Which is the correct wine glass to use with my chosen wine?

There are a whole host of wine glasses and wines available on the market, which makes it fairly difficult for you and me to know which glass complements each wine and why, because they don’t tell you on the back of the wine bottle, do they?

Every wine glass has the same flower-shaped design with the three vital components: the base, which holds the glass upright, the stem which allows you to hold the glass without transferring body heat directly to the wine in the glass and finally the body, which is the part specially shaped dependant upon the flavours and aromas of the wine which is presented in it. It is usual for wine glasses be made of crystal or other similar thin glass material, because thick glass is thought to have a negative impact upon the taste of wine. All wine glasses are designed to direct the wine they have been made for into the senses in the mouth where the flavours and textures will be most appreciated.

There are many types of wine glasses, however generally; only four glasses are actually needed.

Red Wine Glasses

Red wine glasses are normally taller and wider, so the complex flavours of the wine can be fully enjoyed. There are two main red wine glasses. Firstly, you have the wine glass for the Bordeaux wine varieties, which has been created for the rich, full bodied wines including Cabernet and Merlot. The large bowl shaped body of the glass allows the wine to breathe once poured and enhances the rich aromas. As the glass is very tall, there is less angle needed when the lip of the glass touches the mouth, hence the wine hits the back of the tongue, where the “bitter” taste buds sit, which complement these types of red wine.

A Burgundy glass is also recommended for other red wines, such as the full bodied Pinot Noir grape. This burgundy glass is slightly larger than the Bordeaux glass and the body of this particular glass allows the wine to reach the tip of the tongue where it's the “sweet” taste buds are located.

White Wine Glasses

Generally, white wine glasses are made smaller than red wine glasses in order to allow the wine to stay cooler for longer. If you are drinking a younger crisper white wine, you'll need the lip of the glass to have circumference that's slightly larger than the body of the glass itself. This will ensure the white wine reached the tip and the sides of the tongue, which is where the sweeter taste buds are situated to make the best out of the wines sweetness. Another wine glass will be required for finer wines or more mature wines. The shape of these white wine glasses will be taller and straighter than those required for the younger wines, which will ensure the wine comes into contact fully with the back and sides of the tongue containing the “sour” and “bitter” taste buds.

Rose Wine Glasses

Rose wine glasses as fairly similar to white wine, however the diameter of their lips are just slightly smaller, but their bodies are wider in order to allow the sometimes fruity aromas to better develop on the nose.

Champagne Flutes and Sweet Dessert Wine Glasses

If you feel like increasing your collection to contain a few more wine glasses, consider a couple of champagne flutes. Champagne flutes have a tall and thin body, which ensures the bubbles build up correctly. Sweet dessert wines, such as Eiswein, require smaller glasses that allow the liquid to make direct contact with the oral cavity making sure the sweetness does not overwhelm the whole tongue in order to limit the flavour to the parts of the mouth where it has the most impact.

A small note to add at the end is that unless you are a wine enthusiast, there is really no need to have numerous glasses for each types of wine. Many wine lovers use one of the seven main wine glasses outlined above, but if you just enjoy drinking wine, you could get away with having one wine glass for each colour. The important thing is to gain enjoyment and pleasure from drinking wine to give you satisfaction.

How to make personalised chocolate - www.winegifts4u.co.uk shows you how to make personalised chocolate using our personalised chocolate section on the website.

How to use wine accessories - www.winegifts4u.co.uk shows you how to use wine accessories the correct way.

How to make a gift bag on a budget? - www.winegifts4u.co.uk shows you how to create a gift bag on a budget.

What will you be buying this christmas?

I heard on our local radio station yesterday, Hereward FM someone wondering when Christmas songs would start being played too, it's still the beginning of November!!! I think the phrase “Christmas has come early” really is true this year, but not in the usual sense of the phrase.

The Telegraph suggests that christmas consumers are beginning their Christmas shopping two weeks earlier than normal this year, due to the credit crunch and recessionary pressures.

