May is a chocka month for birthdays – and there’s so much to choose from! Maybe it’s because I’m still recovering from my lack of sweet stuff over Lent that I’ve become obsessed with baking and can’t stop finding presents relating to food.

And because I have so many birthday gifts to buy next month I’ve got to buy cheap gifts and stick to my budget of pressies under £10.

I’ve a friend who loves baking and decorating gingerbread cookies around Christmas time – but she definitely needs some practice.

She also happens to be fluent in Russian and has a penchant for martial arts so imagine my glee when I find the perfect gift.

Cookie cutters in the shape of Ninjabread Men. Quirky, cute and cheap – just the kind of gift I like!

Plus she can now get practicing icing those cookies for christmas time – after all it’s only 8 months away…

Buy Ninjabread Men Cookie Cutters for just £6.10 from Amazon.co.uk

Buy Cheap Adobe Creative Suite 5 Design Premium

Is your mobile phone contract due for renewal soon? Fancy a new phone? Then you can get one that comes complete with a free gift!

The website Mobiles With Free Gifts lets you see at a glance what free phones and gifts you can get with your next mobile contract.

So you get a free phone plus a free gift which will make someone a brilliant Xmas present.

There are deals ranging from £15 to £45 per month so there’s one to match every budget! Go to Mobiles With Free Gifts to see what’s on offer.

You just need to fill in a few details and the letters will be sent out from 1st December 2011. Each letter comes with a sprinkling of magic…

Not that you’ll need to get your kids even more excited about Christmas than they already are, but it’s always nice for them to get something in the post. It’s a same day dispatch so you can be sure of a quick delivery!

I’ll be ordering a couple for my nephews and can’t wait to see the look on their faces.

Find Me A Gift also offer a great range of Christmas Gifts online from stocking fillers to novelty christmas presents for men, women and children.

• Free Samples
• Free Trials
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Please sign up for the free email newsletter. You’ll receive details of the great free offers every day. There’s no catch – virtually everything listed there is completely free, and you won’t receive unwanted email from Freebie Bag at any time.

Plus, why not use some of your freebies as cheap (i.e. FREE) gifts? There are some quality items given away by some companies.

For example, perfume samples are ideal as gifts for someone about to go on holiday. They won’t be able to take any liquid container above 100ml as hand luggage on the flight. So why not take a free perfume sampler that will be enough perfume for the trip?

Just visit Freebie Bag UK for more!

Are you after a super duper birthday present for you hubby or boyfriend? Or maybe you have a best friend who is absolutely bonkers about cars – then this will make a fantastic gift.

The Magazine Group have a brilliant promotion on Evo car magazine at the minute. Get 3 issues for just £1 which saves you a massive 92% off the shop price.

You just need to sign up with your debit card, but to make the gift last even longer you can continue the subscription at just £21.30 for another 6 months.

I had never heard of Evo magazine before whereas most of the guys I work with have. Apparently it’s the best (and only) UK mag that is dedicated to showing off performance cars.

On a monthly basis your bloke will be addicted to the colour photographs and features that appear in each issue. Go on give him something to drool over!

The best thing about this promotion that makes it a fabulous gift?

You automatically get a copy of the Best of British Supercars bookazine (worth £9.99).

This bumper edition has over 250 pages of stunning photos and interesting features on the UK’s favourite sports and super cars. Including the beautiful Bentley, amazing Aston Martins and terrific TVR’s.

Buy a subscription to Evo Magazine today for just £1 from the Magazine Group

Want to see some action? Check out this YouTube clip courtesy of Evo Magazine

Snapfish provide a great free service for everyone who owns a digital camera and loves taking snaps. They let you upload and store an unlimited number of pictures and get them printed and delivered to your door.

However, they also have a range of brilliant photo gifts too which make great (and unusual) presents that are excellent as keepsakes.

The site is dead easy to use, even for those of us who aren’t as computer literate as they would like to be. Before you know it you’ll be acting like David Bailey. Give it a try as your first 20 prints are free!

Unique photo gifts are basically general everyday items that are transformed into personalised gifts. Simply upload your fave digital pic onto the site and choose what you want the photo transferred onto.

