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Home / Hawkes Bay Today

Wyn Drabble: Christmas shopping made easy

By Wyn Drabble
Hawkes Bay Today·
16 Nov, 2016 09:30 PM4 mins to read

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Wyn Drabble.

Wyn Drabble.

Trade Me can help you with your Christmas shopping.

No, of course it's not too early, especially when you consider New Zealand Post's new delivery times which range from "slow express" (surcharge applies) to "some time in the future".

The slogan for this Trade Me initiative is "Christmas lives here" and it's hard to argue with that.

For your convenience, they have arranged potential gifts into nine categories.
First, "the latest-craze collection". Funko Funko Pop Heroes or Paw Patrol items are biggies in this category but what they are I shudder to think.

I think you have to be considerably younger. The last craze I remember was the hula hoop.

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They have, however, listed recognisable items in this category though I would hardly class them as crazes; for more traditional children, they have listed kids' books and jigsaw puzzles. I know what both of those are and they're not crazes.

"The technophile collection" features drones, mobile phones, tablets and Bluetooth. I have, at least, heard of some of those but, if I may be serious for just a moment, please don't give a drone to anyone who lives on or near a flight path.

"The off-the-beaten-track collection" features lots of suggestions for sport, cycling, camping and fitness trackers so my advice is to steer clear of this category. Perhaps find a nearby bar. Non-drinkers could have a cup of tea and a lie-down.

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"The escapism collection" is a little less demanding and includes "pretend play". That sounds like fun; there are toy kitchen utensils and full-on kitchen play sets with cupboards and everything. Little children could easily escape into the magic world of the drudgery of parenthood with these.

Then there's "the significant-other collection". If you can't think what to get your significant other, this is the category for you. You can browse handbags, home decor, fragrances and something called men's accessories.

This piqued my curiosity so I had to peek to learn what accessories you need to be a man; rather disappointingly the main items were satchels and caps. Somehow, I've managed to get through life without a satchel.

"The little Kiwi collection" contains wooden toys, dolls, ride-on toys, puzzles and games and educational stuff. You can get a kids' science microscope set for $19; the children could look at bugs until they got bored and wandered off to make pretend pikelets in the kitchen play set.

"The Kiwi summer collection" features items which may well be useful over the holiday period but if you would prefer to be weather-safe, head back to the books and jigsaws section of the latest-craze category.

And so to "the piece de resistance collection." I have no idea why this category bears this name. It includes arts and crafts, instruments, kitchenware, garden items and tools so I guess they are adopting a rather loose view of what piece de resistance means.

According to my understanding it means "showpiece" or "outstanding item" but Trade Me is obviously using it to mean "some other stuff you might consider".

"The small and thoughtful collection" is another category with rather blurred boundaries. It includes mobile accessories, soft toys, colouring in stuff, movies and accessories, camping and accessories.

If my memory serves me correctly - and sometimes it does - camping was already covered in the off-the-beaten-track category. We don't want to deal with camping again because it is nature's way of ensuring bad weather so perhaps go for the colouring in stuff. I like a good crayon.

So, I hope I have helped you with some ideas if you are in the early stages of Christmas shopping. If I haven't, you could always resort to something Trade Me doesn't even mention - drearily dull but satisfyingly safe vouchers.

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