May is a chocka month for birthdays – and there’s so much to choose from! Maybe it’s because I’m still recovering from my lack of sweet stuff over Lent that I’ve become obsessed with baking and can’t stop finding presents relating to food.

And because I have so many birthday gifts to buy next month I’ve got to buy cheap gifts and stick to my budget of pressies under £10.

I’ve a friend who loves baking and decorating gingerbread cookies around Christmas time – but she definitely needs some practice.

She also happens to be fluent in Russian and has a penchant for martial arts so imagine my glee when I find the perfect gift.

Cookie cutters in the shape of Ninjabread Men. Quirky, cute and cheap – just the kind of gift I like!

Plus she can now get practicing icing those cookies for christmas time – after all it’s only 8 months away…

Buy Ninjabread Men Cookie Cutters for just £6.10 from Amazon.co.uk

This year there’s a great mix of characters new and old such as Fireman Sam, Elmo and Star Wars. You’ll also find a mix of technology based toys, soft toys and good old fashioned board games.

Here are the Top 12 Dream Toys for Christmas 2011

Kidizoom Twist
Discover who’s the David Bailey in your family with this camera designed just for kids

Moshling Treehouse
A dolls’ house shaped like a tree for Moshin Monsters to hide and play in

Ninjago Lego Fire Temple
Plastic Lego bricks clash with Japanese dragons and ninja warriors this christmas

Fijit Friends
Imagine a Teletubby crossed with a furby and you have a joke-telling, dancing Fijit

Star Wars Ultimate Force Tech Lightsaber
May the force be with you…

Monster High Lagoona’s Hydration Station
Barbie meets Buffy

Fireman Sam Pontypandy Multi Rescue Set
Be a hero with a welsh accent

Doggie Doo Game
Scoop that poop – and make it fun!

LeapPad Explorer
A kid-friendly computer – tablet style

Milky the Bunny
Your very own electronic pet

Let’s Rock Elmo
Join Elmo’s rock band and make some music

Nerf Vortex Nitron Blaster
Protect your territory with the latest multi-disc blaster. It’s their fastest one to date

The Lego brand continues to take over the Christmas Toy list as it has done for the past few years.

This years Lego offering focuses on their popular Ninja range. The Japanese style Fire Temple comes complete with Lord Garmadon and his ghoulish skeleton army. Boo! Hiss!

Amazing Amazon sell the Lego Ninjajo Fire Temple for £61.99. You may even get free UK delivery.

The action-packed set is recommended for kids from 8 upwards because it has small parts and minifigures.

It includes 7 minifigures:

• Sensei Wu
• Zane
• Kai
• Nya
• Lord Garmadon
• Samukai
• Kruncha

An impressive range of weapons:

• scythe of quakes
• nunchucks of lightning
• shurikens of ice
• Dragon sword of fire
• 3 golden swords
• 2 silver swords
• 3 black swords
• 2 daggers
• spear
• thunderbolt
• bone axe
• staff

And the fire dragon looks totally spectacular!

The temple splits in half so you can transport your play figures inside – I reckon it’s well worth £61.99 for some role-playing, imaginative lego fun.

Buy the Lego Ninjajo Fire Temple from Amazon.co.uk and get free UK delivery.

The Moshi Monsters don’t sound like they live in a treehouse, but apparently they do! It’s essentially a plastic dolls house in the shape of a tree. The collectible Moshi Monsters live in their own little hollow in the tree branches but behind the greenery they have a hidden playroom.

It’s easy enough for an 8 year old to assemble and looks like it’d amuse any child with an imagination.

The cheapest place I’ve found the Moshling Treehouse for sale online is at Amazon for £20.

There’s even a working basket for the critters to travel up and down in and an exclusive Roxy Moshlin included – the perfect companion and place to store all the other little monsters you’ve been collecting.

You can get the Moshin Monsters Moshling Treehouse from Firebox.com for £19.99 with Free Delivery but it’s not in stock and needs to be pre-ordered.

Your kids’ll go snap happy with the Kidizoom Twist. It’s an easy-to-use, robust camera for kids so no need to worry about getting Petit Filous all over your real one!

The 2 megapixel camera has a twisting lens which lets them take self portraits but it also records and has a games function. Sounds like it’ll keep someone occupied over the festive season and beyond!

Buy the Kidizoom Twist Camera from Firebox.com for £47.99 with free delivery.

