Stuff your stockings!
You’ve decked the halls, spruced the goose and jingled the bells – now all you have to do is fill the stockings. James Fryer lets you in on his top 10 Christmas wish list...
Loc8Tor
www.loc8tor.co.uk
A must for parents who constantly lose the kids in the UAE’s mega malls. Here’s an ingenious little gadget that’ll find them for you (rather than asking the maid...). Simply attach a transmiter tag to your child (or anything else you lose regularly – dog, mobile phone, car keys), turn on the lightweight hand-held unit and watch it beep into life, it has a range of 183 metres and gets louder the closer you get. It also has an alert mode so you can detect when the little blighters are about to vanish into Toys ‘R’ Us. Genius.
Santa Yoda
www.boysstuff.com
Use your Jedi mind tricks to full advantage this festive season and bag yourself a Yoda with a difference. The wise one’s wardrobe has been replaced with a fetching red outfit complete with white frills and a sack full of festive goodies in what you can either see as George Lucas profiteering or simply a bit of a laugh. Measuring 6.5 inches tall and amazingly lifelike (well, as lifelike as a fictional alien dressed in a Santa Claus outfit can be) this official collectible is guaranteed to bring a smile to Star Wars fans of any age. Use the force, point and plead desperately to loved ones and you’ll never know what will be coming down the chimney this Christmas.
Pet Tree
www.amazon.com
We all secretly harbour Alan Titmarsh ambitions, but when your best intentions to cultivate the flora and fauna start to slide, a Pet Tree is the low maintenance approach to horticulture. Okay, so it won’t suck in vast amounts of carbon dioxide and enrich you with fresh oxygen, but it is guaranteed to bring a smile to your face every time you see the cute little cacti grow another micro-millimetre. The only TLC it needs is a couple of drops of water and by the time it needs re-potting your fingers will have already developed that tinge of green you’ve been hoping for.
20Q Ball
Toys ‘R’ Us
Choose anything that pops into your mind, answer the 20 Questions ball’s questions by pressing the ‘yes’, ‘no’ or ‘maybe’ buttons and within 20 questions it will reveal the answer. It will taunt you with phrases such as ‘you can’t beat me’ and will only admit defeat after five more questions, but it’s amazing how often it does get it spot on. Derren Brown? Nah, but it’ll keep the kids quiet until the batteries run out.
Frigits
www.think-of-it.com
We’re not sure about the maker’s claims that these magnets are ‘an addicting rollercoaster ride of pure adrenaline’, but they will turn your fridge into marble mayhem. Arrange the chutes, rails, spinning buckets and funnels and watch the marbles negotiate their way through the path of obstacles. Try these award-winning gizmos on the filing cabinet for a spot of office time-wasting.
Solar Powered Mobile Phone Charger
www.gadgetshop.com
If you finally get around to taking the Pajero into the dunes (that was why you ‘had to have it’ in the first place, remember?) you’ll want to be fully prepared. Stocking up on water, sugary treats and the ultimate desert soundtrack is a must but, if you do get stuck in the sandpit, being able to get on the blower and call for help might also prove a lifesaver. So if your mobile phone battery runs out of juice 60 clicks out into the Empty Quarter, enter the solar powered charger. It works with almost all mobile phones, automatically starts charging at an instant and if there’s one thing we’re not short of on these fair shores, it is sunshine.
Playskool Robosapien Jr
Toys ‘R’ Us
If ‘bah humbug’ is your Chrimbo catchphrase, you’ll rub your stingy hands together with glee at the mini version of the Robosapien V2. Junior is a smaller, cheaper version of his daddy and comes packed full of Johnny-5-is-alive features. As well as ripping up the dance floor in ‘robo-dance’ mode, spinning around in ‘dizzy-robo’ mode, or creating small-scale havoc in ‘funny-robo’ mode, he laughs when he bumps into things. And if that isn’t enough to convince you he’s the perfect playmate for a techno-toddler, he’s robust too – so, Scrooge, there should be no short circuits until next Christmas.
Digital Photo Frames
www.philips.com
Printing your cheesy family pics – the ones where all the clan, including pets, are wearing matching reindeer antlers – and framing them on the mantelpiece is so 2005. Instead, show off your snaps with this digital photo frame. Connect it to your PC via the USB cable or slot in the memory card to make a custom slideshow. Each frame holds up to 50 highdefinition images. A perfect gift for someone who has everything – and the pictures to prove it.
Hot Polar Bear
www.iwoot.com
If you want to recreate your own little taste of Lapland in the desert this Christmas, pump up the air conditioning, grab a big tin of Quality Street and snuggle up on the sofa with possibly the cutest polar bear ever created. Not only is he great for a cuddle, but a removable wheat bag can be heated in the microwave and reinserted into his tummy – quickly transforming him into a hot water bottle. And with those big soppy eyes this Arctic animal can’t fail to win you a few points with a loved one.
Virtual Girlfriend & Boyfriend
www.firebox.com
Christmas can be a lonely time of year, especially if there’s nobody nearby to pull a cracker or sneak a quick kiss under the mistletoe with. Okay, so the virtual girlfriend or boyfriend can’t really help you there, but these Tamagotchi-style gadgets do mean you can date up to eight pocket-sized partners all at the same time without getting slapped. Each one will have a very different personality though – from studious square to bunny boiler – so you’ll need to keep on top of their every desire. At the click of a button you’ll have to choose when to take your LCD partner out for a top-notch dinner, when to shower them with gifts and when to be a little more risqué. So much fun and all in the palm of your hand.
Duck Bath Radio
www.iwoot.com
The rubber ducky has had a 21st century makeover. And what better accompaniment to bathtime than the, ahem, sultry sounds of Dubai 92’s Late Show? This quackers little invention is fully waterproof and picks up FM stations via its auto-scan feature. Its dinky tail is the antenna and by turning up the volume controls on its back you can sing along to I Will Survive for as long as the water stays warm.