A gift should be for life, not just for Christmas (apologies as I am paraphrasing the line that usually refers to dogs and they are definitely for life). Or at the very least it should be something that satisfies a want or need for more than one day. And there are gifts out there that keep on giving, the presents that keep on arriving weekly or monthly in the shape of a subscription gift.

Now a subscription gift can also seem like a bit of a wait for a gift. Especially if the first send doesn’t coincide with a day near Christmas, birthday, anniversary, or other celebration. But they do arrive each week or month and let’s face it, if you are ordering for Christmas everyone needs a little pick me up in January.

Here are a few of my favourite subscription gifts that I have received and sent (and my birthday is in January if anyone would like to send me one?):

Cure and Simple (the gift of bacon)

Apart from the obvious, who doesn’t love a reoccuring gift of bacon coming through your door on a weekly or monthly basis? Not me I know that. Cure and Simple is a bacon subscription gift (feel free to pause for a moment and savour that thought). They have a mix of different rubs that they use on the bacon and it is combined with (quoting themselves now) happy and healthy pigs. I decided that this would be a perfect gift subscription for my mum and dad as a little extra Christmas present this time last year.

I love all the different options they have, not just for flavours but for frequency as well. You can decide to send as a gift (or a gift just to yourself) weekly, fortnightly, or monthly. I went for monthly but the price is the same regardless of frequency which is a little bit unheard of for a subscription gift. The fact that this is a subscription gift that fits through your letterbox is also a bonus. It means it is right there waiting for you when you come back from work or wherever. And it is bacon. Tasty, tasty (let’s go for one more), tasty bacon. So tasty that my Mum said she would wait for me to come home to try it and scoffed it all before that could happen. If that isn’t a recommendation (and typical motherly love), I don’t know what is.

The Cake Nest (the gift of cake)

Tough to follow a gift of bacon (apart from for the obvious) but the gift of cake might just do that. Especially a subscription gift of cake that keeps on, and on, and on being delivered (although bacon cake might be the next logical step?).  The Cake Nest doesn’t just do cake subscriptions (or just subscription gifts), they do a range of cake based treats including cake cards, cake pops, whoopie pies and more.

Their cake subscription gifts can be sent weekly or monthly. Unlike Cure and Simple their prices do change if you order for longer (so three months is not triple the price of one month, it is slightly less). You can pick the date to send and similarly to the bacon you can get this easily posted through a letterbox. There is a choice of wheat free as well and you can say which flavours you might not like. Flavour is decided by the Cake Nest but (and let’s face it) if you are sending cake to someone there is a fair chance they are going to enjoy it regardless of it being chocolate, salted caramel, lemon, coffee, Guinness…

The Cake Nest is always in my back pocket if I feel the need to send someone a slice of cake in the post (as who doesn’t love post and cake?). I definitely recommend as a subscription gift if you can’t hand over your present to your gift recipient in person or just want to give that little something that keeps on giving.

Bright Paper Packages (a gift for me)

This is completely and utterly just a subscription gift for me. I did try and kid myself that I was testing this out for other people but I think the time for that has been and gone. I spoke briefly about them when I was looking at feel-good gifts but, for me, they are completely worthy of a post in their own right.

Bright Paper Packages send surprise parcels each month and have a few different subscription gift options available from monthly cancel any time, to three, six, and 12 month subscription offers. If £216 for a year is too much they have a smaller option, The Bright Year, available for £100. This subscription gift is everything I love: crafty, handmade (sometimes), independent, shiny, happy, and more. I haven’t been disappointed with a subscription box yet (which totally puts it in the same category as cake and bacon for me), and while some of the items might be regifted on, I don’t see that as a downside at all. It is introducing me to new and different makers from across the UK that I am adding to my potential gift list.

Where else to look for subscription gifts?

Well I wrote about book subscription gifts way back in June of this year so there are a few fabulous ideas (even if I say so myself) in that post that might be worth an investigation (I nearly put read but couldn’t inflict more bad puns). All Subscription Boxes is also a useful website that is worth a perusal. They seem to list, if not all, a lot of subscription boxes available in the UK (and sometimes further afield). Handily they also include reviews of the subscription boxes so you can have a peek inside or find out more about what the subscription gift might contain.

I know there are many, many (many) subscription gifts out there for everything from socks to tea. And I am more than happy to elf it up for you and find the right subscription gift for whoever you need a gift for (or even yourself). I’ll even make a donation to charity if you go ahead with my idea simply tweet me, leave a comment, or email emmafull@yahoo.co.uk