There’s a choice of editing and special effects such as framing and voice changing effects and it can store up to 500 pictures (256MB memory).

They can be uploaded to the home computer and shared between family and friends. The next decision will be which colour do you choose; pink or blue?

See if you have a young David Bailey in your family – buy the Kidizoom Twist Camera for £47.99 from Firebox.com.

Highlights include:

• 2 megapixel camera
• 4x digital zoom
• Records film
• In built flash
• Twisting lens
• Dual viewfinder
• Colour screen
• 5 games to choose
• Add different visual effects
• Voice changing effects
• Robust, plastic body
• Kiddy size buttons that are easy to handle
• 256MB internal memory which can hold up to 500 pictures

There are 4 Fijit Friends. Sage, Logan, Serafina and Willa. They’re cute, plastic, active toys that’ll more than likely become your childs best friend – and you won’t have to worry about them letting off stink bombs in the house.

These all-singing, all-dancing and all-giggling toys are like mini robots and you can have your very own Fijit from Amazon.co.uk for £41.25.

They respond to voices making them fun interactive toys to play with and look like a Furby crossed with a Teletubby.

My particular favourite is Willa – just because she’s purple and that’s my favourite colour.

Engaging and entertaining they’ll dance when music is played to them, recognise your voice and talk back to you. They also have a repertoire of up to 150 jokes

A fun present for anyone aged 6 or over – just get stocked up on the batteries, they each take 5 x AA’s!

Buy a Fijit Friend for £41.25 from Amazon.co.uk

See what the hype is all about

The staple Lightsaber makes a welcome return on the list this year. This new and improved weapon has super duper light and sound effects and still continues to delight Star Wars fans from all decades!

To activate the lightsaber and become a Jedi simply press a button to light up the handle. Nifty little motion sensors will then trigger the special sound effects when swung around – sorry – used in battle.

If this is on your little boys wish list I can guarantee the whole family will be playing it by lunch time on Christmas Day.

It’ll swish, swoosh and snap to recreate your favourite Star Wars film fight scenes to great effect. You’ll wonder how you ever survived without one.

It comes with the 3 AA batteries it needs to power up – just make sure you’ve got a plentiful supply in over Xmas as this toy is gonna get used a lot!!

Buy your very own Star Wars Lightsaber for £39.99 from the ultimate boys toys website – Firebox.com

It took me a while to figure out what this dream Christmas toy was all about, but after a little research I’ve discovered that Lagoona (full name; Lagoona Blue) is a character from the fictional school Monster High. And Lagoona has got herself on this years Top 12 Wanted list.

It’s a line of fashion dolls that have been created. Imagine Barbie dressed as Morticia Adams and you get the idea.

The complete Monster High: Lagoona Hydration Station is £39.29 from Play.com

Lagoona Blue comes from down under the sea and therefore has an Australian accent. Neptuna is her pet – a pink piranha fish – who she carries around everywhere in a fishbowl purse. Where else!

She loves to be in water and requires her hydration station to avoid drying out. So not only do you get Lagoona and her hydration station, this set also comes with her pet Neptuna, a water bottle and a ‘monsterizer’ bottle.

Monster High is using the popularity of the vampire and fantasy phenomenon of the past few years but they do look great – and are no different to the Barbie and Sindy’s that we’ve grown up with.

Buy the complete Lagoona Hydration Station from Play.com for £39.29

It seems a bit odd to have a plastic multi disaster playset as a 2011 top selling christmas present but this is apparently what the kiddies want, especially when it’s Fireman Sam performing the rescues. And not a kitty cat in sight! Oh – apparently there is.

Open the set and put out the fires with the hose, save Norman when he gets stuck in the railings, and rescue the moggy from the tree! It’s a fun Fireman Sam Rescue set for under £30.

The plastic playset comes complete with the figures and accessories to recreate dramatic rescues if the collapsing roof & floor are triggered. There’s also an assortment of moving disaster features to stir your childs imagination and fulfill their ‘when I grow up I want to be Fireman Sam’ dream.

The set includes:

• Sam figure
• Norman figure
• Cat figure
• tree
• railings
• hose reel
• ladder
• fire bucket
• cones

Get the Fireman Sam Pontypandy Multi Rescue Set & Figures at the reduced price of £28.01 with Free UK Delivery from Amazon.co.uk.

A great gift for all kids over the age of 3.

