Following on from Keith’s PS3 festive top 10 comes the Xbox 360 list. Remember these are suggestions on what to buy this Christmas so the list is mainly focused on recent-ish releases. Anyway, let’s go. In no particular order these are the Gamesblog Top 10 Xbox 360 games to buy this Christmas…

Fifa 10 / PES 2010
Ah, the great football game debate. I really couldn’t choose between them and which ever one you decide on your footy-loving 360 owner should be happy. Having said that there are some differences. Fifa is slower, more methodical and more realistic. It also has all the right teams and players, even if the likenesses are still scarily off at times. PES has better player likenesses and animations but more importantly plays a faster more fluid game on the pitch. Fifa has more online options, PES has more exciting goalmouth scrambles. I’d still go with PES if I really had to choose but this one is too close to call. (more…)

Tissue Rectangles with Cutaway Label Reveal

Combining bits of papers lends a personal artistic touch with surprisingly incredible results. Anything goes — from pieces of foam rubber to paper bags and even fake credit cards!

All you need are fragments of paper, tape, glue sticks, hot glue or double sided tape. For added interest, try making use of unusual materials not typically used for wrapping such as twigs. Go ‘green’ by using colored paper shopping bags that you receive while buying gifts and recycling pieces of ribbon.

The center of attention is the front of the package, so don’t worry about the back which only plays backstage — it’s perfectly OK for the back to be a little untidy. The wrapping usually gets ripped off in a frenzy anyway! (more…)

There inevitably will come a time in your life that the obligation of the season will prompt the dreaded, but necessary, gift for someone you cannot stand. It may happen every holiday, because that person could be your mother-in-law, your boss, your sister, your college buddy’s obnoxious kids or your best friend’s wife.

Don’t fear, you can use this opportunity to your advantage. All it takes is a little creativity and some fore-thought. Think about what you would give to someone you care for, and then do the exact opposite. Focus on what they love – to hate.

1) For repeated pleasure, the gift that keeps on giving is the magazine subscription to whatever they hate the most. If your father-in-law’s favorite holiday rant is about how all those g*d-damn [insert racial category here]’s are ruining the g*d-damned neighborhood, make sure he’s on the mailing list for whatever group supports them wholeheartedly.

Donations in his name to The American Association for Affirmative Action would go over well, or the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) instead of NASCAR could do the trick. Don’t forget the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), not to be confused with the ALCS. (more…)

Make Your List and Get it Right !

If you’re faced with shopping just before Christmas, you might want to use some of these ideas:

Plan a day to get out early or stay out late. Crowds are smaller just when stores open in the morning. During the last week of the shopping season, many mall stores open at 7 a.m. or 8 a.m. You can get a jump on the crowds and get a lot done before things get busy.

If you’re a night owl like me, plan to head to the mall with your shopping list after 9 p.m. for some last-minute shopping. Clerks are more available to help you and you won’t have to wait in line so long. (more…)

It’s that time again, when self-conscious men go shopping for underwear for their loved ones. Of course, they usually buy the wrong style, often in the wrong size. Reluctant shopper Neil Tweedie gets some sound advice.

There are only three reasons why a man should be in a lingerie department: he’s lost, he’s the store manager, or he’s a blackmail case in waiting, taking the morning off from the Foreign Office. Other than that, there’s really no justification for entangling oneself in that strange other world of female underwear.

Buy the wife a Black & Decker Workmate by all means. It’s a sensible gift from which she will derive years of pleasure while hopefully adding substantially to the value of the house. And, crucially, it’s an item comprehensible to the male mind. But bras and knickers? You’re just asking for trouble. (more…)

Shopping Strategies to Avoid Crowds and Find Gifts Everyone Will Love

Whether you’re shopping ahead of time or doing some last-minute shopping for Christmas, you’ll find some of our ideas helpful. Avoid the crowds, spend less money, and find gifts that everyone will really appreciate.

Try some of these ideas if you like to get your shopping done early, but want to be sure to get it right:

Shop Online

Almost every major retailer and specialty store has a website and offers online shopping. If you’re familiar with the quality of the products of the company, go for it. You can take care of all your shopping on one or two sites and find something for everyone. Books, plants, small appliances, toys, and clothing are easy to find. (more…)

How many times when Christmas comes along do we end up spending a large amount of money on gifts for friends, relatives and family, which are not the least bit personal, and regretting it afterwards ?

These days we often seem to get caught up in a rush to spend as much as possible on commercialized products when in fact we could save money and give much better presents if only we applied ourselves to hand-making them or something which will be of use to the person whom we are gifting.

The association of Gifts with the celebration of Christmas has almost become indispensable. (more…)

Have you been shopping lately ? No ? Here’s what you’re missing:

Thousands of people storming around in a fit of shopping rage, fighting for the last iPod on the shelf, dragging screaming kids along for hour after hour of mind-numbing browsing, all to the tune of revamped, remixed Christmas songs that somehow make that Boney M Christmas CD collecting dust on your shelf seem manageable.

Yep. Sure sounds like fun, doesn’t it? Thankfully, there’s a solution to your holiday shopping problems, and you’re looking right at it.

The following is a list of great Christmas gifts for guys, both ludicrously expensive and surprisingly cheap, that I hope will contain at least a couple of perfect gifts for the guys on your list. (more…)

Christmas, this year, will be a non-event. I’m disappointed, but realistically prepared. We don’t have a Christmas tree, we haven’t set out many decorations, and our shopping schedule has been extremely cramped as of late (fiscally and physically).

Santa Claus didn’t forget us, though; Ponzi’s been picking up items from my wish list, and I’ve been planning a stocking to end all stockings for her. It’s almost three in the morning here, and I’m wondering if I’ll even have time to pick up a screw for my glasses tomorrow (it fell out at some point this evening).

That would be a wonderful gift: time.

Ponzi says she only wants one thing this year for Christmas: a completely new wardrobe. Apparently, clothes go out of style after you wear them twice – and it’s only fashionable to wear 1/10th of the outfits 90% of the time ?

Well, that kind of gift is unrealistic. She thinks I’ve already seen my presents (as they’ve been coming in all sorts of boxes, mixed in with wedding registry gifts).

In my mind, the best Christmas present for her at this point is to match the amount she spent on me – letting her spend the same amount on her wardrobe, “guilt free.”

The holiday cacti are colorful, easy to care for plants. Learn how to grow these plants, how to get them to re-flower as well as how to propagate them.

The holidays are just around the corner and who can resist the brightly colored blooms on the holiday cactus? Flowers in shades of red, purple, pink, white and yellow seem to glisten as they dangle, first as tightly closed buds, then as fully opened flowers, from the end of the green segments of stem.

Schlumbergera truncata, the Thanksgiving cactus, is aptly named because it begins to flower in November, which is a month before Schulmbergera bridgesii, the Christmas Cactus begins to flower.

When you first purchase your plant, look for ones that are already in bloom or at least have little buds forming. To convince your plant to bloom in consecutive years you will need to make sure nighttime temperatures are below 68 degrees F but above 60 degrees F. If the temperature is too low the flower buds may fall off. Temperatures that are too high at night will cause a delay in flowering. (more…)