Say it with flowers - even edible ones

Most people think of gift-giving for fun and happy occasions – such as Christmas, birthdays, a new baby or a wedding – but what would you give someone who’s suffered a tragedy or something terrible? Perhaps they’re going through a divorce, a bereavement, they’ve lost their job, gone bankrupt or been diagnosed with a terminal illness.

While your time (or more time for them) and perhaps a few healthy home-cooked meals are probably the best gifts you can give them, as well as a Care4Hire gift certificate for a carer to well, take care of them, here are 4 different types of gift ideas which may cheer them up during this difficult time…

1. Light-hearted gifts to cheer them up
Most of these gifts should raise at least a chuckle if not a wry smile. Check out Sockgrams, Madcapz (especially for women experiencing hair loss following chemotherapy or other illnesses) or a laughter club. They might smile again seeing a cheer-up message cleverly reflected back in the mirror on their t-shirt or amuse themselves wearing differently coloured undies, each with a message per day. Perhaps they’ll feel good again watching some favourite DVDs of Christmas classics. I also like the ideal of the customised daily messages in your inbox from My Very Own Fan and the idea of adopting a farm animal (perhaps if they’ve lost their own pet). If someone’s had a bad break-up and is trying their luck again(!) you could give them a Hot Lunch Date Box, or Pleasant Dreamz pillowcases peppered with positive affirmations. Those who’ve stressed about putting on weight from their medications or just plain old stress, might smile at the Knife and Fork Lift.

2. Just-relaaaaaax-and-chill-out gifts for stressheads
I loved reading about Mary-Jane’s Relaxing Soda, which they can sip while listening to a stress-relief meditation on CD, a gift certificate for a massage, or calming essential oils. If you want to take them on a break give then a gift certificate for a B&B. If they’re still bedridden, give them a comfortable Wonda Wedge pillow. Or let them relax with one of their favourite magazines.

3. Thoughtful gifts to let them know you care
Many of these are personalised gifts designed specifically for the recipient. Children going through a rough time might like the Loveable Look-A-Like dolls while those undergoing surgery might appreciate the colourful Digni-TEE hospital gowns designed by a patient. If you don’t have the right words to say, a thoughtful poem, or photos encased in Treasured Blocks can be kept forever. A care package for a recently bereaved family could be just the the right gift. Other things that can work are care packages by Out Of The Blue Delivered and various items from The Comfort Company or a ruby glass heart to show your love and concern. Perhaps they have a sweet tooth and would love a cookie bouquet? If they feel like they’ve lost their mojo, maybe (just maybe) a boudoir photo session would be ideal or a pretty framed calligraphy print of Psalm 91:4. Others might want to consult with an intuitive healer.

4. Motivational gifts to make ‘em feel good (or a lot better)
A lot of these are books, such as Addicted to Stress, and Rich Woman (ideal for those trying to get back on their feet financially) by Kim Kiyosaki, whose husband Robert wrote Rich Dad Poor Dad , while those who have been lying around the home too long might respond to Get Off The Couch, Potato! Perhaps they could write in the Positive People Journal. If they need to take life one step at a time and reconnect with friends and family over dinner, a lovely food book Friday Evening Cookbook could be the answer. If they’ve been in the US armed forces, the colognes by American Line, which donate to the Veterans, Association could be a step in the right direction. And if music is the food of love, some might feel their soul is fed at last by singing and recording a song about their experiences.

In what must be the gazillionith app, IT boffins have created a clever application that lets you organise your Christmas gift shopping on your iPhone or iPod!

You can manage your contacts, tick off when each gift is bought, the budget set, and presumably buy as many as possible of those gifts online from the comfort of your desk (not battling the mall-rats)!

It runs on all Apple iPhones, 3G, 3GS and all Apple iPod Touch devices running iPhone OS 3.0 or newer and costs just $US0.99, available exclusively through the App Store in the Lifestyle category.

When Miranda Hobbes in Sex And The City goes shopping for a Halloween outfit with Carrie, she exclaims, “There’s only two types of outfits for women: witch or sex kitten.”

In what is no coincidence, Halloween occurs during the Sun in Scorpio period. Many Scorpio women do delight in being a kind of witch, seeing the unseen that others miss - such as through astrology, numerology, psychology, even witchcraft if it’ll get her what she wants - and when she’s swings over to her sex kitten role, she’s rather fond of biology, too (hee hee)!

