Why These Earned A Letter

Last Christmas I Gave Four Of These. This Year I Bought Mine In October.

Not because I have suddenly become organised. Because most of the designs are not being made again.

Diane Ashcroft

Shrewsbury · October 2026

I am going to admit something that will sound daft. Last Christmas I gave four people a laundry basket.

I know how that reads. I had the same doubts in the shop, or rather at the kitchen table with the website open, thinking that there is a line between a thoughtful present and something that looks like you gave up. A laundry basket feels like it sits on the wrong side of that line.

Nobody wants a laundry basket. That is exactly why it works.

Here is what I had worked out, and it took me about sixty years to work it out. The best presents are not the things people want. They are the things people need and will never buy themselves. Nobody wakes up and decides today is the day they spend forty pounds on somewhere to put their washing. They buy the grey plastic one in a hurry, they put it behind the bathroom door, and then they live with it for six years and never think about it again.

So you give them the one they would never have chosen to spend the money on. And because it is actually nice to look at, it does not go behind the door.

Lulu Cat Parade Laundry Basket wrapped with ribbon under a Christmas tree — A ribbon round the middle and a tag. That is the whole of the wrapping problem solved.

What Happened On The Day

My sister got the highland cow. She is not a sentimental woman and she held it up and laughed properly, which from her is a standing ovation. My daughter-in-law got the cats and asked where it was from before she had finished unwrapping it. The two I gave to friends both texted on Boxing Day.

What I had not expected was the follow-on. Three of the four went and bought another one themselves in the new year, for a different room. That is the bit that told me these were not just a novelty that lands well on the morning.

A woman on Christmas morning holding up the Fiona Bloom Highland Laundry Basket and smiling at the printed design — My sister, who claims not to be sentimental.

See The Designs

Three Things I Have Learned

One. It has to survive February. A present that is charming on the day and irritating by spring is not a good present. Mine is quilted right through, so it stands up on its own whether it is full or empty, and the handles are stitched canvas rather than glued-on straps. I carry mine down a full flight of stairs stuffed to the top twice a week and nothing has stretched.

Two. The design goes the whole way round. This sounds like nothing until you own one that does not. There is no blank back panel to hide against a wall, which is why these end up in the bedroom and the living room rather than shut in the utility.

Three. Pick the size for the room, not the person. The large is a proper two-person laundry basket. The small is the one people put in a bathroom or by a front door for scarves. If you are guessing, the medium is what most people end up with.

Coral Shell Shine Laundry Basket holding towels in a bathroom in winter — The same basket in February, holding towels, in a bathroom with nothing festive about it.

Then I Went Back For Four More

Which brings me to why I am writing in October rather than December.

I went to order this year's and found that the list of designs is shorter than it was. I asked, and the answer was straight: they are quilted by hand in small runs, the sums have stopped working at this price, and most of these designs will not be made again once the current stock has gone.

So I bought four in one sitting, which is not like me at all. They are in the spare room under a sheet. If two of the designs I wanted had gone by December I would have been genuinely annoyed, and I would have had nobody to blame.

Four Evely Rose quilted laundry baskets being wrapped on a kitchen table — This year's four, mid-wrap. The cost of being early is a bit of cupboard space.

About The Price

They are £34.95 for the small, £37.95 for the medium and £41.95 for the large, down from £70, £76 and £80 while the stock is being cleared. If you are sending two to the same address the shop takes ten per cent off a pair, which is how I ended up with one more than I had planned.

For a present that gets opened in front of everyone and then stays in the room for years, I have spent a great deal more on a great deal worse.

I have never once regretted giving somebody something they would not have bought themselves.

See What Is Left

What I Would Tell You If We Were Friends

If you have somebody difficult on your list, this is the one. Not because it is clever, but because it is the sort of thing people are pleased to be given and would never have got round to buying.

And if there is a design you have had in mind, I would not leave it until December. That is not me being dramatic, it is just what I found when I went looking.

Diane