Just Christmas | Holiday Resources

Christmas is the season for connecting with family and making memories that will last a lifetime. Of course, the best Christmas memories stem from treasured traditions, whether it’s decorating the tree or baking cookies. This year, introduce your family to a few of these meaningful holiday customs and, before you know it, you’ll have years of irreplaceable Christmas memories.

Set the scene

Holiday decorating doesn’t have to be stressful; it can be an opportunity for your family to bond. Involve everyone in essential tasks like stringing garland, untangling lights, securing yard decorations, hanging mistletoe, unpacking ornaments and setting up the artificial tree. Choose decorations that you can reuse year after year; your family will enjoy seeing the same tree and garland they remember from years before. Make decorating fun: drink cocoa, turn on some holiday music and spend time talking with one another. Soon, preparing for the holidays will change from an unwanted chore to a meaningful tradition.

Start the music

Replace your store-bought Christmas CDs with personalized playlists that your family makes together. To start the tradition, ask each family member to add his or her favorite holiday song to the playlist. The following year, have everyone select one more track. Keep this tradition going as the years pass. The resulting CD will be a record of your holiday memories and a great gift for friends and family.

Trim the tree

Magazines and the media tell you that your tree needs to be a masterpiece, trimmed in coordinating colors and topped with a cascading bow. A flawless tree is beautiful, of course, but it isn’t unique. Your tree should be more than a showpiece; it should be a display of your family’s history. To personalize your tree, make a habit of buying an ornament at every family vacation destination. If you have children, ask them to make part of your Christmas present a handmade ornament. As you add these unique pieces, your tree will become a family heirloom and decorating it will become a treasured tradition.

Watch a movie

Choose a Christmas movie or two and ensure that your family watches it together every year. Some classic holiday flicks include A Christmas Story, It’s a Wonderful Life, and Home Alone. If you have younger children, try short Christmas specials like The Grinch who Stole Christmas or A Garfield Christmas. The movie or TV special is the visible activity, but the important part of this tradition is the time your family spends together. As your children grow older, they’ll enjoy not only watching the film but also remembering the wonder and excitement of past Christmas movie nights.

Turn on the oven

Baking together is a fantastic way to enjoy your family’s company, and there’s no food more tied to Christmas memories than cookies. Have each family member pick out a signature cookie cutter and recipe and start baking! Your family’s cookies will become a neighborhood legend, and you’ll each be left with lasting memories of connecting over cool cookie dough and a warm oven.

Tie it all up

This Christmas, involve your family in decorations, making a playlist, trimming the tree, watching Christmas movies or baking holiday cookies. You’ll enjoy bonding over these new, shared traditions. More importantly, you’ll create meaningful memories in the process. Start some new traditions this holiday season and you’ll enjoy the benefits for years to come.

Image courtesy of lythamcoffee.com.

About the author: Lindsey Harper Mac is a writer working on her Master’s degree. She enjoys traditions with her family during the holidays.

Tags: Christmas Articles, Christmas Traditions, Everything Christmas, Family Christmas Activities, Holiday Celebrations, Holiday Food
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Want to make a child’s Christmas brighter this year? Be An Elf is the United States Postal Service’s non-profit organization providing Christmas gifts for children who write to Santa. This is a great opportunity to send a gift to a needy child and their family and share the Christmas spirit, or you can choose to become a volunteer for the organization. You can also donate to the organization at their website to help support their charitable work.

Donate Children’s Christmas Gifts to Be An Elf

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Before you pull down those boxes of Christmas decorations you have used year after year, think about some new projects you may want to try this year to bring holiday cheer to your home. Not only will you get to look at some new decorations, but you’ll also have lots of fun projects to work on with your kids during November and December. Get started now with your favorite projects so you can put out your new crafty decorations alongside the old ones when it’s time.