Scorpio men and women love to know what makes people tick - but they  don’t always want you to know what’s going on with them! You are either in their Inner Circle (one or two best friends, certain family members plus their partner) or you are not. If not, this is the one sign who couldn’t care less if you don’t give them a gift, or even wish them happy birthday on the day. If you do, these paranoid androids wonder what you want from them…

But even if you are in the inner circle of intimates (they take soooooo long to trust people completely), they’ll then analyse what the gift you gave them really means! Both sexes have something they’re completely passionate (ie obsessive) about. If you know your Scorpio you’ll know what that topic is, so they appreciate your gestures towards supporting their hobby (yes, it’s usually sex but something else as well).

You also get points for getting them anything that’s a little bit contraband or requires you to know someone who knows someone to get it. They can’t bear it when people pry into their affairs so if you give them one of those prepaid Visa gift cards, they can happily use it (on God knows what) knowing that you’ll be none the wiser on what they bought.

Scorpio men like books/DVDs with plenty of raunchy sex in it – they typically love James Bond (although he’s now a bit soft, only sleeping with a couple of women per story compared to Sean Connery’s heydays) – and unauthorised biographies (they have more dirt, see) on powerful people, especially billionaires, powerful criminals, sleazy politicians and influential rock stars.

Scorpio women appeciate stuff which highlights their sex appeal. It could be a sultry new perfume, killer pair of heels or some erotic underwear that’s probably best not hung out on the clothesline.

If you’re surprising your partner on a romantic weekend away, make sure it’s an adults-only resort. In fact, anything adults-only is just about right…

If you know a little German (do say hello, it’s polite), and you love an online bargain, you might like to check out Preispanne.de.

It offers you real-time price searches on German, French and American markets – and if the retailer happens to make a mistake, as web store Otto.de did when they received 6,534 orders for a MacBook mistakenly reduced to EUR49.95 (but normally costing EUR2,000) – you benefit.

The real-time price search engine crawls over 65 million items  in more than 10,000 online stores with products’ price trends over the last four weeks and the latest one.

I have no idea what happens if the etailer won’t honour your purchase, how many of these stores ship worldwide (or much else really as I can’t read German…), but you might find some bargains in time for Christmas gift-giving if you haven’t started shopping yet (let us know)!

An off-the-scale IT whiz has created the ultimate go-hunt-for-your-wedding-present-game for a friend of his getting married.

Software engineer Mikal Hart, who works for Intel in Texas, created an intricate wooden box with a GPS tracking device that wouldn’t unlock until it was taken to the correct destination.

The box was delivered with no instructions but when the button is pushed it showed a distance of some kilometres which had to be reached in order to open the box.

The location is where the couple met which is sooooo romantic – I love it!

And what’s in the box with the GPS screen? Gift cards. Mikal has been getting inundated with orders to make more of these one-off boxes which took him nine months to construct.

What could you do to make the arrival – or presentation – of your wedding gift as exciting as this?!

facebook is notorious for people posting all sorts of things about themselves.

Now you can manage your wedding gift registry on it! The new app, Gift Registry 360, created by The Knot wedding gift registry allows engaged couples to register for gifts at multiple retailers and to manage that list within facebook’s Weddingbook application.

The Gift Registry 360 application is apparently searchable on on five retailers – Macy’s, Williams-Sonoma, Pottery Barn,  Target, and Crate and Barrel – which, to date, have partnered with The Knot. (Unfortunately, as of today, I couldn’t find any mention of the application on those five retailers…)

Couples can bookmark gifts from any online retailer and can upload images of items from bricks-and-mortar stores that don’t have a website, with a note that to buy that item,gift-givers must schlep to the store.

Sure beats going crazy with a zapper for three hours in a department store.

Once you’ve chalked up nearly two years of marriage, you graduate from the first paper wedding anniversary gifts and onto the potentially more expensive cotton gifts.

The common thread (ahem) for cotton gifts seems to be mainly homewares or clothing-related items, but you can still have some fun with them!

