Archive for September, 2009

Baby fever at All Things Gifts!

Friday, September 25th, 2009

It’s congratulations all round this week as the pitter-patter of tiny feet – twinned with delights of endless crying and sleepless nights – hits Hollywood. Sarah Michelle Gellar, best known for her role as Buffy the Vampire Slayer, has given birth to a baby girl. Her husband is gorgeous actor Freddie Prinze Jr, so their daughter, Charlotte Grace Prinze, should be a real cutie.

Jude Law’s “special friend” Samantha Burke also gave birth to his baby this week – another girl, this time called Sophia. Congratulations to all of these famous new parents. Phew! The stork must be exhausted.

Here at All Things Gifts we’ve also been celebrating the births of three babies in our friendship circle this month. Was there something in the water nine months ago?

The most exciting thing about having a friend or family member give birth is the opportunity to buy their new baby a lovely present. And we’ve got loads of perfect pressies that baby is sure to love – in fact, mummy and daddy will love them too!

My Blue Nose Friends are super sweet soft toys that double up as collectors’ items – making them something baby can keep forever. We love Konker the Hedgehog, who is so cute that even his spikes are strokable! For another present that will last and last, choose this keepsake book, where baby’s proud parents can record her important first few months. And for babies who wish to beat the credit crunch, this lovely and practical money box will help the family to save in style.

Musical gifts

Friday, September 18th, 2009

If music be the food of love, then it should make a tasty present. We’re not just talking about the usual gift of a CD or even a record token (as we used to call them in the old days before gangsta rap and X Factor). We’re talking instruments, games and even metal men figures!

Musical presents are in the news this week thanks to the parents of teenybop sensations The Jonas Brothers. Lucky singer Nick Jonas, who just turned 17, received a very special piano from Mum and Dad Jonas to celebrate his birthday – the one that he used to create the group’s first song. Apparently, the piano had to be tracked down, which begs the question – how on earth to you lose a piano in the first place?

You don’t have to spend thousands of pounds on a shiny instrument for your budding musician. For those with a Wii, the new and fifth edition of Guitar Hero has just been released, with songs from the Arctic Monkeys and a new “party play” (translation: shuffle system for the attention deficit-ridden) mode to help gamers unleash their inner Slash.

In fact, you don’t even need to buy something that makes noise in order give a present that celebrates a love of music. Take a look at some of the enchanting Hinz and Kunst nut and bolt men in our Music section at All Things Gifts. From bass players to conductors, every kind of musician and musical taste has been thought of!

Romantic gifts

Friday, September 11th, 2009

Give your wife a saucepan instead of a lovely necklace for her birthday and chances are she’ll belt you around the face with it. Or so you’d think – but research released in August 2009 reveals that practical present-giving is on the up amongst couples whilst romantic gifts are on the way out.

Bye bye bracelets, so long eternity rings. So much for diamonds being forever; if the song was written now, it would go: “iPods are for a couple of years”. Why do these things always break when the warranty’s just run out? Still, today’s lovers don’t seem too concerned, with the MP3 players joined by books and DVDs as popular yet useful gifts.

Apparently spouses and partners across the country now spend an average of £196.47 on each other at birthdays and Christmas, compared with about £230 20 years ago. Of course 20 years ago £230 would have got you a slap-up meal, a night in a hotel and a new outfit all with change left over for the bus home.

As Groucho Marx once said: “There’s no time like the present; there’s no present like the time.” Well, Marxism has truly arrived, because we’d rather give each other egg timers than earrings.

Buying gifts for the person who has everything

Friday, September 4th, 2009

We all have a friend or relative who’s impossible to buy for – because they seem to have everything. It could be the Dad who’s got every gadget and gizmo under the sun; the niece or nephew whose bedroom is bursting with toys; or the spouse who is extraordinarily picky about their possessions. Recession or no recession, some people don’t seem to need any extra possessions at all – which puts the rest of us in a difficult spot when it’s time to buy them a birthday gift or Christmas present.

There are two main options when it comes to this sort of gift-buying dilemma: the first is to buy something consumable, so that the recipient does not have to keep the item for all eternity; the second is to buy something that’s quite different to what they’re expecting.
Ideas for consumable gifts? There are some tried-and-tested favourites, such as chocolates, fudge, flowers, perfume and bath salts. For something a little different, you could head down to your nearest farmer’s market to buy some fresh, high quality produce – you could then put all the items into a personalised gift hamper.

For longer-term gifts that are a little bit different, we would humbly recommend you take a look at some of the Hinz and Kunst metal figures on the All Things Gifts main website. These charming metal sculptures come in enough shapes and sizes to guarantee a suitable gift for every individual recipient. Hand-crafted by nnovative German metal sculptor Günter Scholz, the Hinz and Kunst metal figures are made from steel and copper that is bent, cut, welded, brushed and lacquered. They make charming gifts and very definite talking points!