We are now into the final push towards the end of the year, and hasn’t it just flown by. That means it will soon be Christmas, and with everybody having their finances squeezed this year a lot of us will be trying to pick up Christmas gifts earlier to try and spread the cost.
Planning the perfect Christmas can be quite demanding hard work with all the preparations; you not only have to pick the right advent calendar (who knew kids could be so fussy when it comes to a cardboard calendar filled with chocolate or treats) but you have to plan the Christmas dinner (another daunting task with working out likes/dislikes and what people eat/don’t eat), then there is cooking the dinner itself. If that wasn’t enough, then there is finding the perfect gift to surprise your loved ones with and of course the chore of wrapping of any presents you have put a lot of thought into. There just doesn’t seem to be enough time to organise everything, no matter how organised you are or how early you start, before the big day hits. But we all know that it will be worth it in the end, getting to spend some quality time with family and friends.
Let’s go back to those all-important gifts. Finding the perfect gift for your family and friends can be quite difficult and requires a lot of thought. Firstly, you have to work out your overall budget, how much you want to spend on each person (and can realistically afford), then you have to search around for something that they will love and have an interest in. Will the recipient even like the gift, will the kids play with what they have received?
Buying gifts for younger children is quite easy (although they do have a habit of changing what things they want at the click of your fingers). Getting nearer teenage years is a nightmare (they don’t seem to have an interest in anything unless it has a screen), and then buying for your partner, don’t even go there, how do you get the perfect present for your partner who doesn’t need anything as they buy what they want when they want it?
At Our Family Reviews we have been trying out some gift ideas for the kids and adults that we think our own family would like, and hopefully yours will too. We hope that it will making gift buying for the kids (including teenagers who seem to have little interest in anything at the moment), alongside presents for him and her, a tiny bit less stressful and without breaking the bank.
Among some of the items we have been trying out are some excellent games for family game nights such as Rummikub Black, the Möbi maths game that even has educational value, and even some excellent TV show quiz board games, the Sphero Specdrums for music and tech loving teenagers to make their own sounds, Edifier gaming headphones and wireless earbuds for those hard to buy for teens, a Wi-Fi Smart LED Light Strip for teenagers and young adults to stamp their own style into their bedrooms, a world of books for all ages from Books2Door, keep the winter cold at bay with Cotton Traders pyjamas, slippers and hot water bottles, keep the gamers happy with the new Call of Duty: Modern Warfare II and we can’t forget that old Christmas favourite, the smellies, with the ARRAN After the Rain Discovery Gift Set.
We hope that the items we have reviewed for our Christmas Gift Guide will make it just that little bit easier in inspiring gift ideas for your family and friends.
So, before you hit the shops or browse the many sites on the internet, make some time to grab a brew, sit down, relax, have a browse through our Christmas Gift Guide and see if there is any inspiration for that special little something for your nearest and dearest.
Please do keep checking back as we will be adding more all the time
Have a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year