It could be anything from a mug

Buy at Snapfish from £7.99

or a calendar

Buy at Snapfish from £14.99

to a jigsaw puzzle

Buy at Snapfish from £6.99

Plus more besides …

It’s often parents and grandparents who love this kind of stuff, especially when it involves cute pictures of kids and grandchildren. But it can also be a fun gift for birthdays and hen-do’s or keepsake gifts for weddings or pet lovers.

Whatever you choose, it’s your chance to be creative and give a personalised piece of memorabilia that’ll be treasured.

Buy a unique photo gift at Snapfish.co.uk. Prices start from just £2.49

Free Prints From Snapfish

Get some free photo printing credits at http://freebiebag.co.uk to make buying birthday and christmas gifts even cheaper.

Nigel is a lovely bloke. Everything he sells on his site is eco-friendly. Environmentally friendly gifts and other items for home, office and general living. It’s gift shopping with a conscience.

For innovative gifts for family, friends or work colleagues, you will be spoilt for choice.

A few months ago I found an eco-stapler, which proved perfect for a friend of mine who was complaining about the traditional staplers. He loved it, along with everyone else in his office. So now I regularly check out this website to see what new items have emerged.

Eco Gadgets

As we will be approaching festival season in a month or two, how about this great gadget – a solar powered torch? It fits into your pocket, and can be attached to your set of keys so you can carry it with you wherever you go. Get powerful torchlight at night without the need for batteries – all it needs is some beautiful sunshine to charge it up.

And it only costs £4.99 from Nigel’s Eco Store. A bargain gift for a walker, camper or festival go-er

Vinyl Coasters

There are millions of old vinyl records cluttering up landfills. This company decided to re-use them into practical yet funky products. These kitsch ex vinyl coasters are non scratch and non slip and will protect your table tops from hot cups of tea.

Buy a set of 6 for £9.99 from Nigel’s Eco Store. Makes a brilliant house warming pressie, and especially for music lovers.

Let someone enjoy the sunny weather with an Eco Picnic Set

Picnics in the park are what makes the weekends gorgeous. I love nothing better than lounging on grass or the beach with friends, a bottle of wine and some yummy picnic food.

The eco friendly picnic set is basically a re-usable jute bag which has been filled with all you need for a green picnic. The plates, cups, glasses, cutlery and napkins are all biodegradable and compostable. Buy the small set for 4 people or the bigger one for 8 people.

Buy the 4 piece picnic set for £16.99 or an 8 piece set for £21.99 from Nigel’s Eco Store

The best thing about shopping with Nigel is that you are helping the planet too. By buying environmentally friendly, recycled, natural and organic goods, we reduce our consumption and our waste.

Plus they are all really cool presents too. What better gift is there?

Discount Codes for Nigel’s Eco Store

Type in SpringEco when ordering the picnic set to get 10% off. Valid until 19th April 2008.

At Web Savings World you can find more promotional discount codes

Whilst many folks are happy to buy any gift for a birthday or celebration, a lot of people are starting to become more selective about what they buy as presents, where its come from and what kind of impact it has had or will have on the environment.

Ethical Superstore have got the whole list covered because they only sell gifts that are ethical, fairtrade and/or organic. It’s an ethical revolution!

Their great selection of presents include delicious food hampers containing organic and fairtrade food and wine, some rather nifty eco gadgets such as the Trevor Bayliss Ecomedia Player that I mentioned sometime last year, unique and funky recycled glasses and goblets and some beautiful fairtrade jewellery.

Here are my current Top 5 Ethical Gift ideas:

The Glow Brick

From the people that made you Sun Jar, comes Glow Brick. Another fantastic invention that deserves a mention and quite frankly a beautiful work of art which makes it a top gift in my eyes. Hey, a gift doesn’t always have to be practical – as long as it looks nice on your coffee table!

So what is it? It’s a real light bulb which has been trapped in a solid acrylic brick. It’ll recharge with natural light during the day and by night it glows in the dark.

The Glow Brick is just £19.99 – Buy it from EthicalSuperstore.com

Papier Mâché Bowl

This colourful bowl is very simple but has a multitude of uses. Not only does it look fantastic, it can also be filled with a heap of goodies such as chocolates or toiletries to make a custom made gift hamper for someone.

Made by a non-profit organisation in South Africa, so you know the money you pay will go back into their community and continue to do good work amongst the locals, providing education, support and healthcare.

