Top 10 'Good' Gifts - Why not be nice to the world this Christmas?

Give a gift from the Good Gifts Catalogue (over 200 to choose, from £5 - £5,000) and do something amazing this Christmas. 

1.   Help revive the River Jordan – a gift truly in the spirit of Christmas. Sponsor a group of Israeli, Palestinian and Jordanian youngsters working together to clean up the river (one day work camp £50) and ensure it is disposed of safely (septic tanks £55.).

2.   A cherry tree for Japan – give a cherry tree to replace one destroyed by the tsunami. Cherry blossom is a symbol of hope, an integral part of Japanese culture. A gesture of support from us to them. (1 tree for £12.00 or 5 for £60.00)

3.   Christmas Hamper – our hamper crammed with necessities and seasonal treats goes to elderly people in the UK who may receive no other gifts. Pamper with our £25 hamper andbring joy into someone's Christmas Day. (£25.00)

4.   Bowls of rice – 50 bowls of rice for 50 hungry children in Africa. (£5.00)

5.   Trysting trees – a Scottish tradition. Plant two beech saplings together and they will intertwine romantically. These trees are planted around the UK and are great for combating global warming. (£30.00)

        6.   A Medical Sniffer Rat – in Tanzania, rapid diagnosis is required to limit the spread of TB. Conventional lab tests take hours to identify the bug in human sputum, so doctors are turning to a new, low-tech solution: rats. Super-sensitive rodent noses sniff in high definition and pin-point guilty microbes in seconds. (£15.00)

7.   Ducks to the rescue – in rural Orissa, women and girls are not allowed to eat chicken eggs, for cultural reasons. However, this results in large cases of malnourishment. Duck eggs are not banned so supplying duck to the women boosts both income and diet. (£25.00)

8.   Goats for Peace – Revolving goats repair the ravages of war. Well-tethered to protect local vegetation, families are started courtesy of a revolving ram. Kids go to restock families without goats. For communities slowly rebuilding themselves, goats are milk and fertiliser factories, improve local diets and help towards self-sufficiency (£20.00).

9.   Plant a Woodland – Everyone agrees, more trees add to the quality of life (and air). Many schools have, often unloved, space around the school. They'd welcome the chance to plant trees to improve their surroundings. Buy them a tree pack - 60 saplings of birch, rowan and cherry, or a hedgerow pack of hawthorn, dog rose, hazel and dogwood. Both kits provide year round colour, and the hedgerow pack, nuts and rosehips that the children can harvest. A bonus for the teacher is that it links into the curriculum (£60.00). Also clubs, housing estates, amenity groups, cricket clubs, allotment societies, hostels, youth clubs and groups of friends can plant trees on any spare land, even on verges (£105.00). Where a large space is available, a 420 tree pack greens an entire acre or grows nearly 100 metres of hedgerow (£420.00).

10. Elderly person's hospital kit - For an elderly person going into hospital can be humiliating if they lack slippers, dressing gown, nightwear and toilet bag. And that's why we prescribe our Hospital Kit to treat the condition. (£25.00)

Sous vide cooking - Minnis Bar & Restaurant in Birchington

Nestling between Kent’s fishing ports of Whitstable and Ramsgate, the

Minnis Bay

Minnis Bar &  Restaurant in Birchington, which offers dinners spectacular

sunsets and a perfect location for watching violent North Sea storms

across Minnis Bay, has announced four new winter menus.

“Sous vide is a professional method of cooking in a vacuum-packed bags

in a water bath cooking at low temperatures for long periods” explained

chef-patron Jason Freedman. “From the molecular school of gastronomy, it

differs from conventional cooking because the raw food is sealed in an

oxygen free environment and cooked using precisely controlled heating at

a variation of only plus or minus a tenth of one degree Centigrade.”

Top-end chefs are increasingly using this innovative cooking method as

the absence of oxidation reactions increases flavour intensity, and

because cooking food at a precise temperature, ensures perfection time

after time.

DO YOU FAVOUR YOUR YOUNGEST CHILD?

Parents of two children treat their youngest as the favourite, according to new research. The study of 1,803 parents shows that 59 per cent of the time, parents will subconsciously choose the youngest child over the eldest.

