Did you know firstborn children get all the expensive gifts (and most of all is spent on them by their aunts and uncles) - and people give cheaper gifts to the second and third child, but they usually end up giving a gift to the oldest child as well?

I’ve found a fun range of personalised gifts which could be perfect for that all-important first baby! If it’s going to be too much of a stretch to buy it on your own, why not organise a group gift and share the expense?

Jewellery & accessories
There are quite a few personalised baby gifts you can give of jewellery to the mother and/or child. One of them are the hand-engraved Rings of Love on which you have the baby’s name hand-engraved in sterling silver from $230. Another sterling silver piece is the Vine Adoration bracelet from Artful Home which lets you personalise the interior with the name and the exterior with up to 15 words for a special message, from $185.

And if you prefer necklaces, celebrities such as Katherine Heigl love Isabelle Grace for their silver necklaces which can be personalised with your child’s name and birth date for $150. If your new mum is pretty fashion-conscious, she’ll love having the chance to customise her baby’s diaper bag! 1154 Lill Studio lets you make bags that are so pretty you’ll want to use it long after your baby’s toilet-trained. My favourite design is $196.

Decor
If you want to give them something personalised that will last for decades, a beautiful Rosie Hippo handmade oak toy box personalised with your child’s name and illustrations for each letter (eg an apple for A and so on) is something your family would keep forever. From $375. If you want artwork which won’t look babyish once they’re out of the nursery, check out the contemporary wall art panels at Numsi. They combine cool colours and, unusually, black and white images of animals not commonly “profiled’ such an ostrich, or the very pretty tufted deer. The largest one retails for $128 but smaller sizes are available.

If you’re keen on giving them something contemporary yet cute, the Kutelights nightlights features cool-to-the-touch lights which illuminate a bunny, dog, giraffe, cat, polar bear or three other animals when switched on. From $125. Perfect for your brand-new princess is the “Once Upon a FairyTale” artwork of a horse-drawn carriage from Artistic Sensations which can incorporate your little girl’s name. From $148. 

If your new mum loves bling and is partial to Faberge egg-style trinkets, she’ll love Gifts That Give’s Jay Strongwater’s tiny enamel baby carriage photo frame which features Swarovski crystals and silver trim for $550. And the coolest children’s rocking chairs I have ever seen are the ones for kids aged 3-10 years at What She Buys. Costing just $109.95, this could make a great gift for the eldest when their siblings are born. I especially love the funky pirate version for boys.

About your baby
Are your friends still trying to work out what to call their unborn child? An analysis and consultation with name expert Kerri Hopkins who’s been profiled on Good Morning America could help them know what personality attributes their child could have by calling them Apple, Suri or Shiloh, for example. A full consultation and report costs $189.95.

Or why not create a Welcome to the World book for the new baby? Mad Moon creates beautiful hardcover 15-page books that contain up to 15 photos and copy based on a 10-point questionnaire that are perfect for new parents. From $175.

It’s fascinating knowing what happened the day your child was born and now you can have a time capsule keepsake containing their name, birthdate, photo within a news front page of the day with the framed, commemorative Daily Portrait from Milson Road for $165.

Keep a permanent slideshow of your baby with Video Birth Announcements. You simjply upload up to 30 photos and pick a theme and they turn it into a movie with a website link you can give to friends. No more wasted photo printing! From $149.

To let everyone know you’ve finally delivered a healthy baby, you can’t go past the beautiful birth announcements by Minted. My favourite design allows you to upload your child’s photo and name with a pack of 50 customised birth announcement cards from $110.

And of course, you might want to consider giving them a keepsake of a hardcover 45-50 page BabyStars astrology report all about their child for them to enjoy forever, printed on thick 100gsm premium paper for $109.

Last year, one of my customers bought a LoveStars report for her Australian soldier boyfriend in Iraq - and she said one of the reasons she bought it was because it was all about them as a couple and it was light to mail to him.

So it got me thinking about this Valentines Day. If your partner is in the armed forces in Iraq, Afghanistan or elsewhere in the Middle East, you’ll be wanting to send him or her something that’s suitable (ie pornography of any kind is banned) and also lightweight so it doesn’t cost you a fortune shipping it there! And also something that can make it in time.

