My Ultimate Blogging Wishlist and Gift Ideas for Every Blogger

Stick with me here, this post contains lots of ideas for presents to give every blogger. I might start off with some of the things I dream about which no one could really give me (it's my birthday in a few weeks time by the way), but the ideas do get more practical and affordable. Whether someone has been blogging for years or they are just starting out you will get perfect gift ideas. And those ultimate dream gifts at the beginning? Well I guess they are just setting the scene of what is important to the professional blogger who hasn't yet made it to become a household name.

Gifts every blogger will love. Present ideas for bloggers whatever your budget over a faded image of a laptop and notepad


Gifts Every Blogger Will Love (and I would like for my birthday please)


10k followers on Instagram


Oh how I would love to have 10k followers on Instagram. Why? It gives you the ability to add links to your Instagram Stories through “swipe up”. This can make your posts much more helpful for followers and it is pretty desirable when brands work with you too. 

I haven’t even hit 5k yet so the only way I’m going to get 10k any time soon is if I buy followers (not going to happen, I want genuine engagement thank you) or I become at least briefly famous. I’ve run through the likely options which could result in brief fame and to be honest none of them appeal: amusing injury, news worthy calamity or something that makes me hit the papers which would almost certainly be bad. I don’t want swipe up that badly. 

There are plenty of tracking tools which pick up unusual activity so if an Instagram account does suddenly jump up in size there needs to be an obvious reason or it will be assumed they have been bought.

I'm pretty sure that if someone has 10k already they would say their next wish would be greater engagement from their followers, so be a friend and like, comment and share their posts to help make their dreams come true.

A screenshot of my @EssexKate instagram page with 10k on top of the actual follower count

Time to work


More so than ever in these days of lockdown I dream of having time to work and that's going to be a problem for most bloggers with young children. I am absolutely not wishing these days away and children grow up oh so quickly, but some childcare would be great so I have a few hours each day. Being able to reliably focus on work would give me time to invest in all the many plans I have. For me this wont be a possibility until at least January when my son is old enough to go to nursery part time, but a lot could happen between then and now. 

A well lit space 


Ok so backdrops and random props make for beautiful flat lays but as always with photography one of the biggest deciders of the end image is the quality of light. My house is dark and crowded so whether taking flat lays or portraits my house makes it challenging. I would love a studio or better still an office flooded with natural light and beautiful furnishings. A kitchen makeover would be good too. Actually let’s think big, a huge new house stunningly decorated would tick all my boxes. Instagram has a lot to answer for.

Decent broadband

The amount of time I have lost due to our dodgy broadband is frustrating. It’s likely the local wiring that’s a problem rather than the providers themselves so nothing we can really do anything about. For uploading video or cloud storage access connectivity is even more important.

Adobe Creative Cloud Photography Plan (with 1TB storage)

I bought Lightroom several years ago on the last version which allowed you to have a perpetual license (in other words you pay once and can use it as long as you like). Adobe have now moved to software which encourages use of their cloud storage and a monthly (or annual) license fee. While having my MacBook memory used up by photographs can be frustrating at times I resent paying between £119.21 and £238.42 a year just to edit photographs (the price difference is for either 20GB or 1TB of storage).

Of course there are other photo editing options, if not using RAW images cheaper editing packages are available and I have previously bought the significantly cheaper Affinity Photo editing software which has much of the functionality of Photoshop and recognises RAW files. I find the user interface confusing and haven’t been able to persuade myself to get the time to get familiar with Affinity so there is more appeal of Lightroom and Photoshop which is used widely enough to make getting help easy.  Like so much though it is cost versus convenience, the latest version of Affinity Photo is a one off payment of less than £50 full price so well worth investigating if you have more patience than me.

An image of an old olympus camera

A new camera


I’m a Canon woman and my main camera is probably about 7 years old now. It works fine but I would love something with better connectivity options so I can tether it to my phone. I can never decide whether to go full frame or not. The benefits of the photo quality are balanced out with the larger size, weight and most significantly cost. The new 850D is pretty tempting as a more affordable option with all the latest Canon technology.

Camera's are very much a personal thing and while most bloggers would love a new one they are so important to get right. I use my iPhone Xs for much of my photography due to convenience. I have tried a top of the range compact style camera, but because the main reason I get off my phone and use a proper camera is to go manual I need one which is big enough that the manual controls are easy to use. So many people love their Olympus Pens and Nikon's but I have wasted enough money in the past to know it is worth sticking to what works for you so it would take something to persuade me away from a Canon DSLR now.

