The Christmas Present Buying Guide: For men

I buy more presents for men than I do for women so I am somwhat of an expert in this field as the men I buy them for are all very different..

For the man who says he doesn't want anything.
This is my dad, he always comes out with the same lines so I always try to find him something that either he doesn't have or something that he uses. 

All images courtesy of http://www.aquarterof.co.uk/

 He has a mean sweet tooth when it comes to liquorice (yuck!).  For Christmas a few years ago we bought him the biggest box of liquorice we could find..he'd polished it off come New Year's Day..apparently, it soaks up alcohol really well (the liquorice, not the father..though he does too).  I ordered it about two weeks before the big day and it came surprisingly fast.  They do all sorts of old school sweets on there and their prices are really reasonable.  Click here and you can see everything that A Quarter Of have to offer.

He also appreciates a fine drink, he's quite easy to please in that respect so a bottle of any of the bottles featured here always go down well..

And if you want to be extra nice to your dad, get him something that little bit better..when my dad recieved a bottle of Johnny Walker Blue Label, it shocked him into silence..this is amazing considering it's usually quite hard to shut him up (yep, that's where I get it from!)  It's quite pricey but it was more than worth the look on his face come Christmas morning.

And if after all that, he still wants nothing..give him nothing..

For the men you will always call boys.
This is the category where my brothers fall.  Despite both of them being upwards of 6 ft, I still see little boys when I look at them.  There was a time when I was their evil overlord, a day when I was taller than both of them and the saying "I'm older" actually held some weight.  These days, I have to look up to talk to them..something they always insist is admiration whereas I'm adamant it's just practicality.   These are some of the things I'd consider buying them..

All images courtesy of http://www.chargrilled.co.uk/

This is just a selection of the shirts they have on there, they have tonnes.  You can get them for women, made as a hoody etc..  You can buy them from Chargrilled directly by clicking here.  I have ordered from them before and their service is very speedy though you shouldn't really hang around to order Xmas presents.

Both are die hard Man U fans and these personalised products always get a good reception.  Getting Personal have these for most of the major teams in the Premier League.   The Stig poster is something I actually got my brother, as is the ball scratcher..

All images courtesy of http://www.gettingpersonal.co.uk

For the man who is your consigliere.
I tell him all the time that if I was Don Corleone, he'd be my Hagen which is odd because I'm the legal eagle.  You know you have a friend who you can speak to for hours about absolutely nothing? This is him.  I don't get to see him as often as I'd like but that's what happens when you live at opposite ends of the City.  When I was at law school he was always asking when he could mooch off me so I gave him a million dollars from my own private reserve..

You make everything personal on this which I thought was brilliant, e.g where it says "The United Bank of Crowther", you can change Crowther to your surname and the signatory on the left can also be changed to be your name and also the "Reserve" bit on the top gets the same treatment.  It comes pre-framed so that's another job done for you, just give it and they can display it on their shelves right out of the box.  It retails for £12.95 and can be bought on Getting Personal, yet again.

For the man who puts up with you 365 days a year.
A shag...and maybe even a blowie.  Come on now, it is Christmas.  The presents I've bought Mon over the years have varied so greatly but this is what I got him last year:

I think this set me back about £900 but he hasn't taken it off since he had it.  He didn't get this on Christmas Day because it wasn't available to buy so I got him another present to tide him over.  I finally bought it for him in April/May time.  I got it from the Tag shop in Westfields and guarded that bag with my life on the drive home.  It's the single most expensive thing I've bought which you can't easily lose (unless you could easily lose a fridge or a cooker).  I made sure it did everything he wanted in a watch, I researched this present more than I researced anything in my entire life.  Back when I was 16, I promised him that I'd buy him a decent watch because his Casio one at the time used to really annoy me.  This was the watch.  He has the metally strap but you can get it changed for rubber and for me, the best part about it is that the numbers glow in the dark but simple things please simple minds.  PS, I do hope we are noticing how long that nail was..RIP.

I know the people mentioned here read this blog and are hoping I will slip up and post what I'm buying them this year.  Well, dream on because I'm not that stupid!

I hope this was of some use to someone, took me an age to write!