peter1.blogr.com - Tag 'christmas' (RSS 2.0)

Homemade Candy For Christmas For Him. Fi...

peter1 — Fri, 05 Dec 2008 00:55:35 +0100

When Christmas comes it can be a little difficult to find hot gift ideas for men. Men are extremely difficult to buy for at the best of times.

If you're really stuck here's one idea that will work for almost all men. Homemade candy. If you're a little handy in the kitchen homemade candy is extremely easy to make, with some exceptions, and it makes a great gift idea for a man for Christmas or any other gift time.

If you make some great food for him, like candy, you've put some of yourself into the gift. You've taken the time and made the effort to put some love into your gift. It's so easy to just head down to the candy store and buy some candy, but homemade candy is so much better. It's made purely for him, from you.

And just about everyone loves candy, me included. I love to eat candy and I love to make candy. Well I love to cook generally.

Homemade candy, or any other homemade yummy, is a great way to put a bit of yourself into his Christmas gift. So make him some great candy this year.

If you're stuck for a recipe here's a good website about homemade candy recipes , but there's plenty more. Try and start with a simple recipe and work up to the harder stuff once you've tried a few. Stay away from recipes that require you to simmer water with sugar to a certain temperature, that takes time to master. Start simple and give him some great homemade candy for Christmas.

He'll love his candy from you.

Christmas Gifts, And All Gifts, Mean Som...

peter1 — Tue, 25 Dec 2007 03:01:19 +0100

We get caught up in the hype and razzle and conspicuous comsumption of Christmas very easily, and often I think we forget the meaning behind all those gifts.

Because yes, Christmas is about gifts, but it’s about a whole lot more that often isn’t remembered. Of course there’s the religious aspect, but that’s not what I wanted to talk about today.

It’s what we mean when we give a gift to someone, either at Christmas, or at any other time.

Of course it’s different for everyone, but for me the meaning behind the giving of a gift is a simple one.

To me it’s someone saying I love you to someone else. You’re important to me, my relationship with me matters, and I’m telling you with a gift.

Now that’s great, nothing wrong there. I just think that we get so caught up in it all that we forget that bit sometimes.

So make sure this Christmas you remember that bit too. And you make sure that the “I love you” message isn’t lost in all the clutter of Christmas. Don’t just say it with a gift, tell them, show it and live it in as many different ways as you can think of.

And make sure you, and your gift recipients, all have a wonderful Christmas filled with love.

My best wishes to all of you for Christmas.

Peter

Guys Love Gadgets For Christmas

peter1 — Thu, 22 Nov 2007 12:40:40 +0100

Guys love gadgets, there's no doubt about that. Gadgets, gizmos, anything that's cool and geeky and gadgety.

So girls there's a hint for Christmas, if in doubt about what to get him for his Christmas present, buy him a gizmo. Something gadgetty and fun, mechanical or electrical, with flashing lights!

Well maybe not the flashing lights, however those don't hurt.

Seriously though, guys do love gadgets, for Christmas or any other time. So if you're looking for a cool Christmas gift for him for 2007 look for a gadget.

Hows this for a gadget that he might love. His own AWACS surveillance aircraft. Not a real one of course, those are massive and cost hundreds of millions of dollars.

No, a fully functioning working model AWACS.

And it does spy. It has a fully functional high resolution digital camera, so he can take photos from hundreds of feet up, download them to his computer and print or view them.

It's radio controlled, so he can fly it where he wants to, with a range of around 1000 feet. That's a serious radio controlled plane.

I'd love one. My own secret spy plane. It's awesome.

Get to Hammacher Schlemmer to find it. It's a cool Christmas gift for a man who is into his gadgets. Just type AWACS into their search box.

Need Some Help Coming Up With Hot Christ...

peter1 — Mon, 19 Nov 2007 02:00:52 +0100

Christmas is coming and you're all out of ideas for a great Christmas gift for him. He's your favorite man and you've just GOT to find him a hot Christmas gift.

