Twelve drummers drumming
Eleven pipers piping
Ten lords a-leaping
Nine ladies dancing
Eight maids a-milking
Seven swans a-swimming
Six geese a-laying
Five gold rings
Four calling birds
Three French hens
Two turtle doves
And a partridge in a pear tree!

For the full version and meaning and videos of it visit: www.12daysofchristmas.org.uk

Everyone receives a pretty boring or average present at Christmas, something that will be used for a bit before it gets hidden away and forgotten about at the back of a cupboard, quite often this is because people are buying presents on a limited budget and can’t think of something to get that is going to become an everyday useful present.

Well fear not, there is a solution to these problems in the form of personalised gifts. There is a huge range of different personalised gifts out there that can range from £5 up to £100+ and the great thing with a personalised gift is that not only do they feel extra special but they are more likely to get used and treasured.

For example, if you got given a mug for Christmas the chances are that you would use it every now and then before it finally got moved to the back of the cupboard, however, if you got given a personalised mug that had your name on it then the chances are that it’s going to become you favourite mug that you use every day for your brew. The great thing is that personalised mugs cost under a tenner and so make a lovely gift and also relatively inexpensive!

A wide range of personalised gifts can be seen at www.personalisedgifts.co.uk

Other favourite personalised gifts that are “credit crunch” friendly as the personalised calendars, again costing under £10 they offer a full years use and offer a new personalised image with the recipients name on for each month of the year. Even better is that you get a full 12 months no matter what time of the year you buy, as you can choose which month you want as the start date.

Personalised gifts come in a wide range of themes, so there will be something suitable for everyone from the golfer and football fan to the shopaholic and gardener!

Also to consider with the personalised gifts is that there is specific Christmas personalised gifts to choose from too, obviously these Christmas themed personalised gifts may not be suitable to be used all year round but they can help make the festive season that extra bit more special and are also worth considering. For Chrildren especially the personalised Christmas stockings are a real favourite!

A name on a gift really does transform any gift into something that bit extra special!

Lifetimer clock

2nd September 2008
Days Until Christmas: 84 Days until Christmas 2008!

Elmo Live has taken realistic toys to a new level. Last week we showed you Tickle Me Elmo which we thought was brilliant in itself, but today we bring you Elmo Live which is on a whole new level. We were going to wait before told you all about Elmo Live but having just watched another video of him in action we decided we couldn’t wait (although you will have to wait untill 14th October for when he is realeased to buy – You can pre-order now at Play.com!)

Anyway, Elmo Live is going to bring a whole new interaction to children young and old and is going to keep adults entertained too. Elmo Live is a realistic (well as far as red monster bear toys can be) toy, he sings, talks, stands up, sits down, crosses legs, tells jokes and stories and is constantly on the move making him a hugely interactive toy!

Watch the video of Elmo Live from the initial launch in February earlier this year, obviously we think the real Elmo Live won’t have the big wire sticking out of his back though!

We think that in the Countdown to Christmas Elmo Live is going to be one of the best sellers!

Elmo Live is going to be released on October 14th and is going to cost around £60.
It can be bought from Play.com

Todays Date: 29th September 2008
Days Until Christmas: 87 Days until Christmas 2008!

I can see that Tickle Me Elmo is going to be a huge hit as a present for the Kids (and some big kids – yes we do mean you adults) this Christmas.
It is so simple and fun that we think the best way to let you see Tickle Me Elmo it in action is to show you a video of it, we challenge you not to raise a smile while it’s playing!

Now come on admit it, you had a smile on your face while Tickle Me Elmo was rolling around on the floor laughing, if you didn’t then we can only assume you don’t like having a laugh!

Wait until we show you the new Elmo Live to be released soon which is even better than the Tickle Me Elmo!

Tickle Me Elmo can be bought from Amazon and costs around £35!

Todays Date: 24th September 2008
Days Until Christmas: 92 Days until Christmas 2008!

Personalised Calendars

Anyway, I shall stop with the waffling and get telling you about personalised calendars. What personalised calendars are are calendars that are personalised (yes I do remember being taught in school that you can’t describe something just by re-arranging the words)!
What the personalised calendars from Getting Personal offer is the chance for you to enter any name you want and it will then be seamlessly added to the images for the 12 months of the year!
An example would be for the month that Easter falls on you may get lots of Easter eggs with your name spelt out, in November your name is spelt out with fireworks.

The great thing is that Getting Personal have a huge range of different styles and themes of personalised calendars, so you can choose a standard one which has something seasonal/topical for the month or you can choose a themed specific one, such as golf, football, music, X-Factor, motor sport and a whole range of others.

