Christmas Gift Ideas

What Is The True Meaning Of Christmas?

2008-08-31T13:05:00.002+01:00

The Ecclasiastical church has started a competition in connection with the Connection with Ecclasiastical Insurance Office Plc to find out what the view of everyday people is to the meaning of Christmas.

If you are a member of a church you could win up to £3,000 for them by making a one minute film about it. You'll also win a load of prizes from the band: thebandwithnoname as well as tickets to Greenbelt09.

If you fancy taking part, check out the website TrueMeaning - the closing date is 10th October.

Xmas Presents For Vegans

2008-08-31T12:43:00.003+01:00

Many people think being a vegan is about eating boring food but sometimes its a moral or medical situation. But it doesn't stop with food, it also often encompases not buying products where animals have been harmed.

VeganStore has a selection of footwear that no only aren't made from animals that have been harshly treated, but also in factories where the workforce haven't been exploited (if you're a Marxist you could say all workers are exploited).

Fionas Shop is a brilliant online store that allows you to filter products from Organic, Vegan, Fairtrade or Gluten Free products. But it was the massive selection of chocolate that got me salivating the most!

The Vegetarian shop has a good selection of health and beauty products, as well as other stuff, that should prove to be a nice, orginal gift that would be so much better than just walking into Boots and picking up the first thing you've found!

Naturally Good Food has a pretty fantastic selection of organic chutneys and pickles! I'd plump for (if anyone wants to send me some) the red onion marmalade.

Marshford have a good selection of Organic Wines to choose from. I'd have to go for the The Ruins Pinotage Rose as its from South Africa.

Other Vegan Gifts

Novelty Gifts For Girls: Mr P Lamp

2008-08-31T12:28:00.002+01:00

If this doesn't make your friend chuckle then they may need a slap. To turn him on just flick his little winky! Yes, you did read that right. This lamp is basically a young man cast in porcelain type stuff and he's got a light bulb and lamp shade instead of a head.

So who the heck came up with this idea? But it is something that many a young lady (not too young) would love in their bedroom or living room! I've found two shops so far that have the Mr P Lamp in stock:

* Drink Stuff - £39.99
* Firebox - £49.99
* Kadgroo - Various

Other Novelty Gifts

Novely Gifts: Condiment Gun

2008-08-31T12:11:00.002+01:00

The condiment gun is one of the most pointless gifts you'll see this Christmas. But by the same token, you can see that your kitchen won't just be festooned with gravy, turkey giblets, roast potatoes and the such like after Christmas dinner; you'll also find yourself cleaning up lines of tomato sauce and mustard which were lovingly created by the grateful recipient of this gift.

For a completely useless gift it's not as cheap as I'd like. I'd normally expect to see presents like this in the pound shop. Unfortunately, you'll be adding this to your shopping basket as you trawl through the online stores looking for that "something special" gift. If you really want to upset the person whose responsible for cleaning your home then go ahead and get it. However, if you're the one that normally has to keep your house spic-and-span, then I'd suggest you look elsewhere for that novelty Christmas gift!

If you wanted to buy the Condiment Gun then you can buy it from:

* Firebox - £14.95
* Play.com - £12.99
* 24 Studio - £14.99
* Drink Stuff - £14.99

You can check out other novelty gifts here.

Presents For Girls: Sticker Makers

2008-08-31T11:47:00.003+01:00

What is it about stickers and young kids? They just love them. When ever I go to see my nieces I end up leaving covered in stickers! If its not sticking them on people, they're sticking them in books, walls and anything they come across!

There are a variety of sticker makers you can get, but the top two sticker makers I've found are:

* Cella Blue Sticker Maker from Toys R Us - £14.99
* Cella Sticker Maker from Hamleys - £19.99
* Tomy Blue Cella Sticker Maker from MailOrder Express - £14.99
* Tomy Pink Cella Sticker Maker from MailOrder Express - £14.99

However, if you just want to buy a selection of stickers, then there are a wide range of shops that offer them at very low prices:

Sticker Gifts

Cheeky Christmas Presents: Glamourous Washing Up Gloves

2008-08-30T10:14:00.004+01:00

If you really want to get your girlfriend or mother a cheeky Christmas gift, then why not get them a set of Glamorous Washing Up Gloves from Find Me A Gift?

