It is much more special to surprise a friend with a thoughtful and personalized gift I think instead, so the perfect gift to surprise a friend should be a personalised gift! After all they won’t be expecting it and the message you write on it will be sure to make them smile.

it’s something like 5 months away though, but we still managed to get our first xmas order yesterday, 29th July! I think preparing for Christmas well in advance, can be really useful and cheaper (or so it could seem) than leaving everything until the last minute.

Good for them I’d say.

Your wedding gift to us on this special day,

Is having you there, it’ll make our day…

Kettles and Toasters we have a few

And wondered if you’d see it from our point of view…

With wedding gifts we know it is hard to please

We would like to put your mind at ease

So our suggestion to you,

Our preferred gift is a pound or two.

After having read this, I felt quite appalled that a couple who had invited me to their wedding firstly expected a gift and secondly were basically telling me that I had to give them money. I find this most disrespectful, because who’s right is it to tell me what I should gift them?!

Obviously, it is traditional to give the bride and a groom a wedding gift to set them up for their lives together, just like it is tradition to give a waiter a tip. However, I would draw the line at ‘no boxed gifts please’.

Even if I had wanted to give them a gift (and here I wasn’t thinking of a toaster, or a vase) I was thinking more along the lines of department store vouchers, as they are slightly less impersonal than money or I may have decided upon a personalised wedding gift of champagne or personalised wine perhaps, or even an engraved photo frame gift for them to put their wedding photos into. Now I am completely put off the idea of giving them a gift and giving them money is out of the question. Am I being too harsh?!

What makes a useful birthday gift?

A birthday gift is useful when the recipient can do more with it than put it in the back of his or her cupboard, only to come out 5 years later to be sent to the tip or charity shop.

Don’t waste your time, money or energy on buying birthday gifts that will never be used anymore.

Think about presents that the recipient can use when bored or when they have some friends over, think about drinking games to pass time with friends or puzzles, which can be used when spending time with the children or family.

What about a personalised mug? These can be used by any birthday boy or girl, so long as they drink tea, coffee, fruit tea or any other type of hot beverage. Personalised Birthday Mugs can be designed from scratch, a blank canvas for you to upload photos, images and a custom message. If you’re not feeling so creative consider one of our pre-designed birthday mugs, which you can just add a name, phrase or message onto.

Gift Experiences also make useful birthday gifts in that the recipient can actually do or participate in an event or activity creating memories. Consider a paintballing gift tin, learn to sing gift set or a chocolatier gift tin for example.

Whatever the birthday present, make sure it’s useful.

Birthday gifts for dads also vary depending on their age, if you’re a wife looking for your child’s first birthday present to a new dad you’ll probably want to consider something that he can treasure as a keepsake and perhaps share with his child when the kid is a little bit older. In this case, we would recommend an engraved birthday gift, such as engraved champagne or an engraved photo frame. Both of these present options allow you (the wife or partner) to write a special message from your baby boy or baby girl for the dad to treasure.

If you are looking for a general birthday gift for dad, then we’d recommend a personalised alcoholic gift, such as personalised wine, personalised vodka or personalised whisky. Choose one of our pre-designed general birthday labels to add a custom message to, or alternatively design your own wine, vodka or whisky label from scratch by uploading a photo of you and a dad out there, and to complete the birthday gift add a custom message. You can choose the type of wine you’d like to be personalised, our selection includes red, white and rose wines plus standard vodka and a standard whisky. To complete these personalised birthday presents, add a personalised wooden gift box to your order available for single and double bottles. We also have gift boxes with accessories and single and double bottle gift bags available too. If it is a special landmark birthday for a dad you know coming up, for example a 30th, 40th, 50th, 60th birthday, 70th birthday or even 80th or 90th birthday, how about going all out with a presentation gift pack? Our selection includes a combination of engraved, standard and personalised champagne, vodka and whisky with standard champagne flutes, engraved champagne flutes, standard and engraved vodka and whisky tumblers. These gifts are presented in a luxury presentation gift pack giving you a really special birthday gift for dad.

Find Unique Gifts for Dad with www.BirthdayGifts-Shop.co.uk now.

Every wine glass has the same flower-shaped design with the three vital components: the base, which holds the glass upright, the stem which allows you to hold the glass without transferring body heat directly to the wine in the glass and finally the body, which is the part specially shaped dependant upon the flavours and aromas of the wine which is presented in it. It is usual for wine glasses be made of crystal or other similar thin glass material, because thick glass is thought to have a negative impact upon the taste of wine. All wine glasses are designed to direct the wine they have been made for into the senses in the mouth where the flavours and textures will be most appreciated.

There are many types of wine glasses, however generally; only four glasses are actually needed.