(http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/newsbysector/retailandconsumer/3333572/Christmas-shopping-starts-early-as-cost-conscious-consumers-plan-festive-spending.html)

For example, Christmas shopping sprees have already started, so far this morning I've seen a blog about two friends who have been to Birmingham this week for christmas gift buying and it's only November. I've spoken to a couple of friends on the phone who have decided they're going into town today to see what's around so they can start budgeting and sales for Christmas gifts on our website have already started coming in... (the first one this year was recorded on 7th September!) It seems like although people are cutting down on buying extravagant things like cars and houses this year during the current economic climate, will they be also cutting down on expensive christmas gifts too?

This years predicted biggest selling christmas toys include; 'The Baby Born with Magic Potty' (£25 - £39), 'Elmo Live' (£52-59), 'Star Wars Clone Trooper Voice Changer Helmet' (£22-£35) and 'Biscuit My Lovin Pup' (£129-£159). The prices range from £22-£159, which in terms of budgets can work out as quite expensive. Obviously, advertising and other children will have a huge impact on the toys your children will “expect” this Christmas. Perhaps you can invest in other, thoughtful and lasting gifts for other members of your family and friendship groups in order to save costs on your christmas shopping this year?

I put in christmas gifts into Google and was confronted with 9,090,000 websites related to christmas gifts... that's a lot. I'm sure many of them are offering the same gifts at different prices and others are offering fabulous, affordable gifts but won't ever be found by consumers. I have made a list of good places to get wine and chocolates before, but the following links make really interesting thoughtful gifts that you may never have even though of...!

This website offers recycled gifts that you can give as christmas gifts :

http://www.bynature.co.uk/erol.html#50517x0&&http%3A%252F%252Fwww.journalism.co.uk%252F66%252Farticles%252F532721.php

How about getting a concert or gig ticket? http://www.ticketmaster.co.uk/ you're sure to make memories and collect some great photos, you could make a day of it... take a picnic, go window shopping and then go to your concert, show or football match. It makes great gift ideas for him and for her.

http://www.winegifts4u.co.uk offers a selection of gifts for children and adults alike including engraved gifts which can be kept forever; money boxes, photo frames, ales and beer can all be engraved at affordable prices. We also offer a selection of fun drinking games to keep you busy over the festive christmas period with friends and family. As well as a range of experience gifts, wine and champagne christmas gift sets.

I think children will always want the “hot” toys of the times, which often tend to be expensive, this is mainly due to advertising and peers. However, I think people could perhaps begin purchasing more thoughtful, lasting gifts for their friends and other relatives, it's just a case of thinking about what these gifts could be..., some of the links offered give the christmas shopper another perspective, so they have the option.

According to The Telegraph, 'Experts, believe a sharp downturn in Christmas spending is unlikely as Britons seek festive cheer and family comfort after months of depressing economic news.' I agree. What do you think?

Gifts with photos and images including engraved photo gifts

It was only a few years ago that we took pictures on hand held cameras using camera film, which had to be sent away to be processed. Now, we are living in a world where everything can be viewed and digitally processed in seconds using technology.

At one point, in the fairly recent past after polaroid cameras, there were those cameras with film, which to be honest I had almost forgotten about. You couldn't see the photos you had taken the same day (and in some cases even in the same week) because the film would have to be sent off to a lab and paid for to be processed, before you could actually have the pictures in front of you. Today, with digital cameras and high quality and resolution phone cameras this process is a distant memory, photos can now be viewed instantaneously, deleted and more can be taken. Processing photos has also become much easier; they can be printed in photo booths found in shops, supermarkets, chemists and online to name but a few.

These quality digital images can now be transferred and used to create special presents and unique gifts. The market with photo gifts has now exploded both in shops and on the internet as new gift ideas are available on the market place all the time for consumers to purchase. Types of products include photo engraved gifts, photo t shirts, personalised photo mugs, key rings and a whole load of other presents are available to choose from.

Engraved Photo Gifts

The photo or image is taken from a digital source and engraved onto an engravable gift via an engraving machine, in this case a metazza, for example using carbon rods, which etch into the surface of the metal. The detail achieved via the engraving machine is fantastic. The final product looks like news print and the engraved photos and images look absolutely fantastic engraved on the silver engravable gift surfaces. You can engrave text, as well as company logos creating fabulous, affordable yet premium looking gifts, which make super presents for him and for her as christmas presents and birthday gifts.

5 Steps to engraving an engravable clipper lighter for christmas gifts:

Step 1: Choose engravable gift – in this case, we have chosen a silver clipper lighter

Step 2: Select a digital photograph

Step 3: Using the engraving software we open the selected image and place it in the correct position on the template for the engravable image on the computer.

