Gift amazing Art to someone you love this Christmas

Get crafty

At Craft NI you can buy handmade work by some of NI’s most talented designer-makers. There’s so much to choose from! Every year the Gallery carefully selects handcrafted unique baubles from contemporary Northern Irish makers, in ceramic, glass or textiles. Visit www.craftnigallery.org

Gift an amazing show

There are so many great shows on including Jack Frost at The MAC, Christmas shows at Portico of Ards, A Christmas Carol at the Lyric Theatre, Handle’s Messiah with the Ulster Orchestra, pantos at the Grand Opera House and Millennium Forum! These are just some of the exciting festive shows to offer this year, so why not buy some tickets or a voucher?

Music from Northern Ireland

With so many talented Arts Council award-winning musicians with great albums out, check out Brìghde Chaimbeul’s Sunwise, Róis’s Mo Léan, Huartan’s self-titled debut album, Junk Drawer’s Days of Heaven, Beauty Sleep’s The Whole Damn Cake or Wynona Bleach’s (I Don’t Know Why) I Wish You Merry Christmas. Available from all good music shops and streaming services.

Curl up with a good book!

Check out Wendy Erskine’s much-anticipated first novel, The Benefactors (Sceptre, £18.99), Sheena Wilkinson’s new novel Miss McVey Takes Charge (Writers Review Publishing, £11.99), the sequel to the best-selling Mrs Hart’s Marriage Bureau – anyone familiar with classic fiction for girls will adore this!

Also be sure to pick up a copy of Derry girl Susanna Galbraith’s debut poetry collection Morsels (£15.99) from Macha Press – strikingly original poems in a book with a fantastic design.

One to watch for very soon is The Night Swimmers (Serpents Tail, £24.99), the debut novel from Downpatrick’s Roisin Maguire, rightly set to be the Very Big Thing of 2026!

Own a dream art work

Now in its 144th year, the Royal Ulster Academy’s Annual Exhibition presents over 300 works spanning painting, sculpture, ceramics, print, and textile, with all artworks available to buy. Visit www.royalulsteracademy.org

Own Art is an interest free loan scheme which makes buying a piece of art more affordable by spreading the cost over 10 months. Choose from jewellery, ceramics, paintings and more. For participating galleries in NI visit www.ownart.org.uk

Don’t miss Queen Street Studios’ Christmas Exhibition and Sale from 4-16 Dec. Over 50 QSS artists and Associate Members will show select pieces across two gallery spaces. Works displayed in Gallery 1 will be priced under £300 and works shown in Gallery 2 will be priced accordingly and shown alongside individual prints and smaller sculptural objects. Visit https://www.queenstreetstudios...

Pop along to the Belfast Print Workshop to buy framed prints by BPW members working across a range of techniques. www.bpw.org.uk

Buy a new musical instrument

The Take It Away scheme gives you the opportunity to buy a musical instrument, equipment or software, with an interest free loan repaid over 10 months. See www.takeitaway.org.uk for participating retailers in Northern Ireland.