The Personalised Calendars can run start on any month you want so they can be given as great Christmas presents or as birthday presents throughout the year, they will last for 12 months from the starting month.

Available is desktop calendars or wall handing calendars so you can have a choice of what would be best too! On the front you also have space to add a 150 character personalised message which is brilliant if you are going to give one as a gift!

Todays Date: 23rd September 2008
Days Until Christmas: 93 Days until Christmas 2008!

20Q hand held mind reader

Now you may think that this is going to be a naff little toy but it really isn’t. It is scarily accurate with it’s guessing and it will really just amaze you that it will guess most of the things you think of. Be it a carrot, TV, Lion, pencil, brick, superhero, just use your imagination and be amazed as it works out what you are thinking of.

Trust me, after it’s got it correct a few times you won;’t want to put it down until you end up the winner. The 20Q will ask an original set of 20 Questions and if after these it gets your “thing” incorrect then it will ask 5 more questions and try again, if it gets it wrong again then you are the winner, but be prepared to be a loser most of the time (hey, it’s nothing personal, most people are losers against the 20Q)!.

The 20Q comes as a little hand held puzzle and will fit in your pocket or bag so you can take it out with you so you can have a few quick games in the day.

The 20Q would make a brilliant stocking filler and is great for kids and adults alike (so that makes it a brilliant selfish present to buy someone else as you get to enjoy it too!)

The 20Q hand held puzzle comes in a range of colours – Purple, blue or red. 
There is to be a relase of a Star Tek 20Q in the future if you read over at SciFiChick (although it is only available to US residents at the moment while they test it).

The 20Q comes in at just £19.95 and they can be bought from PrezzyBox

Todays Date: 22nd September 2008
Days Until Christmas: 94 Days until Christmas 2008!

Anyway, you can now get your own remote control helicopter for under £20 quid in the form of the Micro PizooZ. This tiny helicopter fits in the palm of your hand and is what we would say as “flipping brilliant fun”!

The Micro PizooZ is made of lightweight (only 10 grams) durable foam so can be safely flown indoors and unlike other indoor helicopters there are no wires between the control and the helicopter, it is controlled by a infra-red and has around 10 minute flight time before needing to be re-charged.

It will be a very fun 10 minutes while you master it and buzz it around the house or if you fancy making your work a bit more interesting and you can go flying while the boss has their back turned!
If you want extra fun there are different Bands so you can fly up to 3 Micro PicooZ helicopters at once (be sure to try and make sure when you order that you get different bands) meaning you can have helicopter wars if you want!

Tiny remote control Micro PicooZ helicopter

 The Micro PicooZ comes in at just £19.95 and they can be bought from PrezzyBox

Todays Date: 19th September 2008
Days Until Christmas: 97 Days until Christmas 2008!

Well, you not longer have to worry about this dilemma in future because of the new brilliantly simple “Slanket”.
It is a Blanket with Sleeves (do you see how they got the name there, clever scamps).
You put your arms through the large loose blanket sleeves and then when you need to get up the blanket comes with you and keeps your heat in and you staying nice and warm, it is super andyet so simple leaving you to drink your brew, answer the phone, do some sit ups (we don’t recommend handstands as this will send the Slanket south and thus resulting in your heat escaping).

Slanket - The Blanket with Sleeves

The Slankets come in a range of different colours:
Chocolate brown – a sort of brownie colour
Limoges – It’s dark blue, whoever called it Limoges was just trying to be a smart arse
Pink – It’s that colour that isn’t red and girls love, all blokes have to hate it as it’s not manly!
Ruby wine – Pretty much the colour your nice white table cloth goes if you spill that bottle of red wine over it after one glass too many, hic…

Blokes, get this for your Wife/Mrs/Mistress/Girlfriend and no longer will they be demanding you warm them up. We think a nice little tip would be to spray a bit of your aftershave on it (the one she loves) and she will feel she is snuggled up to you anyway leaving you free to get up and move around without getting moaned at!

Females, get this for your bloke and make him wear it to warm up and then when he nips to the loo you jump in and you have a nice warm cover leaving him to have to act macho pretending the cold doesn’t bother him!

Looking at them we also think that the Slankets would make brilliant dress up gowns if you like to play Kings & Queens or something, it is also brilliant if you come in late from the pub and think sleeping on the sofa is a better idea!

The Slanket comes in at just under £35 and they can be bought from PrezzyBox from 22nd Sepetmber

Todays Date: 18th September 2008
Days Until Christmas: 98 Days until Christmas 2008!

Todays Date: 18th September 2008
Days Until Christmas: 98 Days until Christmas 2008!

Make sure you keep an eye on our live Christmas Countdown clock at the top of every page that will tell you the precise number of days to Christmas!