HAMPERS encapsulate everything we love about Christmas: food, gifts, anticipation of what’s inside, unboxing… and did we mention food?
They’re like lots of presents rolled into one, the Christmas Day equivalent of the Advent calendar – but we get to open it all at once.
The best Christmas hampers look the part; either traditional wicker baskets, their contents snuggled within wood wool – like this Classic version from Fortnum & Mason – or contemporary versions dressed in cardboard and crepe paper.
Their contents appeal because of their quality, variety, or type. They contain festive goodies to help make Christmas special, or perhaps they’re dedicated to one delicacy, such as chocolate, cheese, meat or wine.
Like Advent calendars, hampers have also evolved over the past decade.
Enjoy baskets filled with beauty products and fizz for a full-on pamper session, tea and biscuits to while away a snowy afternoon, or chocolate, chocolate and more chocolate for us cocoa nuts.
Read on to discover what we rate the best Christmas hampers for 2025.
Best Christmas hamper at a glance:
Best overall: Hampers.com Traditional Christmas Hamper
Best affordable hamper: M&S The Scent with Festive Cheer Gift Hamper
Best luxury hamper: Virginia Hayward Twelfth Night Basket
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How we tested the best Christmas hampers
In deciding on our favourites we considered a number of different factors, including presentation, price, contents and variety.
Did the hamper look the part? Not all of them come in wicker, but as they’re gifts for Christmas the packaging has to have flair, whether that be in the colour, font or design of the box.
What about the price? Did it deliver on quality and quantity. Were the contents worth the cost and did the hamper provide that special feel a gift like this should generate.
Contents more than anything come down to personal taste. You wouldn’t buy a wine hamper for somebody who doesn’t drink or a cheese hamper for someone who is lactose intolerant.
So when it came to rating what’s inside, we considered variety of product, quantity and the festive factor.
Hampers.com Traditional Christmas Hamper
Traditional Christmas Hamper, £175 £140 with code FESTIVE20
Pros: Well curated selection of savoury and sweet, enough for afternoon tea as well as post dinner snacking, feels luxurious, good value with discount code, two alcoholic bottles included
Cons: Couldn’t fault it!
Rating: 10/10
At a whopping £175, this is a gift for someone firmly on the nice list, but it’s a brilliantly curated selection of luxury goodies.
Plus, you can currently get £35 off the price using the code FESTIVE20, bringing the price down to £140.
It’s the only hamper we tested that included meat — House Salami from Tempus Charcuterie, a company set up by MasterChef finalist Tom Whitaker. It makes cured meats from ex-breeding sows, resulting in a more complex, deep flavour. It just tastes… porkier than supermarket salami.
We also loved that it includes both tea and coffee, as well as savoury accompaniments like Christmas Chutney and Pickled Onions.
We like that Hampers.com has made the effort to make things as festive as possible, even including Christmas pudding-flavoured biscuits.
Alongside showstoppers like a luxury Italian pannetone and a Double Chocolate and Mint Pudding from Cole’s, you’ll ensure that your recipient is fed and watered well into the new year.
We were also impressed with the wine selection; there’s a lovely apple-y Prosecco that was actually slightly sweeter than its “extra dry” label suggested, as well as a very drinkable dry Rioja.
The hamper is available to pre-order from 4th November, has free delivery and the option to include a free gift message.
Virginia Hayward Twelfth Night Basket
Twelfth Night Basket, £228 £193.80 from Virginia Hayward
Pros: Every component felt bigger than in other hampers, includes a non-alcoholic drink option and FOUR bottles of wine, a full box of Christmas crackers, an abundance of pickles, dips and snacks
Cons: Not much — the hamper doesn’t have a lid, the Prosecco was on the cheaper side and it’s expensive
Rating: 9/10
We were immediately impressed by this Virginia Hayward hamper thanks to the fact that it includes a whopping four bottles of wine, as well as a delicious cloudy lemonade made from Sicilian lemons, which is a thoughtful nod to the people not drinking this Christmas.
For those who are partaking, there are two very quaffable Shiraz and a Chardonnay from Black Stump, as well as a decent-enough prosecco from Montecampo.
Another thing we were blown away by was the sheer scale of the hamper — every single component was huge. There’s a sticky, sweet Cherry Genoa cake weighing as much as a newborn baby, as well as a Somerset cider Christmas Pudding that would easily feed a small family.
There’s also a slab of nougat that would make a dentist sweat, a pack of six cookies as big as bin lids and a box of 16 chocolates.