There are a number of websites that specialise in presents for those in the military, but here’s 30 gift ideas which could make ideal Valentines Day gifts for your solider boy (or girl)…

Practical Valentines Day gifts
Everyone needs new clothes from time to time and these Bad Booty Wear underpants will hopefully encourage your man not to keep his antique, holey jocks! Cool meat-tray packaging too. Since it’s winter there, some cosy thermal underwear could go down a treat while some men might appreciate military-themed cufflinks. If they get the time for a swim, female officers might like the modest swimwear by HydroChic. Since the war ain’t for sissies, you might find some cool items in the Black Helmet Apparel’s (just the name sounds like tough-guy clothing) website, for them to wear on their days off. Some men might like the new Remington personal groomer with all the attachments for pesky poking-out hair, while the ladies could appreciate the world’s first collagen-infused skin moisturiser (disguised as a candle) which warms the room and softens their skin.

Thoughtful Valentines Day gifts
If they love taking photos and videos, give them the X Shot camera extender so they can finally be in the shot with their buddies! Combat Ready Balm soothes dried-out skin at the end of a tough day. The Porta Pocket lets them carry around their MP3 player or mobile on their days off. If you’d like to give them to chance to buy what they want, give them a gift card to Gift Card Mall which gives them the choice of more than 350 gift cards. I love the frangipani-print portable speakers by Sonoma Living Green which plug into any Mp3 player. Chocolate could melt on the way there but a Tortuga rum cake (with only 0.05% rum content) in that cool pirate-y packaging could make their day. Pewter heart-shaped charms are sweet and light to send. Heart-shaped cookies are a yummy thought. Motomail makes it easy for friends and family members of Marines to write a letter that is downloaded, printed and delivered within 24 hours.

Personalised Valentines Day gifts
If you’re quick, you may be able to order a pretty customised nightgown for your lady. If you want them to “see” you last thing at night, send them a photo night light with a favourite 3×5 photo already it. When they switch it on it illuminates with their image. If your man loves the idea of custom-made shirts, why not get something made for him at Shirts My Way, and send it to him with your love? And if “it’s in your kiss”, send him a cute Kiss Kanvas printed with your own lip-shaped kiss. Who doesn’t love all the amazing flavours at Jelly Belly? If you know his or her favourite flavour (I love watermelon), you can customise a tin just for them, even adding your photo of you two on the lid. Keep everyone close in their thoughts with a customised cover photo book. Or give them a rechargeable USB drive keyring that holds 60 digital photos. Get a dialogue going with fascinating conversation-starters in the Between Me and You relationship keepsake journals. And send ‘em a Valentines Day card with your photo printed on it.

Entertaining Valentines Day gifts
An iTunes card will let them download their favourite songs of course while these cute heart-shaped ear-buds for their iPod are adorable! Does she get time to bake cakes? She might love this super-inexpensive diamond ring-shaped cake tin if you’re engaged. but if they like reading, there are so many books to choose from - Reporting for Doodie (a fun story of a grandmother looking after her grandson while her daughter and son-in-law went off to fight), The Commuter Marriage: Keep Your Relationship Close While You’re Far Apart (which says it all, really), and You’re My Guy Because (which is full of witty reasons you love him).

What Valentines Day gifts are you going to send?

If your boyfriend, husband, girlfriend or wife (or all four!) work in the airlines, sales, military, engineering, mining or diplomatic fields AND they will be out of town on Valentines Day, it’s quite possible you’ll be sending them an electronic gift card or certificate if they can’t be with you on the day.

This year Valentines Day falls on a Sunday which means you’ll be paying premium rates to get flowers and other gifts delivered on the day - if they offer weekend delivery at all - which makes it a far more attractive idea to send them an electronic gift certificate.

According to a recent survey, 68% of online shoppers said an e-gift certificate was more convenient than shipping physical plastic (or paper) gift certificates to the recipient while 80% said they would purchase an electronic gift certificate if their favourite etailer sold them.

An amazing 85% who planned to give gift cards were interested in purchasing online gift cards/certificates that could be personalised and sent via email.

Siblings (48%) and friends (45%) dominated the recipient category (remember, this was for Christmas, not Valentines Day) while the most popular type of gift card category was for restaurants (59%), followed by general retail (56%) and consumer electronics (35%). 

