Christmas Gift Guide - the Gentleman Edition

Again, I've got another Christmas Gift Guide for you. This time it's the Gentleman's Edition...

A bottle of your finest...

For the drink connoisseur, then why not choose a bottle of whisky or a nice bottle of wine. There is The Whisky Shop at Buchanan Galleries where you can head for some advice on what to go for. Knowing very little about whisky, I'd probably choose one on aesthetics (like how I pick wines by the label!!) and this bottle of Haig Club looks super stylish.

Haig Club, Single Grain Scotch Whisky, £45

My tipple of choice is gin, so for me it'd be a bottle of Caorunn. Just in case you're wondering ;-)

GoPro

I've seen one of these in action and it's a fab little camera that would be an ideal gift for a gadget lover, male or female! This would have been ideal to capture my antics as I swung through the trees at Go Ape (instead I used my phone and dropped it in the process!).

This one is top of the range at £369.95 at John Lewis, but there are cheaper versions.

Watch 

I got R a Sony SmartWatch last year for his Christmas and he really likes it. He's on his phone a lot with his work, and this means he can check who is calling him or view texts on it without lifting his mobile. A bit lazy and very extravagant but might be a good gift for the man that has everything!

Sony SmartWatch (compatible with Android 4.0 or later)

Coffee machine 

My sister & her boyfriend recently invested in a Krups Nespresso machine with Aeroccino and have been really happy with it. I'm personally not a coffee drinker, but I do like a frothy hot chocolate. Definitely one for the coffee fiends!

Nespresso Coffee Machine and Aeroccino by Krups

Moisturiser

You can't go wrong with some face products. I think most men will use a moisturiser of some sort; although they may not admit to it!

I've not used Kiehl's before, but heard great things about their range

Also heard good things about Clinique. There is free shipping on all purchases on their website just now; and if you spend over £40 you get a free Clinique Treat Trio worth over £23.

iStubble

Sticking with the grooming, an iStubble might be a good choice. I do enjoy a bit of stubble on a man!

Babyliss iStubble is on offer just now at Boots where you can save £15

Pants & Socks

A pair of boxers or a pair of socks are an ideal stocking filler & if you want to go all out then you could choose a designer pair. I love these socks from Paul Smith and these 'Lucky Dick' boxers.

Paul Smith London Stamp Stripe Sock at House of Fraser

Lucky Dick boxer shorts from Dick Winters - they come in a few different colours. You can have a peek at when I met Lucky Dick here!

Aftershave

I think that aftershave can potentially be a hit or a miss, but if you stick to a well known name, then I don't think you can go wrong.

Hugo Boss Red EDT, The Perfume Shop, St Enoch Centre

Slippers

I can't remember where I spotted mahabis slippers, I think it might have been Facebook, but I love the look of these. You can buy the upper with or without detachable sole. But the sole means you can wear the slipper inside and outside. I popped out of the house this evening into the garden in my current slippers and the sole got a bit ruined :-( wouldn't have happened if I'd have had these on!! They're unisex, and would be a great stylish slipper instead of the usual granddad ones! The sole comes in a few different colours too.

Larvik Dark Grey Classic Bundle with grey sole

Jumper

It's certainly jumper season, so why not invest in some knitwear. I love this teal coloured v neck jumper from Ted Baker:

Bose SoundLink Mini bluetooth speaker 

My sisters boyfriend Robin has one of these and it's fantastic. It's portable so you can easily move it from room to room or equally it's great for travelling (we took it to the log pod with us when we were glamping!).

Bluetooth Speaker at Bose, £169.95

And if that list isn't enough, I have a few other older posts with gift ideas for men here, here and here.

Christmas Gift Guide - the children's edition

Following on from my 'for the ladies' and 'home' Christmas gift guides, here's the Children's Edition. Hopefully you'll get some ideas from my list of 10 suggestions...

Sticker Book

You can't go wrong with a sticker book. My kids absolutely adore stickers (as do I!) and we have so many sticker books. My favourites are the Osborne ones. My daughter is currently obsessing over weddings and brides. So I might get her the Sticker Dolly Dressing Weddings book for her stocking.

Colouring pens

We go through colouring pens like there is no tomorrow - these are a staple for our Christmas stockings. My favourite brand is Crayola. I have great memories of a Crayola crayon carry case that I got as a child for Christmas. Last year I got my kids a similar case but with pens, and it's seen us through the year. The kids love to draw in the car when we're on longer journeys (no in-car DVDs for us!) and so I think this carry case with a space for paper will be ideal. My son is always complaining he needs something to lean on!

Smyths have 3 for 2 on selected Crayola just now, and this set is included.

Frozen doll

My littlest is obsessed with Frozen and is very keen for Santa to bring her some Frozen toys this year.

I reckon I'll be heading to the St Enoch Centre to the Disney Store soon for some inspiration!

Elsa Winter Soft Toy Doll

Role Play Post Office

And whilst I'm there, I guess I should visit Hamleys! So many toys there to choose from. I love to encourage role play and I think that a Post Office would be an ideal gift for a pre-schooler.

