the most beautiful monuments in the city and seeing a ballet or an opera show inside is an amazing experience. Most spectacles at the Opera house are fully booked well in advance, so surprising a person who lives here with tickets to the Grand Theatre will surely bring a smile to their face. Go to the site of the Grand Theatre and purchase the tickets directly there.
Make your own wine experience
Château Pape Clement offers a fun workshop, called Be a Winemaker, where you get to make your own wine, create your own label, and take home a unique bottle. This could be an amazing Christmas gift – you can book it here.
Spa in the vineyardes
There are quite a few Spas in Bordeaux city itself, among them you can find the intercontinental hotel in the center of Bordeaux or the Spa in Hotel de Sèze. However, you can turn it into a very special Christmas gift by booking a Spa in a Château. One of the best experiences in our region is the Sources-Caudalie Spa which is located amidst the Grand Cru vineyards of Château Smith Haut Lafitte. See all the info here.
I hope you enjoyed this article and that it gave you plenty of ideas for French gift ideas for your friends and family. If you want to see more experiences in Bordeaux, don’t forget to follow my Instagram.
*Note – Some of the links in this article include affiliate links for which I earn a small commission. It adds absolutely nothing to your cost and helps me continue writing about this amazing region. I always recommend only things and experiences I love and believe in!
You can also get plenty of tips on things to do in the Southwest of France via lost in Bordeaux’s social media accounts and email list, check them out here:
