Vienna in December is a study in decadent restraint. We walk through the city pretending to be above the seasonal chaos while simultaneously panic buying gifts between Punsch stands and Christkindlmarkets, all while staring aggressively at strangers who block our path on Kärntner Straße. But here is the secret every real Viennese knows. If you want to gift well you have to avoid global sameness the way we avoid over sweetened Glühwein.

You choose the things made here. Objects created by people who still believe in craft. People for whom beauty is a moral obligation. People who produce things that last longer than your holiday stress spiral.

The good news is that Vienna excels at this. The bad news is that your wallet may cry, but at least it will cry locally, which is morally superior.

If winter in Vienna had a face, it would be wearing a Mühlbauer hat. Handcrafted, elegant and theatrical in a way that never needs to announce itself, a Mühlbauer piece instantly transforms you into the sort of person who wanders through snowstorms purely for aesthetic purposes. This season the collaboration with Skergeth and Edara takes things even further, a trio that blends modern Viennese cool with traditional craftsmanship so seamlessly you would think the city itself whispered instructions.

R. Horn is your destination for leather crafts that are almost suspiciously beautiful. The bags and wallets are classics, but the small leather trays and travel catch alls deserve their own small opera. These are the gifts for the charmingly messy people in your life, the ones who shed keys, rings, receipts and emotional baggage in a five meter radius. A leather tray says I accept you, but your chaos needs boundaries. And it delivers this message with impeccable grace.

Viennese accessorising is never complete without knitwear, and Rudolf proves why. Their pieces are warm without bulk, elegant without effort and unmistakably local. A Rudolf scarf or sweater is more than an outfit addition. It is an initiation into winter the Viennese way, beautifully deliberate with a touch of hauteur.

Another favourite is the spectacular collaboration between the brass institution Carl Auböck and the French label Lemaire. Together they created a stunning lambs leather bag with the signature Auböck eye, a magnifying glass that can be worn as a necklace and a sculptural pen necklace. These pieces form the perfect bridge between traditional craftsmanship and contemporary design.

The Viennese have perfected the art of edible gifting. It is almost suspicious how good we are at it. Perhaps it is because food here is never just food. It is memory, pride, ritual and comfort, all wrapped in impeccable packaging.

Start with bread. Not just any bread, Öfferl. Arriving at a holiday gathering with an Öfferl loaf is a Viennese power move. It elevates a table, a mood and occasionally even a family dynamic. You could bring Champagne, but let us be honest, the bread would receive more compliments.

Speaking of bottles, Vienna’s wine and spirits scene is having a golden moment. A bottle of Wien Gin, one of Schlödl’s expressive wines or Parvenü’s contemporary, slightly rebellious bottles says something very different than supermarket sparkle ever could. We are also partial to anything from Weingut Heinrich. These choices say I know exactly what I am doing. And if you want cultural gravitas, gift a carefully chosen wine from a small producer, the kind that starts conversations and ends evenings beautifully.

Vienna’s love story with sweets is well documented. Imagine your typical Manner Schnitten or Mozartkugeln, but better. The Wiener Zuckerlwerkstatt brings back the sweets we grew up with, colourful, flavourful and full of cheeky charm.

But the city’s most important sugary treasure, the one that deserves real reverence, is Altmann and Kühne. Their miniature pralines are tiny edible poems. The designs, the boxes, the meticulous care, everything feels almost too delicate for modern life. And maybe that is the point. If I could buy their entire stock every December and freeze it for emotional emergencies, I would. If you love someone, give them a box. If you fear they might close one day, as I constantly do, buy two.

Vienna has no shortage of beauty shops, but only a few make you feel like you are buying into a tradition rather than simply chasing the next beauty trend.

Wiener Blut is one of those rare exceptions. Their perfumes smell like stories, of cafés, candlelit evenings, quiet rooms, old wood and flirtations that never made it into history books. They are deeply Viennese without ever becoming cliché.

Saint Charles Apotheke remains the city’s altar of herbal alchemy. Their balms, oils and tinctures make even the most chaotic December shower feel like a small act of self preservation.

Then there is Wiener Seife and the Christkindl Edition. Think handmade soaps dressed for the season, scented like nostalgia and winter’s gentlest moments. The kind of gift you buy for others and inevitably end up keeping for yourself because who among us is truly selfless in December.

Vienna also has a thing for soaps in general and not just the dramatic kind performed at the Opera Houses. The Volksoper launched a collaboration with Lederhaas, resulting in a beautifully crafted soap that is the perfect gift for the opera lover who already has tickets to every performance next year.

And speaking of everyday rituals elevated into acts of quiet luxury, the handcrafted combs and accessories from Petz Hornmanufaktur deserve their own spotlight. These pieces are made from real horn, polished until they glow like tiny sculptures, and they glide through your hair with the smugness of something that knows it is superior to plastic in every possible way. A Petz comb is not just a grooming tool. It is a daily reminder that even brushing your hair can be an aesthetic experience if you are willing to commit to beautiful things.

Vienna’s design heritage runs deep, and the best gifts are often the small objects that upgrade an entire personality.

Lobmeyr glassware does not merely hold liquids. It transforms them. Water becomes an event, a Tuesday spritzer becomes a ceremony. Their glasses are so feather light and so finely cut they feel almost celestial. Our current favourite is the Lobmeyr and Gohar collaboration, a perfect meeting of heritage and contemporary cool.

Woka Lamps, on the other hand, bring unapologetic drama. Their Art Deco and Jugendstil reproductions are stunning sculptural light pieces that transform a room from nice to I know exactly who I am. Anyone who receives one will immediately redecorate around it and frankly they should. I personally would die for one of their tasselled chandeliers.

Another unmissable design object is the porcelain of Uli Aigner and her project One Million. Aigner has dedicated her life to hand throwing one million unique vessels, each cup, bowl or plate numbered from one to one million and registered on a world map that shows where these pieces ultimately travel. It is craftsmanship as a lifelong devotion, intimate, poetic and quietly monumental. Owning one feels less like buying an object and more like joining a global story, one porcelain piece at a time.

At the end of the day gifting in Vienna is not about extravagance. It is about intention. When you choose something crafted here, made by hands that care, you are not simply giving an object. You are giving a piece of the city’s soul. You are giving its stubborn pride, its love of quality and its refusal to accept the forgettable.

A handmade perfume, a loaf of extraordinary bread, a carefully knit scarf, a box of miniature pralines, a glass cut with absurd precision, these are gifts that contain time. They hold skill and tradition and the quiet confidence of people who make things meant to last.

And in a season that often dissolves into a blur of lists and rushing and last minute decisions, these objects remind us what gifting can be. A gesture of thoughtfulness, appreciation and connection. A way of saying, in the most Viennese way possible,
I saw something beautiful and I wanted you to have it.