This year, we're thinking homemade, ethical and eco-friendly. Sinéad O'Carrollhas a few sound ideas. And remember, if stress should strike, online shopping is your only man
Here’s one I made earlier . . .
Remember the board game Guess Who?where players have to match a face to a name by asking opponents simple questions? If you buy the game (€12.99, widely available), exchange the generic cartoon images with photographs of family, friends and neighbours, you can create a personalised version. Sure to provoke a few laughs. Other board games, such as Monopoly, can also be personalised.
Equally special, if more time-consuming, is a creatively compiled scrapbook or photo album, which is a gift that will be treasured for years. This can include all sorts of mementos, from concert tickets and programmes to postcards and old letters mixed in with photographs. The possibilities are endless. For something extra special, Smythson leather albums (Brown Thomas, €83) are quite deluxe, but your local stationer will have every sort.
You can give the photo collage a modern twist by creating a slide show on Windows Movie Maker. The movie can then be shared via the web or email with any recipient around the world.
There are enough celebrity chef cookbooks to fill libraries, though often the best food is cooked in our own kitchens. Compile a recipe book which includes your family’s favourite old reliables . . . a perfect gift for students or fledgling singles.
Christmas exchanges provide a way to save money. Say, for example, your neighbour’s speciality just never tastes the same when you make it. So why not suggest a Christmas food exchange instead of gifts this year? Mince pies for Christmas cake, anyone?
Knit a homemade, luxurious scarf with the help of Jade Sapphire’s handy scarf kit, complete with enough Mongolian cashmere wool for a large scarf and seven patterns to choose from. About €66 (loopknittingshop.com). Or sew one, using pieces of silk velvet.
For the eco-conscious
Reducing carbon emissions is one of the biggest challenges of our time. Buy an eco-conscious friend a Protect the Planet Gift Box (€26.95, gifts.ie). Recipients will find out how to reduce their carbon footprint, and upon registration Carbon Clear Ltd will offset half a tonne of carbon on their behalf.
The Kildare-based Gift Tree Company has a special range of trees suitable for planting at Christmas time. A twisted hazel, Rudolf flowering crab apple, strawberry or Himalayan birch tree are handsomely packaged and will hopefully flourish and help the environment (from €75, trees.ie).
A White Christmas GroBox is great for the reluctant gardener, as the box is simply planted underground before snowdrops, anemones and other flowers begin to bloom (groboxgardens.co.uk).
The Burren’s Aillwee Mountain is a superb setting for a Hawk Walk. Give this experience voucher to a bird lover and they’ll get to “cast” a hawk into the woods and learn how to call it back (from €60, birdsofpreycentre.com).
Giving twice
Ikea Dublin launched an adorable collection of 50 cuddly toys that will be available until December 23rd. Sharks, elephants, polar bears and more furry friends are on sale from as little as 49c and monies earned will be donated to Unicef’s School for Africa campaign.
Sunflowers, school books, sports kits, and much more are available to give through Oxfam Ireland Unwrapped (oxfamirelandunwrapped.com). Other festive gifts – such as a recycled paper nativity set (€18) or angel tealight holder (€22) – can be bought and wrapped from the organisation’s online fair-trade shop (oxfamirelandshop.com).
Give the gift of technology through Concern Worldwide gifts. A mobile phone and solar charger (€60) allows money to be transferred to an area in need of emergency supplies. concerngifts.org.
Colourful and provoking, Goal’s limited-edition prints depict scenes from Sierra Leone, India and Ethiopia, captured by some of Ireland’s leading photographers (€25, gifts.goal.ie).
Original thoughts
The two-in-one idea works in many ways, so go out of your way to find a great container that can be kept after the main event is gone: a beautiful basket loaded with satsumas; a hand-thrown pot holding a pot of herbs, a lovely cake plate wrapped in clear cellophane with a homebaked cake . . . you get the picture.
Mix tapes? Yes, they went out of fashion in the 1980s, but iTunes playlists have not. Create a special playlist of somebody’s favourite tunes, gain access to their iPod, upload it and presto, a perfect gift.
Create a scavenger hunt: much like Easter Sunday, make the recipient work a little hard for their present. They’ll enjoy the handmade notes that will have them chasing around the house in pursuit of their gifts. “Look what Santa dropped on the front lawn.”
Time is always the most precious gift. Think of an odd job and draw up a gift certificate as a guarantee.
Secret Santa is a perennial favourite but firebox.com has turned the office activity global. Log onto the website, choose a gift and write a message to send to a stranger anywhere in the world and you’ll receive a present in return.
Modernise somebody’s music collection for them. Listen to Music in Ireland can expertly transfer vinyl records and cassette tapes to CDs (from €17, listen-to-music-in-ireland.com).
One-stop shops
These online resources can ease the stress or even suggest ideas to you: gifts.ie; peoplelovepresents.com; pressieport.ie; shoppingdirectory.ie; giftvenue.ie; topgifts.ie; ecoshop.ie.