Star Ornaments: Add some fragrant ornaments to your artificial Christmas tree to not only decorate but also help your home smell wonderful this Christmas. Make a dough out of equal volume of cinnamon and apple sauce, roll it out and use your favorite holiday cookie cutters to create shapes. Poke a hole near the top of each ornament with the eraser end of a new pencil so you can insert a ribbon later. Bake the ornaments at 150 degrees for about 4 hours to harden the dough. When they’re have cooled, just string ribbon through each hole, tie a knot, and hang them on your tree!

DIY Garlands: Decorate your tree with some good old-fashioned holiday garlands. These will keep your kids busy all afternoon as they string items on, and the project even helps promote motor skills and pattern recognition for preschool-age children. Use blunt-tipped yarn needles on the ends of string, then let the kids thread on fresh unbuttered popcorn and fresh cranberries to create garlands to wrap around your tree. They look festive on the tree.

Pinecones: This craft is especially perfect if you have a pine tree in your yard that drops pinecones during the fall. Gather them up and let the kids go to town making ornaments out of them. If you don’t have access to pinecones on the ground, craft stores carry them as well. Show your kids how to decorate the pinecones with glue, glitter and ribbon. Hang them on your tree inside or take them outdoors to decorate a tree that’s lost its leaves.

Christmas Ornament Wreath: If you have some old Christmas ornaments you don’t need for the tree now that you have so many new decorations, put them to use making your own Christmas wreath that’s perfect to hang on the front door. Start with a foam wreath from the craft store and hot glue an artificial garland around it. Nestle colored ball ornaments in and glue them in place to finish off the wreath.

Wall Decor Boards: Bring holiday decor into rooms of your home besides the one that has the Christmas tree in it. This craft idea is very inexpensive but has a big impact. Visit the fabric store and pick out a Christmas fabric you love, then stretch it around foam boards and glue or staple it in place on the back. Create a raffia tie on the top of each board so you can hang them on the wall. You can leave them as is or pin your Christmas cards to them.

Homemade Christmas decorations let you change up the look of your home each year and bring new life to your holiday traditions. Plus, they keep kids occupied during the holidays and are a great way to spend blustery days when you don’t want to be outside. Choose your favorite projects and get the supplies now so you’re ready to start!

Image courtesy of craft-factory.blogspot.com.

About the author: Holly is an Indianapolis native who enjoys soccer, running and baking. She lives for the fall months and has yet to meet a Christmas cookie she didn’t like. In her spare time, she enjoys blogging on behalf of Sears and other brands she loves.

Tags: Christmas Activities, Christmas Articles, Christmas Crafts, Christmas Decorations, Everything Christmas, Family Christmas Activities, Homemade Christmas Decorations, Homemade Christmas Ornaments
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Yes, I am already thinking about my holiday wish list. Is it ever too early? It’s not that I’m greedy; I just like to be prepared if someone asks me. Things pop into my head as I’m going from work to the gym to the farmer’s market. I think “oh wouldn’t it be convenient if I had…” and then I add it to my mental list. I know you didn’t ask, but I’ll share a few of the wonderfully strange items I’ll be hoping to receive this year. Maybe my bizarre list will give you some great ideas of your own!

1. A Hand Fitness Trainer
Alright, I’ll admit that part of the reason I want this is because it would make me look bionic, but sometimes I spend too much time at the computer and I can feel the carpal tunnel syndrome creeping in. Hand exercisers fit on your hand like a glove and strengthen extensor muscles to reduce problems like tendonitis and CTS. And yeah, wearing one at work might freak out my co-workers a little – a definite plus.

2. Insulated Grocery Bag
I know this doesn’t seem too exciting, but I can’t count how many times I’ve had to rush home from market because I didn’t want my frozen yogurt to melt. No stopping at the dry cleaner’s or the supplement store – straight home, and do not pass go! I love using my plain reusable grocery bags, and I know I would love an insulated bag too.

3. Air compressor
Yes, you read that right. Think of all the things I could do with a machine that automatically inflated stuff! I’d keep my bike tires full, blow up my stability ball and my beach raft, even my boyfriend’s basketball. In fact, I think I might even ask him to get me a compressor, and I’ll promise to let him use it (if he’s nice).