If you feel your girlfriend or wife doesn't do the dishes enough and they say that it'll damage their nails or wreck their hands then get them some of these glamorous washing up gloves - they'll never have anything to complain about. Heck they can even get some to match their outfits so they won't have to worry about having matching clothes if their friends come around unannounced!

They're £7.99 from Find Me A Gift and if your wife or girlfriend gives you a slap and breaks up with you, never mind, they've got a 30 day money-back guarantee too!

If these glamorous washing up gloves aren't for her (or him) then here's some alternatives:

Tags: Giftsforgirlfriends giftsforwives

Gifts For Mothers, Girlfriends, Grans or Nans: Love Photo Frames

2008-08-30T09:36:00.008+01:00

I know the message has to be different if you're giving a love photo frame to your girlfriend or mother, but you can find many different kinds of photo frames with romantic or loving messages.

But looking around you really don't have to break the bank. You can get these photos frames for less than £10:

* Tulips and Verse Mothers Love Photo Frame from A1Gifts.co.uk - £4.50
* I Love My Aunt Photo Frame from A1Gifts.co.uk - £6.95
* LOVE Photo Frame from Findmeagift.com - £6.99
* I Love my Dog Photo Frame from Getting Personal - £5.95
* I Love My Nanna Aluminium Photo Frame from A1Gifts.co.uk - £4.79
* I Love My Grandpa Aluminium Photo Frame from A1Gifts.co.uk - £4.69
* I Love My Big Brother Russ Berrie Photo Frame from A1Gifts.co.uk - £9.99

Here's some other gift ideas for "love photo frames":

Also try Vouchers 4 Gifts for love photo frames with voucher codes. Or Kadgroo for for a swanky search for love photo frames.

Presents For People With A Bad Back: iPosture

2008-08-19T20:48:00.002+01:00

Don't even ask me to tell you how it works as I don't have a clue. But there's this American company that sells the iPosture devide which, they claim can help prevent you from getting a bad back from bad posture.

I can't see if they'll deliver to the UK yet as the product hasn't been launched. But they're selling it for $99 in the states from the iposture website.

Robots For Girls: Flytech Butterfly

2008-08-19T20:35:00.002+01:00

The usual thing is that boys have robots at Christmas and girls have dolls. This is no more seeing as Flytech have created a robotic butterfly specifically designed for girls!

The Flytech Butterfly has an easy to use handheld charger but obviously you're not interested in such mundane facts. The bit you want to know is does it do cool stuff? Well yes, it flies and swirls. Check out this video of the Flytech Butterfly (apologies for the accent!)

* Play.com - £17.99
* Find Me A Gift - £19.90
* Character Online - £19.99

Tags: GiftsForGirls

Christmas Presents for Chavs: Picnic Table Condiment Set

2008-08-19T20:28:00.002+01:00

If you want to admit that you've got a Chav in the family and you just have to get them a Christmas present, maybe they've managed to move out of home and into the big, world. Then you why not get them a Picnic Table Condiment Set?

If it wasn't so chavish, it'd be cool!

Basically its a picnic table that's been made to hold tomato sauce, mustard, salt and pepper dispensers. Well it looks like chav's don't have brown sauce!

I really do have to worry about people that come up with this sort of stuff. Where do they get the ideas for them? Anyway, if you've got a house-proud Chav in your family, then why not consider getting them one of these.

You can get the Picnic Table Condiment Set from:

* Drink Stuff - £14.99
* Firebox - £14.95
* Play.com - £12.99

Gifts For Gardeners: Solar Powered Plant Pots

2008-08-19T20:15:00.004+01:00

I nearly wet myself when I saw these Solar Powered Plant Pot from Firebox. I've got neighbours that try and out-do me since I demolished the excuse for a garden out-front and planted some nice floor-things. Ever-since then they've being buying plants like it's nobody's business. I'm sure the bees are loving it, but ssheeesh its only a garden.