The ones that caught my eye were the customised queen-size duvet cover (Aries lurrrve personalised gifts) that you can personalise with your own photo (or from the photo gallery) from Vision Bedding or if your partner hogs the bed, you can draw the line who sleeps where – literally with Bedhog.com’s His and Hers sheet sheet (Geminis love a good gag gift) or if you’re after a “classier” cotton-themed present, give them a monogrammed cotton throw from The Golden Ribbon (ideal for your Capricorn or Taurus).

If you happen to be buying a second wedding anniversary gift for say, your best friend and don’t want it to be about their bedlinen, some nice thirsty towels would do the trick!

Have your favourite photo printed on cotton canvas (Leos will be delighted) or what about getting him a custom-made cotton business shirt (great for Virgos) or a fun t-shirt about your second wedding anniversary (Aquarians aren’t that mushy). Or snuggle up together in a comfortable cotton hammock (ideal for dreamy Pisces or sexy Scorpios) after he’s fired up the BBQ (especially if he’s a Sagittarius)…

And what girl doesn’t love a pretty broderie anglaise cami! (Cancers and Librans adore them.)

Most people create a gift registry for their wedding, but the baby gift registry movement is still kinda slow to take off.

Which is surprising considering there are twice as many babies born every year as there are weddings, and that new parents probably wouldn’t want to get multiples of the same baby item, nor miss out on baby gifts they really need.

But this prize might help! A US-based baby gift company called IncrediBundles.com has created an impressive competition where by creating a baby gift registry with them, you go into the draw to win a year’s worth of toys, books, nappies and even free cord blood banking!

Your baby gift registry entries could include children’s books, bathtime products, items for a good night’s sleep (priceless!), nappies (diapers in the US), Sesame Street entertainment, and even gifts for the new Dad.

If wedding couples joke about getting too many toasters, I wonder if this would help stop new mums getting too many singlets or rattles or blankets?

If you’ve got a diamond ring burning a hole in your pocket (or just the urge to propose), Wednesday 28 October 2009 is a lovely day to get down on a bended knee to pop the question!

Venus (the Goddess of Love and Beauty) will be in Libra (the sign of balance, harmony and relationships) which will make a gorgeous trine to Jupiter (the Santa Claus of the zodiac) in Aquarius (friends, hopes and wishes) that day. There is probably no other combination as romantic, lucky, prosperous, abundant and joyous as this aspect!

On the same day there is also Mercury (communication) in Scorpio (sex, insight, psychology) sextiling Pluto (the planet of transformation) in Capricorn (stability, longevity, conservatism). This combination is fantastic for putting a metaphorical jigsaw puzzle together in a long-term way. Hopefully you are the one who “completes” them.

Plus, Saturn (the Pillar of the Community guy) moves into Libra (see above) the very next day. He WANTS you to get married and to make a commitment! How cool is that?!

If you’ve ever had the horrible realisation that it’s someone’s birthday (or eeek! your anniversary) and you’ve somehow forgotten it, it’s hard to make them feel like you’ve been thinking about them.

Which is where electronic gift certificates come in. Apparently they do a roaring trade for people hopeless at remembering birthdays and anniversaries (ie men) – and for those who’ve cut it too fine to send them something to arrive in time for their birthday, anniversary, Christmas or whatever.

I thought of it because um, I too have to get something organised for my stepmother’s birthday tomorrow. So while I’m hunting for a nice plant nursery that offers electronic gift certificates (surprisingly hard, by the way!), you might have other types of gifts in mind.

So here’s 10 interesting websites that have electronic gift certificates if you have to absolutely, must get it there today!

1. Is your favourite student or frazzled friend about to escape overseas somewhere? Bed & breakfast gift certificates might come in handy…

2 & 3. Do they love chocolates and lollies? You’ll get hungry checking out Groovy Candies - while every day is Oktoberfest at German Deli…

4. Afraid of getting her the wrong lingerie? She can slip into something very comfortable with Bare Necessities.

5. If you think they’ll hang up when they get your electronic gift certificate, you might be right – hang up some art, that is…

6. Will they suspect something fishy is going on? Hook them with this unusual gift certificate.

7. Instead of A Night at the Museum for your favourite culture vulture, give ‘em a gift certificate to go shop there!

8 & 9. Does he love his rugby - or is he a huntin’/fishing/shootin’/campin’  type of man? Search no longer!

10. And finally, the Wax Depot (no, it’s not a beauty salon offering to rip out the hairs on your legs – or elsewhere), is a great same-day gift option for those who love their cars!