02 October 2019
Selected Christmas Gift Ideas – Which are Truly Unique
Christmas
has become the feast of the gift trinity: Give, Take, Return
When
during Advent the smell of cinnamon cookies reaches our nose, it
becomes clear that it is time to think about Christmas presents.
Giving is a way of expressing love, compassion and appreciation.
Giving also makes a statement like "I love you" or
"I am thinking of you".
Give
time instead of money
"To
find a good gift
idea,"
says the sociologist Dr. Holger Schwaiger (Erlangen and Aberdeen),
"you
have to empathise with the other, and to feel their feelings and
needs by constantly fine-tuning your understanding of the other’s
personality. To perceive these signals, you usually have a full
year’s time. If you do, you can forgo the lazy option of giving
money."
The style consultant Ann Green adds, "with
a well-chosen gift, the recipient won’t think about the price.
"
Cash
makes a bad present
“When
we buy gifts, we remove the price tag, to make it clear, that
friendship has no price. Gifts of money are the opposite,” so
the sociologist Schwaiger, because “they
give the
social relationship an economic value.”
 |
| Photo Calendars are a popular gift at Christmas |
Celebrate
common experiences
If
you have spent time with a person, you may want to preserve the
memories of common experiences in a photo gift. With pictures of
celebrations, holidays and other special events, you can make
beautiful, personal photo books, photo calendars or Advent
calendars
- ideal gift ideas to celebrate the most cherished moments of the
year.
If
you have at least twelve images that you want to show throughout the
course of a year, a wall calendar is a great option and can be
created easily in just a few steps. You will find more hints &
tips in the article Create
a wall calendar.
For
Advent, there are photo Advent calendars with own pictures and
optionally filled with chocolate from Ferrero® or kinder® or
"filled"
– sugar free – with 24 pictures. In addition, some online
services print "craft
photo advent calendars for self-filling"
with your individual image.
If
you have more pictures - for example of a joint trip - it’s a good
starting point to create a holiday photo
album,
to give as a present. The article "My
holiday photo album - how to start?"
provides practical tips and examples to help your photo book project
succeed and to bring joy for many years to come.
A
photo gift is the opposite of a money gift.
Well
achieved pictures deserve a special place at home, for example as a
large format print. Such enlargements work particularly well as a
photo canvas print, a gallery poster or a multi-panel. The CEWE®
photo poster
and wall-art range expanded again this year, with the addition of the
innovative Hexxas® system. Hexxas®
are hexagonal photo tiles (18 x 15.6 cm or 27 x 23.4 cm in size) that
can be arranged flexibly due to their magnetic suspension system.
Real
gifts to unwrap, touch and see
Professionally
managed web shops from A like Amazon®
through F like FotoInsight®
to Z like Zara®
offer - at a supplement - a gift wrapping service. This ensures that
the unwrapping helps to create a positive surprise. Only things that
can be touched and felt are real presents!
Instagram
at your fingertips: Art Prints "Square"
The
Instagram-friendly trend of the year are square prints, bringing the
colourful world of digitally recorded experiences into your home.
They can be enhanced with frames and effects. As a box set, the
square prints (with a 5 inch side length) are a great gift idea.
Art
Prints "Retro" - reminding former Polaroids®
Retro
prints are sets of quality prints on solid 300 g/m² paper in size
5”x4” (10.2 x 12.7 cm). Retro prints can be edited and decorated
with frames and filters. In keeping with the vintage style of former
Polaroids®,
the print area is 9x9 cm (3 ½” square) in size and has a
high-quality layer-effect vanish. As a set of 16, 24 or 32 prints in
a pretty storage box, the Retro prints make a joyful surprise.
Your
own picture as a fine art print
Decorative
prints from own photographs make a very personal present. In its Art
Prints range, FotoInsight offers high-quality prints on matt fine art
paper in the sizes 13x18, 20x20 and 20x30 cm (approx. A4), starting
from just £5.
A
picture pairs game with your own pictures: the Photo Memo®
A
great gift for the family is the personal Photo Memo®. To print a
personalised
picture-pairs-game
with your own pictures is as easy as ordering prints online. An
individual Photo Memo® game with 50 cards (25 pairs of pictures)
costs only £12.99 at
https://fotoinsight.co.uk/gifts/toys---games/picture-pairs-game.html.
The picture pairs game is suitable for children from 4 years of age
and is an entertaining, memory
training game
for the whole family.
Cinnamon,
the Christmas spice
As
mentioned earlier, the aroma of cinnamon is part of the Christmas
season, just like the Christmas tree, candle light and gifts.