An external camera flash


A more attainable option than the well lit space is a decent external camera flash. A good quality one will have enough power that light can be bounced off the ceiling or walls and bring light into photographs in new ways. They can clip on to the top of a camera or be held to the side and a decent quality one will allow you to adjust the direction of the light.

As a Canon DSLR lover I have been checking out that Canon Speedlite options. I already have some studio lights, but they take a while to set up so a powerful flash seems like a more useful accessory. My problem with all these things is I start looking at the fairly reasonably priced option eg the Canon Speedlite 430EX costing around £250, but then get tempted by the next one up, then the next one up and find myself seriously considering investing in the £500 odd Canon Speedlite 600EX and I have to remind myself that the kit only takes you so far, it’s ultimately talent that results in the best photographs.

Gift Ideas for Bloggers Under £10 

The suggestions above range from expensive to utterly unrealistic, but gifts obviously don't have to be expensive. Bloggers love stationery, photo props and pretty things so check out this list of ideas on Amazon (affiliate link). 

Some other present ideas for bloggers: 

**list below contains affiliate links**

Online courses

From photography, to photo editing to SEO there are a lot of courses available online right now.


An SEO audit

Make sure you choose someone used to bloggers and with a good reputation, not one of those random companies that email you and don't know what they are talking about. I'd recommend an award-winning, reputable SEO agency like The Brains Marketing - if you want to give your blog a real makeover and get it ranking, these are the experts to chat to!

New header/ branding/ theme for your blog

It can be great to have a fresh look at your blog every so often and a new header and theme is a great way to do it. I am on Blogger and have found lots of great templates under £10 on Etsy (affiliate link).

A conference ticket

Possibly not the best option for 2020, but hopefully conferences will be back in a big way in 2021. I love to go to Blog On which is a great affordable conference, but there are plenty of others.


Business Cards 

Great for conferences, meet ups or even when you just get chatting with someone. I recently bought 100 basic business cards from Awesome Merchandise (including delivery). You have to set up your artwork before uploading in this deal, but for the incredible cost and decent quality it is worth it.

Paying a VA to work on your Pinterest

Using a virtual assistant can be a great way to free up some time and see a return on your blog. I think the best way of working with them is to choose something which requires low input from you and that they are an expert in. Using them for Pinterest is a great option which can see a big increase in views to your blog.

Subscription To Scheduling Programmes

Another great time saver is to use scheduling programmes where you can upload your content in one go for the week. The social media platforms are starting to include their own scheduling tools eg you can schedule directly in Facebook for your page, but a scheduling programme can still be useful. I use Planoly for Instagram (you can try it out for free), but if you are posting every day you will want the paid for version which also lets you schedule to Pinterest. I use Social Bee to schedule my tweets (affiliate link). Tailwind is popular for Pinterest, especially the use of Tribes, but it can be expensive if you don't utilise it properly.

An SD card for your camera

I find I always run out of space on my SD cards (affiliate link) because I am taking so many photographs and I don't want to delete them straight away incase I need them.

A set up with new manfrotto tripod in front of chairs

A Tripod, possibly with boom arm for overhead shooting

Unless you have an Instagram husband or a very stable hand a tripod is essential for bloggers. Used with a remote control or timer you can get great photos of yourself and they provide lots more flexibility when taking product shots, especially with a boom arm or monopod (affiliate link) which lets you take overhead shots. I personally like tripods with a quick release mounting plate, a handle to allow minor adjustments and a hook on the bottom which can be used to weigh down lighter tripods avoiding wobble, this Amazon basics model (affiliate link) includes all these features at a lower price than a similar design I own.

A Planner

A lot of bloggers love to buy planners to help plan content and targets for the year. While I'm a particular fan of bullet journals, if you are looking for something more structured there are lots of recommended American designs like these life planners for Erin Condren. Or you can go for a plain planner like these.

Stock photo subscription

I rarely use stock images because of the type of posts I write and I find that the auto tags on my phone and Google photos generally helps me find something suitable, but if you do use stock images then a subscription or bulk purchase is a great way of getting ones to meet your needs.

Gift ideas for bloggers. Presents bloggers will love whatever your budget
Gift ideas for bloggers for all budgets

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