This Papier Mâché Bowl is only £9 – get it from EthicalSuperstore.com

Recycled Mouse Mat

In an effort to use some of our ever growing waste, the company Remarkable have designed just the thing and produced a range of useful recycled goods from our rubbish.

This mouse mat is made entirely from an old car tyre, not only is it green but it’s functional and can be used at home, the study or in the office.

This Recycled Mouse Mat is a bargain at just £4.25 – buy it from the one and only EthicalSuperstore.com

Butterfly Necklace

A two stranded necklace ending with a mass of beautiful beads and charms at the end, including a pretty butterfly detail was made in India by a local co-operative of artisans.

This Butterfly Necklace can be bought for just £8 – get it for someone’s birthday from EthicalSuperstore.com

Noah’s Ark

This wooden Noah’s Ark features a host of handcrafted wooden animals and makes a gorgeous gift to celebrate a new arrival or to decorate a nursery.

The wooden Noah’s Ark costs £40 – from the EthicalSuperstore.com

And I can’t leave without mentioning their range of ’green’ greetings cards and recycled wrapping paper – a perfect complement to go along with your ethical pressie.

Do your little bit for the environment, and go gift shopping at this eco-friendly online shop – EthicalSuperstore.com

The next date on the calendar to be aware of is April Fool’s Day. Not a common time to send gifts and cards, but none-the-less, there are bound to be a few pranks and practical jokes going about.

It is a common time to read some strange tales in newspapers, or hear bizarre news on the TV or radio.

Remember the Spaghetti incident of 1958? When a documentary went out about Spaghetti trees, which hundreds of viewers fell for. It’s worth remembering not to believe everything you hear, see or read on 1st April – although don’t rule everything out either, especially if you get a pay rise!

Other pranks include fake phone calls, dressing up, talking about a non-existent products such as left handed screwdrivers.

The purpose of April Fool’s Day

The aim is to play a joke on someone or a group of people, and have them fall for it hook, line and sinker – but there is a catch, it must be before midday.

The origins of April Fool’s Day

Takes place each year on the 1st day of April. There are mixed ideas about its origin. Some think it started when we began using the Gregorian calendar in the 16th century, as 1st April used to be the official start of the Julian New Year and those against the change continued celebrating on 1st April with tomfoolery and joke gifts. However there are also mythological, spiritual and medieval origin theories too.

One website that offers all kinds of joke gifts and tomfoolery is Hawkin’s Baazar.

Buy this Joke a Day desk block for £7.99 – and enjoy a giggle every day of the week.

Or this Joke Book covering every topic you can imagine – give your family and friends something to make them chuckle at for £7.99 from Hawkin.com

How about setting up work colleagues with this Prank Message book for just £3.99

Or if you know someone whose birthday is on April Fools Day (or close to it) these fun Joke Candles for £2.99 announcing the birthday boy or girl has ’Lost count’ makes a fun gift.

Watch out you don’t get fooled this year!

Discount Codes for Hawkin’s Bazaar

At Web Savings World you can find Hawkin’s Bazaar voucher codes

School holidays are usually great fun for kids, with all that time off they can play away to their hearts content outside in the sunshine, and if the weather is wet, why not get them indoors getting crafty and creative?

Yellow Moon has got this problem sorted. They offer a large range of craft packs, ideas, games and stocking fillers to keep kids amused. There are a whole range of chemistry and science based kits to make discovery and learning fun, as well as card and jewellery making kits, sponge painting kits, designing and stamping. In fact too much to mention, but one benefit of Yellow Moon is that whatever you buy, a % will go to your nominated school, club or charity – meaning you can help raise money for needed causes.

Craft Thing also provide a heap of craft kits, activity packs and children’s educational toys for kids from 3 years up to 12 plus. Get the kids kitted out with painting sets, art kits, weird science and clay packs so they can create their own sculpture or work of art. Being creative can be a joint hobby to be done with family, friends or brothers and sisters. Any of these kits can be bought as gifts, because Craft Thing also provide a wrapping service, so when it is posted it will be ready to be given to one lucky person.