Cinnamon
invigorates the senses and stimulates our well-being, especially
during the dark winter days. Cinnamon has a positive effect on the
blood sugar level and can help to reduce belly fat and obesity. Since
most households do not own a cinnamon grater, cinnamon is sold mostly
in powder form. When ground, the Cinnamon
cassia
quickly loses many of its essential oils, its stimulating effect and
part of its aroma. Maybe Christmas
is a good opportunity to give a special cinnamon grater, so cinnamon
can always be freshly grated to match the quality of rolled Ceylon
cinnamon sticks. Cinnamon
graters
are available from Cinnamon
Hill
as a grater starter set, which includes one rod of Saigon and Ceylon
cinnamon each from just £25 or €30. For more information on Cinnamon graters: https://iitm.be/CinnamonGrater
When
well-being and friendship come to the fore, the expectations for
gifts change. A list of Christmas gift ideas from various online
providers are published in the article "Christmas
gift? practical, useful and personal"
by the style consultant Ann Green.
Labels: Advent Calendars, Ceylon, Christmas, Cinnamon Cinnamon grater, Cinnamon Hill, gift idea, Money Gift, photo book, Photo calendar, photo gift, photobooks, Polaroids, Square Prints
12 May 2015
Let's honour the modern father
Cambridge. 12 May 2015. - The modern day father comes in various forms. Today’s father is no longer always the traditional, married breadwinner and disciplinarian in the family. He may leave the house to go to work or work from home, he can be single or married; gay or straight; a biological, adoptive or step-parent; and a more than capable caregiver to children facing the physical or psychological challenges of growing up.
Well into the nineteenth century, fathers’ roles were primarily to serve as breadwinners and the conveyors of moral values and religious education to their offspring. However, with the advent of industrialisation and urbanisation and as factories emerged as major sources of employment, several generations of fathers became distanced from the household and their families.
Family patterns in the post-industrial society are changing again. With a large proportion of mothers leaving home - many becoming the main breadwinner- the arrival of the Internet and distant working opportunities, many modern fathers' roles involve them much more in the home.
When celebrating fatherhood, it is time to remember that like any other member of the family, fathers too have their own interests and lives. Despite the changes in the male role, the contemporary debate recognizes men commonly as being competitive and with a greater need to ream. Even many modern fathers follow sport events in a group of friends. What could the loving football fan enjoy more than his own 'World Cup ware'?
A personalised sport bottle with own photographs and texts for the gym or a bike ride or a traditional one pint beer mug with photo on-print are presents for Dads with a difference. Creating a unique supporter shirt, caps or a BBQ apron for a World-Cup-Party at home is fun. For the bread winner who leaves to his office a crystal pen holder block with a laser engraved photograph will avoid having to leave the family totally back home.
The ideal modern father is the one who parents from his heart and models respect towards his children’s mother, who wears a photo apron too and can be seen using a mop, a washing machine, or any home appliance that was taboo in past generations, one who thinks his responsibility as a father is more than bread-winning and disciplining, one who cares not just for the physical needs but bonds with his children and supports their emotional needs.
Well into the nineteenth century, fathers’ roles were primarily to serve as breadwinners and the conveyors of moral values and religious education to their offspring. However, with the advent of industrialisation and urbanisation and as factories emerged as major sources of employment, several generations of fathers became distanced from the household and their families.
Family patterns in the post-industrial society are changing again. With a large proportion of mothers leaving home - many becoming the main breadwinner- the arrival of the Internet and distant working opportunities, many modern fathers' roles involve them much more in the home.
When celebrating fatherhood, it is time to remember that like any other member of the family, fathers too have their own interests and lives. Despite the changes in the male role, the contemporary debate recognizes men commonly as being competitive and with a greater need to ream. Even many modern fathers follow sport events in a group of friends. What could the loving football fan enjoy more than his own 'World Cup ware'?
A personalised sport bottle with own photographs and texts for the gym or a bike ride or a traditional one pint beer mug with photo on-print are presents for Dads with a difference. Creating a unique supporter shirt, caps or a BBQ apron for a World-Cup-Party at home is fun. For the bread winner who leaves to his office a crystal pen holder block with a laser engraved photograph will avoid having to leave the family totally back home.
The ideal modern father is the one who parents from his heart and models respect towards his children’s mother, who wears a photo apron too and can be seen using a mop, a washing machine, or any home appliance that was taboo in past generations, one who thinks his responsibility as a father is more than bread-winning and disciplining, one who cares not just for the physical needs but bonds with his children and supports their emotional needs.
About FotoInsight Limited
FotoInsight Limited was founded in Cambridge in 2003 and runs an easy to use digital photo processing service for Windows, Mac OS and Linux users, offering an extensive array of award-winning photographic print and photo gifts as well as the photo books, photo poster and photo canvas printing. Prints ordered through FotoInsight are developed at five state of the art photo labs in three countries. The online photo service has grown year on year faster than the photo processing industry and has expanded its services in seven European languages in 32 countries.
Labels: cap, Father's day, gift idea, photo mug, print, shirt, sports bottle, water flask