It's not easy is it, coming up with good Christmas gift ideas every year? Or birthday gifts, or any other gifts. It's not easy indeed.

But it's not impossible at all. You just need to put in a little extra effort from normal, and you've got it nailed. It does take some more effort than you might be used to.

But what exactly do you do to come up with cool Christmas gift ideas? Where do you direct the effort?

Here's 3 tips for finding great Christmas gift ideas for men. Put them to work and you'll be surprised at how well they work, and you'll be coming up with all sorts of great ideas for his presents, Christmas or otherwise.

1. Start early.

It sounds obvious doesn't it, but almost everyone starts their gifts search too late. That doesn't mean that you need to be out there buying a Christmas gift for him in June, although there's nothing wrongwith that, it's the way to get some great bargains buying out of season.

No I mean start looking for ideas early. To me the best time to start looking for good Christmas gift ideas is Christmas day. Look for good ideas for next Christmas.

Listen to him when he opens his gifts and watches others open theirs. What turns him on, either about his gifts or those received by others? You can tell if you listen and watch his body language. File it away under "christmas gift ideas for him" or better still write it down.

2. Listen to him.

Through the year, listen to what he says with a "gifts" viewpoint. What does he like, what does't he. If he's in a store what catches his eye, what does he immediately go and look at?

What turns him on?

Listen to him and watch, and you'll slowly find out more and more about what turns him on, and there are your gift ideas.

3. Look for gift ideas that he would never buy for himself.

If there's something that you've identified that turns him on find something that he'd love but he'd NEVER BUY FOR HIMSELF.

A great gift is one that he'd love to have but wouldn't buy. Perhaps it's a bit of an extravagance that he wouldn't take. Perhaps it's something he'd consider a bit superfluous. Perhaps it's something he'd look at a lot but not quite get around to as there is always something more important.

There you have it. Start looking for next Christmas THIS Christmas, listen to him and watch, and try to find a gift idea that he'd love but would never normally buy for himself.

Do those 3 things and you've got the makings of a great Christmas gift for him.

Easy? No, but I said it took some extra effort. Maybe not easy, but successful, and it will be worth it when he finds you've bought him a better Christmas gift than you ever have before.

And don't forget, you need to read my website too for lots of Christmas gift ideas.

Hot Christmas Gifts of 2007 For Older Me...

peter1 — Wed, 14 Nov 2007 04:00:02 +0100

So your man is a little older, but you love him more now than you ever did. And Christmas is coming and you've got to find a hot Christmas gift for him this year.

Here's 3 Christmas gift ideas for the older man. They may or may not be the hottest Christmas gifts of 2007, but either way any or all of them make wonderful Christmas gift ideas for an older man.

1. An LP to iPod converter.

If he's like me he has a whole bunch of old LPs at home. Like mine, he probably loves them all. And would love to listen to them more. But they're a little tired. A bit scratchy, a bit crackly, a bit old.

How about a converter that plays his LPs for him and converts them into a format that allows him to play them on an iPod or Nano? And if he doesn't have one of those then get him one as well, and he's got a whole new listening expeience coming.

And even better, why not improve the sound quality and eliminate those snaps and crackles? With software that comes with the converter.

It's the LP to iPod converter, available at Hammacher Schlemmer.

2. Ear warmers, but not any old earwarmers.

With winter coming if he's like me a pair of good ear warmers is well in order. But isn't it annoying when you wear ear warmers and can't hear anyone?

No longer, not with acoustic ear warmers that allow him to keep his ears warm and hear at the same time?

3. A Wrist Blood Pressure Monitor. Older men can have issues with blood pressure, and it does no harm at all monitoring his blood pressure regularly. Which he can do with a high quality blood pressure monitor that he can wear on his wrist and monitor his blood pressure at any time.

All of these Christmas gift ideas a lots LOTS more are available at Hammacher Schlemmer. One of the best online gifts stores around. Just search the gift in their search box at the top to find the gift you're needing.