4. FiveFinger Shoes
This is kind of a big ticket item, but I’ve really been wanting to get into minimalist running and the idea of being completely barefoot isn’t too appealing. FiveFinger shoes look pretty weird (hey, they’d go great with my bionic hand exerciser!) but they have such a great reputation with other runners. Oh, Santa!

5. Rolfing Sessions
Have you ever been rolfed? It’s an intense sort of massage that’s supposed to be phenomenal for reducing pain and improving balance. A lot of athletes use rolfing to help recover from repetitive injury and increase their flexibility. Of course, I enjoy any good massage, but rolfing supposedly goes a few steps beyond the typical massage. It’s intriguing, and I’d love to find out more.

6. Hand Towels
I sweat at the gym, especially during yoga, and it’s not even the “hot” kind. I usually save my nice hand towels for the bathroom and take the raggedy, stained ones to the gym. But sometimes I’m embarrassed when I pull out a towel to wipe my sweaty face and see what it looks like under those harsh fluorescent lights. Yikes! So some pretty new gym towels please, maybe in pink to match my gym bag.

Image courtesy of chicagonow.com.

Kristine writes on behalf of Sears and other brands she uses. After the hand towels and FiveFinger shoes, she thought it would be a bit too much to ask Santa for a gym bag with built in speakers. Even though she really, REALLY wants one of those, too.

Tags: Christmas Articles, Christmas Gift Ideas, Christmas Gift Information, Christmas Holiday Gift Ideas, Everything Christmas
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If you enjoy Christmas music during the holiday season Live365 has a number of stations you can listen to for free online, including vintage Christmas, Country, Christmas jazz, Easy Listening Christmas, Christian Christmas music, Christmas music 24/7 for kids, holiday hits, Winterscapes (one of my favorites), and more.

Listen to Free Christmas Music Online

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You don’t have to spend all day baking off batches of cookies and other holiday sweets to get treats that your whole family will love. The three quick and easy goodie ideas below can all be done using microwaves, which is perfect because it cuts down on prep time.

Peanut Butter Balls Recipe

Peanut butter balls are a classic holiday tradition. These quick and easy treats base the filling in Nutter Butter cookies and cream cheese, so the peanut base comes together in minutes. For your batch of peanut butter balls, start with one package of Nutter Butter cookies and one 8-oz. package of cream cheese, softened. You may use light cream cheese if you prefer. The recipe yields 30 balls.

Break the cookies in half or in thirds by hand into the bowl of your food processor. You just want them small enough to not clog the food processor blades. The original recipe calls for you to add all but five cookies to the food processor, so you even have some left over for snacking. Pulse the cookies in the food processor until they are finely crushed. The mixture will be sticky from the peanut butter.

Pour the cookies into a bowl, then add the softened cream cheese. Mix the two together with a wooden spoon to form the peanut butter base. Next, roll the peanut-cream cheese mixture into 1-inch balls by hand, and place them on a cookie sheet.

Melt dipping chocolate in the microwave. Drop the balls into the chocolate mixture to coat, then fish them out with a fork and place on parchment paper to dry.

Candy-Coated Ritz Cracker Recipe

Begin by turning one whole package of Ritz crackers into peanut butter cracker sandwiches. Spread a thin layer of peanut butter over one cracker, then top with a second cracker. There are 80 crackers in a package of Ritz, so you should have 40 peanut butter sandwiches when finished. You’ll need approximately 3/4-cup peanut butter. Set the sandwiches on parchment-covered cookie sheets when done.

Next, melt 3 packages of white chocolate candy melts in a microwave-safe bowl. Heat on 50 percent power for 30 seconds at a time, stirring when done. Continue heating until the melts are completely melted.

Drop one sandwich into the white chocolate mixture and turn to coat, then remove with a fork. Allow excess chocolate to drip off, then place the white chocolate covered sandwich on your cookie sheet. Place a couple of Christmas candies, such as red and green M&Ms, on top.

