Best hampers 2024, for summer picnics and gifting

Hailing from the bucolic Cotswold countryside, Daylesford is the farm that has become a national name for its innovative food and drink offerings. This hamper comes complete with a cool bag to transport the goodies to your favourite picnicking spot.

Highlights include lemony white chocolate dipped cookies, smoked salmon and a fruit-studded loaf of bread from the Daylesford bakery. For drinks comes a tart yet sweet apricot juice and a bottle of prosecco frizzante. A celebratory pop to begin your picnic. Items will vary with seasonality and availability.

For a very British picnic, try The British Hamper Company’s picnic celebration hamper. Featuring a bottle of Pimms with adorable mini lemonades plus four sultana scones with raspberry jam and clotted cream, this regal hamper all packaged in a wicker basket is the epitome of British summertime.

There are savoury options including smoked salmon which while delicious perhaps doesn’t need two packets, a delightfully peppery fennel-seed-studded salami and mild Lincolnshire poacher cheese which is great crumbled over the crackers with the red onion marmalade. Finish your picnic off with celebratory bubbles and rich apricot, lime and ginger fruit cake.

Now that the British weather has improved, this hamper should be the top of your wish list for a picnic date in the park or gather friends for a garden party.

Everything has been considered in this hamper with crudités and butterbean hummus, delicious sausage rolls with onion chutney, a charcuterie and cheese platter with crusty French bread and some decadent and very chocolatey brownies.

The box comes with a handle for convenience along with paper plates and wooden knives and forks so it’s ready to take on your picnic. Hampers suitable for between two and six people. Price starts at £65 for two.

An ingenious way to conduct wine tasting at home, the Reserve Wines blind tasting box is a great dinner party activity or date night idea. Three mystery bottles of wine will be delivered with information and tasting notes for each bottle. The twist being that you have to guess which bottle matches the descriptions.

We tasted three delicious wines, one floral with vanilla and peach notes, another dry with grapefruit notes and one with acidy lemon. We loved the tasting game and the anticipation of full glasses once the guessing was over. Choose white, red or “fancy” red at-home tasting undles.

This chic little hamper makes for the perfect cheese and wine date night. The Mirabeau pret-a-porter rose wine in a can is game changing and has immediately become a new favourite.

In the hamper we tested we had three luxurious cheeses: a goat’s cheese that was excellent drizzled with honey. The gorgonzola dolce was mild but flavourful and meltingly delicious when spread on a cracker.

We can see this becoming our go-to gift for a friend’s birthday, date night or catch up.

Customise your own mini cocktail party with Edmunds’ mix and match cocktail box. The website is easy to navigate with the option of six, 12 or 24 cocktails - each 100ml - to choose from. We selected a box with one each of the following cocktails: strawberry daiquiri, lychee martini, elderflower collins, cosmopolitan, kumquat margarita and amaretto sour.

With many cocktails garnering well-earned awards, we personally were crazy for the amaretto sour and kumquat margarita, but all were delicious. Simply shake with ice and serve with the garnish provided. At £34.95 for six, that works out as under £6 per cocktail, and you save 10 per cent if you subscribe.

Some of the best bacon we’ve had plus herbed farmhouse sausages have been paired with soft white rolls as the stars of the signature match day breakfast hamper from Imp & Maker. A great way to treat the football fan in your life or to enjoy with friends while watching the game.

Drizzle on the Tracklements tomato sauce for the perfect breakfast roll. Other salty and savoury snacks include exceedingly moreish smoked chilli snacks from Belazu and Savoursmiths salt and vinegar crisps that make the Noam beer sing. Four lagers are included in this hamper from the Berlin-based brewers: they’re super refreshing and light, nicely rounding off the feast.

Make your own gourmet burger feast from home with the Made in Oldstead burger box. The box arrives with all the ingredients and step-by-step instructions for cooking a three-course burger dinner. This box is perfect for a fun date night for a couple to cook together, or grab your bestie for a burger evening.

When complete, you’ll have two hefty and juicy beef burgers in brioche buns with loaded pulled pork fries, a plate of honey and garlic chicken wings and ice cream sandwiches made from raspberry brown butter cookies and frozen raspberry puree inside.