And why not read some more of my Christmas Gifts suggestions on one of my other sites about Mens Gift Ideas?

Or read my main site about mens gifts called Find That Gift For Him

Make A Hot Christmas Gift Of Memories Fo...

peter1 — Mon, 12 Nov 2007 05:12:45 +0100

Photos can be one of the best gifts to give because a photo is a gift of memories. A great gift is one which he will come back to over and over, and a gift of memories is a gift like that.

If you're looking for a great gift for him for Christmas then a gift of memories is hard to pass by. Use your own photos to create a fantastic gift that he'll love, and there you have a great Christmas present.

How do you create a gift of memories using your own photos? Well of course you could just buy a stick in photo album, print your photos and stick them in. But that's not exactly the best way to produce a Christmas gift he'll love.

There are much better and more high tech ways to do it, which produce better results. My favorite is Shutterfly, which is considered to be the premier photo and image sharing site on the web. At Shutterfly you can do all sorts of things with your photos.

There is an entire range of photo improvement tools available to you to make your photos look great. Then there are all sorts of other tools to produce great looking gifts for anyone you want, using your photos.

For instance you might want to create a whole batch of Christmas gifts for your extended family. Why not personalized Christmas photo cards for instance? Or personalised photo albums or photo books?

Create colors, borders, captions or titles for your photos. Make the photo album totally personal to the person who is to receive it by putting in all sorts of personal notes and ideas.

It's a lovely way for instance to create a Christmas album for dad. Fill it with thoughts from his kids and family to go with the photos.

It's a great Christmas gift. Find out how to do it at Shutterfly, and at the moment they have a special on as well, so you get 15 free prints just for joining, which is free.

Want A Really Cool Christmas Gift For Yo...

peter1 — Fri, 09 Nov 2007 05:03:54 +0100

Lets face it, a watch is a lovely gift for a man. If it's a Rolex, say. But other than that a watch as a Christmas gift for a guy is a little old hat. Nice, but nothing unique. And if you're looking for a cool Christmas gift for him for 2007 then it has to be unique.

Not that I've got anything against watches, we'd all be lost without one. But for a really special gift for Christmas I like to see something a little more creative. A little more unusual, unique, extra special.

Forget your Seiko watches, your Citizen watches, your Omega watches or your Casio watches. Here's a range of watches that fit the bill completely. Wonderful, unique, creative, unusual watches. Watches with designs to put the others to shame.

I have featured 3 of the "unique watches" from Shoppe Watches. Fantastic, eye catching, conversation starters. These are unisex watches, they could be worn equally well by either sex, and if you're looking for a unique Christmas gift for your man and he needs a watch any of these would do him nicely.

Now of course they do more mainstream watches as well, nice leather bands and so on, but it's these unique watches that took my eye.

And you should see their unique womens watches as well, just stunning. If you have a look and like what you see for yourself then drop the hint to him and maybe he'll buy one for you for Christmas!

Water resistant, Japanese Seiko quartz movements, quality watches. And not as expensive as you'd expect.

These watches would make a cool Christmas gift for 2007 for your man, or maybe a unique and unusual birthday present. Certainly a special gift for him.

They come with free shipping and a 100% return guarantee, and a 2 year warranty. I always like to see that. It tells me they have confidence in their product.

And read more about my Christmas gift ideas for Christmas 2007, or maybe read my article about why Not All Christmas Cards Are Boring.

7 Hot Christmas Gifts For A Man Who Has...

peter1 — Tue, 30 Oct 2007 07:19:17 +0100

I write all about mens gifts, and one of the most common questions I get asked through my website is "what gift do I buy for my man. He has plenty of money and buys what he wants, so he already has everything he wants".

This is of course pretty common. Lots of men just get out there and buy something if they want it, they don't drop hints near birthday time hoping that the hint will be picked up and acted on. Almost by definition, if he wants it he's already got it.