Microwave Fudge Recipe

Microwave fudge takes five minutes and yields one 8-by-8 pan of fudge. Combine 1 can of sweetened condensed milk, 4 tbsp. of butter, and 3 cups of semi-sweet chocolate chips in a microwave-safe bowl. Microwave in 60-second increments until melted. Meanwhile, line your baking pan with foil and spray with pan spray.

When the chocolate mix is melted, stir and add 1 tsp. of vanilla extract and 1/4 tsp. of salt. Pour into the prepared pan and smooth into an even layer with a spatula. Chill for 2 or more hours.

These tried-and-true holiday recipes are perfect for novice and experienced bakers. Now you can spend more time doing what you love in the holiday season, from shopping for the ideal gifts for family and friends to getting out holiday cards.

Image courtesy of recipe-to-make.com.

About the author: Holly is an Indianapolis native who enjoys soccer, running and baking. She lives for the fall months and has yet to meet a Christmas cookie she didn’t like. In her spare time, she enjoys blogging on behalf of Sears and other brands she loves.

Tags: Christmas Gift Ideas, Christmas Recipes, Everything Christmas, Holiday Food, Holiday Food Gifts, Holiday Recipes, Homemade Christmas Gifts
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Four Fall Festivals You Don’t Want to Miss

Halloween and Thanksgiving aren’t the only fun events to look forward to this fall– there are several exciting festivals held all over the country that can make this cool and colorful season even more fun as you count down the days till Christmas. Although these festivals may not all be nearby, the fall holidays give you a great excuse to do a little traveling and make these short breaks more relaxing and exciting. So, if you need some motivation to get through your work weeks before the holidays, here are the top five best fall festivals in the U.S.

1. Cherry Festival–Michigan
The national Cherry Festival is held at the very beginning of fall every year in Traverse City, Michigan, which is known for its world-record tart cherry harvest. During prime cherry-picking season, festival-goers are able to scoop up as many of these delectable fruits as possible for a delicious treat while enjoying more than 150 events along the shore of Lake Michigan’s Grand Traverse Bay. Most of the events are family and kid-friendly, while a wide variety of entertainment options is sure to accommodate the varying interests of diverse groups.

2. Denver Beer Fest–Colorado
For the over-21 crowd, the Denver Beer Fest can be a perfect passport-free alternative to Germany’s world renowned Oktoberfest. The festival is typically held in early October to coincide with the Great American Beer Festival, which is the most prestigious beer festival and competition in the country. Although the Great American festival is also a great choice for your trip, the Denver beer scene is something every alcohol enthusiast has to experience at least once in a lifetime. This nine-day festival includes plenty of fun beer-centered activities like beer-paired dinners, rare beer tastings, brewery tours, “brewer vs. brewer” nights, beer tappings and new entertaining beer events every year.

3. Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade–New York
A favorite tradition during the holidays for nearly a century now, the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade draws in more than three million in-person viewers to the streets of New York each and every year to view the awe-inspiring spectacles of this event. If you thought that number was impressive, consider the fact that more than 50 million viewers are also watching the parade from home each year. One-of-a-kind floats, energetic performances and tons of nearby events make this visit a must-see for all ages.

4. National Apple Harvest Festival–Pennsylvania
Located ten miles northwest of historical Gettysburg, the National Apple Harvest Festival is another fruit-picking event that involves more than just picking fruit. This taste bud friendly festival features a long list of fun country-style activities, such as apple jelly-making, hay rides, petting zoos, pie eating contests, tractor square dancing, pony rides, puppet shows, free live entertainment and enough delicious homecooked food to make you feel like you’re back at mom’s house again.

Even though your trip to one (or a few) of these festivals is bound to be an exciting and memorable adventure, it’s important to plan cautiously before you head out. From lost luggage to medical emergencies, a number of incidents can occur while you’re away that can take your trip from superb to stressful in seconds. To prevent this from happening and gain more peace of mind while you’re away, make sure to purchase travel insurance before your trip to stay protected and ensure a fun vacation no matter what.

Image courtesy of abcnews.go.com.

Kristine always has a hard time waiting for Christmas to come. But in the meantime she stays occupied with various baking projects and her puppy.