A paint by numbers kit from CraftThing.co.uk

For Easter you could organise an Easter Egg hunt, traditionally held on easter Sunday morning. Buy a heap of various sized Easter Eggs and hide them throughout your home or garden, then after breakfast, set the kids loose with a bag to go find and collect as many as they can. The child with the most eggs could also be offered a winner’s prize. You can get some great little easter eggs from shops like Thorntons or Woolworths.

They all provide great fun ideas to organise children’s parties, where the kids get to make their own hats, party bags or decorations. So there’s no reason for kids to be bored over summer holidays, all they need is a bit of imagination and a few handy bits and pieces to keep their minds and hands active.

Discount Codes for Yellow Moon

At Web Savings World you can find Yellow Moon promotional discount codes

Are you fed up of chocolates? Christmas was only 10 weeks away and I am still working off the tins of Quality Street and After Eights! I am sure most other people feel the same way, but are just too polite to say it. So why not buy some non-chocolate gifts this Easter instead?

Read on to see my hand-picked selection

Remote Control Rubber Duck

Rubber ducks. What were they all about? Yellow rubber ducks that bobbed about in your bath a bit whilst you washed your hair – never very interesting, but now things are about to get very interesting.

The remote controlled duck has arrived. He’s still yellow and still rubbery, but now you can finally get him to do something. Drive him around your bath at super speeds, get him to do dazzling u-turns and tricky manoeuvres, all with the twiddle of a knob.

Create some splash action in the bath. Oh and he also reminds us that it’s Easter.

Buy for £12.99 from Play.com

Hatchable Chicken

Whenever you fancy a giggle, this clockwork egg can be wound up until it can be wound no more. Then sit back and watch as the egg splits in 2 and out pops a cute, cartoon style chick who proceeds to waddle off into the distant sunset.

He doesn’t do much else, but he is fun to watch and makes a great little present for somebody this Easter instead of an Easter Egg.

Buy this cute chicken for £4.99 from Hawkin’s Bazaar

Egg Cup Timer

Those brilliant people at Suck UK (the guys that brought you Sun Jar) have come up with another ingenious invention. An Egg Timer that also doubles up as a stylish Egg cup. The yellow sand will time your egg cooking to perfection, whilst the clear holder will hold your egg like a work of art and ready for you to eat.

What better way to spend Easter Sunday morning, than having real eggs for breakfast – eggs that haven’t been overcooked by 5 minutes. A brilliant non-chocolate easter gift idea. Unfortunately eggs are not included.

Buy the Suck UK Egg Cup Timer from Find Me A Gift for £14.99

Towelling Rabbit

Easter is also associated with Easter bunnies and this cute rabbit made from natural towelling is an adorable gift for a baby or little nipper.

The rabbit is clutching onto a Doudou, and I can’t quite figure out what this is. I think it’s something your baby can grip onto, kind of like a security blanket.

It comes complete in a gift box for £7.95 from Amazon.co.uk

Or if you fancy having an Ethical Easter this year, why not look at our Alternative Easter Gifts guide

If you must buy a chocolate egg this year why not have a look at our article The Best 20 Easter Eggs for 2008

Discount Codes for Play.com

At Web Savings World you can find Play.com promotional codes

St Patrick is well known as the Patron Saint of Ireland. Come the 17th of March thousands of people all over the world, whether Irish or not, celebrate St Patrick’s Day in style. Usually with lots of dressing up and plenty of drinking.

However, this year St Patrick’s Day has been moved to the 15th March, to avoid falling on the holy Easter week, with Easter being so incredibly early this year.

Who was St Patrick?

Saint Patrick, born around the 4th century, became a missionary who is believed to have brought Christianity to Ireland.

For some reason he was taken by Irish raiders and kept as a slave for six years, before being released and returning to his family. It was only when he was released that he joined the church, working as a missionary to convert the locals to Christianity. He later died in Ireland (supposedly on 17th March) and this day has been known as St Patrick’s Day ever since.

It is a traditional day for missionaries to offer prayers to provide spiritual renewal, but many revellers just tend to dress up, drink lots and have fun.

The colours Green and Gold are synonymous of St Paddy’s Day, as are other traditionally irish symbols such as the shamrock (which means little clover) and Guinness!

Getting dressed up to celebrate?

