| Rather than cramming in birthday present shopping into | | | | drink, how about their favourite tipple in a special |
| your lunch hour, or a busy Saturday morning, go online | | | | presentation box, complete with an individualised label? |
| before you do anything else. Thanks to the Internet, | | | | There are plenty of sites which do this - with |
| you can visit several online stores in minutes - at a | | | | champagne or lowland malt whisky, for example. |
| time and place to suit you - it never closes! | | | | If you're buying for an older person, perhaps for a |
| With many shopping sites offering free delivery, and | | | | sixtieth or seventieth birthday, they may appreciate a |
| web-based companies having cheaper overheads, | | | | personalised box from the 1950s, with genuine ration |
| you should find you can save money and time by | | | | books and adverts, to take them back to their youth. |
| logging on. You'll have access to a greater selection of | | | | Or it maybe that you'd rather buy someone a |
| original birthday gifts than you could possibly find by | | | | once-in-a-lifetime experience rather than a tangible gift. |
| traipsing around the shops yourself, and sites are often | | | | If so, you can find all manner of amazing days out |
| able to deliver at short notice, so it's not a problem if | | | | online, whether you want to send someone on a |
| you've left your gift buying until the last minute. | | | | balloon flight, or give them the chance to sky-dive or |
| The Internet can spark ideas that you'd never have | | | | drive a racing car. Perhaps a day of luxurious |
| dreamt up yourself. Just type the words 'unusual | | | | pampering at a spa would be just the thing? Online you |
| birthday present' into a search engine, and you'll find | | | | can find a fantastic range of all these kinds of special |
| inspiration. Equally, if you know what you want but are | | | | treats. |
| struggling to track it down, you'll increase your chances | | | | Another idea if you're stuck for inspiration for a |
| of finding it by going online. | | | | present is to give to a charity that will spend the |
| The web is also a great place to find a truly | | | | money on, say, a goat or some equipment for a |
| personalised present, surely the key to finding the | | | | community in a developing country. This has been a |
| perfect original birthday gift. There are sites, for | | | | real trend in gift buying in recent years. Many leading |
| example, which will produce an individual newspaper, | | | | aid organisations have online catalogues, showing you |
| with an authentic-looking headline and front page story, | | | | what your money can buy. For the person who |
| tailored to the birthday boy or girl. Or how about | | | | already has everything, this could be the perfect |
| ordering a newspaper from the recipient's birth date? | | | | solution. |
| Other sites will write a song about the person based | | | | For anyone looking for an eco-friendly unusual birthday |
| on information you supply, or allow you to name a star | | | | present, you can also use the Internet to find |
| or a flower, and it doesn't get much more personal | | | | everything from 'green gadgets' to solar-powered |
| than that! | | | | mobile phones. |
| If the person you are buying for enjoys an occasional | | | | |