Once you get to a certain age, finding Christmas presents for your family and peers becomes far more difficult. When you’re younger, most people have plenty of things they need – whether it’s kids wanting the latest toys or teenagers hoping for a new wardrobe. But as you and the people you know get older, you’ll increasingly find that most people have sorted out the essentials for themselves and this makes it much harder to find them presents they actually want. This is true more than ever when it comes to your parents.

When you’re a child all you need to give your parent for Christmas is a picture you drew yourself or some sweets you saved up to buy, but when you’re all grown up you’ll want to show your appreciation in new ways. If you’re an artistic person you’re slightly ahead of the game, as you’ll be able to give your parents art work no matter what age you are. But if you’re not particularly talented with a pencil, it’s a good idea to turn your attention elsewhere.

With the majority of parents of grown up children tend to have most of the normal bits and pieces they need, many people turn to practical gifts and gadgets as a way to fill the hole. While this can be a great choice if you’ve a real gadget lover in the family, it can be a hard balance to get right. There have been plenty of Christmas days spoiled over the years thanks to a gift wrapped ironing board or trouser press. Steer clear of such presents unless they directly relate to a hobby your parents enjoy or they are gifts you’d enjoy yourself. For example, a flat-screen TV is likely to go down far better than a toaster.

If you’re keen to find presents that won’t end up sitting on a shelf in the hall cupboard, then choosing food or drink can be a great option. Make sure you chose wisely however, as Christmas is a time for enjoying special dishes and treats anyway and you don’t want to buy your folks a bottle of booze or fancy box of chocolates that they’ve already bought to celebrate the occasion themselves. What’s more, you need to be careful that they don’t start sharing their new gift with the whole family -especially if your premium snacks were particularly expensive.

One gift you can be sure your parents won’t be able to ignore or give away is a few nights in a nice hotel. Instead of filling up their house with more bits and pieces, why not consider booking a short break as a Christmas gift that is sure to be a real treat? The price of such a gift can easily be scaled to suit your budget and their tastes, with weekend breaks readily available everywhere from a family hotel in Blackpool to a boutique hotel in Edinburgh.

Whatever kind of present you choose for your parents this year, be sure to pay attention to their reaction when they open it – that way you can take note and be certain you’re one step ahead when it comes to next year.

Most people know how to create a PowerPoint presentation, but many don’t realize that the same presentation can easily be converted into an Animoto video, which can be posted on YouTube and used as a source of video marketing. The following information will identify how this is easily accomplished.

When creating a PowerPoint file I would recommend keeping it small and concise (no more than 12 slides) and ensure your font is fairly large so that it is easily read when the video is being watched. Once you have finished your PowerPoint, save it as a.ppt file (nothing special here–just need to have a copy of it on your computer).

What we are going to do now is to save each slide of our PowerPoint as an image–the easy way. Create a folder on your desktop where your images can be saved. Open your PowerPoint file and then go to File>Save As>Other Formats or in the File>Save As dialog box choose GIF Graphics Interchange Format (*.gif).

Note: Make sure you are saving the *.gifs into the folder created earlier.

Click the Save button in PowerPoint and the images will be saved inside the folder that you created–you will now have 10-12 images saved.

If you haven’t already, create a free account on Animoto. Choose to create a video on Animoto, select a free background. A preview of the background will display. Click the link that says, “make a 30-second video for free.” You only need a free video to use, but you can pay if you would like a longer video.

The video interface will display. Click the Upload Images button and point it to the folder where you saved your PowerPoint *.gif images. You may need to adjust the arrangement of your images in Animoto–you can even add slides, if necessary. Select or upload the music for your video.

Click the Finalize button and you will be given the opportunity to enter information about your video.This is where you can enter SEO terms and other variables to help your video to be used for video marketing. Once finished click the Create Video button. Once the video has been created you can choose to export the video to YouTube. Once in YouTube you can add additional information useful for SEO and video marketing.

All in all, this process takes 5 minutes or less, but is very effective. For help with this or for more information, please feel free to visit our website or send us an email.

Are you stuck for good birthday present ideas? This happens all the time because we never know what the person has or hasn’t got already. Here are seven (7) great birthday present ideas that you can be pretty sure they probably don’t have:

1. Digital picture frames. These have only been recently been introduced in the last year or so and are starting to gain in popularity. You can download the pictures for them and all of their family and friends so they are on it already when you give. If you are at a party, take some pictures then and put them on. Great way to personalize them.
2. Personalized plates. This one is more for the younger person (or older person). Your own one of a kind present with your choice of background, font, font colour & symbol in the middle if one is desired. Kids seem to really appreciate this one as it gives them a sense of ownership.
3. Custom jigsaw puzzles. They are made from your own snapshots, personalized holiday greetings, children’s name puzzles and more! As one of our birthday gift ideas, this one is interactive and keep the gift receiver busy for a while.
4. Name a star. Have you ever heard of anyone getting a star named after them? There are Star Registries that sells gift packages that sell certificates for the person you are dedicating them to by date and telescopic coordinates of the star. One of the more romantic birthday present ideas.
5. Customised toys – this is the way of the future in toys. Toys like; Styled by Me Barbie, Create Your Own Steiff Bear, Elmo Knows Your Name and Make Your Own Maclaren stroller. For all these toys you can personalize just the way you like.
6. Personalised sneakers – you can design and personalize more than 100 shoes by choosing from hundreds of colours and styles for laces, soles, thread and shoe fabric combinations. You can even put your own name or saying on the back of the shoe. One of the most popular sites to do this on is Nike.
7. Custom Figurines – as birthday present ideas these are great. Using your photo for reference, a professional sculpture will create a custom caricature figurine in your likeness. The figurines are about 5 inches tall and are made of a fine polymer clay resin that are sculpted with tiny tools. They are then hand painted with expert finesse to make them look like you. One of the really fun birthday present ideas.

Hopefully one of these birthday present ideas will inspire you to find something that’s suited to the person you’re buying for. If not, you can always resort to a cheesy gift voucher – oh wait, you can get those customised too!