Admittedly, it’s certainly geared towards people with a sweet tooth, though — the savoury inclusions feel like a bit of an afterthought, with an arbitrary selection of crackers and crisps, although there is a good selection of hummus, olives and chutney.
At £228, it’s the most expensive hamper we tried, but its quality and generosity do make it feel expensive.
Plus, you can use the code ALPINE15 to get 15% off, as well as free delivery — and last-minute gift buyers will love that you can get next-day delivery if you order by 2pm.
M&S The Scent with Festive Cheer Gift Hamper
The Scent with Festive Cheer Gift, £40 from M&S
Pros: Makes a great long-distance gift, perfect pamper gift, candle has 30 hours of burn time
Cons: Slightly expensive for just three items
Rating: 8/10
The Scent with Festive Cheer Gift Hamper from M&S is priced at £30 and makes a perfect pamper gift for Christmas.
It includes a bottle of Bellante Prosecco, Swiss truffles housed inside a light-up Christmas tree decoration, and a festive candle with notes of cinnamon and clove, with mandarin taking centre stage.
The truffles are rich, the prosecco is dry, and the candle is cosy, although it’s certainly more suited to those who enjoy spiced citrus scents, and wouldn’t suit being burnt outside of the festive period.
The pricing does feel slightly expensive when you break down the items; however, it would make the perfect gift for a family member or friend who lives that little bit further away and deserves a cosy night of TLC sat in front of the telly.
The hamper is available to pre-order from 4th November, has free nominated day delivery and the option to include a free gift message.
Cutter and Squidge Christmas Squidge Thank You Hamper
Christmas Squidge Thank You Hamper, £44.99 from Cutter and Squidge
Pros: Baby Biskie Box is unbelievably tasty, pretty affordable, good balance of sweet and savoury
Cons: We weren’t a fan of the Cacio E Pepe bites, needs to be refrigerated upon delivery
Rating: 7/10
At £44.99, Cutter and Squidge’s Christmas Thank You Hamper is one of the more affordable hampers we tested.
However, there were hits and misses.
“Cacio E Pepe Savoury Bites”, for example, sounded amazing, but were oddly sweet, with a texture eerily close to wet sand.
And “Jam on Toast Cookies” were little more than dry biscuits, with nowhere near enough jam.
However, the two best elements of the hamper more than made up for the misses.
The Earl Grey Lemon Shortbread was some of the best shortbread we’ve tried, with a proper hit of bergamot.
And the Baby Biskie Box, which contains six different types of Cutter and Squidge’s signature cake/cookie hybrid, disappeared from the Sun Shopping desk embarrassingly quickly.
However, because they contain fresh cream, this hamper doesn’t have the longest shelf life, and it’ll need to be refrigerated on delivery.
Cutter & Squidge offers next-day delivery if ordered by 4pm, a free gift message and free delivery on products over £40 if you choose the all-day option.
Prestige Hampers Christmas Luxury Hamper
Christmas Luxury Hamper, £179.99 from Prestige Hampers
Pros: Luxury names included such as Monty Bojangles truffles and Cartwright and Butler, three varieties of wine, a balanced mixture of savoury and sweet products, non-perishable, great selection for nibbling
Cons: Expensive when you break down the cost
Rating: 6/10
Prestige claims that its hamper is “filled with only the finest festive products”, and we believe it: the crisps hail from Yorkshire and are packaged in a tub, rather than simply a bag, and there are gourmet names like Cartwright and Butler and Monty Bojangles included.
The highlights were definitely the sweet options: Monty Bojangles’ Crunchy Macaroon and Pistachio Truffles, which were adult and moreish; Ovidias’ Belgian chocolates, which were so indulgent they stuck our teeth together; and the posh Mojito gummies from gourmet sweet company Ask Mummy and Daddy, which are a cut above a normal Haribo.
However, we were a bit bemused by the abundance of beige; Prestige includes two different types of crackers, as well as Scottish oatcakes and mini breadsticks. That’s a lot of plain flavours, especially considering there’s no chutney or cheese included.
There’s also a nice selection of wine: a bright, citrusy Spanish cava and a pair of Australian wines that were easy drinking and pleasant, if not mindblowing.
At £179.99, it’s one of the most expensive hampers we tested, and we weren’t convinced that this hamper provides value for money, especially when compared to similarly priced ones from Virginia Hayward and Hampers.com.
Prestige offers next-day delivery if orders are placed by 10 pm and also offers a personalised luxury card for an additional £3.99.
Standard delivery cashes in at £5.99.
