Acre of Moon - anyone? (Other Gifts for Him in general)

Member Name: LauraElliott

Product:	Other Gifts for Him in general
Date:	13/03/03 (186 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Lots of gift ideas

Disadvantages: Might already have the gift you bought, Aren't men so hard to buy for?

It can be so hard to find presents for people in general, whatever the occasion may be. Whether it be birthdays, Christmas, even religious festivals such as Hannukah, I never have a clue what to buy my friends or relatives. It is tricky enough to get my girl friends presents, as I never know what they've already got and what they haven't, let along men. Men must be the most challenging specie to buy a gift for.

In this review, I will be focusing on what I would buy for some of my male friends when it comes around to a gift-deserving event. The sorts of blokes that I know are those who get up late, spend their weekends in the pub, drinking till they're legless, gossiping about who their latest 'conquest' is and either watching the football round their mates house or betting on who is going to win the next game. I'm sure that you know the sort I mean - lazy and laddish, but pleasant enough people when it comes down to it.

You can imagine the difficulty I find myself in when I'm looking around my local shopping centre trying to find the perfect gift. What on earth would these guys want or need? They're certainly not the sorts that would be seen at a 'posh do', so a nice shirt, tie or cufflinks is out of the question. As for DIY tools which is what I tend to buy my dad, I don't think that these would be suitable for the boys because it would be too much for them to even try doing anything around the houses that they live in - I mean ask their other halves, they could spend all day telling you about the way that the shower is half hanging off the wall, or the way that their food is prepared in a half-tiled kitchen!

I finally did come across something that would make a good present for one of my single male friends. He's a bit shy when it comes to chatting girls up, he's never really had a serious relationship - I am assured that he is straight. So, I thought, lets get him something to do wi
th ladies. No, I didn't mean get him a nice silky thong and bra set - I meant something like a Playboy calendar, but something a bit more original. When I saw this product in the shop window, I had to laugh. I didn't actually realise its full characteristics before I went to enquire further. It was an ironing board cover. Not just any old plain ironing board cover, but one with a picture of Jordan wearing just red knickers and a bra. Knowing that my friend was pretty house proud himself, this seemed ideal. I walked into the shop; it was one of those novelty style shops where they sell many gimmicky items but at quite reasonable prices. Being a woman myself, I would know that ironing board covers tend to cost roughly a fiver down the market. I was expecting the price of this Jordan Ironing Board cover to be about a tenner, but instead it was marked up at £15.00. I was planning to try and cut the price a bit by bargaining with the shop assistant, but then she walked over to ask if I needed any help. I pointed at the cover and said I'd like one of them and she told me that they had been selling like hot cakes. She said to me 'Have you seen how they work?' and I'm thinking 'Hmm...it's an ironing board cover, can't be too taxing on the brain'. She then walked me over to where she had a stand set up with an iron on an ironing board with the same cover as I was about to purchase. She glided the hot iron across Jordan's red bra, and magically it disappeared. Then she continued to show me how it worked the same over the red knickers, revealing ALL! At this point I was probably blushing with embarrassment and not knowing where to look. So I just said 'Well, that's fantastic, how does that work?', as she explained to me that it was heat sensitive and when it cools down, the clothing returns. Although very tacky, I paid for it, wrapped it up when I got home and then gave it to him for his birthday. I didn
9;t have the
chance to see him open it, and he didn't really say anything about it apart from thank you. Four weeks later, I get a phone call with him in hysterics saying 'Where'd you get that from, cheeky?', so I automatically assumed that he had just used it! Subsequently, I have seen it on a website: www.edirectory.co.uk, where it is priced at £14.95 for UK and EU (including VAT) or £12.72 for non-EU (excluding VAT). I was also pleased to know that they do it in a male version, but unfortunately the model on the cover isn't that outstanding in the looks department. Grrr!

After purchasing that novelty, I moved onto getting a sort of gadget, this time of the electrical kind. Seeing as men seem to adore football, this seemed great because he'd never get to miss a match ever again. Not with this portable 5.5 inch screen TV that you can plug into the car using the three way power source in-car cord. The TV isn't only good for in-car use, you can take it on holiday too and with advanced electric tuning and a built in radio, I can't think of a better gadget I'd want for myself. Although it only produces black and white images, the quality of these are excellent and anyway, when the boys are watching football the ball is black and white and the grass is green so it don't matter too much if the grass is grey. I just thought though, let's hope that the two teams strips aren't similar colours - otherwise they'll be thinking that the other team scored the goal, and this might be getting their hopes up unintentionally. Priced at only £37.99, it wasn't too much of a bank breaker, and looked much more expensive. I was also told that these are fantastic for entertaining children on long journeys.

Seeing as the blokes spend a lot of the time in the pub, why not buy them their own brewing kit, which means that they can make their beer at home. I saw some beer formula which you simply add water to, at the price of twent
y-five quid for thirty pints. It may not be as enjoyable - making it himself or consuming it in your own home, but at least if you want him to stay at home, he doesn't have to leave the house.

If you have the sort of friend who has everything, why not buy them an acre of moon on the land. It costs only £20.00, which is probably a bit of a rip-off because who knows whether there's a bit of the moon specifically for a certain person? The only guarantee you have is a 'Lunar Deed' (certificate thing and a map) which is an authorised reseller of land on the lighted lunar surface, due to a law passed in American Congress. Apparently you can also buy a chunk of Mars or Venus - a very bizarre gift idea, available on www.boysstuff.co.uk.

Have you seen the BT chameleon advert? Oh come on, you must have. It's where the person picks up the phone after it has played the famous 'Karma Chameleon' tune. Well, now that phone is on sale itself, with the part of the phone that you pick up, being the back of the chameleon itself. It looks really good and sounds excellent when it ring's. Very original, but comes with a price tag too - £70.00! Possibly something that could go out of fashion in a few months time as well.

I didn't realise that when you do look around there is some great stuff around to buy men as presents. So whether the lad is the type I was shopping for, or the complete opposite, some of the gift ideas I have mentioned could be considered.

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