This has to be one of the most bizarre games I’ve seen! A throw of the dice dictates how often you squeeze your pooches lead after feeding the dog a bone. Each squeeze will push doggie doo (thankfully made from brightly coloured plasticine) from his bottom.

The person holding the lead when the doggie doo plops to the floor has to ‘poop the scoop’ and the first to have 3 piles of poop wins the game.

A fun gift for the family for under £25 – the Doggie Doo game

Watch the Doggie Doo video on YouTube

Designed to teach responsible dog ownership? Who cares – it’s loads of fun and comes complete with hilarious sound effects!

Buy the Doggie Doo game for a reasonable £22.99 from IWOOT aka I Want One Of Those.

Kids can now have their very own tablet to help them improve their computer skills (and play lots of games too!) The LeapPad Explorer is the newest electronic gadget specifically aimed at 4-9 year old kids.

Parents all over the land will be breathing a sigh of relief knowing that their own tablet is safe from the clutches of grubby fingers. It looks cool and yet is practical, sturdy and best of all wipe-clean!

Hours of entertainment are guaranteed with this green and white gadget – and not just for Christmas – but through to 2012 as well. So while the LeapPad Explorer costs £112.99 I reckon it’s a winner.

There’s a built in camera, and a huge entertainment library at their fingertips with over 100 videos, games and books.

It has no 3G or wi-fi capabilities so to go online you’ll need to plug it into a computer – but this means parents can control online use.

So what does it have?

• Multimedia camera
• Built in video camera
• An animation studio
• Access to 100+ games, e-books, videos and apps
• Runs on 4 x AA batteries (not included)

Buy the LeapPad Explorer from Play.com for £112.99 and get free delivery before Christmas.

An electronic pet that’s cute, soft and cuddly but with an element of surprise attached thanks to his random play function that’ll leave you guessing what he’ll get up to next.

He’s totally adorable and you can have him all to yourself for a snip at £44.99. Get Milky The Bunny from Amazon.com.

So what does Milky do?
His eyes, ears and nose can move allowing him to crunch on his carrot, wiggle his ears and have his feet tickled! Watch out though ‘cos after a hard days play he’ll fall asleep and snore!

Milky the snow white Bunny will delight any kid over the age of 2 years. Is it wrong for a 36 year old to want him?

Get your own fluffy white Milky The Bunny from Amazon for £44.99. Delivery is free too making it an even merrier Christmas!

Why not buy batteries with the money you’ll save on free delivery?

Watch the Milky the Bunny advert

Let Elmo rock your world! The coolest muppet of all time is ready to rock your socks off. He comes complete with his own instruments (a tambourine, drum set and microphone) and looks pretty sharp in his rockin’ outfit.

A great Christmas gift for young and old folk as everyone will remember him. What a rock hero!

Even though Elmo can really play why not join in with him and create the ultimate Rock band.

For £69.99 you too could have your very own Let’s Rock Elmo for hours of entertainment.

Buy him from Firebox.com and get Free Delivery.

For kids from 8 to 98, the Vortex Nitron Blaster is the latest in the Nerf range. The battery operated disc blaster has an amazing array of functions for optimum firing power whilst in battle with the enemy.

You can reload faster than ever, shoot quicker than ever with a push of the acceleration trigger and an enviously precise aiming capacity when using the flashing electronic sniper scope.

The ultimate weapon which comes complete with 20 discs but sadly no batteries so don’t forget to get the supplies in!

Get the super duper Nerf Vortex Nitron Blaster for £44.99 from Firebox.com (includes Free Delivery)

Just make sure you’ve got the batteries in plentiful supply for Christmas Day to make sure it’s all action and no tears.

Buy Cheap Adobe Creative Suite 5 Design Premium

Is your mobile phone contract due for renewal soon? Fancy a new phone? Then you can get one that comes complete with a free gift!

The website Mobiles With Free Gifts lets you see at a glance what free phones and gifts you can get with your next mobile contract.

So you get a free phone plus a free gift which will make someone a brilliant Xmas present.

There are deals ranging from £15 to £45 per month so there’s one to match every budget! Go to Mobiles With Free Gifts to see what’s on offer.

You just need to fill in a few details and the letters will be sent out from 1st December 2011. Each letter comes with a sprinkling of magic…

Not that you’ll need to get your kids even more excited about Christmas than they already are, but it’s always nice for them to get something in the post. It’s a same day dispatch so you can be sure of a quick delivery!