Just make sure you don’t send it to um, the wrong recipient…

Ever bid on eBay and been infuriated that your bid has been automatically topped by someone else? It’s human nature to bid higher to beat them.

Here’s a newish website which turns that practice on its head by letting you say what you’ll pay, and having sellers send you offers which you can ignore, accept or negotiate.

Aroxo is a UK website which seems to centre around most  electrical items - electronics, home audio & video, computing, gaming and kitchen and home appliances, many of which would be great for gifts, such as MP3 players or sat nav units (but most, really, for yourself).

You find what you want, list the price you’re willing to pay (which certainly helps with budgeting), and the sellers will come to you with offers. It’s rather like eBay’s Want It Now service which for some reason the auction giant has buried deep within their website.

And the Buzz section lists the latest items available for sale and the newest video reviews.

A clever new US gift registry has been launched which lets couples and singles save for a home deposit, renovation or furniture.

Hatch My House allows users to set up a registry, which through cute illustrations, allows gift-givers to pay towards a front door, a window or say, a new set of taps via payments from Paypal.

They pay a one-time fee of $24.95 and can create a “home” illustrated in the colour of their choice. Currently available in representative Craftsman or brownstone styles, visitors can vote for the next house style to be introduced, whether that’s a San Francisco-style Victorian Queen Anne, the Santa Fe-style of Spanish Revival, New Orleans’ French Provincial or Boston’s Federal style.

This gift registry could be a lot more palatable to people who want cash to buy a home - and to their guests who get a say in how it’s spent.

But it could even be used by families whose home has been destroyed by natural disaster or say for twentysomethings and thirtysomethings who are still living at home and need a little nudge to find their own place…

Cyber Monday is the five-year-old phenomenon attributed to online retailers who feature amazing sales on the Monday following Thanksgiving. The day after Thanksgiving (always on a Thursday) is the curiously-named Black Friday which is the Day From Hell at bricks-and-mortar stores and malls when shoppers beat each other to death over a pair of shoes on sale (I’m joking…just).

Cyber Monday (this year on 30 November) avoids the hysterics, allowing you to shop online at home (or at work when your boss’s back is turned). There is even an official Cyber Monday website for shoppers where you can make enormous savings on their Christmas gift purchases.

However, on 30 November, Mercury in Sagittarius is squaring Uranus in Pisces. Mercury rules communication, Uranus (electronics), Sagittarius (travel and publishing) and Pisces (glamour and escapism). Mercury is a trickster at the best of times and Uranus is renowned for shocking and upsetting people.

People shopping online for electronics (ranging from mobile phones , iPhones and printers through to massive plasma TVs) could purchase a too-good-to-be-true deal on Cyber Monday. The product may have to be returned for repairs, it may fail to do what it’s supposed to do or it just doesn’t work with your existing electronic items (ie they’re now obsolete).

Others may receive an email promotion which has - disappointingly - already ended by the time they get to checkout or that the products are already out of stock. Yet more may be alarmed to find that their computer goes down which prevents them from shopping. And other people may be shocked to discover a bill they weren’t expecting has emptied their bank and/or credit card accounts, thus making it impossible for them to shop online.

If you shop on Cyber Monday, make sure the store has secure-socket layer (SSL) technology, a phone number you can actually call to speak to someone (not those websites with only email fields in the Contact Us section), and a money-back guarantee.

There’s no greater phrase that strikes fear into a woman’s heart than the phrase, “discontinued product” (well, maybe “bikini season,” and “No funds left”). When you really, really love a particular lipstick or nail polish or eyeshadow and they don’t make it anymore - arghhh!

Anyway, my mother is a fan of Revlon Colorstay lipstick and she freaked out when they stopped selling her favourite colour (335 - Opulent Garnet) and even got out her old lipstick brush to get right down the inside of the tube to get the remaining bit of colour (women understand this stuff).

So when I found a UK discounted cosmetics website called Blush Cosmetics that also ships worldwide, I thought I’d check it out. It stocks everything from bath and shower items to suntan lotion, featuring brands from Almay to YSL.

And hallelujah! It stocks the ever-elusive 335! It used to sell in Australia for the outrageous $29.95 but here, they sell for only GBP2.49 EACH. Even buying two, and shipping to Australia has only cost me $19 or so.