It doesn’t cost a fortune to create an impact. How about this cheap and cheerful St Patrick’s Day Top Hat

Just £3.99 from ChickenShop Fancy Dress

Or these fun and frivolous Shamrock Head Boppers for £1.99

If you are having a St Patrick’s Day themed party, make sure you get all your decorations to spruce up your venue. Find shamrock cut outs, banners and balloons, leprechauns, confetti and all your party tableware in the traditional Irish colours green, white, orange and gold.

How about this St Patrick’s Day Decorating Kit to make your celebrations go with a swing

for just £7.75 from PartyBox

Happy St Patrick’s Day. Sláinte!

We ladies have always got tons of jewellery to hand. If you know of somebody who could use a helping hand to organise their collection of crown jewels, I have found this gorgeous jewellery box.

We always have to make sure we have the perfect accessory to hand for any occasion. Little trinkets, earrings, necklaces, rings and bracelets. If you are anything like me they’ll be strewn about all over the place as I never have anywhere to keep it all.

This beautiful rectangular jewellery box is made with frosted glass and decorated with delicate butterflies all over it.

The butterflies and trailing plant design is studded with sparkling gems to make it extra gorgeous. They gems come in different colours to suit the lucky recipient, either pink, blue or purple

It looks stunning, is very practical at keeping all your jewels together and it costs less than a tenner!

Buy it for just £8.99 from Purple Puffin.

If you are struggling with a present for your little brother, nephew or grandson, I have spied this cute and very collectable money box, which is in the shape of a cartoon style VW Beetle.

It’s a bargain at under a fiver so it won’t burn a hole in your pocket.

This VW Beetle looks very much like the car from the classic Herbie film, except it only comes in blue or green.

I think it’s a brilliant pressie for young lads to decorate their bedroom with. I mean which boy doesn’t like cars! It will even help them save their pocket money up for your birthday present.

But you may know of a Beetle enthusiast or collector, for which this would make a great little gift or stocking filler.

It’s at a price that won’t break the bank and will appeal to all car fanatics and people who like to save their pennies.

Buy it from Purple Puffin for £4.99

If you don’t want to spend a fortune, or have a limited budget this month but need to get a quick last minute pressie for your mum or a friends birthday, this Lotus Flower is a great bath plug.

It’s a cute accessory that any girl would love to see when she takes a soak in the bath.

It’ll transport them into the spa’s of Thailand, or the tropical lakes in some exotic faraway place. They may even feel they are on holiday!

The Lotus Flower will sit prettily on its leaf and float away on top of your bath water.

It’s one of those novelty gifts that aren’t really useful at all, but are just really nice to have.

Buy this unusual floating plug for £5.95 from Feeling Chilled.

If you add the code SPRING into the code box at the checkout you will get a 10% discount . This voucher is valid until 31/03/08.

Discount Codes for Feeling Chilled

At Web Savings World you can find Feeling Chilled promotional voucher codes

On Sunday 2nd March, go back to the olden days when as a child you used to make home made cards for your mum on Mother’s Day.

However this is a handmade card with a twist.

This Carve Your Own Card pack comes with a wooden postcard that is made from light wood soft enough to etch your own message in with a suitable sharp object such as a key – be careful though when using any sharp implements and kids – always do it under the supervision of an adult.

Right Blue Peter speech over with, the Carve Your Own Card is so much more personalised than the factory produced Mothering Sunday cards.

It also doubles up as a lovely keepsake, and your mum will appreciate the more personal touch of words chosen by you, than a cheesy poem written by some stranger.

Buy for £7.49 from Feeling Chilled. If you add the code SPRING into the code box at the checkout you will get a 10% discount too which is valid until 31/03/08.

Discount Codes for Feeling Chilled

At Web Savings World you can find Feeling Chilled promotional codes

You can’t beat a bunch of flowers to say a simple message – I Love You, Thank You, Get Well Soon or Congratulations. Especially on Mum’s Day, it can be just the thing to show her you care.

E-Flowers are an online flowers site that have been going since 1985, it’s a very easy to use shop and has some beautiful flowers on offer.

You can opt to have your flowers delivered on a set date or on the same day if you have forgotten someone’s birthday and need flowers to get there asap!

You can also include a personal message and select any additional gifts you may want to send; a bottle of bubbly, a box of chocs or a cute teddy bear.

I especially love the Rose Planter bouquet stuffed with mini pink roses for only £24.99.