Playmobil

I love Playmobil! My sister got a set of Playmobil for Christmas one year and the story goes that she was so excited she ended up vomiting all over it. I can remember her being in the bath with the whole set on Christmas Day and we were worried about the smaller parts going down the plug hole. Not to worry though, as we've got most of the pieces today and my kids (& I) still enjoy playing with it.

My daughter got this Playmobil Princess Secret Play Box last year and we love it.

Pillow pets

These are just adorable aren't they! My kids are huge fans of cuddly toys at the minute, so these pillow pets would be a great gift and can double up as a pillow when we go on holiday. I reckon they'd be ideal for snoozing in the car! The lion is reduced to £9.99 just now, and if you buy 2 or more then you get a hat for free.

Personalised Lego minifigure

Did you know that you can create your own Lego minifigure? Head on over to MiniFigs to find out more. I could go wild on this website...

Unfortunately the personalised Monopoly game that I was going to recommend next seems to be discontinued :-(

Personalised mug

My kids are getting to the age where they can be trusted with a proper 'grown-up' cup.

Snapdragon have some lovely gifts, including these personalised mugs that I love:

Question a day book

I bought this book for me & my kids, although I'm yet to start filling it in. Plan is to start on 1st January next year. It's such a great idea and it's something that I'll treasure when they grow up. Just need to make sure I stick to it and ask all the questions!

Dominoes

My son has been enjoying some retro board games this past month or so, and I thought Dominoes might be a good shout for his Christmas stocking. Toyday have lots of traditional toys that I love.

{#ShareAdvent - Spread some cheer}

Have you heard of "Been Jingled"?

For today's #ShareAdvent prompt, spread some cheer, I'm going to share with you one of my recent Pinterest finds.

It's really straightforward...

1. Print out a sheet from the website, or the crafters out there could create their own card.

An Eager Elf just left this treat

on your door step for you to eat.

2. Gather some form of tasty treat, homemade or otherwise to accompany your printout / card.

3. Put them on your neighbour's doorstep, ring the door bell or knock and then run, run, run like the wind!!!

What do you think, cute or creepy?

{Fallen Angel}

On Tuesday this week I was working the late shift at work, and so when the doorbell went in the morning I knew it would be the postman with another delivery for me and I was pleased that I wouldn't need to make yet another trip to the depot for a missed package! (I'm supposedly their best customer and the guy knew my house number last time I was there without me even needing to hand over my ticket! Spot the online shopper!!). 

Anyway, I was rushing a bit, but was intrigued to see what was inside the large white box that had arrived. I grabbed the kitchen scissors and cut open the package. As I peeled back the layers, I was found this staring back at me:

I freaked out slightly. My initial thoughts were that I have a crazy stalker... who would send someone an armless angel??

However, when I removed the angel from the box, I did discover her arms at the bottom of the box, so I guessed she must have been damaged in transit.

For the life of me I could not figure out who it was from. The invoice that came with the angel had my own address as the invoice address and the shipping address. There was also no gift note or message. I called the company and they agreed to send me another one that day, and all they could tell me was the last three digits of the mobile phone number associated with the order. This didn't help me either!!

The person had to know me, because I didn't have an angel on my Christmas tree and my tree decorations were all gold and so the angel was a perfect gift.

I texted and tweeted a few people, but they confirmed that it wasn't them... so I was getting in more and more of a muddle.

That evening I was meeting some of my mummy friends for a Christmas dinner in town, and I had started to think that it was maybe my good friend Kath (who is always doing lovely things for me... like when she bought me a beautiful scented candle after reading that the light was not there at the end of my tunnel) and it turns out, yes, the angel was a gift from her.

Spread your wings and fly

She had tried to write a lovely message to accompany the angel... acknowledging the rubbish Christmas I had last year, but here was an angel to watch over me this year... but when she got to the payment page it popped up saying gift messages weren't accepted for this item and she had planned to text me the message but forgot. Hence the confusion on my part!

The story ends well however, and I now have a lovely angel in my living room to watch over me and the kids. Thank you Kath for being so thoughtful and kind.

{Snowman Kisses & Free Printable}

I try and create little favours for my son & daughter's nursery friends for a few of the special occasions and holidays that occur throughout the year. I've made spider lollipops for Halloween, reindeer food for Christmas, bunny tails for Easter, Valentine gifts.... and this Christmas is no exception.

I have made little bags of 'Snowman Kisses' which is basically cellophane bags that I have filled with white mini marshmallows, white chocolate buttons and Cadbury's Snow Bites. I designed the tag to seal the bags on my computer and I personalised the reverse with a note to say 'Merry Christmas love X and X'. I love the cute digital snowmen which I purchased from Etsy here.

Anyway, I have created a free printable for you to use. All you need to do is print out the page onto some card, use scissors or a guillotine to cut it to size, write your little one's name(s) in the space provided and attach to your bags. Simple (I hope!).

You can download the printable here.

Do let me know how you get on :-)