Step 4: Place the chosen engravable gift in the correct position on the engraving machine and click on print button to begin “etching”.

Step 5: Wait until the engraved gift has been engraved, remove it from the clamp to reveal your luxury engraved gift.

You can find a whole range of engravable gifts by clicking : http://www.winegifts4u.co.uk/engraved_gifts.php?catid=10

Waiter's Friend - How to use one...

What is a waiter's friend?

A waiter's friend is merely a corkscrew, an intrument used for removing stopping corks from wine bottles. Generally, a waiter's friend consists of a pointed metallic helix, referred to as the "worm", which is attached to a handle. The user grips the handle and screws the metal point through the centre of the cork, entwining the cork and corkscrew so that moving one moves the other. A waiter's friend can also be referred to as a sommelier knife as it is shaped in a folding body similar to a pocket knife. An arm extends to brace against the lip of the bottle for leverage when removing the cork, this is known as the fulcrum. Some waiter's friends have two steps on the lever, and often also a bottle opener. A small hinged knife blade is housed in the handle end for removing the foil surrpounding the neck of many wine bottles.

How do I use it?

(If the wine bottle lacks a hood or foil covering its neck and cork, move on to the next paragraph.)
Firstly, remove the foil with the retractable knife. The safest way to do this is to open the blade and lay the handle on the palm-up hand across the base of the fingers, with the blade tip pointing in the same direction as and the blade edge pointing towards the outstretched thumb. Grip the handle firmly with the fingers, then turn the palm down and place the neck of the bottle between the thumb and the knife edge. The knife should be under the bottle's drip ridge. Squeeze the bottle neck with enough pressure to cut the foil and use the other hand to rotate the bottle one full turn. Use the point of the blade to separate and discard the cap from the remainder of the foil, which stays on the bottle. Finally, remember to close the blade! Plastic hoods usually require more pressure than tin or aluminum hoods and some wine bottles will have a pull-strip to assist in the hood's removal, although these don't always work.

To remove the cork, open the "worm". Although old wisdom says not to penetrate through the opposite end of the cork in order to avoid getting cork pieces in the wine, nevermind. Size does matter; so does sharpness. A long, sharp wire helix worm will neatly pierce even a dry cork without breaking off pieces and is guaranteed to grip and remove the cork whole.

Put the point of the worm in the centre of the cork. Do not worry too much about aligning the worm parallel to the bottle's neck. It is more important to get the worm centered on the cork. As the worm is turned into the cork in a clockwise direction, it will begin to right itself as it goes deeper. You need to stop when there is only one turn of the worm. Bend the handle-lever down to allow opening the fulcrum. Place the fulcrum's notch on the edge of the bottle and, on the hand gripping the bottle, use the index finger to hold the fulcrum to the bottle, you can use the other hand to lift the handle-lever and raise the cork about one-half inch. Turn the screw that last turn and finish lifting and removing the cork.

That's all there is to it... the next part's much easier, pour and enjoy!

Winner of Lincolnshire Free Business Press Awards - Best Use of Technology 2008

www.WineGifts4U.co.uk wins the Best Use of Technology Awards at the Lincolnshire Free Press Business Awards for the second year running. The website, which allows customers to 'design your own wine labels' by uploading images, pictures and personalised messages to create original and special personalised gifts as well as personalised champagne, personalised ales, design your own mugs, personalised t shirts, engraved gifts and personalised wooden gift boxes among a massive range of other gift ideas. Installing a central server and advanced broadband has improved productivity by 500% in the last two years. The family business has embraced technology in other ways, by using Web 2.0 technologies, Search Engine Optimisation and MP4 video files to get the website where it is today. Over Christmas, www.WineGifts4U.co.uk realises with the current economic climate as it is, it will be difficult for christmas gift shoppers to get all the gifts they want with all the trimmings on a budget, so the company has begun and will continue to put together a range of christmas based videos including 'How To Gift Wrap A Wine Bottle', 'Christmas Gift Shopping On A Budget and Time Constraint' and 'How To Make A Gift Bag' all with the aim of helping save a little bit of cash over the coming festive period.