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While making snowmen can be a lot of fun, there is at least one serious drawback: snow is cold. If you and snow are spending a lot of time together, it’s not going to be long before you are as cold as that snow. Unless you think outside the box—what about making your snowman out of something other than snow?

Making sock snowmen can be a fun project, and you’re not going to get cold in the bargain. With a white sock, a few buttons for decoration, and a bag of rice for filler, you’re off to the races. Add an argyle sock to make your little snow buddy a sweater—you don’t want him to get cold—and a stocking cap (get it?), and your little Frosty will be the envy of all the other snowmen on the block.

Christmas Resources – Sock Snowmen

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For many, the holidays provide the perfect opportunity to gather together with family and reflect upon the blessings they share. If your family lives at a distance from you, take this season as an occasion to make the trek across the country – or even across the ocean – and see them face-to-face. While holiday travel will be more challenging than traveling during a less popular time, it is something that, with planning and some travel smarts, you can do effectively.

Plan, Plan, Plan

Any time you travel during a busy period, you will have to handle the added struggle of navigating not only busy airports but also over-crowded city streets and mass-transit systems. While you certainly hope that your ho-ho-holiday escape is nothing but fun, burying your head in Santa’s sack full of presents and ignoring the possibility of unexpected occurrences is naïve. Particularly if your seasonal travels will take you abroad, spend copious amounts of time planning the trip to reduce the likelihood of a snafu that leaches the fun out of your break. Also, purchase an international insurance policy to ensure that your medical costs are covered should you suffer a medical incident while trying to enjoy your holiday escape.

Ship Gifts Ahead

Traversing a busy airport walkway is bad enough. Doing so with an arm full of presents that you are balancing precariously is even worse. Make your travel burden lighter by buying your holiday gifts well in advance of December 25th and sending them ahead to the location at which you will exchange your “Merry Christmas” greetings. To ensure that whoever is there to receive your gift when it arrives doesn’t allow his curiosity to lead him to bust into the gifts early, decorate the box with some cutesy “Don’t open till December 25th” admonitions.

Call Ahead

Instead of grabbing your bags and heading off to the airport, confident that your flight will depart at the proper time and not even allowing the prospect of delay to sully your holiday spirit, be realistic and call the information line at the airport from which you will depart to ensure that your flight will leave as scheduled. By doing so, you can prevent yourself from being one of those travelers who ends up on the news after sitting at the airport for 78 hours straight, surviving on nothing but stale Twizzlers from the vending machine, and, instead, spend whatever delay time you may have curled up next to the fire sipping some bad for you but oh-so-delicious eggnog with the ones you love.

Prepare for Delays

The notoriously busy travel season is commonly a time of airline delays and flight cancelations. While you shouldn’t let these potential problems deter you from taking that trip you are so eager to take, you should be aware that these pesky problems may pop up. To reduce the impact that a delay or cancelation may have on your life, don’t plan on arriving back home the night before you are slated to head back to work. Instead, leave a little extra room between your arrival home and your commencement of everyday living. By doing so, you can reduce the amount of stress you suffer if you do find yourself sitting in an airport watching your flight switch over to the delayed list.

You hold control of your own travel destiny. Many of the challenges associated with holiday travel are ones that you can remediate with proper planning and smart decision making. Instead of spending another Christmas at home by yourself, only your sad little Christmas tree and your dog to keep you company, brave the challenges of holiday travel and venture to see family and friends. After all, if Santa can circumnavigate the globe in a sled pulled by magical reindeer, you can certainly handle the challenge of making it unscathed through a TSA checkpoint.

Image courtesy of aarp.org.

Kristine always has a hard time waiting for Christmas to come. But in the meantime she stays occupied with various baking projects and her puppy.

Tags: Christmas Articles, Christmas Information, Christmas Travel, Everything Christmas
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Now that the weather is getting cooler each week instead of warmer, it means that Christmas is finally on the way. Before you know it, you’ll be eating leftover Thanksgiving turkey and scrambling to get all of your plans in order for the Christmas season. If you start planning for your Christmas party now, it will make the holiday season itself much less hectic, which means you’ll be more able to just relax, sit back and enjoy this wonderful season! There are plenty of tasks you can get started on now to make your holiday party a huge success.

