Newcastle Christmas Market gift ideas from unique bottles of festive florals to boozy local tipples

The newly-opened Newcastle Christmas Market is already attracting hordes of people keen to enjoy some early festive spirit and this weekend has seen all ages out to make the most of what's on offer.

With around 35 decorated chalet stalls laid out around the Monument, the top of Grey Street and Grainger Street, crowds have been busy shopping for gifts and sampling an array of food and drink, with queues soon building up for the likes of Yorkshire Pudding Wraps - including all the festive trimmings - and cosying up around fire pits in the Moosenwirt alpine-theme bar.

Most of this year's traders are local and they include familiar names from the adjacent Grainger Market too. And those gift stalls have some unique ideas for anyone looking to tick off their Christmas present list with something different this year.

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So what can be picked up for £20 or so? Well there are plenty pick and mix options for your money if you shop around.

Among the more unusual is the eye-catching display at the Botanical Beauties stall near the Monument where Diane Dobson is selling her Japanese Herbarium Bottles. Diane, from North Shields, is a regular at Tynemouth Market and already known for her bottles of living terrariums and herbariums.

This time she says: "I've upped the game!" Finding buyers are always concerned about how best to look after the plants inside the glass terrariums, she has now come up with a range of decorative gift bottles of florals that look stunning and require no care whatsoever.

These long-lasting options, in the style of Japanese Herbarium, contain dried flowers which have been dyed, artfully arranged and preserved in oil. Diane says she tried out her new venture at her Tynemouth stall in the run-up to Newcastle's Christmas market and customers think they are beautiful.

She says: "With terrariums, a lot of people worry how to look after it and think 'I'm going to kill it' so I thought I needed something else as well, so I've started doing these." She makes them by drying out fresh flowers, including the likes of gypsophila and statice, then dyes them in a range of colours and immerses them in bottles filled with natural mineral oil - and she has some festive sparkle in there too.

Starting out with fresh flowers makes for a time-consuming process. She says: "In the summer I have them hanging on my washing line!" But at other times she has to put the heating on to speed things up.

Her stall has herbariums in a range of colour choices, including a festive mix of green flowers with red. A small Herbarium bottle costs £6 or two can be bought for £10.

A 'large flask' size is £20. Diane is also selling pendant necklaces featuring a little phial filled with tiny coloured dry flowers as well as baubles filled the same way.

Drinks are always popular gift idea at Christmas and Blaydon-based Firebrick Brewery has a stall near the Monument where customers can pick from a range of beers for £4 a can. Company director and head brewer Alistair Lawrence, who was manning the stall on Saturday with wife Sue, has been keen to add an extra touch of fun to business so has a 'mystery' pick on offer too, inviting customers to decide on a beer after reading the tasting notes and have their wrapped package revealed.

Firebrick is one of the traders which also has a regular stall in the Grainger Market and Alistair says that when they first took part in the annual Christmas Market they had wondered if having two stalls at the same time over the festive season would "split the audience" - but instead he found they attract "completely different people".

"Both do well at Christmas," he says. They are currently well stocked up with brews and their 440ml cans cost £4. They also offer a pick-and-mix of six cans in a gift box, featuring the brewery's flaming logo, for £25.

There are Firebrick glasses to drink them from too, on sale for £5. Soon a new Fireglow beer, currently being brewed in the Blaydon premises, will join the range.

Alistair describes this newcomer as "a Christmas cake in a beer" in a can. "It has spice, cinnamon and black cardamom and a smoky background - a bit like an adult Dr Pepper!"

Shoppers at his stall can keep a look out too for a Tyne 9 beer, named after Newcastle United's famous shirt number, which will be ready for sale by early December. And the appearance of this black lager, when poured into the brewery's special glass, will combine with the design to look like black and white stripes, says Alistair.

Wylam Brewery and Newcastle Gin company also appear on the market's announced list of traders this year, as do department stores Fenwick and John Lewis for the first time. They add to a wide range of products on sale, from knitwear to jewellery, at surrounding stalls.

Busy workers on their lunch break could easily pick up a gift in passing, from a £16 sweet-selling orange and cinnamon garland for their front door from Scents of Christmas to unique 3D pop-up Christmas cards from Tian's Gifts.

The latter is also well-known for its permanent stall in the Grainger Market where its remarkable 3D cards are always a favourite among a range of Asian art, craft and gift ideas which also include traditional Chinese hairpins, handheld fans and stationery.

The smaller cards cost £3.99 at the Christmas Market, or two for £7, while large ones are £5.99 or two for £10. Around the other side of the Grainger Street layout is the colourful Festival stall, selling hand-made fair trade woolies from Nepal which include embroidered fleece-lined hand-warmers for £14 and wool-lined beanie hats, with designs of flowers and sheep, for the same price.

Then there's The Medibody which may be way over a £20 price range but for those who want to treat themselves and add some colour to winter while wrapping up warm, this seller of scented candles and 'whimsical' cardigans has a cheery, chunky cardy range with reductions from £65 to £49 plus discounts for anyone buying two or three.

Local photographer Garry Bell is back this year with his Elemental Photography stall and offers plenty of gift ideas of his own with his images of some iconic city views and scenes of Northumberland and the wider North East, set to appeal to Geordies and visitors to the region alike. And there's The Eco Stall which no doubt will be popular for its zero-waste range of 100% natural cosmetics and gift sets - and that means no plastics, chemicals or palm oil.

For the full list of stalls at the city centre's Christmas Market see here and find a range of food and drink prices here. The expanded market, which this year includes new attractions of a Christmas Village in Old Eldon Square and North Pole igloos at the Monument, will be open daily from 10am to 8pm, and 5pm on Sundays, until December 22.