Home: Cool and practical gifts to suit all tastes and budgets
The Quigo Green cross-line laser level from Bosch.
One snowy Christmas morning, my usually perceptive other half gifted me a JML compact spiral-hose with a theatrical flourish worthy of Barnum’s Circus.
He narrowly avoided being strangled with it by throwing a modest pair of sparkly earrings at me through the bedroom door as I chased him down waving his indulgent, personal goodie bag.
Practical gifts need to be carefully handled, but in this cost-of-living crisis, are you giving someone something well-considered that you are certain they will use and appreciate every day of the coming year? Get it wrong and the effect could be uncomfortably downbeat or intrusive.
Keep your receipts. Cooking and entertainment items are generally fine but avoid cleaning-related items. The perceived judgement will take the ho-ho-ho out of the Christmas dinner faster than the blink of an LED fairy light.
The crucial thing is to know your audience — their interests, needs, and personal style. Secondly, do a bit of sleuthing to ensure you’re not doubling up on something they already have.
For anyone venturing, chin-high into starter DIY projects or weekend warriors wrestling with knuckle-bruising improvements — a cross-line laser level will slip nicely into a Crimbo’ stocking. Once you get used to working on vertical and horizontal laser lines projected simultaneously, you’ll wonder how you ever managed cranking out a steel tape or eyeballing a bubble.
The Quigo Green levels from Bosch are superbly priced. The Green version is made from 90% recycled plastics, offers x4 the visibility of other laser products, is self-levelling, and offers an extended working range up to 12m.
It’s a handy friend for mapping out wardrobes, hanging wallpaper, pictures, setting curtain rails, and installing kitchen and bath furniture. It includes an easily positioned, universal MM2 clamp and adaptor plate to leave your lines in place on the wall or floor as you tile for instance.
Accuracy +/-0.8 mm/m with a self-levelling range of +/-4C; €74 from did.ie, screwfix.ie and larger DIY outlets.
Seeing an amateur arborist wobbling on-steps trimming branches and hedging with chainsaws — my blood goes Baltic (don’t ever try it — crazy). If the gardener could use something with the precision of a branch lopper (over a trimmer) but with a little more welly in terms of cutting force, treat them to the new Black & Decker GKC1000L 18V Lithium Ion 2.0Ah Alligator Powered Lopper.
Its jaws, powered by a lithium-ion rechargeable battery, can snap crisply through branches up to 10cm in diameter. It’s cordless — a great feature in terms of safely removing the tripping hazard and potential of slicing through a live line — even with an RCD, not pleasant.
The chain that does the chomping is inside the Alligator jaws, again, with safety in mind. Uses a standard Black & Decker 18v battery, interchangeable with other tools in the range; from €220 multiple suppliers.
A Red Dot design award winner, this little fella is not just useful but a bit of a laugh too. The Stirr, stoically walks around a cooking pan, stirring the contents automatically as you attend to other things.
Its 120C heat-resistant “feet” are dishwasher safe and works cordlessly. It comes with an LED Speed Indicator and a high-speed motor that stirs the food using a tripod of bladed oars, with superior torque — great for bleary-eyed commuters having their oats of a morning.
Recommended for puddings, soups, hollandaise, porridge and gravy. Takes 4 AA batteries so throw those in too to avoid unsavoury adult tantrums around the tree; €29, multiple suppliers, including Amazon and uutensil.com.
Le Creuset, the iconic French, enamelled, cast-iron cookware is eye-wateringly expensive. Your target will think you have thrown down a small fortune by choosing something somewhat lesser than a large casserole (€219-€599) with this brand emblazoned on the box.
Elements 4 Petite Casseroles (cocotte) in stoneware, are perfect for baking eggs and presenting smaller dishes right at the table. Safe for the oven, grill, microwave, and dishwasher, they are super pretty with proper little lids in Cayenne, Nectar, Meringue and Coastal Blue inspired by the earth, the sky and the sun’s warmth and power. €83.
If you know they love the brand, kick off their collection with a classic Utensil Jar in Cerise or Marseille blue (peek around the kitchen to determine a colour-way); €41, lecreuset.ie
When it comes to electronics, some alarm clocks and phone alarms range from irritating to downright terrifying to someone ripped rudely from a deep sleep cycle. If you have a friend or family member who has trouble sleeping, Philips have a range of smart lights that operate on the natural circadian rhythms that determine a good sleep pattern.
The Wake-Up Light lulls the user by gradually dimming while using a range of soothing sounds that also fade as they nod off. It then lovingly wakens them in the morning with a rose-tinted dawn that intensifies to a sunrise.
The entry point for the range, The Wake-Up Light doesn’t have app options, but it does include a clock, a radio, 5 alarm choices, a back-up power source and a safety setting to ensure the person is awake on time. It looks like the lens of a vintage car light set on its side — rather chic; from €103, suppliers include Amazon.
A triumph for just about everyone, a dedicated, portable DAB radio around the house offers superior sound to AM or FM listening in a wide choice of fascinating cases and era styles. The World of broadcasting (literally) is right at the fingertips.
So, what is DAB? Digital radios receive your signal in an uncompressed audio form — it’s like a higher resolution in the photograph — clearer, sharper, warmer and more resonant, something that standard Bluetooth speakers don’t deliver from your phone when you fancy a podcast while cooking.
They can handle wireless Bluetooth streamed content too, so if you are considering gifting a speaker, think about getting a streaming-enabled DAB radio to do both jobs. The Revival iStream 3MB from the celebrated maker Roberts boasts design punch and performance.
Built on a wood base, with an adorable 1950s leather-look finished chassis and handbag-inspired handle, it’s ideal for cottage-core enthusiasts and mid-century maniacs; €229.95, suppliers include Arnotts and Harvey Norman. Robert DAB radios are priced from €119.99, including their Petite transistor style DAB, at Argos.
Finally, to ring in the New Year, a budget buy from Ring, could be just the thing. If your recipient has a standard wired-in doorbell, they can swap it out without fuss for a Ring Video Doorbell.
Ideal for someone doing up a dump, or recently settling into a new home trying to afford those maddening everyday details, this starter Ring features all the important stuff — 1080p HD Video, Live Video and Two-Way Talk, to let you see, hear and speak to whoever is at your door, from wherever you are.
For someone having work done at the house, who cannot be there — the Ring performs a useful stand-by bit of security and monitoring as to who is coming and going. The unit is weatherproof and comes with all the fixings — a simple job for someone with just a little DIY confidence.
If you want to spoil them and add versatility to the unit, the Ring Chime is motion triggered or activated by the bell push. There’s a variety of melodic chimes and volumes — great for someone hard of hearing (works with Alexa, Apple HomeKit, Google Home, iOS and Android apps).
This modular system can be built out with cameras indoors and out — so a useful unit to start a fuller security set. €60 for the bell, €39 for the Chime, from multiple suppliers.
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