Reserve the date: The holiday season is always packed full with activities spending time with your family and friends. Take a look at your calendar now, note any events you already know about and nab a date for your party. Then pass along a save-the-date email to all of your friends so it’s marked on their calendars well in advance. You wouldn’t want to get to November and realize that there isn’t a single date that works for you and your closest friends and family to get together!

Cleaning: You can’t realistically expect to do your pre-party cleaning now and not touch your house again until after the party, but you can at least get some of the heavier cleaning out of the way. While the weather is still nice, take care of the outside cleaning tasks, like washing the windows and tidying up the yard, so you only need to keep up with basic maintenance. Plus, take the time to do some of your indoor deep cleaning tasks, like washing baseboards or cleaning and organizing parts of your home that get a lot of use during the summer.

Start planning invitations: Although you may have already sent a tentative email to save the date, you can also consider ordering your formal invitations now. Having these in your home well before you have to mail them means you’ll have time to get them addressed and ready to go out before the Thanksgiving season even arrives. This means less stress for you during the season you enjoy most!

Plan decorations: It’s never too early to start scoping out what Christmas decorations are available, even if you don’t actually buy them yet. You may be able to find some great deals on early purchases, and you’ll have the best selection available so you can get your party decor to look just right. Don’t forget to take inventory of what you already have so you don’t duplicate decorations, and instead, find decorations that will add to your collection and give you more versatility in future years.

Recipe research: You probably know at least five of your holiday menus by heart, but it’s always fun to try at least one or two new dishes at your Christmas party. Start researching now on sites such as Pinterest to get some great inspiration on creative and delicious holiday recipes. Then put the time between now and Christmas to use testing out some promising recipes so you can pick the best of the best to serve at your party.

Getting an early start on the holiday season helps you not only be less stressed during December but also throw a great party. Extending your planning and preparations over several months also helps you get into the holiday spirit a little early, stretching out the season you love so much. Cuddle up with a mug of peppermint cocoa, and tell yourself you’re testing the drink for your holiday party!

Image courtesy of sears.com.

Holly is an Indianapolis native who enjoys soccer, running and baking. She lives for the fall months and has yet to meet a Christmas cookie she didn’t like. In her spare time, she enjoys blogging on behalf of Sears and other brands she loves.

Tags: Christmas Articles, Christmas Information, Christmas Lists, Christmas Parties, Christmas Recipes, Christmas Traditions, Everything Christmas
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Decorating the Christmas Tree can be a big part of the holiday celebration. Whether it’s hanging shiny new decorations or the slightly more shopworn traditional ornaments that have been in the family for years (or decades), there’s nothing like sitting back and admiring your handiwork, knowing that Santa will be impressed as well. If you’re looking to add to your collection of ornaments, how about making some of your own? If you’ve got a crochet hook and a bit of yarn, you can create your own Christmas Tree Christmas Tree ornaments—that is to say, ornaments for your Tree that look like little Christmas Trees.

Christmas Resources – Tiny Tree Ornaments

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It’s never too early to get ready for Christmas (but it is too early to get your decorations up!) and every family or group of friends have those individuals who it is really tricky to find the perfect present for so here are some Christmas gift ideas to get your creative juices flowing as we head into September and the Christmas count down picks up.

The Phone Lover

Teens love mobile phones, so many young adults now have phones that they have become a part of modern life and “your first mobile” is almost a rite of passage in the same way as being given your own set of house keys! Smart phones are not cheap and are delicate devices so a great present for any phone lovers out there could be a brand new phone case. Covers are available in a range of styles, colours and materials that there is sure to be one to suit any taste!

A number of designers have started collaborating with phone case manufacturers so if your kid is fashion conscious then you will find that a phone case can be a great (and in some cases cheaper) fashion accessory.

