BearHugs

08/10/2025

This summer marked BearHugs’ 10th Birthday 🎈

Ten years since I first took my little business idea to The King's Trust and ten whole years of sending hugs since. There’s been a lot of ups and downs and versions of BearHugs along the way… I’m so grateful for every bit of support at every stage 🩵

Seeing as I completely forgot to shout about it at the time, I’m deciding to celebrate by sharing something that’s been ten years in the making…

BearHugs’ report, Accessible Employment & Chronic Illness: A Case Study, brings together some of what we’ve learned about creating flexible, inclusive work opportunities for people with energy-limiting chronic illness over the last decade.

Not everyone with an energy-limiting chronic illness will be able to, or wish to, work. The report focuses on improving access for those who want and are able to work, showing how flexibility and understanding can make that possible🩵

It also shows that accessible employment isn’t just good for people, it can have business benefits too 💼

Full report available at bearhugsgifts.com/accessible-employment ✨

01/10/2025

My brain is whirring with a million and one shiny new product ideas at the moment ✨ Here’s one I actually found some snippets of time to bring to life… black and white baby sensory cards 🖤🤍

Popped them up on the Build Your Own BearHug page of the website for your perusal this evening 💕

https://bearhugsgifts.com/products/baby-sensory-black-and-white-flashcards

10/09/2025

Meet the newest member of the cosy day essentials line up: bookmarks 📚💖

Shouldn’t have favourites… but I do have a soft spot for these little guys. Loved tucking a few into build-your-own BearHug boxes today ✨

30/08/2025

August behind the scenes snippets ✨

1. Back working on something important that’s lain dormant for a while 👀🩵

2. Loving seeing the hugs you put together as always 💌

3. Happiest in a box ☺️

4. Nothing more calming to me than a bit of hug packing 🤍

5. Stealing 5 minutes of laptop time when I can 🐿️

6. Playing around with a few ideas 📖💕

20/07/2025

Hi pals, Faye here! It’s been a long time since I’ve popped anything up on Instagram or Facebook, so thought I’d nip back in to say hello and give a quick update.

After scaling BearHugs right back to basics a while ago to better look after myself, earlier this year I was lucky enough to have my daughter, Maya Rose, arrive.

She is magic. Jared and I absolutely love her and think she’s the best.

I always found it difficult to stay on top of social media while managing my energy levels, BearHugs, and life in general. Withdrawing for a while has definitely given me one less thing to worry about feeling behind on!

Now, with little Maya in the house, it feels less likely than ever that I’ll be totally on top of it and so I just wanted to give a quick update on why I haven’t been on here and why you may see me popping in and out rather than showing up every day.

There’s so many of you I used to speak to regularly that, as I’ve pulled away from social media, I really miss getting to hear from. If anyone I’ve not spoken to in a while wants to catch up, my email inbox is still always open - I just can’t promise I’ll be that quick to reply!

As for BearHugs, the website is still up and running and I’m still sending out hugs. It’s a smaller, simpler version in a lot of ways at the moment but the same amount of care goes into every hug sent and I’m still taking Hug Nominations for people affected by chronic illness. Now there’s just an extra little pair of hands next to me while I’m working.

Sending lots of love always 🤍

27/05/2024

✨ With Love and Sympathy Hug in a Box - Choose your mug! ✨

https://bit.ly/4dU1Ht0

23/05/2024

✨ Lovely Lip Balm ✨
https://bit.ly/3Vc03eQ

20/05/2024

✨ Hot Chocolate Letterbox Hug ✨

https://bit.ly/4bJtpqn

05/07/2023

Chief Sender of Hugs, Faye here! Since BearHugs' break and making changes to make BearHugs more manageable and calm, I've noticed I definitely feel better the less I'm on social media. I've not quite worked out the balance yet of how to be here for BearHugs as I’d like to be and do what my instincts tell me is best for my brain. So inspired by my favourite Martha Ratcliff Illustration print, I'm just nipping by today, as I am, to say hi, I'm still here, I'm just slowly figuring it out. If anyone has any tips, please do give me a shout! Behind the scenes, as ever I'm loving seeing your hug orders at bearhugsgifts.com, the beautiful sentiments behind them and the love that's being sent far and wide to loved ones out of arms' reach 🤍

16/06/2023

Mini matchboxes of seedballs are going down an absolute treat at the moment 🌸

The best thing about it (other than knowing there’ll be a lot of happy bees out there): getting to use the tiniest hug boxes of them all 🥰

Build a mini hug here: https://bearhugsgifts.com/build-your-own-bearhug

07/06/2023

A pleasure as always to be asked by Smile For ME to send hugs to carers again this Carers Week 🤍

We care about carers 💙

This Carers Week we stand in solidarity with the carers we know and every carer in the UK by saying I CARE.

To show we care we are acknowledging and thanking some wonderful carers of ME sufferers by sending them a special Smile with the help of BearHugs 💙

31/05/2023

Hi pals, Chief Sender of Hugs Faye here! Thank you so much to everyone who sent such kind supportive messages when I put BearHugs into hibernation. I was a little overwhelmed if I'm honest and they meant an awful lot to me. Since then, I've taken a bit of time out to regroup and recharge. I hadn't really had a handle on the basics (you know, eating three meals a day, getting outside, thinking about things that weren't work) so it felt good to focus on that for a while - who knew?! 🙈 I don't have definitive answers about what the future holds just yet, but until I do I'm going to be taking it slower, scaling things back for a while and reducing the pressure. I reopened the website a couple of weeks ago and have started sending your lovely hugs again. Hug Nominations are back open too and I'm looking forward to sending personalised packages to some Hug Nominees in the next few days. I promise to keep you in the loop on what's next for BearHugs as and when I can. Thank you as always for your support and if you want to send a hug, bearhugsgifts.com is there should you need it! 🤍