Red Wine Glasses

Red wine glasses are normally taller and wider, so the complex flavours of the wine can be fully enjoyed. There are two main red wine glasses. Firstly, you have the wine glass for the Bordeaux wine varieties, which has been created for the rich, full bodied wines including Cabernet and Merlot. The large bowl shaped body of the glass allows the wine to breathe once poured and enhances the rich aromas. As the glass is very tall, there is less angle needed when the lip of the glass touches the mouth, hence the wine hits the back of the tongue, where the “bitter” taste buds sit, which complement these types of red wine.

A Burgundy glass is also recommended for other red wines, such as the full bodied Pinot Noir grape. This burgundy glass is slightly larger than the Bordeaux glass and the body of this particular glass allows the wine to reach the tip of the tongue where it’s the “sweet” taste buds are located.

White Wine Glasses

Generally, white wine glasses are made smaller than red wine glasses in order to allow the wine to stay cooler for longer. If you are drinking a younger crisper white wine, you’ll need the lip of the glass to have circumference that’s slightly larger than the body of the glass itself. This will ensure the white wine reached the tip and the sides of the tongue, which is where the sweeter taste buds are situated to make the best out of the wines sweetness. Another wine glass will be required for finer wines or more mature wines. The shape of these white wine glasses will be taller and straighter than those required for the younger wines, which will ensure the wine comes into contact fully with the back and sides of the tongue containing the “sour” and “bitter” taste buds.

Rose Wine Glasses

Rose wine glasses as fairly similar to white wine, however the diameter of their lips are just slightly smaller, but their bodies are wider in order to allow the sometimes fruity aromas to better develop on the nose.

Champagne Flutes and Sweet Dessert Wine Glasses

If you feel like increasing your collection to contain a few more wine glasses, consider a couple of champagne flutes. Champagne flutes have a tall and thin body, which ensures the bubbles build up correctly. Sweet dessert wines, such as Eiswein, require smaller glasses that allow the liquid to make direct contact with the oral cavity making sure the sweetness does not overwhelm the whole tongue in order to limit the flavour to the parts of the mouth where it has the most impact.

A small note to add at the end is that unless you are a wine enthusiast, there is really no need to have numerous glasses for each types of wine. Many wine lovers use one of the seven main wine glasses outlined above, but if you just enjoy drinking wine, you could get away with having one wine glass for each colour. The important thing is to gain enjoyment and pleasure from drinking wine to give you satisfaction.

Below is a list of the names of the champagne bottles, the capacity of each champagne bottle plus the 75cl equivalent.

The majority of the champagne bottles are named after kings or prominent figure heads of the past.

Jeroboam: Jeroboam II was the King of Israel and reigned between 786BC – 746 BC during the period of Rome’s founding between 758 BC and 728 BC.
Rehoboam: Rehoboam ruled Judah between c.922 BC – 915 BC, his name means ‘he who enlarges the people’.

Methuselah: Methuselah can be translated from Hebrew as ‘when he dies/died, it shall be sent/has been sent’. He is the oldest person whose age is mentioned in the Hebrew Bible, given as 969 years. The name Methuselah is used in society today as a general symbol for any living being of great age.

Salmanazar: Salamanzar was the king of Assyria who conquered countries, destroyed fortresses and built palaces. Salamanzar reigned between 1274 BC – 1245 BC.

Balthazar: Balthazar (“King of Treasures”) comes from early Christian folklore and is the traditional name of one of the Three Wise Men, the other two being Melchior (“King of Light”) and Gaspar (“The White One”).

Nebuchadnezzar: Nebuchadnezzar is the name of many Babylonian Kings.

Soloman: Soloman was a king of Isreal between 971 – 931 BCE. He is the son of David.

How do these champagne bottles get the champagne into them? Well, the process for making champagne involves two fermentation stages.  After the primary fermentation and bottling, a second fermentation will take place in the bottle, this is the case for quarter, half and standard bottles of champagne. Typically for larger bottles than this the second fermentation takes place in a magnum sized bottle and then the contents are transferred into one of the larger champagne bottles.

Now that I’m a bit older, (29 years old). I think it’s better to buy him or create him something with a personal touch. There’s lots of things out there that can be personalised with messages, phrases and photos; for example, you can get personalised chocolate at Thortnons with your own message iced over the chocolate, but you can also get more unsual gifts, such as personalised whisky or some kind of engraved gift, like a lighter or a photo frame to put a special pic into. I have found a site which has some of these items, www.FathersDayGifts4U.co.uk also personalised handmade cards are pretty fun ideas for Father’s Day, http://www.cardsnscrolls.co.uk/cards_fathers_day/ offer these, just as another gift idea for father’s day.