The Vegan Food and Gift Guide to Christmas

As winter is fast approaching, the Votch team is practically counting the days until Christmas and thinking of how to prepare the ultimate vegan dinner and organising the best vegan Christmas presents for family and friends. If you are new to living a cruelty-free lifestyle or you have a herbivore friend, you might wonder: what to cook for a vegan in Christmas? Or what to get a vegan for Christmas? Not to worry, we’ve gathered up our top picks and our best vegan Christmas ideas to make this celebration season as smooth and joyful as possible!

Start off with gifts, we have rounded up our top selection of gifts that would please anyone looking into a more cruelty-free lifestyle:

Votch 

In terms of what to get a vegan for christmas, nothing beats a good vegan watch, and we are an award-winning vegan watch company that is proudly cruelty-free and eco-friendly too. We offer stylish watches both for men, women and unisex, a product that inflicts no harm to animals and as little to the environment as possible. We are forever researching the most innovative fabrics (such as recycled or renewable materials) and we are also PETA approved. We give 10% of our profits to different charities every 3 months and we also offer interchangeable straps, for a day to night look with ease. We love the Classic Black & Black watch for the men in our lives and the Rose Gold & Light Grey Petite one is perfect for ladies!

Evolve Beauty Get Up and Glow Set

Evolve Beauty is a British brand from Hertfordshire that provides vegan, cruelty-free, eco-friendly, natural and handmade beauty products in small batches. Over at Votch, we love supporting fellow brands that support the environment and the animals, but who also believe it’s time to evolve. Hence the name!  Society is coming full circle, especially during Christmas, so by choosing natural products you will be offering the gift of beauty that better for them and our world.

Evolve Beauty promises to offer the  experience of joyful everyday moments with their uplifting scents, delicious textures and effective results. A perfect solution for a vegan christmas hamper would be the Evolve Beauty Get Up and Glow Set, a great option for a taster test and also fantastic for on-the-go!

Vegan Candles by Vegan Bunny Co

We absolutely love Vegan Bunny Co, whose Ginger and Lemongrass Vegan Soy Candle won Best Candle of the Year on the PETA Vegan Homeware Awards 2018. Vegan Bunny Co produce & sell handmade candles that are vegan, free from pesticides, herbicides and Genetically modified materials (GMM). Also all they produce is certified by PETA  as Vegan & Cruelty free, making this company kind to every kind. Yay! 

As another fellow British brand, they only use high quality components and the magic ingredient of love is put into every product they make, making these candles feel even smoother and softer than machine-made candles. What is more perfect than this for a vegan Christmas gift? For a perfect pamper night, we recommend the Lavender Soy Candle for a relaxing scent and the Lime and Eucalyptus for an uplifting mood. 

Faux Leather Notepad from Kikki K

Want to give the gift of organisation to someone? Then a vegan notepad is a great option! Kikki K is an amazing place to go for vegans when it comes to notebooks and pads, as they have a whole vegan-friendly category. This Swedish brand started off with the aim to make people’s dream life happen with the power of a notebook, so a vegan notepad is a wonderful Christmas gift for someone who would like to make changes in the year ahead and set any new intentions to their life.  We particularly like this Leather-Free Journal for someone who may start a new job, new adventure or even as a fitness journal for the new year! 

Avant Garden Christmas Recipe Book

Gaz Oakly is a renowned vegan chef and book author, and he has a Christmas cookbook with tons of suggestions for the festivities and advice on how to cook delicious plant based any day during the season. Gaz is an expert in bold flavours and textures, and thanks to his YouTube channel, anyone can recreate the recipes from his book. Vegan Christmas Cookbook is a fantastic vegan Christmas present idea and an ideal place of food inspiration for vegans and vegetarians at Christmas. Find it on Amazon for only £10.39!

A Vegan Hamper by British Hamper

Another fantastic vegan Christmas present idea is the perfect vegan hamper. Don’t you think? The British Hamper Company is a business established in Lincoln, that specialises in creating different hampers at different budgets for any occasion. Born from the idea that great food should be celebrated, this company also cherishes British produce and the love of gift giving. The British Hamper offer an incredible selection of Vegan Hampers, ranging from £30 to £85, there is something for everyone! Shop online at https://www.britishhamper.com/uk/

Wool-Free Christmas Jumper

Since it was launched by Save the Children in 2012, Christmas Jumper Day has raised a huge £17 million for children living in poverty in the UK and across the world thanks to participants in schools and offices donating £2 each to charity to wear their jumper to work or school. Its popularity continues to grow each year along with the nation’s love of this winter wardrobe staple, with more than five million people taking part officially in 2017. Whilst we think that charity shops have amazing options, Cheesy Christmas Jumpers have an incredible selection of wool-free and vegan Christmas Jumpers.

Vegan Chocolates from Friars

And finally, a gift for a vegan can’t be complete with a small selection of chocolates right? The market has really evolved in the last couple of years, offering incredible dairy-free chocolates made with almond milk, nut butters, coconut salted caramel and so many more decadent ingredients! Friars is a well-known family business specialising in luxury chocolate and unique gifts, perfect for Christmas! Since 1927 the business has evolved from a gift shop to a specialist chocolate and gift store, and they have recently launched an incredible selection of vegan chocolates that are perfect as a vegan Christmas gift. We have our eye on the Vegan Chocolatier Iconic Collection of Vegan 15 Chocolate Box, but be careful as they have so many other amazing flavours it will be hard not to get a box for yourself…

Looking for the perfect vegan Christmas dinner to please everyone? Of course! Christmas is a time to be joyful but also to eat, drink and be merry! Thankfully UK supermarkets and high-street stores offer a wide variety of options to cater for vegans and we are totally onboard with the growing demand from consumers asking for more meat-free options. To save you some time, the Votch team has gathered the best food products in the supermarket shelves to help you get in the Christmas spirit!
 

Tyne Vegan Chease

Tyne Chease specialises in nut-based dairy-free cheeses, and we think the perfect vegan dinner starts with a vegan cheese board! With amazing varieties such as Original, Dill, Garlic, Ethiopian Spice, Mustard, Chilli Flakes, and Za'atar Spice, Tyne Chease is the perfect festive touch to welcome your guests. 

Vegan Christmas Nut Roast

Whilst there are plentiful recipes of vegan nut roast with a quick internet search, if you are short on time you can always get one from a favourite supermarket or even online! You could choose this amazing Waitrose Vegan Nut Roast or go for Linda McCartney’s Vegetarian Roast, which is also suitable for vegans. 

Vegan Christmas Puddings

For those chocoholics out there there’s a rich and decadent Chocolate Cheezecake from Daiya available at Asda, which is perfect for entertaining. It’s dark, delicious and an impressive way to finish your meal. For those who prefer a fruitier end to their festive meal, GÜ has a selection of puddings such as Spanish Lemon Cheesecakes and Strawberry & Rhubarb available at Asda, Co-Op, Morrison’s, Waitrose, Tesco and Sainsbury's.

And to finish off in good spirit…

Vegan Baileys Almande

Baileys Almande is dairy-free and vegan-friendly, but very much not free from naughty, delicious indulgence. All the deliciousness of Baileys without the dairy make this the perfect dairy-free indulgence.

After a long wait, this delicious drink is now available in all major supermarkets. Team Votch will also be pulling this off to celebrate New Year’s too!