Gift Guide for men! (and ladies that like things men like..so for everyone really)

It was brought to my attention that a previous gift guide for handmade items was a little heavy on girly things. Jewelly and flowery fripperies and the like. So I promised a less girly list, for the less girly (such as me) and for the truly blokey.

So here are some gifts ideas.

How about the stunning and unusual Jord Wooden watch? I can vouch for their beauty (and their ability  to keep time - important in a watch!) and I often get comments on the interesting concept of a wooden time piece. Available in a variety of woods and styles, with the straps sized for your arm prior to shipping. I blogged about them here.

And one of my favourite websites, Flamingo gifts. I personally adore the quirky items they stock and think that these would make perfect gifts for men anyone.

Movie Night Beer Glass

Ninja Mug

Squirrel Keyring and key holder

I'll be honest - I'm in love with the squirrel! Absolute genius and functional too.

Or how about something from Not On The High Street, a company I've used before that always surprises me with ingenious and unusual things. I rather like these for example...

Marshmallow Toasting Kit

Smartphone projector and speaker set

But don't ignore some other sites that look like they are designed for kids, I'm thinking especially of Wicked Uncle who have some wicked gifts for the young at heart, things like...

Zombie Playing cards (with survival tips)

Hulk Smash Nightlight (what's not to love)

And the Great Gift Company has some great things too, from small stocking fillers to big main gifts like ...

Portable Turntable for your retro vinyl

or the rather fun

Twister Picnic Blanket

and if all else fails and you resort to socks, don't make them boring socks! Check out the Sock Shop for such gems as super hero socks (complete with capes!) or even X-ray socks.

Sockshop for wild (and ordinary if you insist) socks

The most useful gadget you've never used

Is your kitchen an old style Amish one? No electricity, a mangle and a washboard? Or are you a teensy bit more high tech?

I have a few gadgets, I say a few, once I start to list my 'labour saving appliances' it seems I really do have quite a few. I don't have a dish washer or a tumble drier, but I do have a washing machine, a bread maker, a smoothie maker, an electric whisk, an electric carving knife, a food processor...

The smoothie maker is a recent acquisition, a gift at Christmas and I love it. DD and I have smoothies at least once a week and often more, I'm sure as it gets warmer we'll experiment further, maybe making ice lollies, or alcoholic smoothie cocktails (for me not her). We love the smoothie maker, it's simple to use, quick, easy to clean. Those are things that for me are really important! 

I rarely use the carving knife. I inherited it, I assume it's for enormous roast beef joints and getting smoothly cut slices for everyone, but as we don't really have roasts, and there are only 3 of us, and we don't care if our meat looks 'tidily sliced' we never use it. It's silly, it takes ages to plug all the bits in, has two blades, has to be used near an electric point and takes as long to clean as it does to set up. I don't know why I keep it...

The bread maker is really DH's domain. He makes bread every other day, his own recipe (yes ladies he not only has a beard but he bakes too - I win!) he bakes wholemeal or raisin bread with no salt. It's good. So the bread makers we buy tend to wear out, not rust away. I think this is our third in 10 years. He loves his bread maker, he only uses it to do the initial mix and knead, but it saves time, presenting him with a risen dough ready to shape and bake.

We use the washing machine of course. Too often I expect, when did we get so clean? :-) I'm sure in the 50s a weekly bath and a weekly clothes wash kept everyone alive (if slightly fragrant).

And obviously I have a cooker which (quite frankly) I am in love with, it's one of those big country range affairs (though it's dual fuel not coke fired) and it cooks things so much better than my old cooker (which had heat up to 9 but needed at least up to 11)

 And we have a fridge, I'm sure this is standard by now in most houses (though when living in my bedsit I used the shady window ledge to keep milk cool) 

So what about you? Is you kitchen full of useful gadgets? Or gadgets that seemed like they would be useful but actually sit there doing nothing? (I disposed of a slow cooker after about 3 years of not using it at all!)

I want to know about your kitchen gadgets! And if you tell me you'll be entered into a competition to win £100 in Amazon vouchers! Seriously! What an awesome prize, you can spend it on more gadgets! Ones you might actually use! Or just buy a few books to read while your gadgets do all the work.

So a huge thank you to Appliances Online who have offered this super prize. (You might like their Home Style Blog too - it's pretty good!)

And you can follow the blog on twitter AOatHome
  
The Competition Rules

• You must enter using the RaffleCopter thingy below and/OR by leaving a blog comment and ensuring I know how to contact you.
• Don't forget you MUST leave a blog comment to be eligible to win!
• RaffleCopter offers extra entries.
• The winner will be selected at random from UK entries only.
• My relatives (sorry mum) are not eligible to enter. Full terms and conditions are on the RaffleCopter Widget

a Rafflecopter giveaway