The cooking time is rather long, with chips taking well over one hour in the oven. The instructions become complicated at one point but they are generally quite simple. The highlight of the box is definitely the burger, which rivals a restaurant-made burger and all from the comfort of your home.

Whoever came up with the genius idea for a raclette party in a box needs some kind of reward. Packed with cheeses, meat and potatoes, you can prepare your very own meltingly delicious spread complete with glasses of excellent wine.

We cut the raclette cheese into slices and melted it in a pan before smothering it over spicy black pepper coated saucisson, crispy potatoes made in the air fryer and the crunchiest tortilla chips. The wines were a particular highlight: a fresh and perfectly balanced riesling and a bottle of Saint Veran clos de chateau, a dry, oaky chardonnay that paired perfectly with the smoked raclette.

Giving you a taste of The Newt at home, this hamper is stellar. Housing a selection of artisanal cheese from suppliers in the area, this hamper has everything you need for an excellent cheeseboard. From the Bath soft cheese and blue cheese to the Driftwood goat’s cheese, Merry Wyfe cheese and Solstice soft cheese (a real crowd-pleaser), the line-up is paired with cheddar and apple oatcakes, cheese biscuits and straws, fig and sultana cheese crackers, and jars of chutney, piccalilli and damson fruit cheese.

Topping off the celebrations, three bottles of cyder (fine, single variety and the award-winning ice blend) are found in the hamper.

One of the cutest additions to our hamper line-up is the Bellini Box from Fortnum & Mason. What better way to celebrate with breakfast than a morning cocktail? We love a bellini, made with sparkling wine and peach puree.

Inside the box, you’ll find Fortnum’s own prosecco plus Alain Milliat peach nectar. The sweet nectar pairs wonderfully with the more dry Prosecco a lovely indulgent breakfast, or gift to take over to a friend’s house for a brunch date.

Cutter & Squidge is an IndyBest favourite at this point. Hampers are packed with decadent treats that are all handmade in London. The vibrant colours of the packaging are always a treat to open.

The afternoon tea hamper is made up of four fluffy scones that with deliciously sweet strawberry jam and clotted cream, plus signature squishy cakes and savoury treats such as cheese twists. Eat along with cups of Cutter & Squidge’s own English breakfast tea.

Easter food definitely leans towards chocolate eggs and plenty of sweets, so the savoury-toothed are rarely catered for. Enter Snowdonia Cheese Company, a North Wales based company that has a selection of hampers which feature its delicious cheeses alongside other treats.

The champagne and cheese celebration hamper has four Cheddar cheeses, three chutneys, crackers, biscuits, milk chocolate figs and a bottle of champagne. We loved the roasted garlic and herb Cheddar the most but all were very moreish. And the rhubarb and gin chutney is divine when paired with one of the buttermilk crackers and Cheddar. It all went down a treat with the very drinkable Henriot Brut Souverain NV Champagne, too.

The milk chocolate figs add something a little decadent for the end of the cheese and champagne evening.

Iconic French macaron maker Ladurée has launched its hamper and gift box range, with beautifully packaged boxes tied with pink and green ribbons and overflowing with sweet treats to have a Marie Antoinette-style tea party.

In the imperial hamper, there is a box of 12 of the brand’s classic macarons – we adored the raspberry, vanilla and pistachio, plus more chocolate treats like milk chocolate coated candied lemon, a box of six Eugénie which are chocolate-coated shortbread biscuits in a variety of flavours with a melting heart centre. We loved pairing the sweet treats with the fabulous Earl Grey tea.

New Theory is rapidly becoming one of our favourite wine producers. The brand utilises grapes grown in South Africa for its delectable wines. The starter pack includes three bottles: pot luck is a pet nat made with pinotage grapes with gorgeous fruity notes and a satisfying sparkle. Love bite is a juicy red that is best served chilled. Our favourite is the skin contact orange called white lies which we drank with our cheese board with notes of peach and grapefruit that we couldn’t get enough of.

From the Dorchester Collection, Cake & Flowers is the bakery and florists that now offer beautifully luxurious hampers for delivery in London. The combined efforts of designer florist Philip Hammond and executive pastry chef Michael Kwon, this hamper is comprised of a stunning overflowing bouquet of fragrant seasonal flowers, four charming cakes, a tray of chocolate ‘bon bons’ in a range of inventive flavours such as Earl Grey and yuzu and cherry blossom tea.