I've now got the prefect garden gift that'll kick her sorry backside into touch. It's one of these solar Powered Garden Plant Pots.

How cool is that? Well there's two types. There's the one that doesn't change colour, and there's the one that goes through a whole range of lovely tones.

Just picture what your garden will look like with a couple of these in it? Check Firebox out for details.

Perfect Present For The Travel Junky: Digital Luggage Scales

2008-08-19T20:06:00.002+01:00

I just love finding great gifts like this. I'm for-ever trying to get my suitcase on the scales at home and trying to see if I've gone over the weight limit. I'm normally found jiggling around and lifting the case up quickly to try and get a look at the read-out before it returns to zero. But now I don't have to do that if someone bought me a digital luggage scale.

You see nurses weigh babies with things like this. But you're probably thinking that you can't lift up a suitcase with one hand and try and measure it. Or your thinking that your parents or grandparents couldn't possibly use it. Well think again.

Its extremely easy to use as you don't actually have to lift up your case. All you do is attach it and gently pull. When the slack is taken and it begins to lift off the ground then read the weight.

They're also very light scales so you can chuck them in the case (leaving enough room and weight) and you can use them for your return journey when you've bought have the nation's supply of wine, fags and sombreros.

You can get the digital luggage scales from I Want One Of Those for £19.99 or Drinkstuff.com for £19.95.

Presents for Adrenaline Junkies: ATC3K Extreme (It's a agile digial camera!)

2008-08-19T19:56:00.002+01:00

If you're looking for a Christmas present that loves mountain biking or any sort of extreme sport where both of their hands will be in constant use then why not consider splashing out £100 on an "ATC3 Extreme" video camera that can be attached to a bike's handle bars, a helmet, a windsurfing board and the such like? In fact there's just too many applications for this video camera!

Buy why stop there? I'm sure it'd be a great present also for people that love chucking themselves out of aeroplanes at stupid heights! That even goes for people that love doing stuff like bungy-jumping.

Now for the boring stuff there's 32mb of on-board memory but you can increase that to 2GB. But if you go for the new ATC3k extreme camera that goes up to 4GB.

If you're buying the camera for someone that loves snorkeling then get the ATC3K as it's waterproof down to 5m.

You can get the ATC3K Extreme from I Want One Of Those for £99.95.

Also try Kadgroo for the ATC3K Extreme.

Gift Idea For The Anti-Capitalist: CapitaLIST Pig Blackboard Money Bank

2008-08-19T19:45:00.002+01:00

This is such a cool, unusual present that you'll have to get it for your anti-capitalist friend this Christmas. Its actually a piggy bank that you can write on. The idea is that you write on what you're saving for. No this is a pretty pointless present in my mind, but kind of cool. I dare you to use the phrase its for you to save your bacon when you give it! :-!

One of the advantages of this picky bank over any other is that it's pretty damn huge! So your anti-capitalist friend can save loads of money for his next trip to far-off shores to campaign about globalisation!

You can get it from Gadgets.co.uk for £12.95.

For Girlfriends: Caudalie Vinotherapie Spa Treatment Gift Set

2008-08-17T19:27:00.002+01:00

Girlfriends love to be pampered. It's just a given fact. You can waste your money on loads of rubbish, but give them something that helps them relax and get away from the worries of everyday life then you're on to a winner!

We recommend some top quality spa treatment stuff from Feelunique.com. It's called Caudalie Vinotherapie Spa Treatment Gift Set and costs £34.25 delivered.

It consists of:
- 1 x Fleur de Vigne French Milled Soap 150g
- 1 x Fleur de Vigne Shower Gel 200ml
- 1 x Gentle Conditioning Shampoo 200ml
- 1 x Nourishing Body Lotion 250ml

Not a bad deal if you ask me!

Get In Early With All Things Gifts Plus A Discount Code

2008-08-17T19:13:00.004+01:00

I was asked to review All Things Gifts by Lianne. I'm normally reticent to review sites after being promoted, but I was delighted with what I saw.

