(*Noddy Holder voice*) IIIIIT’S CHRIIIIISTMAAAAAS!
And it wouldn’t be Christmas without a dash of our favourite YouTubers. So we’ve picked out ten content creators from the UK and Ireland (well, technically 12 – two of them are twins) that have kept us entertained all year round, and asked them a handful of questions to find out what they’ll be up to over the festive season. (We did this last year too, btw. If we do it next year we can start calling it our Christmas tradition!)
Riyadh Khalaf
Riyadh’s newest video where he chats with a flight attendant
What is your favourite holiday memory?
The best thing about Christmas for me has always been getting drunk with my family around the dinner table while telling stories and laughing until we pee ourselves. We always put on ‘old skool’ music and dance until we pass out from being over-fed. Heaven.
What is the best present you’ve ever gotten and why?
When Furby first came out I was obsessed. I couldn’t think or speak about anything else for weeks, and begged for one. By Christmas Eve they were totally sold out, apart from one store in town. My mom lined up for two hours in the cold to make sure she had one for me. The next morning, I came downstairs, and as soon as I laid eyes on it I (unbelievably dramatically) dropped to my knees and began sobbing with joy. Best day ever, until I fed it real cheese and broke its mouth. More tears followed.
What’s the best present you’ve given to someone else and why?
My Grandmother died last year and it really hit my family hard. We celebrated our first Christmas without her which was incredibly tough. I decided to make a special gift for every single member of the family. I bought massive frames and mounted a beautiful mosaic image of her face which was made up of hundreds of tiny pictures of her. On either side of the picture I placed the written speech about her life that I read at the funeral. It’s a nice non-creepy shrine to her.
Niki and Sammy Albon
Niki and Sammy doing a collab with the Mandeville sisters for Twinmas
What is your favourite holiday memory?
N: Probably something involving food. Or going to the garden centre every year at the beginning of December to get decorations was always fun.
What is the best present you’ve ever gotten and why?
N: Socks get a bad rep, but honestly, you can never have enough. The same applies to underwear.
What’s the best present you’ve given to someone else and why?
S: Last year I got my girlfriend at least five Tsums Ssums (like a true YouTuber) so that’s pretty up there.
Lucy Moon
Does anything say Christmas cheer better than a bold red lip? *insert fire emoji*
What is your favourite holiday memory?
One of my dear Christmas memories is Festive Gathering in 2012. I was on my way home from Birmingham carrying a HUGE rucksack with an air mattress and sleeping bag, but I couldn’t resist going along. I filmed a terrible video with Ray Roberts, of which he made an extra compilation video of me trying to act in freezing winter temperatures. Despite this, I had a really lovely afternoon!
What is the best present you’ve ever gotten and why?
I remember being over the moon when I received my Walkman phone for my eleventh Christmas. It had a slide-up screen, 1GB of storage and orange light-up keys. Those were the days.
What is the best present you’ve ever given to someone?
I do my sister’s stocking every year as my parents don’t enjoy buying presents as much as I do. Seriously, I could spend all day shopping for other people. On Christmas Day, we will sit on her bed and open the stockings one present at a time. I like seeing her face light up when I get something right.
Sammy Paul
Sammy feeling all kinds of festive about his advent calendar
What is your favourite holiday memory?
I think it’s got to be something involving snow, right? Making snowmen? Sledging? Bit generic. Okay, I don’t remember it personally, but I have been made to watch video evidence of me trying to convince my Dad that Santa’s letter and mince pie would be best placed on the roof; I can only assume I was conscious of his timetabling. At the time the conflict of ideas caused me a lot of stress, though I’ve since come to appreciate it with an ironic distance.
What is the best present you’ve ever gotten and why?
Probably a Nintendo 64? Then again, anything brought to you by a magical fat man who travels on a sleigh manned by flying deer is going to be somewhat special, isn’t it? Sort of loses its spark when you realise you’ve been sipping from a goblet of lies. That’s right kids, Santa isn’t real. Nor is Jesus. Another sprout anyone?
What is the best present you’ve ever given to someone?
My continuous friendship.
Beckii Cruel
Beckii’s glittery holiday hairstyle
What is your favourite holiday memory?
It’s not really Christmassy, but this year I had my twentieth birthday in Japan. My mum used to come to Japan with me when I was 14, for work, and she really fell in love with the country too, so it was lovely for her to be able to come back. We spent it with our old and new friends who live there, and went out for dinner, and ended up out until 3AM in a ‘British pub’ – weird to find that in Tokyo! 20 is a coming-of-age in Japan, and so being back there, turning 20 in a place which shaped my life so much, was really something special.
What is the best present you’ve ever gotten and why?
I went halves on my first ever DSLR camera in 2010 with my parents, and it really gave me the freedom to make better content! I also found a love of photography through that, and learned a new skill. I only just upgraded it this year – the Canon 600D to a Canon 70D, if you’re interested! The 600D is incredibly reliable, for any aspiring YouTubers out there looking for recommendations!
What is the best present you’ve ever given to someone?
Once I made some Pokéball cupcakes for my friend! It was a nice home-made gift, and they really appreciated the effort.
Melanie Murphy
What is your favourite holiday memory?
My favourite thing to do over the holidays has always been to sit in a dark, fire-lit room with my family, watching epic movies and eating chocolates! Thinking about how warm and safe that made me feel as a child gives me a fuzzy feeling all over.
Melanie chats about mental health during Vlogmas
What is the best present you’ve ever gotten and why?
