Need a gift? eBay it!

There are literally thousands of products to suit all tastes and budgets,

No matter what you want, be it a modern twist on a retro classic or a newcomer, the online marketplace has the perfect gifts for children this Christmas.

For more ideas on Christmas gifts, be sure to visit www.eBay.co.uk

Christmas Wrapping by The Waitresses

I believe this is one of the best Christmas songs ever!

That's Books and Entertainment: A War Symphony

That's Books and Entertainment: A War Symphony: A War Symphony is a new book by Keith Rumsey. In it, Keith Rumsey, who is an academic expert in the German language, take a collection o...

That's Books and Entertainment: Pirates and Promises

That's Books and Entertainment: Pirates and Promises: Pirates and Promises is a new adventure book written especially for children by Peter Gredan Davies. Whilst he was enjoying a holiday in...

How to save £400 this Christmas

We have been in our house for twelve years now, we moved into our dream house exactly one month before Christmas twelve years ago.

As a result of the move into the show home, we had little time to plan our usual Christmas food and drink purchases, so we hit on the mutual idea of buying a Christmas hamper, instead. Or, as my wife, put it: "Let's have Christmas in a box!"

This year, twelve years on, my wife had the romantic idea of recreating that first Christmas by organising "Christmas in a box."

We visited supermarkets, we wandered through department stores, visited specialist websites and consulted old-fashioned printed catalogues and were left cold by the contents of some and we could not believe the prices that some were charging.

Twelve years ago we could get a genuine wicker Christmas hamper that was filled with festive goodies for a price that, though by no means cheap, certainly wasn't overly excessive. 

This year? It seemed that our plans were to be thwarted. Until I had an idea. Many years ago when I was still living with my parents, I had, over a period of a couple of months, created a collection of seasonal foods and condiments, which I presented to my mother a couple of days before Christmas.

Could we, I suggested to my wife. do the same thing this year, but for us?

My wife was very enthusiastic about the idea and we took ourselves off to the nearest branch of Lidl and bought mice pies, a Christmas pudding and a Christmas cake,  Christmas biscuits, biscuits for cheese, fudge, chocolates, Stollen, two bottles of wine, a bottle of  gluhwein,  a large case of beer, condiments, pickles and sauces and so forth.

The total cost came in at about £99. We later worked out that the same items in a Christmas hamper would have cost about £400 to £500.

The same savings can be made at Lidl, B&M Bargains and other discount stores.

Shop carefully as we did and you could save yourself a three figure saving. And if that doesn't help you have a Merry Christmas, we don't know what will!

That's Books and Entertainment: The Little Read Book

That's Books and Entertainment: The Little Read Book: The Little Read Book is a new book from Mike Arblaster that takes a playful and energetic look at facts and words. Mike takes us through...

That's Books and Entertainment: A Cold War Spy Hunt by a Crummy Army Newspaper

That's Books and Entertainment: A Cold War Spy Hunt by a Crummy Army Newspaper: Thank goodness! A new and utterly wonderful book from novelist Tim Topps! A Cold War Spy Hunt by a Crummy Army Newspaper tells the stor...