It´s that time of year again that the more organized amongst us start thinking about what we´re going to buy our loved ones for Christmas. Personally I like leaving everything to the last minute and then doing the whole lot in one fell swoop but this doesn´t appeal to the majority of people so over the next couple of weeks I´ll be giving you some suggestions relating to sites on the Internet that can help with your festive purchases.

We start this week with a site that I visited after receiving a 50 page booklet from Red Letter Days last week. The idea is that rather than simply buying jumpers and socks this year why not consider giving a `experience´ that will be remembered for years to come? The advantages of giving such a gift is that although you have nothing asides from a gift pack to give on the day, your present will be a talking point amongst the family which can then be planned by the recipient to occur on a day on which they are free in the coming weeks. Even when the day is over the thought that you put in along with memories of the experience itself will be remembered for a long time to come.

The site recommends experiences that will be suitable for the majority of ages and sexes; you could send your son off to drive a 17 ton tank around for the day and your mother to a health spa all from one site with a few simple clicks of a mouse button.

To give you an idea of what is available I will take the categories listed on the site one at a time and include a few examples of what these activities consist of:

- Driving; includes Ferrari driving, Yamaha bike riding, rally driving, dumper truck racing and 47 further activities which are too numerous to list.
- Action; Ice Climbing, military experience, bungee jumping and snowballing.
- Airborne; Red Arrows, microlighting, balloon, Mig-25 flight to the edge of space and gliding.
- Water; includes scuba diving with sharks, dolphin watching, white water rafting and power boating.
- Sport; Jousting, eagle handling, Polo and Horse Riding.
- Body & Soul; Aromatherapy, Spa day, Holistic treatments, massages and Life Coaching.
- Gourmet; includes 17 different food preparation activities.
- Culture; Theater activities, gardening, steam train driving and concerts.
- Junior; pop star make over, kids cooking, junior rally driving and secret agent days.
- Everything Else; as you would expect this category includes any activities that don´t fit into the above such as a Thames lunch cruise, DJ experience and so forth.

The activities vary wildly in price from around £50 for some of the health activities up to £10,000 for the flight to the edge of space. Some represent good value for money but others such as the day playing snooker with John Virgo for £3950 do seem a bit over the top and not something that could easily afforded for a present.

If after checking out the site you are still not sure what to purchase then the option is available to buy a voucher that can be exchanged for a range of activities. A nice touch is that the recipient won´t know how much you spent which is a far better idea than giving vouchers for high street stores which show exactly how much (or little) you have spent.

Once the Christmas shopping is complete you can of course use this site to buy yourself a gift because as well as the planned events there are a number of last minute discounts for activities which will be taking place over the next few days. Personally, if I had a little more time off I´d love to take advantage of some of the ideas given on this site especially if it was given at a cheaper last minute price. If you get a few minutes over the coming week then do check out redletterdays.co.uk as you´re sure to find the ideal gift for someone and perhaps an event that you´d enjoy doing yourself.

Computer Articles 2007