The Tricky Teen

Watch any TV or movie and you will see the stereotypical teen; moody, distant and they don’t like anything! Well for these “difficult to buy for individuals” I would recommend a voucher! I know, I know it seems like taking the easy option but in some instances the voucher can be your saving grace.

If the teen is a music fan and you’ve seen them with an iPod then an iTunes voucher will be a perfect gift. Alternatively for those with an iPod Nano you can now buy very cool looking watch bands that turn Nanos into watches. There are a number of brands producing these iPod Nano watch bands and they range from clip-in straps to screw-in straps but all of them look great and are a very distinctive fashion accessory.

The TV Fan

For the older teenager who loves TV you could consider getting them a character t-shirt from their favourite TV show. Most successful TV shows now have their own ranges of merchandise with t-shirts that feature catch phrases or lead characters.

From modern favourites such as The Big Bang Theory to classics such as Knight Rider there are plenty of t-shirts out there online. I love animated series and my top gift tip is the range Family Guy t-shirts for older boys and girls. This animated series is going from strength to strength and the t-shirts feature some of the best moments and catch phrases from the series.

The Comic Fan

With so many comic books and stories being turned into Hollywood blockbusters it could be tempting to think that the ideal gift for a comic book lover would be a DVD of the film. While there is no denying that these films are often spectacular and great portraits of the superheroes, I have an additional idea!

I think that framed comic book art and posters make great gifts; visually stunning they make a feature out of the fantastic art that adorns the comic books of both the past and modern day. You can either buy the posters separately and frame them yourself or in some instances you can buy the artwork already framed. A beautiful gift that will be proudly displayed on any bedroom wall of a comic book lover!

The Star Gazer

Sadly we saw Neil Armstrong pass away last week; the man who most famously was the first to step onto the surface of the moon. Space and the moon continues to hold a fascination over us earth-bound individuals and if your child is showing interest in the universe, stars and planets then a great gift to nurture and develop this interest can be a telescope.

There are a number of different types of telescopes (refractor, reflector and Dobsonian) and the choice can be quite overwhelming but for a youngster looking for their first telescope I recommend you search for telescopes for beginners, manufacturers produce some great introductory models into this fascinating world of optics.

The Student

“I’m no good without my morning coffee”… if you know a student who needs their morning coffee to kick start them for a day of studying then a coffee selection pack can be a great gift to introduce them to a world of new gourmet coffees from around the world and a range of taste notes. Coffee selection packs are often made up of different roasted coffee beans from a range of continents across the globe; ideal for introductions to coffee beyond the standard filter coffees and instants.

If you know what coffee maker they use then you can in some instances request the coffees ground to suit the appropriate maker which is a great additional service and one that will help get the maximum enjoyment out of the gift.

Alternatively if you’re shopping for a student who is not a coffee lover you could consider a laptop bag. A laptop has become a crucial part of university life and keeping these high value devices safe is crucial, especially if living off-campus and having to commute to lectures and seminars.

Laptop bags are available in a range of styles with some favourites being rucksack style bags and messenger bags. For the “cooler” student I recommend investigating the slim-line laptop sleeves and envelopes.

The Budding Artist

For the younger children and budding artists then craft-based gifts can make brilliant Christmas presents. Craft kits are ideal presents for kids, either as individuals or to purchase as a sharing present as they can be worked on together.

When it comes to craft gifts there are so many to choose from; colouring posters, paint sets and paint-by-numbers, sewing kits, quilting sets… the list keeps going but each of these gifts provide hours of enjoyment and help develop creative skills in young children. There is also a great sense of achievement when a craft project is finished and for this reason I love giving them as Christmas and birthday gifts to those who love to draw, paint and create.

I hope these ideas have been useful and help you with your shopping and preparing for Christmas 2012!!

About the Author: Ben is an online blogger and hopes that there will be some vinyl records in his stocking!

Tags: Christmas Articles, Christmas Gift Ideas, Christmas Gift Information, Christmas Holiday Gift Ideas, Christmas Holiday Giving, Everything Christmas, Holiday Food Gifts
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