Many gift or gadget sites are just rehashes of others, they use the same wholesalers and add little value. The nice thing is that there are quite a few gifts & toys that I haven't heard of before.

They may have the usual, and highly popular Me To You Bears and Playboy gifts, but they've also god BUD Rubber Ducks, Hinz Kunst Nut & Bold Men, Manhattan and Aurora toys as well as the cool Celebriducks.

Lianne told me they have a 5% discount code which works on orders of over £10 (excluding shipping). It expires on 30th September and the code is "giftblog"

They may not have a 24 hour order line, but they do have a geographic number that is manned 9am - 5pm.

When it comes to delivery, they don't charge delivery on the Me To You Bears, but generally its free postage when you spend over £75. Which may be higher than most, but they don't have the budgets like some huge competitors do. Ordinarily the delivery charge is £2.95 up to 500g, £3.95 upto 1kg and £4.95 over 1kg for two to 5 day delivery.

Over all All Things Gifts is a refreshing change. And a welcomed alternative to the sleek big boys.

Well done.

Educational Presents: EyeClops Bionic Eye

2008-08-17T08:03:00.004+01:00

The EyeClops Bionic Eye was the winnder of the Hamleys Learning Through Play award in 2007. It allows kids to take a close-up look at the world in which they live in by acting as a funky microscope with a stunning 200 times magnification which can be shown on a TV set.

The EyeClops Bionic Eye is a great eductational toy as they can learn more about the environment in which they live.

Another advantage is that there's no software to install on you computer, there's no system requirements or awkward buttons to press to get it to work.

All you need is 5 AA batteries and a child over 6 to use it (so the manufacturers say).

You can get the EyeClops Bionic Eye from:

* Hamleys - £44.99
* Toys R Us - £39.99
* Amazon - £44.99

See the EyeClops Bionic Eye in video:

Tag: Educational Gifts

Presents For All: 2009 Calendars

2008-08-16T15:30:00.003+01:00

I'm amazed that there are shops set up all through-out the year for these things as you'd expect that people would only think about buying calendars a couple of weeks before the new year. But hey, who are we to say anything?

Some of the Calendars that are tipped to be best sellers are:

* Kylie - of course! She's fab!
* Gemma Atkinson - Just as great, but definitely one for the lads!
* Jack Vettriano - these are nice, stylish calendars.
* Manchester United Calendars - the greatest team on planet earth? Possibly.
* High School Musical Calendar - a hit show this year and I'd expect a few will be bought by parents for their kids this year.

Educational Gifts: Chess Sets

2008-08-14T19:00:00.002+01:00

Camberwells offer a range of Chess Sets that are suitable for all ages and budgets.

They've got quality Chess Sets for just £16.95 and go up to £99.95 for the real Chess-lover with their Anne Carlton High Gloss Chess Board.

But they don't only do chess sets, but they do Backgammon sets, cribbage boards and everything board game related! They do free delivery when you spend over £50 and when I've bough a Mah Jong set for my mother it came soon and in good condition. I'd recommend them.

Star Wars Clone Trooper Helmet - Great Star Wars Present!

2008-08-14T18:39:00.004+01:00

For any Star Wars fan having a Star Wars Clone Trooper Helmet must be something that they'd really appreciate at Christmas.

These helmets are made of injection molded plastic so they're pretty tough, they'll take a lot of breaking. When the recipient is wearing it, they'll be hidden behind a smoked out viewplate, but they can breath as there's a mouth opening!

Here's a bit of advice too if you want to impressing the person you're buying the Star Wars Clone Trooper Helmet for. The Clone Troopers were the state of the art troops and weere actually more advanced than the battle droids and formed the main force of the Republic's new army to conquer the Confideracy.