Not always of course, often it's a question of cost. There are men with a list of wants that they would like to fill, but just can't afford them. If your man is like that, and you can afford those gifts, then ask him and see what he'll say, he'll probably jump at the chance to tell you about those things he'd love the most but can't buy for himself.

But lets assume for a moment that your man can afford what he wants, and so you're a little stuck for ideas for unique and unusual birthday gifts or Christmas gifts that are going to get his juices going.

Here's 7 ideas for gifts for him. He may love all of them, he may love none of them, but I doubt it.

There'll be at least one gift for him there that he'll love. Some are extremely expensive and some aren't.

1. Sexy Lingerie. Now it isn't entirely a unique gift idea but it's one that is almost guaranteed to work. Men love lingerie. Worn by their women of course. I have seen lots of lists of favorite gifts for men and there is one common gift theme. Lingerie is always up there.

No matter how many pieces of beautiful lingerie a woman has, if she selects well and chooses the right piece I can just about guarantee her man will love it, provided of course she wears it for him.

It's almost a can't fail gift.

And there is wonderful lingerie available for women of any size, so girls it's no excuse to say that you're a little large. If your man loves you large he'll love you large and looking great in some sexy lingerie.

2. Adventure gifts. Most men love adventure and adrenalin. Not all, but most. And many women aren't aware that there are some excellent companies around that cater to this extremely well. It's possible to find all sorts of adventure gifts for men and women that you would never have thought existed.

And for all sorts of tastes. Would he love to do his first parachute jump? Try white water rafting?

Drive a tank or a supercar? Go zero-g just like the astranauts do in training? You can give him a gift of any of these things and thousands more, from the extreme adrenalin gift to the gentle and invigorating and pampering gift. The adventure gift companies cater for all tastes in outdoors and adventure and adrenalin, even to beautiful and luxurious days like wine tastings and spa days. There's something for everyone.

3. An eco holiday. There is a growing worldwide movement to charity and volunteer and ecological work and travel. Rather than just buy him a holiday in Europe, which is a little ho hum, why not buy him some volunteer travel with a difference. There are lots of companies which offer adventure travel with a twist, volunteer work that helps out those less fortunate than ourselves, both people and animals and the environment.

He may end up on a research vessel in the waters off Mexico counting turtles or in the wilds of Africa measuring the distribution of African animals. The destinations are almost always exotic. There is work to be done but it is so interesting and adventuruous and invigorating that he probably won't even see it as work. It's fun, it's exciting, it's adventurous and it gives back to the environment and to many less fortunate than ourselves helping committed scientists with their research.

It costs, it's not free, but it's an extremely unique and fabulous holiday that he's unlikely to better.

4 Chinese art. This is a favorite of mine because I lived in China for a while and just love Chinese art.

We have so many pieces that we don't have enough space to hang them all. From beatiful Chinese wall hangings to the absolutely fabuluous and quite unique teapots of Yixing, there are so many Chinese artworks that would go so well in so many of our Western homes.

And it's so cheap. For the man who loves his art, Chinese art is a gift of art with a difference.

5. Mens jewelry. Now this is a gift for a man who likes to wear jewelry obviously, and you need to establish this first. However for a man who does like his jewerly there are some extremely modern and stunning jewelry pieces available on the net now at very competitive prices. And they are made exclusively for men using some of the finest and most masculine of jewelry metals. Like Titanium. If you haven't checked out Titanium jewelry for men on the net lately and your man likes jewelry you should do so. It makes for a wonderful and sometimes extremely romantic gift for the right man.

6. An elephant painting. Another one for the man who likes his art. Painted by a real Asian elephant on paper which is made from elephant dung. Now before you wonder if I've gone mad check it out. The elephants really do the painting, I have a video of it on my website. And believe it or not they paint recognisable objects. The paintings look great, are extremely inexpensive, and would make a great artwork to hang near the table to stimulate some evening conversation with his friends.

