'Into the Present Hunting Phase!'

Glad to say my Christmas spirit is starting to get into gear. I love planning my Christmas presents and cards list each year and get a buzz out of searching for just the right gift to give each of the people on it.
When I find something that you feel the person in mind will love and enjoy receiving I get the fun then of looking forward to giving it to them and (hopefully) seeing their reaction to it.

Obviously, this plan doesn't always work out as it should! Sometimes the person in question seems totally unmoved by the item, other times you send it to them via the post (occasionally at quite a bit of expense!) and you never hear another thing about it or worst of all (because it means you have completely wasted your money and then have the dilemma about what to do with the item) you buy them something they have already got.

Still, the fun is in the looking, planning and hoping and last year I actually brought a tear to a good friends eye with the gift I gave him. It feels SO GOOD to know that you have succeeded in showing someone you love that you were thinking of them and what THEY might like when you did you Christmas shopping and happy memories of great Christmas gifts never fade - I know because I have never forgotten the CD transfers my mate Martin Smith ( he of Megabass and Jive Bunny Fame) spent time producing for me of my old recordings with him.

The money thing is always a problem but I am rather a self-centered person most of the year round (not deliberately but I get tied up in my own thoughts and feelings) and so it does me good to take stock and think of the people in my life to whom I owe a debt of gratitude.

If you really want to get into the Christmas spirit 'think of others' and you will soon find the Scrooge in you reseeding!

Places other than Amazon.co.uk/com to start your present search include....

Vistaprint

Prezzybox

Firebox

 All of these sites are highly recommended and will provide you with a plethora of unusual gifts to choose from. Prezzybox is a similar site to Firebox (they could even be linked) but I found them to be the cheaper of the two sites. Firebox is a bit pricey but if you can get an order of over £50 together they do deliver for free which is quite a good saving. They deliver REALLY fast as well so no worries there...

If on the other hand you like getting creative and personal with the gifts you give this Christmas why not try Vistaprint for personalised calendars, cards, posters, mugs, t - shirts, etc, etc. The quality of their stuff is top draw and again, if you make the most of special offers etc you can get a good deal. They are  quite pricey on postage though and their economy service takes a while to arrive but if you get your skates on now and get organised you will have everything you need in plenty of time...

Another site worth exploring if you like music and would like to compile a special CD compilation for a loved one is Mixpixie...

Mixpixie

Compiling your own CD is time consuming and the finished articles are a little on the cheesy side but this said, you can grab tracks from CD's you like just the one song from or put together cracking 'Best Of's' that are not available in the shops. At 99p a track they are not cheap either and you can only have 10 tracks on each CD but you do get to record a short message to include on the disc if you'd like so its an ideal gift to send to those far away.

All in all, HAVE FUN doing your Christmas buying this year - its not as hard as you think...

'Could Mixpixie Save Your Life This Christmas?'

I am almost ashamed to admit it but something new about the modern world has met with my approval! Now, those of you who know me well will realise that this kind of revelation does not happen everyday so by God 'Mixpixie' must be good!

So who or what in the hell is or are Mixpixie anyway?

Well, Mixpixie is a new website that enables you to put together custom made CD compilations. A bit like 'Moonpig.com' only not with cards. To be honest, I wasn't convinced that the idea was going to be any good when I first looked into it. I thought that it would either be really hard to design the CD cover you wanted, be WAYY too expensive or that the songs you could put on your chosen CD would be re-records or inferior versions. I am glad to report, however, that in fact the contrary is true! Mixpixie have access to 14 million songs and all the ones I clicked on were original recordings by the original artist. Putting your chosen CD together is actually very easy as well. All you do is choose one of the CD designs available, customise it by adding the title and a written message for the inside and then select the songs you want to go on the CD. Tracks cost 99p each and you can put up to 10 on your CD. A full ten track customised CD ends up costing you about £15 something and postage and packing is another £2.99 so its not the cheapest way of buying songs but I can assure you the CD's when you get them (and I got mine the day after I ordered it!) are top quality and sound great. The packaging is every bit as good as any digipack you can buy in HMV or from Amazon and whoever you are buying the CD for will be well chuffed, I promise. 

The CD designs are NOT tacky, they don't look cheap and they are proper digipacks NOT fold over cardboard ones like the free CD's you get in the paper. All of the tracks are officially licensed so your favourite artist isn't losing out either which is nice. What is especially great though about Mixpixie is that its possible to select the exact tracks from albums you want and you can even move them about on the disc if you want to create the best 'album listen' if so inclined. When artists I love re-issue 'expanded' versions of an album I have already purchased I usually have to buy the same album again just to get the extra songs I want but this will become a thing of the past now. 

The other exciting thing about Mixpixie is that you can compile your own 'wicked' CD compilations and give them great covers etc just for fun with 100% what you want on the disc and 0% of tracks you already have or don't want. Much better than burning off a blank and boring CD from itunes!

There is also a fun feature that allows you to record a 20 second personal message on the disc if you want to but I decided not to do that as heard once or twice that message may be welcome but every time you play the CD - NO!

Check out Mixpixie.com - http://www.mixpixie.com/ - you won't find a better, more original way of giving someone a truly personal AND personalised gift this Christmas!