Now, of course, I’m not just going to give her the lipstick for Christmas - but my mother will think I’m a legend!

You’ve still got time. Why not ask your mother, sister, best friend, wife or girlfriend (in a casual way) about her favourite make-up item that was discontinued? You just might find it here (who knows?) but you’ll definitely make her (Christmas) day.

According to the respondents of a wedding anniversary gift survey I did, 10% of people stop giving themed anniversary gifts after the “first few anniversaries” while the majority don’t stick to any custom at all. I’m willing to bet that things can go awry with the third one for leather, especially after that, uh, scene in Pulp Fiction.

A more vanilla gift - depending on his political taste - might be the buffalo leather watch that Barack Obama has been wearing since the Secret Service presented it to him in 2007, or a leather-bound photo album.

While I still have visions of Ross in Friends (unsuccessfully) wearing a pair to impress a girl, your partner might rock out if you gave them a pair of cool leather pants or perhaps a classic leather jacket?

Ever been to Houston airport? I was struck by the kiosks there of cowboy boots in every colour, stitching and skin possible: would they wear a pair of those? Did I mention luxurious leather high heels? Jimmy Choo, Manolo Blahnik, yes please, I’m a size 8.5…

Car afficionados might adore it if you splurged on real leather seats, steering wheel covers or driving gloves, while there’s nothing like a buttery-soft leather handbag for women to “oooh!” over. Bike riders and horse riders alike might appreciate a new saddle.

Homewares ideas include a leather trinket tray that can be embossed, a sumptous leather armchair - perhaps you could find an old Chesterfield sofa on eBay? - or (I hope this doesn’t read too much like a gift from Hannibal Lecter!), an animal skin, whether that’s a simple Jersey cowhide or a vintage zebra skin.

Aside from making and baking your own Christmas gifts, how can you save money on gifts during the festive season?

1. Kris Kringle
Not everyone likes them, but if your family nominates that each person receives one present only, you could save yourself hundreds. But if you’re only going to receive ONE present, make sure you insist that the best gift-selector in your family does the choosing (armed with others’ money)!

2. Send lightweight presents
I don’t mean silly gifts, but in their actual weight. If your friends and family live dotted around the country, save money on postage (which will soon add up) by sending them some type of clothing, or costume jewellery or small techie things that weigh next to nothing. Books are notorious for weighing a ton so this is not the time to mail them War and Peace!

3. One really good hamper = 4+ gifts sorted
Instead of racking your brains and emptying your wallet buying your mum, dad, brother and sister a gift each (especially if you live intrastate, interstate or overseas), send one whole food hamper packed with chocolate, salted snacks, biscuits, pate etc. You should be able to get something for under $100 - which is cheaper than 4 or more presents.

4. One address = one sheet of wrapping paper
Wrapping paper (if you’re not buying in bulk) not only adds up in cost (usually $4.95 per sheet) but adds to the cost of your postage.  Wrap everyone’s presents in one sheet of paper with little tags to make sure Uncle Harry doesn’t think your teenaged sister’s belly ring is for him.

5. Got friends and family with kids - give ‘em a break
Make it easier for them to have a date night - give them a book of vouchers to the local cinema chain, or a restaurant gift certificate - all for about $50

6. Hunt for gifts-with-purchases
Google websites that offer goodies with your purchase. If you select wisely, that “gift” of say, a make-up bag can become a stand-by Christmas gift say, for an unexpected guest, or put away for an upcoming birthday.

7. Barter
IF you run your own business (and better yet if it’s some kind of item that could be given as a gift), you may be able to barter your goods and services for gift cards or other goods and services to the same value - it’s worth asking your suppliers!

8. Look in shops you may not normally associate with Christmas gifts
What about:
* your local office supplier for beautiful stationery for your aunt who still handwrites everything
* the food warehouse for trays of packaged chocolates that you can give as simple host/hostess gifts
* the hardware outlet may be having a sale on cute directors’ chairs, welcome mats or lattice screens for your friends who are doing up their garden
* the post office for fun little books for your young cousins
* the locksmith for fun keyrings with Disney, Pixar etc cartoons that you can give your under-10s who want to feel “grown-up”.

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.