For more information view the links the below from the Lincolnshire Freepress:

http://www.spaldingtoday.co.uk/news/Free-Press-Business-Awards-.4580418.jp
http://www.spaldingtoday.co.uk/news/Best-Use-of-Technology-winner.4585600.jp

How to gift wrap a bottle - www.winegifts4u.co.uk

Christmas presents & gift ideas, how to avoid the mad rush with a few online gift store

Christmas is still a few months away, but it's almost September and as soon as the sales end the shops are going to be kitted out with their christmas ranges. Chocolates, cards and plenty of treats will be available for the festive celebrations, which consequently means time to start thinking about what christmas gifts to get for Auntie Sally, the next door neighbour and your third cousin's children!

Are you fed-up of wasting time buying the same old things; socks, smellies, ties and chocolates? If you feel like having a change for Christmas 2008 and wish to avoid spending hours and hours in queues, pushing past people trying their best to find unique and original gifts, but at the same time trying to get it all over with as soon as possible , why not try buying Christmas presents online?

Purchasing christmas gifts for friends and family needn't wait until Christmas Eve! You can bypass the queues, put your feet up and even drink cup of tea whilst browsing leisurely the array of online stores offering special, original and personalised christmas gifts from today.

To lead you upto Christmas, you might need some chocolate advent calendars, I'd recommend Sweet Temptations (www.chocolateadventcalendars.co.uk) who have a wide range of fairtrade chocolate advent calendars. Or, for something a little more upmarket, try (www.storkgifts.co.uk/ginatadventcalendar.htm) for a giant felt advent calendar with Christmas decorations and pockets, guaranteed to make any house look festive over the Christmas period.  

A surprise gift often loses all meaning, especially if the recipient has to trek to an out-of-town post office to collect it. Geneiva Chocolates (www.geneivachocolates.co.uk) and its sister company Hotel Chocolat specialise in chocolates by post. Not only do the firms offer an impressive range of boxed chocolates, the special chocolate postal packs have been designed to fit through a standard letterbox.

You can give chocolates for every occasion under the sun, and perhaps you have?! It's now time to try something different, if this will be you're first time ordering online, you might as well continue with the theme! Why not try looking at personalised gifts, as really special gift ideas? Find a unique christmas gift for each member of the family and all your friends, at affordable prices, which won't break the bank!

Flowers: Obviously, you've got Interflora, who you know are probably going to do a great job at getting your flower gifts delivered, but other online florists who also deserve a mention include (www.flowersdelivereduk.com), they do some amazing personalised roses! You can choose silk roses or fresh roses to add your personalised message onto and (www.serenataflowers.com), they have a fab range of flowers, often with some good deals.

Will you be, or have you been invited to someone's house over the festive season or a you looking for a wonderful looking group gift? Hampers are a wonderful gift idea, they can contain an assortment of food, condiments and treats, and the container itself is often highly desirable. Good quality hampers needn't cost the earth, either. Harrods (www.harrods.co.uk), for example, have hampers from as little as £30. Thorntons www.thorntons.co.uk, also offer a Corporate Christmas Party Box which is filled with party poppers, indoor sparklers, balloons and wine as well as delicious snacks, such as chocolate, turkish delight, toffee, fudge, truffles and even a model chocolate santa and Rudolph. It's a beautifully-designed gift idea!

Alcoholic gifts are well received at any time, especially Christmas and most suppliers have a price range which is flexible enough to suit any budget. Specialist firms despatch everything from a single bottle of wine to cases of top Champagne costing many thousands of pounds. (www.sparklingdirect.co.uk) have a brilliant range of champagne, cristal champagne and champagne gift packs.
(www.WineGifts4U.co.uk) also do a great range of personalised gifts including personalised wine gifts, personalised champagne, engraved gift ideas, personalised ale, teddy bears, design your own mugs and design your own t shirts. Perhaps this could be a one-stop shop to get everyone's Christmas presents from this year?
Looking for something slightly more adventurous? Try (www.intotheblue.co.uk) who offer a superb range of exhilaration day gifts, day's out and experience days. 

How to find last minute Christmas gifts on a budget and on a time constraint for Christmas 2008

Christmas is always a stressful time, especially if you leave your Christmas shopping until the 24th December. Christmas 2008 can be different (even if you’re one of these people who leave your gift purchasing until the last minute!). This article aims to show how you can find Christmas gifts both on a budget and on a time constraint.