In particular, mums and dads are more likely to side with a younger child in an argument, lavish them with more attention, let them have their own way and spend longer reading with them. Younger children also benefit from more treats and cuddles, and their parents find it hard refusing them anything they want. Fifty three per cent of parents polled openly admitted to feeling closer to their littlest child.

 Lisa Penney, spokesmum for www.bounty.com, which commissioned the research said: “Very few parents are willing to admit they have a favourite child, and even though research indicates this is the case, we certainly aren’t suggesting parents love one child more than another. But the fact remains that in the majority of scenarios, parents favour their younger children.

“This might be because they are the baby of the family, because they are more demanding, or because they find that children simply need less and less attention as they get older.”

But although eldest children are often side-lined in preference to their younger sibling, more than half of parents polled claimed to have bonded more quickly with their first child. And 64 per cent of parents feel they have more in common with their eldest child, sharing interests and finding it easier to have a conversation.

Indeed, three in five parents say their elder child is more likely to confide in them, and have done since an early age. Older children are also more transparent, with 63 per cent of parents feeling confident they know them inside out.

Being the eldest also tends to mean these children are better behaved – with 53 per cent of parents finding them easier to discipline.  And being second favourite isn’t all bad – as older children tend to have more money spent on them, they’re allowed to rule the roost, they have bigger helpings at dinner and usually decide what the family watches on television.

Lisa Penney continues: “The research shows that there are definitely benefits to being either the youngest or oldest in the family. Whilst two in three parents agreed that their youngest was more likely to get away with murder, 60% found themselves talking about and boasting to friends about their eldest child and their achievements.

“Wherever a child comes in birth order in a family, the most important thing is that they’re loved, cared-for and treated as an individual who may have different needs to their brother or sister.”

Of the 1,803 people questioned, only one in five parents were prepared to admit they DID have a favourite child – of these, 54 per cent chose their youngest child. And when asked about their partner’s preference, 56 per cent of parents felt their partner also preferred the youngest. But one in three people say that every parent has a favourite child, but hates to admit it.

A resounding 76 per cent claim it is possible to have a favourite child simply because you get on with them better, not because you love them any differently or any more.

 By Bounty - www.bounty.com

Keeping Up With My Kids reacts to the Prime Ministers call

Claire Coles, the Junior School teacher behind the keepingupwithmykids.co.uk website, has announced massive price cuts to encourage the widest possible use of her computer courses for parents.

Claire was inspired to this action by the Prime Minister’s speech to the Conservative Party Conference in October 2011.

 “It was wonderful to hear the Prime Ministers personal commitment to the education of our nation’s children, coming on the back of a similar commitment by Michael Gove earlier at the conference, said Claire.

I earnestly believe that a first class education is a child’s right not only for their own future but also as a way to avoid the social issues so visible in the riots in August.  It is vital for our country’s future, as well as for our children’s individual futures, that we re-establish education as the long term best way out of where we are now.

I also believe that parental involvement in a child’s education is critical to the child’s progress at school. Parents should not leave it to the teachers alone.  A parent’s greatest success will be the children they build.”

Claire goes on to explain:

“The action I have taken this week, following the PM’s speech, is to cut the price of my courses by 60% - from £49 to just £20.  I hope this will make the courses available to all parents, regardless of income.

The Prime Minister challenged our citizens to develop a “can do” positive attitude to the challenges we face as a nation. So I decided that, in the case of Junior School education, I was able to take his lead and I hope that my action shows that “I did”.

Claire hopes that the leadership being shown will enable the next generation of British children to be better educated and better prepared for the challenges and opportunities of the 21^st Century. 

Jetsetter Massimo - Always one step ahead of the markets!

Handsome young entrepreneur Massimo 7, gets in early with his Christmas list for Santa – and hedges his currency options with typical cunning!

A puppy called Joey

Lego Harry Potter castle

Eight baby rabbits

A free trip to New York for 7 days

Have a spa in our hotel with a swimming pool

Everything in Lego City

One thousand pounds

One thousand euros

And one thousand dollars