And in Thailand, where a lot of the elephant paintings are done, they also make the most stunning paper from elephant dung. And yes, again I've got links on my website to sites where you can actually see how it's done, it's not a fraud. It's beautiful paper, and you can get his elephant painting done on elephant dung paper.

7. Buy him a whale. This is for the man who has absolutely everything and who won't like anything at all from number 1 to 6, then It is perfectly possible to do. He doesn't actually get a whale wrapped in paper to unwrap on his birthday. However there are organisations like the Hebridean Whale and Dolphin trust that track and identify individual whales and dolphins, and allow you to name his own whale or dolphin. There is a real whale or dolphin out there that is named for him.

The money helps in the protection of our whales and gives him a unique and memorable gift.

So there you have it, 7 suggestions for great gifts for the man who has everything. Ranging in price from $50 or so, to seriously expensive.

Now you don't have any excuses to say "I have no idea what to buy him for his birthday" any more.

I Write About Mens Gifts On Squidoo And...

peter1 — Fri, 26 Oct 2007 14:38:07 +0200

I love all sorts of niche sites to post my content. Squidoo has got a lot of attention lately and so I’ve been to Squidoo and started a Squidoo lens. It’s about making a gift basket.

Gift baskets are great gifts for men, you just need to make sure it’s a pretty “manish” gift basket, there’s great golf and fishing gift baskets around for example.

And I’ve also got a bunch of “hubs” at hubpages which are about different aspects of mens gifts and Christmas and so on. These are as follows:

Find great christmas cards for men

Hot Christmas gifts for men, gps systems

Romantic gift ideas for men

Sexy Lingerie as a gift for him

A great Christmas gift for a man

Find that gift for him

Anniversary gifts for men

The great Christmas tree debate

More about Christmas cards for men

Feel free to check them out, I hope you enjoy them

The Great Christmas Tree Debate. Real Or...

peter1 — Tue, 23 Oct 2007 06:03:17 +0200

Has anyone else had a problem deciding on their Christmas tree this year? Maybe it's a little early to think about getting a tree now, after all Christmas is 2 1/2 months away, but I've been thinking about Christmas trees today.

I spend hours on the net looking at lots of gift ideas. And ideas for Christmas, including Christmas trees. I have looked at some artificial Christmas trees lately, and have begun to consider the Christmas tree debate. I have found a good artificial tree lately and written about it here but have now decided to look at the issues surrounding Christmas trees more closely.

Every year there are some 30 to 35 million Christmas trees sold in the US. That's a lot of trees. And there are some implications in this that maybe we should think about.

So, the Great Christmas Tree Debate. Artificial Or Real?

After all, that's what it boils down to. When Christmas comes around do you have a real tree, or do you buy an artificial Christmas tree?

I'm not going to tell you which one to do here, that's not my job, but I'm going to alert you to the issues. A lot of people just get out there and buy a tree, and don't realise that there are some serious issues to consider when it comes to selecting your tree for Christmas.

So lets look at the issues involved in the choice between real Christmas trees and artificial Christmas trees. This is just how I see it, my views only, both from my own Christmas tree experiences and from my reading about it.

Lets look at some data first, from the website of the National Christmas Tree Association, (yes they have their own association.)

30 - 35 mill trees used per annum. Trees are grown on Christmas tree farms in all states of the US, totalling around half a million acres planted. The average time to grow a tree to sale is 7 years. Somewhere close to $2 billion spent annually.

Ok, lets look at some issues.

1. The environmental issues. There's a few of them so one by one.

Artificial Christmas trees are often made of PVC. This is considered a toxic material and can be stabilized with lead. Other trees are made with Polyethelene which can be less toxic, though more expensive.

Generally the artificial trees are non biodegradable. This isn't an issue if you use it over and over but eventually it will outgrow it's usefulness and need to be disposed of. Normally in landfill.