A lot of websites require you to register as a user before ordering, this site gives you the option. If you haven’t time or don’t think you’ll use them again then you can just order what you want. But if you plan on using the site again, your info will be remembered, you will receive their newsletter with the latest offers and you will get £1 discount on your first order!

And what’s better than getting a fabulous bunch of flowers (such as some lovely Calla Lilies) for your mum on Mother’s Day? Getting money off!

The generous people at E-Flowers are offering money off when you book with us. For a 5% discount just type the word mum into the promotional code box when you checkout.

Remember the good old days? Of school days and playgrounds, when the 6 weeks holidays would seem to last forever? Well the Hawkin’s Bazaar online shop takes me right back to those days. They have all the little nick-nacks we used to play with, things I thought didn’t exist anymore!

It’s a great site to browse in your lunch hour but beware, you could get lost in the vastness of gift ideas it holds.

You will discover cheap stocking fillers such as wooden tops and bubble blowers and joke gifts like the classic schoolboy favourite – the Whoopee Cushion. Find toys from your childhood, outdoor games, arts and crafts, puzzles and books and onto the downright weird gadgets and curios like the talking gnomes, dashboard Homer Simpsons and the granny racing track.

They have just had an overhaul of their site and now feature a Top 11 Bestselling Gifts List (they are right – who says it should be a Top 10 list!)

My absolute favourite is the Fuzzy Felt Compendium Set. I didn’t realise they still made these. My fuzzy felt farmyard set guaranteed me hours of fun. And you can still buy it now for under a tenner!

Hawkin’s Bizarre

This ’Bazaar’ shop has such an eclectic mix of the weird and wonderful, you are guaranteed to find a present at hawkins.com to suit everyone you know – including yourself.

Prices for such goodies start from just 75p at Hawkin’s Bazaar – see what you can find!

Discount Codes for Hawkin’s Bazaar

At Web Savings World you can find Hawkin’s Bazaar discount vouchers

When you think of being pampered and relaxing, what comes to mind? Yes, you guessed it, a lovely soak in a hot, steaming bath filled with lovely smelling bubbles.

Your mum’s will love to be pampered this Mother’s Day and what better way to do it than in the comfort of their own home!
No, it’s not a tin of baked beans, it’s actually a clever little machine that creates lots of bubbles in your own bath to soak all the tension out of your hard-worked muscles.

This bubble machine, obviously pink coloured for the girls, is a great invention which produces oodles and oodles of light and airy bubbles to soak all your biggest troubles and cares away. In fact it’s almost like having your own jacuzzi at home.

Don’t worry about the lethal water/electric combo, as there are no wires or plugs attached, it runs on 3 AA batteries (which aren’t included – so don’t forget to buy them!)

Would also work well with a ’Do Not Disturb’ sign to be hung on the bathroom door.

Buy this hubbly bubbly bubble making gadget for the bargain price of £8.90 from Find Me A Gift.

These beautiful and unusual sculptures make fantastic presents for all occasions, but this Lovers Knot is particularly appropriate for Valentine’s Day or as a Wedding Gift. Remember there is only 5 days to go until Valentine’s Day.

This Love Knot sculpture features a series of entwining knots – just like the celtic knot – these knots are a symbol of love everlasting. Each piece of soap stone varies in its marbling and colour and with each ornament being hand carved – no machines involved – every creation is unique.

The sculptures are all hand carved from Soapstone, a naturally occuring mineral which as its name suggests is very soft to carve and create these stunning ornaments. Remarkably each piece is carved from just one piece of soapstone, from a craft co-operative in Kenya.

Green and Clean Gifts please!

I love the fact this website offers fairtrade products – no sweatshop factories here – which they have sourced personally from the co-operatives and communities in Africa and Asia themselves, so you know the artist has got a fair price for his or her hard work. They are also very good value to us too!

Unfortunately the site has a bit of a complicated way of working out delivery prices, depending on the weight and size of the gift you are buying. The total cost is all worked out for you, but you have to register on the site before you can find out the full price.

Despite that, the items are all good quality, unique and they can ship worldwide if it’s a gift for someone overseas. Last chance to buy before Valentine’s Day next week.

And it won’t break the bank – you can buy it online for just £7.70 from A Gift Idea