Obviously, you can buy gifts online up until the last working day before Christmas, if you are willing to pay exorbitant postage and packaging charges for same day delivery. However, if you’d rather save on p&p  you probably want to skip this option…!

For those of you who have left your Christmas 2008 shopping until  the very last minute, but don't mind being old fashioned and doing some hands-on shopping, the first thing to do is get hold of a copy of your local shopping centre’s layout plan, this can be done by visiting the shopping centre or printing a plan directly from the shopping centre’s website. This means you will be able to get a rough idea together of what kind of Christmas presents you will need and which shops you will have to go to, to get them. Having a game plan ready before you hit the shops is hopefully going to limit the time you’ll be spending in the shopping centre, simultaneously reducing your stress levels!

Another excellent money busting tip is to see if you can get vouchers from online stores to spend in the high street shops. Check out, www.latestdiscountvouchers.co.uk for some great offers and discounts.

Take a look at the sales racks in stores, especially clothes shops and electrical goods stores which usually have a section dedicated to sales. Sales items can always make great gifts at the same time as saving cash. If you’ve budgeted £30 for your sister’s Christmas present, but find a brilliant gift that was £30 and is now reduced to £15, you’ve found yourself a bargain! (And that doesn’t mean that you need to spend that extra £15 on finding another gift for her, nope just put it towards the “you” fund!)

Bookshops, especially used bookstores are fabulous for finding budget Christmas gifts. Used book stores have a whole array of books as well as cd’s and some even have new dvd’s, which would all make fantastic christmas gift ideas for everyone.
Another fantastic idea for Christmas 2008 to go with your christmas  gifts would be christmas cards, however the nicer ones are fairly expensive and are normally just thrown out in January. A lovely idea that can save you some money would be to purchase postcards instead of standard christmas cards which relate to the person you are giving the gift and/or card to. It's a more special way of presenting a gift and seems like you have really taken the time to think about the gift recipient as opposed to picking any christmas card off the shelf. If you're looking in the right places, such as in a used book store, you should be able to get at least five postcards for the price of one decent christmas card.

So, we have covered cards, gifts and discounts. Hopefully, you will find some fantastic bargains this Christmas even if you've left your christmas gift shopping until the very last minute!

Please Note: www.WineGifts4U.co.uk are sending out affordable and original christmas gifts including personalised christmas wine, personalised christmas champagne gifts, personalised engraved christmas gifts and personalised christmas ales (amongst other unique and special personalised christmas gift ideas) until 1pm on 23rd December 2008 on a next day delivery service at an extra p&p charge of £5. Order earlier though to ensure you have the perfect gift ready to wrap before 24th December 2008! Find our whole range of christmas gifts directly from: http://www.winegifts4u.co.uk/christmasgifts.php?catid=97

The Easy Way to Fold a T-Shirt - explained...www.winegifts4u.co.uk

How to fold a t-sirt easily - explained.

The Easy Way To Fold a T-Shirt

This video shows an easy way to fold a t-shirt.

Mugs Down Trick - this video can also be viewed on www.youtube.com

This is a trick - how to get three mugs facing down on the table in three moves, ensuring that each move involves two mugs. A bit of fun at www.winegifts4u.co.uk!

Gifts - Do you think people will ever stop giving them?

Albert Einstein - 'The value of a man resides in what he gives and not in what he is capable of receiving.' In the early part of the 20th Century, Einstein (1879 - 1952) believed that giving was better than receiving, but do people in the 21st Century agree?

Traditionally, in the UK people give gifts and presents as a way of congratulating someone on a special achievement, such as passing a driving test, graduating or having a baby. Presents are also given on occasions, such as birthday's, wedding anniversaries and at Christmas time. Gift giving can be an expensive business for the gift giver, but can be a rewarding career for gift companies and greeting card companies. In recent times, the market has noticed some amount of change, coming from what can only be classed as, 'recessionary pressures'; reduced disposible incomes and higher expenses in the form of living costs and fuel costs all play a major role.

As part of working for an online web business selling personalised gifts and other gifts ideas (www.WineGifts4U.co.uk), it is always necessary to keep in mind the current economic climate and potential future environmental changes. A question that came to mind to ask the general public(who are after all the buyers of gifts) was, 'will people ever stop giving gifts?'. I posted the question onto a couple of forums to get the opinion of buyers of gifts - would they ever stop buying gifts for friends and loved ones? especially in these times of 'recessionary pressures'.