But before you buy the Star Wars Clone Trooper Helmet you'll want to see it in action. So here you are:

You can buy the helmet from:

* Toys R US - £29.99
* Mail Order Express - £29.99
* The Toy Shop - £29.99
* Woolworths - £32.99
* Play.com - £27.99
* John Lewis - £29.95

30 Christmas Presents For Less Than £10

2008-08-11T09:23:00.003+01:00

Here we go, I've come up with a list of 100 Christmas Gift Ideas For Less than £10. I was going to categorise these and have seperate posts. Then I thought that just because I thought something was good for a girlfriend that it wouldn't also be good for a mate, your sister or mother. So here's a load and you can decide.

50 Enchanted Fairies Gift Label Dispenser, £0.79 from 24 Studio - Gifts For Kids
SHOOTAZ - Test Tubes, Pear Drop 20ml Test Tube £0.79 from TheDrinkShop - Gifts For Brothers
UV Pen Invisible Writer £0.95 from Gadgets UK - Gifts For Children
Noisy Putty £1.00 from Letterbox - Present Ideas For Your Son
Gogo's Crazy Bones Bag £1.50 from thetoyshop.com - Gifts For Kids
Spoof ASBO's £1.50 from Prezziesplus - Gifts for Your Brother
Sexy Chick Printer Thong £1.79 from Drinkstuff - Christmas Presents For Girlfriends
Muscle Beach Boys Push Up Preston £1.95 from Iwantoneofthose - Gifts For Lazy Gits
Side Spy Telescope £1.99 from Gadget Pages - Spy Gifts
Chocolate Therapy £1.99 from Findmeagift - Gifts For Women
Furry Love Cuffs £1.99 from Drinkstuff - Naught Christmas Gifts
Elvis Duck £2.95 from Iwoot - Useless Christmas Presents
Season Ticket Fund Money Box £3.95 from A1Gifts - Gifts For Your Son
Shopaholic Wish Tokens £3.95 from Getting Personal - Presents for your Sister
In Car Wireless FM Transmitter £3.95 from Ministry of Gadgets - Gifts For Boyfriends
Sylvanian Families - Brown Rabbit Baby £4.00 from thetoyshop.com - Gifts For Girls
Grandma Floral Photo Frame £4.50 from A1Gifts.co.uk - Gifts For Grandmother
Sweet Poo Pooing Reindeer £4.50 from Baker Ross - Novelty Christmas Presents
Babys First Christmas Shoes £4.99 from 24ace - Presents For A New Baby
TIGER 75043 SPY-DOG £4.99 from TIGER 75043 SPY-DOG £4.99 Dixons - Gifts For Boys
No Frost Windscreen Protector £4.99 from Grand Prix Legends - Gifts For Dads
Street Mouse - Red £5.00 from Early Learning Centre - Gifts for Kids
Coughing Ashtray - £6.50 from A1Gifts - Christmas Presents for Smokers
Animated Ghost Kit £7.99 from Maplin - Unique Christmas Gifts
Boynq D'light USB Desk Light £7.99 from MyMemory - USB Gifts
Oidz: - Silver £9.00 from Home and Garden Gifts - Unique Christmas Presents
Electronic Card Shuffler £9.49 from A1Gifts.co.uk - Christmas Gifts For Poke Players
6-in-1 Utili-Key Multi-tool £9.95 from Prezzybox - Usefull Christmas Presents
Recordable Talking Frame from £9.95 MyDigitalPhotoFrames - Gifts For Girlfriends
Gelicity Spa Jelly Bath £0.95 from Firebox - Gifts For Mothers

Funky Kitchen Christmas Presents: Voodoo Knife Block

2008-08-11T09:07:00.003+01:00

Voodoo Knife Block from Play.com
I've got really expensive David Mellor kitchen knives. They're awesome, the only problem is that the £50 knife block that I bought doesn't let me see which knife I'm getting until I pull it out. And, to be honest, its doing my nuts in. Now if I had one of these Voodoo Knife Blocks then not only will I be able to choose the right knife to carve Christmas dinner, but I'll also have a funkier kitchen!

It's up to you to choose what colour knife block you want, they've even got a pink one if you're into that sort of thing! But they've also got red and black if you've got a funky kitchen and a chrome one if you've got a shiney kitchen.

