Saturday, December 5, 2009

Virtual Christmas Shopping

It's officially the Silly Season and while many of you may be busily rushing around for Christmas presents I'm quite relaxed as much of my Christmas shopping has been done online this year. With my discovering of Paypal, and how easy and safe it is to shop online, I have become quite addicted to it! Not only because you can find unique Christmas presents but sometimes you can really snap up a bargain even with the postage included.

For my Dad, I've purchased a upside down tomato planter and strawberry planter for a snatch at only $15 each, as opposed to the $60 each you pay for the ones advertised on the television.

(credit: Bostonfixed)

(credit: Harriet Carter)

If you find a good few online department-style stores then you can definitely grab some bargains, I bought both the planters at Catch Of The Day where they sell heavily discounted products, one of the reasons being because they buy in bulk, but there is a 'catch'; they only sell a handful of products each day but it's definitely worth the daily checking, and to make it easier you can sign up to their mailing list or follow them on twitter.

My mum, is an unbelievably picky present receiver, and lets just say last year's presents weren't received well(She really didn't need a whole new set of large,heavy plates that we'd never use). She likes things to be practical yet she has all the practical she already needs and most gifts aren't exactly practical. She doesn't really have any hobbies so I can't give her any associated presents. She doesn't find time to read books so there's goes the most practical present out. She also has really sensitive skin so there's no point buying her beauty products or jewellery. Luckily you can find almost anything on the internet so I came up with the following:

-A copy of the 'latest' Ten Tenors CD, she had actually requested I buy her this early on in the year and there was no way I was going to forget.

(credit: Miamenewtimes)


-A fabric flower bracelet(the third one down), it's something pretty and since it's made out of fabric it shouldn't(I'm crossing my fingers with this one) irritate her skin.

(credit: Tinyhaus)

- An adorable card from an adorable little company, Bell & Boo and even with postage from UK it only cost $8! Plenty of fancy cards I see at my newsagents cost more than that and this way I'm supporting independent/handmade sellers.

(credit: Belle & Boo)


- An organic gardening book, called The Organic Garden(original, huh?). Now I know I said she didn't read but she actually did ask for a gardening book and I was running out of ideas.

(credit: Biome)

- I was going to get her these keyboard wrists rests as I thought it's something practical that she didn't yet have but just my luck, they contained flax seed which is illegal to import into Australia so they were seized and destroyed by customs. The seller was really understandable about it all and since it was mainly her fault she gave me a full refund including the postage, at her own expense.

(credit: ComfyCreations)

For a friend who didn't know what she wanted for Christmas(and who I'm hoping doesn't read this as I haven't given it to her just yet) and is a bit quirky and likes her animals I got her a 'toy grabber' necklace from Etsy. Aint' it cute?

(credit: Mariska)

Anyone else been doing virtual Christmas shopping?

8 comments:

Jessica said...

Love your gift choices, really too bad about the keyboard wrist rester though :(. Why is flax illegal to import into Australia??

The toy grabber necklace is fantastic!! And I loooove the upside down planter you got for your dad, I thought that was the greatest thing ever when I saw it on tv!

Anonymous said...

Yes my real name is Selina-no lies. People always yell "SELINA" nice and loudly and then once i look at them they say "Gomez" Funny.... not after 25 times! I've always liked the name Alice, it's quite pretty. I used to hate Selina because everyone had name's like Emily and Kate. But i like it now.

Your talk of name's has actually inspired my next posting. Thanks
xx
seli

Anonymous said...

Love the necklace and the card - adorable!

Anonymous said...

Nic's necklace is actually pretty cute :)

Anonymous said...

Tag, your it!!
www.wotiheart.blogspot.com

Claire Mercado-Obias said...

These are great gift ideas! Thanks for sharing :)

NabilaHazirah said...

Brilliant gift ideas!! ^^
And online shopping is really quick and easy :)

Echo said...

Love the flowers! Thanks for sharing. I will definitely come back for more. Please keep up the good work.