It is claimed that real Christmas trees are carbon neutral. This is hard to prove one way or the other, but it is certainly more likely that real trees are more carbon neutral than artificial ones. The Association claims that an acre of Christmas trees produces enough oxygen for 18 people. Multiply half a million acres by 18, equals 9 million people breathing. For every tree sold 3 are planted, (to allow for attrition.)

Real trees can be recycled, and Christmas tree recycling is common. They can be chipped, used for beachfront erosion prevention and lake stabilization, fish habitat and lots more. If you are interested in more information about recycling Christmas trees click here to read more. Artificial Christmas tree disposal can be an issue.

Manufacture. Real trees are grown, artificials are manufactured. The manufacturing process produces it's own issues and I won't go into that, not being an expert. However there is no doubt that the manufacturing process can often be environmentally unfriendly.

Oil. Many components of the artificial trees are also made from petroleum products which are a diminishing non renewable resource.

Chemicals. There are chemical byproducts of both methods of producing trees. Pesticides are used on real trees, chemicals are produced and released in the manufacture of artificial trees. Again I won't delve deeply into this issue, not being an expert, but it's there.

2. Employment. The Association claims that 85% of artificial trees are made in China. Of course they are promoting their members products which are real trees, however they may still be right. That means that the employment involved in creating artificial trees is in China.

They also claim that there are over 100,000 people employed in the US in the Christmas tree industry, including both full and part time. So US citizens employed in real tree production and sale, whereas it is mainly the Chinese employed in artificial tree production and sale.

Lets look at some more issues.

3. The look. Does a real Christmas tree look better than an artificial Christmas tree?

There's several issues here. Of course a real Christmas tree looks different to, say, an aluminum one in silver, or a fiber optic one. However these artificials are designed to look different to real trees for people who like that.

But for those who like the look of a real tree, does a real Christmas tree look better?

There are now extremely good artificial trees. They are made to look as real as possible and manage this superbly. I wrote about one recently that is so good that it has fooled tree growers.

Modern artificial trees are so hard to tell apart from real ones that making a choice on look alone is probably not sufficient reason to opt for a real one. There have to be other reasons.

4. Mess. I hate mess and I find that a real tree makes a lot of mess. Both from getting it in place, and removing it. And from needles falling off over time. And from trying to keep it looking as good as possible for as long as possible by watering. There is the risk of damage to your carpet from both the needles and from water.

An artificial Christmas tree has no mess. Easily pack it away into it's box and store it. Simple.

5. Decorations. There are now many pre lit Christmas trees available. I find that the decorating process also adds to the mess using a real tree, and so a prelit Christmas tree reduces the need for decorations. However my kids love the decorating, so maybe this is a negative.

6. Price. A real Christmas tree is substantially cheaper than the artificial alternative. Some good artificials can cost up to $1000 or even more. On the other side a real tree has to be purchased every year, an artificial tree lasts for a long time and once purchased no more cost is involved.

7. Living Christmas trees. You can buy a living Christmas tree from a Christmas tree shop or a grower and plant it outside after Christmas so it becomes a garden piece, or even try to raise it in a pot for next year. However it isn't always successful and you need the room to put it and the inclination to look after it. And it won't be too long if you plan to reuse it before it gets too big.

If you're interested in more information on the care of a living (or cut) Christmas tree, or the selection of your real tree, click here.

8. Fire danger. Real trees can dry out and become a fire danger, and some landlords will even prohibit real trees in their houses and apartments. Artificial Christmas trees are usually produced with flame retardent materials.

9. Allergies. Real trees can create allergies. Generally artificial ones don't.

10. Convenience. If you live on the 5th floor a real tree can be an issue. An artificial is delivered to your door. It's boxed and easy to erect, and to take down.

So there's the issues. Like I say, I'm not intending to fall on one side or the other. But I think it's important for you to spend a little time understanding the issues and thinking about them before you make your decision on the tree that's best for you.

And if anyone wishes to add more issues or discuss it feel free to do using the comments form below. Lets get a discussion going about this.
Whatever you choose, enjoy your Christmas tree, and your Christmas.