You can get the Voodoo Knife Block fairly cheap from:

* Everything Play - £89.95
* Play.com - £74.99
* DrinkStuff - £64.99
* Gizoo - £64.99
* Firebox - £59.95

Also, compare prices to find the cheapest Voodoo knife block at Kadgroo.

Christmas Tip #14: Using Discount Codes To Cut The Cost Of Christmas

2008-08-10T08:02:00.002+01:00

You'll see hundreds of sites that offer lists of discount codes. You'll also see them on various forums such as Money Saving Expert, but its important to use these websites wisely.

Many sites may list discount codes or voucher codes for online retailers, however, you may do a search whilst you're in a checkout for a particular retailer's discount code and find a site that says they list them but actually don't. I've seen MyVoucherCodes.co.uk do this. The reason they do this is because they get a cut of the money you spend even they've not actually given you a relevant discount code. So I'd say if you are looking for a voucher code use some of the discount code sites that don't list sites that don't have discounts and don't actively offer codes that expired last year.

Discount codes are a great way of saving money. Often you'll get promotional vouchers that give you 10%, 15% off the amount you were spending. Other codes give you free delivery or free gift wrapping.

Here's a list of sites I trust that should be able to offer you savings:

* Discount Codes - This site is run by a guy called Chris who tries to do things ethically and spends a lot of his own money developing his site. He also manages to get you a load of discount codes you won't find anywhere else.
* Shop Codes - This discount code site is run by a guy called Ray, he's a top bloke and also has exclusive discount codes you won't find on more of the swish sites.
* Loquax - This site is run by Jason and Jude and is leaner site than some of the others but still has some of the latest codes available on the internet.
* Discount Voucher - This site is run by Barry and it may not be as esthetically pleasing as the others, but is still a useful resource for you discount code hunters.
* Discount Codes - This site is run by Joe, and is another very useful site that will help you to save a few quid if you already know the site you're going to buy from.
* Vouchers 4 Gifts - This is my site, it's very inferior to the others but you won't get pop-ups or cookies being dropped without you being made aware.

Christmas Tip #13: How Much Should I Spend At Xmas?

2008-08-08T18:38:00.002+01:00

Around Christmas time we're constantly bombarded with lists of the best Christmas presents, the most wanted toys, essential Christmas gifts. We're told that we've got to get a new outfit for the Christmas party, we've got to have a huge turkey with all the trimmings and our kitchen has to be stocked full of booze. What wait, doesn't all that cost money?

Advertisers and marketing departments don't really care about the pressures they put parents under and the amount of debt they'll incur just to keep their family happy. But we've got to take responsibility for our actions (here I'll loose some of you).

I've done it in the past, I've spent more than I've expected as I forget how much I've spent on people already so I'll just "get them that thing, it's only a tenner".

So how much should you spend at Christmas? Well obviously everyone is different. I've read advice that you should only spend 1.5% of your income. So if you earn the national income which is around £24,000 that means you should spend no more than £360. Is that reasonable? Well it doesn't take into account the size of your family. If you've got to feed 4 people over three or four days then it won't even cover the food.

Personally I'll set a budget of around £150 on my girlfriend, £50 on my brother and his wife then a tenner on everyone else. Is that tight, probably! But I just know that if I didn't set a budget then I'll buy everything that moved.

The trick is to look for bargains. We've put together a list of the cheapest Christmas present ideas and have done a lot of research. So at the top right of this page you'll see a search box, just put in who you're buying for i.e. girlfriend, brother, uncle etc and hopefully you'll find some cracking, cheap gift ideas.

You may also like to try this Pre-Christmas spending Quiz.

Chrstmas Flights - Book Early

2008-08-08T18:17:00.002+01:00

The news from The Telegraph is that airlines are set to cut the 60 million seats from Christmas avaliability in a strive to cut costs and wastage. The upshot will be for many of us that want to go away for Christmas it'll cost more!

So if you're thinking of booking a flight get in now. We recommend Flight Mapping!