This all comes alongside a bottle of Bollinger la grande année 2014 champagne, a 10 year old brut with notes of rich fruits like peach and apple. The perfect bubbles for a luxurious celebration: think anniversaries or big birthdays.

An IndyBest favourite, Snowdonia Cheese Company’s hampers are great for lots of occasions and this one is perfect for a festive cheese board. There are three cheddars – one truffled, one extra mature and a rich cave-aged cheese – with a trio of chutneys that pair beautifully with each of the cheeses. The rhubarb and gin chutney is a highlight.

This made for a great cheese and wine night with friends and there are some distinctly festive flavours, including the fig and sultana toasts; the warming, fruity red wine; and the fig and apple chutney. There is even some chocolate to nibble afterwards.

With six expertly selected bottles of wine – a champagne, a rosé, two whites and two reds – this hamper is a great choice if you’re hosting drinks with friends.

The celebratory champagne is aged for five years and is the perfect way to welcome people into your home. The light Cotes de Provence rosé, served as chilled as possible, was a particular favourite with our testing party. The Inama Carmenere Piu wins the award for prettiest bottle and has deep fruity and spicy notes of plum and cassis – perfection.

If beautiful packaging is your thing, the Charbonnel et Walker scrumptious hamper will be an absolute delight to open. The beautiful round box is packed with a variety of chocolate goodies, from caramelised biscuit truffles to cocoa-dusted almonds. Highlights for us were the chocolate almonds and the delectable hot chocolate that comes in a very pretty tin. This is perfect to share with family or to send as a gift.

Your dinner party is completely sorted on the wine front with Imp & Maker’s a drink for every course hamper, which features five great wines that will take you from bubbles at the door through to a digestif after dinner.

This well curated box includes a bottle of Moet & Chandon imperial brut, the perfect way to toast, plus a crisp and fruity rose wine that was very drinkable. Our favourite was the 10 year old port with deep dried fruit notes, a warming fortified wine to sip the evening away.

On The Table curates gift boxes of food and wine that are perfect for sending to loved ones over the festive season or to share with your friends and family. We tried the ultimate food lovers gift box, which includes cheeses – the bix organic soft cheese was a particular favourite – alongside a delectable charcuterie platter, plus red wine.

We liked that you can make a whole meal from the hamper: start with a cheeseboard, then rigatoni and tomato pesto pairs well with cured meats, and a glass of one of the outstanding red wines included in the box. There is an excellent Cretan olive oil for extra drizzling, too.

While the price tag is slightly steep, we still think this is a great box for the foodie in your life.

This simple hamper includes a bottle of seriously drinkable Pure prosecco alongside a big bottle of Cartwright & Butler orange juice, to make breakfast glasses of buck’s fizz to sip in bed. Whether you like two parts wine to one part OJ or a 50-50 situation, nothing beats a sweet boozy bucks fizz in the morning.

The tin of sea-salted caramel truffles is delicious but maybe a savoury option would have paired well too – this is a personal preference, though.

Anyone who knows Biscuiteers knows it has some of the cutest biscuits and adorable packaging around, and each gift box is really a joy to open. Inside the birthday treats box is nine meticulously iced biscuits in various shapes including balloons, a birthday cake, ice cream cone and more. The lemon biscuits pair beautifully with the bottle of Biscuiteers own-brand prosecco.

Featuring a beautiful bottle of Cygnet Welsh dry gin, this is an elegant hamper that features attractive Pempem de Choc chocolate selection, sashimi grade salmon, truffled honey and goat’s cheese.

Highlights include the Pempem de Choc chocolates, which are wonderfully colourful and intensely flavoured, the salmon which was perfect matched with the soft goat’s cheese that has a two-star great taste award. This is a lovely gift for someone who likes the finer things in life.

Meat specialists at Dukes Hill have created this dine in hamper fillet steaks, sticky toffee pudding and red wine. Impress your beau or bestie with a date night spread.

The steaks were tender and delicious when cooked medium rare and slathered with bearnaise sauce. The smoked salmon and cream cheese pate with crackers for dipping was very moreish. For dessert a sticky toffee pudding was perfect. Steak and red wine are a match made in heaven and this bottle of malbec was perfect.