It absolutely has to go be the Nintendo 64! My father gave it to my brother and I when we were super-young for Christmas, right after our parents had divorced, and it provided us with years of magic entertainment. I also feel like it helped us to cope with the split! It was very important to me growing up.
What’s the best present you’ve given to someone else and why?
My best friend only likes the red Skittles, so I bought hundreds and hundreds of packets over a few months and removed all of the red ones and gave them to her in a beautifully decorated mason jar. She went mad for it!
Daniel J Layton
Dan makes his way down Oxford St. with a parade of Santas
What is your favourite holiday memory?
Probably my first London Christmas, back in 2013. I had to work, so I couldn’t go home. Instead, a bunch of friends in the same situation came to our house on Christmas Eve and we spent the day together. We swapped presents in our PJs that morning, I cooked a full Christmas dinner for nine, we watched Home Alone 2, and my mum and brother even managed to come for a while. It was SO festive, and I loved the fact we could all be together. I get all warm and fuzzy thinking about it!
What is the best present you’ve ever gotten and why?
This is so hard, because I’ve been so lucky! I’d say it’s either my trip to New York with my mum, or the guitar Ciaran bought me last year. Which I PROMISE I will learn in 2016…
What’s the best present you’ve given to someone else and why?
I once bought my then-girlfriend a bottle of her favourite perfume, only I couldn’t remember the name of it, just what it smelled like. So I spent about a week running around the fragrance departments in Lincoln smelling everything that looked vaguely familiar. Y’know what? I got the right one. Boom. Winner badge.
Jacob and Mike Trueman
What is your favourite holiday memory?
J: Having to work at my part-time job at a care home on Christmas Day 2010, preparing lunch for elderly people with Alzheimer’s.
M: Mine was not having to do that… and also making snow penises.
Mike and Jacob on an episode of Twin Joke
What is the best present you’ve ever gotten and why?
J: I got one of those plastic clothes folders from my sister last year and it made me so exuberantly happy that I think it hurt my mum’s feelings.
M: Probably my first guitar. My stepdad told my mum that it’d be a great creative outlet for me, and so far I’ve only written songs about stalking people and getting ripped off by a condom machine.
What’s the best present you’ve given to someone else and why?
J: The gift of laughter.
M: You’re welcome.
Hannah Witton
Hannah at a screening for the new Star Wars
What is your favourite holiday memory?
I remember spending Christmas on the beach in Sri Lanka when I was ten years old. We didn’t have advent calendars, and chocolate would have melted, so me and my sister made our own with sweets in them. But unfortunately, the ants found them and our calendars were COVERED in hundreds of ants. Doesn’t sound fun but it’s still a favourite memory of mine because we all found the humour in it.
What is the best present you’ve ever gotten and why?
I want to think of something sentimental here but I can’t. Sorry, I LIKE THINGS. Probably books. I love receiving books for Christmas and then spending the whole of Boxing Day reading.
What’s the best present you’ve given to someone else and why?
A couple times I’ve gotten gig tickets for me, my parents and my sister. There are a few bands that we all love and so I like to get us all tickets when they go on tour. It’s harder now that me and my sister have moved out and we all live in different places but in the past I got them tickets to Mumford & Sons and the Avett Brothers.
Benjamin Cook
What is your favourite holiday memory?
I have photographic evidence! This is me aged six, dressed as Santa Claus. The person next to me is my sister. Or possibly my probation officer, I don’t remember. I moonlighted as Santa throughout the ’80s. Don’t judge me. I WAS YOUNG, OK? I HAD A FAMILY TO SUPPORT AND BILLS TO PAY!!! The beard is fake, but the rest is real. And for a while, I was happy.
What is the best present you’ve ever gotten and why?
Ben aged five with his sister
Well, this is me aged five, posing with all the presents that Santa brought me and my sister, back when Santa existed. He’s dead now, of course. Sam Pepper killed him for a prank. (JK LOL. Santa doesn’t exist and he never did! Just like YouLive. Or PleasantRyan.) You’ll notice that I’m wearing a Yogi Bear jumper and red trousers. It was the ’80s. Those trousers were fashionable back then, and don’t let any lying bastard tell you otherwise. Anyway, this is all irrelevant, because the best present I’ve ever gotten was a signed copy of Tanya Burr’s book, Love Tanya. The photography is gorgeous, and the baking chapter is genuinely excellent.
What’s the best present you’ve given to someone else and why?
When I was four years old, I played one of the Three Kings in my school nativity play. The Nervous King. Even back then, I liked to follow stars. Also, I was drinking heavily at the time. The King to my left (Gormless King) gave the little baby Jesus some gold in a Jiffy bag. The King to my right (Thoughtful King) gave Jesus some frankincense in a tupperware box. I gave the little baby Jesus a copy of Tanya Burr’s book, Love Tanya (he may or may not have regifted it to me the following year), which is the best present I’ve ever given anyone. And that’s everything that a newborn child could wish for, really: gold, frankincense, and Burr.
What a Christmas treat!
Still not enough UK YouTube for you? Well, you could always pick up our Christmas bundle – two magazines and a poster – for just £12!!! Alternatively, why not check out some of these other articles:
- Charlie McDonnell: The Changing Face of YouTube
- YouTubers Do Star Wars Premiere
- UK YouTubers Do Thanksgiving
- Brand Deals: Everything You Need To Know
- 11 More Things #YouTubeFandomHonestyHour Taught Us
- Meet The Cast: Oscar’s Hotel For Fantastical Creatures
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