I’ll be ordering a couple for my nephews and can’t wait to see the look on their faces.

Find Me A Gift also offer a great range of Christmas Gifts online from stocking fillers to novelty christmas presents for men, women and children.

I’ve been experiencing a recent spate of being late for meetings, buses and even my own deadlines. Last night the light bulb went off in my head and I realised that I’ve become too dependent on my mobile phone (which lives in my handbag) to tell the time. What I actually need to do is start wearing a watch again.

And on my quest to find one I stumbled upon the Watch A Gift website. Despite the puntastic name it actually has some really funky watches sitting comfortably amongst some classic examples too.

This Zebra Bangle Watch for £14.99 is my favourite and would make a great present for my niece this Christmas.

Once I started browsing I discovered they also have some fabulous retro watches and I got to thinking I could actually do most of my 2011 christmas shopping online here. Much better than trawling around the high street shops on foot!

This brilliant Retro TV Screen Leather watch will be great for my brother who is notoriously difficult to buy for because he already has everything.

Mens Retro TV Screen watch for £19.99

and this Multicoloured Plastic Toy Watch for £15.99 will be ideal for my little nephew

All the watches I’ve chosen are within my meagre budget, but they do have some well known brands such as Ted Baker and Sekonda and prices go up to £160 if you have more cash to splash. Plus there’s free delivery on orders over £60.

Go to watchagift.co.uk and get shopping!

Betty Boop is one of my all-time favourite iconic figures. She’s cute and sassy with a retro hairstyle and a stylish wardrobe. What’s not to like about her?

So imagine my delight at discovering a whole new range of Betty Boop gifts and collectables at thebrilliantgiftshop.co.uk. They’ve got a great collection of prints, ornaments, toiletries and a whole heap of other Gifts for Her ideas.

The set contains a 30ml bottle sparkly pink body lotion to make your skin shimmery and soft ready for that night out. Plus the 15ml bottle of Eau de Toilette (EDT) even has a mini Betty Boop sitting demurely atop the lid and will make a great ornament even when the bottle is empty.

This gift set will certainly appeal to plenty of fans. And for just £20 it’s a bargain to boot!

Buy the Betty Boop Gift Set for £20 from the brilliantgiftshop.co.uk

Betty Boop (created by Mr M Fleischer) was first seen in a cartoon in 1930 and has become one of the most popular female cartoon characters in the world alongside Minnie the Mouse and Jessica Rabbit.

She has had many appearances in cartoon strips and on screen including cameos in Popeye the Sailor and Who Framed Roger Rabbit.

I never though I’d get so excited about a shopping bag but it’s definitely on my birthday wish list!

It’s the kind of shopping bag a superhero would use! You can buy the Trolley Dolly Shopper for £27.95 from Prezzy Box.

So what is it?

It’s one big bag that has 18 other bags within it so you can pack all your shopping without having to remember to pack several plastic bags or having to buy a supermarket ‘Bag for Life’ (which are just as wasteful).

The amazement doesn’t end there.

• The inner bags are colour coded to help it easier to pack. So the green bag could be for your fruit and veg, the red one for your meat and the blue one for your freezer items.
• The 8 net bags for fruit and vegetables are also under the Tare weight which means they can be weighed in the bags without affecting the price – very handy!
• The inner bags hold 13kg of shopping including 20 bottles of wine or 30 tins of canned food
• Lots of pockets and zips including a trolley token holder
• You can wash each bag to keep your spotty Trolley Dolly looking spanking brand new for ages

Buy the Trolley Dolly Shopping Bag from www.PrezzyBox.com

For just £9.95 this Personalised Cup Cake Latte Mug could be on its way to your mum ready to put a smile on her face and a slug of caffeine in her body.

It’s a bone china mug which’ll be perfect to present to her on a tray on Sunday morning complete with an indulgent breakfast in bed. Imagine sticky danish pastries, sweet croissants, butter and jam, smoked salmon and scrambled egg bagels and a great big mug of latte. It’s making my mouth water just thinking about it….

The coffee cup comes with a pretty cupcake design on both sides and your personal greeting of up to 20 characters on the front and 60 on the back. Plenty of room to tell Mum how much she means to you.

Buy this Personalised Cup Cake Latte Mug for under a tenner from the good folk at PrezzyBox. You’ll make her day!