At Christmas, which is coming around very soon, many of us get into lots of debt, trying to find the coolest, most up-to-date presents for our loved ones, especially presents for children. The amount of toys and gadgets available for children is absolutely mind blowing and at the same time can be ludicrously expensive if you think about the amount of money a Wii costs, for example. Somebody once said, 'Christmas is the season when you buy this year's gifts with next year's money.' A member of the forum posted her thoughts and opinions, she recounted having seen times when the economy was in a terrible state and everyone said, "I am cutting down this year" or "I can’t afford to spend so much on such & such" but, yet every special occasion there were many gifts and lots of cards, suggesting that no matter what, people will always give gifts and cards.

From the information collated, the outlook as a general consensus was that people will always give gifts, as it is a wonderful way of showing you care. There are still a number of methods which can be employed to reduce the costs of buying gifts or making the gifts you give seem special:

A Gift Closet

Buy gifts throughout the year, gifts which are on sale, a bargain, or just a good idea. Have a place where you can store these gifts and when a special occasion, or a birthday comes around choose something from your 'gift closet' to give. This will reduce costs as well as the stress of having to find something last minute and also, if you forget a particular occasion, you will always have something on hand.

Design Your Own Gifts

This is a particularly effective method of gift giving. You can create your own gifts by spending time and effort, which will be noted by the recipient. Buying gifts can be a fairly easy and effortless task, especially if you buy online (a few clicks and most of the time the gift lands on your doorstep). If you make your own however, it can be a little cheaper and shows you have put alot of thought into the gift.

Personalised Gifts

Give personalised gifts. There is a whole array of personalised gifts on offer, it is another way of finding gifts at affordable prices as well as showing people that you have thought about what you are giving.

So, it seems that people in the 21st Century will not stop giving gifts. Giving gifts is a way of showing that you care about the person the gift is being given to, as well as the special achievement or the special occasion that is being celebrated no matter what the economic climate or the world's finances, the only thing that might vary is the type of gifts that are given.

Something a little bit different...

We at WineGifts4U are not only interested in original and exciting gifts but we are always on the lookout for something a little bit different.

Take these ants for instance these were spotted by Asgar Dungarwalla while on a day out with his neices to the local butterfly park!

Christmas presents & gift ideas, how to avoid the mad rush with a few online gift stores

Christmas is still a few months away, but it's almost September and as soon as the sales end the shops are going to be kitted out with their christmas ranges. Chocolates, cards and plenty of treats will be available for the festive celebrations, which consequently means time to start thinking about what christmas gifts to get for Auntie Sally, the next door neighbour and your third cousin's children!

Are you fed-up of wasting time buying the same old things; socks, smellies, ties and chocolates? If you feel like having a change for Christmas 2008 and wish to avoid spending hours and hours in queues, pushing past people trying their best to find unique and original gifts, but at the same time trying to get it all over with as soon as possible , why not try buying Christmas presents online?

Purchasing christmas gifts for friends and family needn't wait until Christmas Eve! You can bypass the queues, put your feet up and even drink cup of tea whilst browsing leisurely the array of online stores offering special, original and personalised christmas gifts from today.

To lead you upto Christmas, you might need some chocolate advent calendars, I'd recommend Sweet Temptations (www.chocolateadventcalendars.co.uk) who have a wide range of fairtrade chocolate advent calendars. Or, for something a little more upmarket, try (www.storkgifts.co.uk/ginatadventcalendar.htm) for a giant felt advent calendar with Christmas decorations and pockets, guaranteed to make any house look festive over the Christmas period.  

A surprise gift often loses all meaning, especially if the recipient has to trek to an out-of-town post office to collect it. Geneiva Chocolates (www.geneivachocolates.co.uk) and its sister company Hotel Chocolat specialise in chocolates by post. Not only do the firms offer an impressive range of boxed chocolates, the special chocolate postal packs have been designed to fit through a standard letterbox.

You can give chocolates for every occasion under the sun, and perhaps you have?! It's now time to try something different, if this will be you're first time ordering online, you might as well continue with the theme! Why not try looking at personalised gifts, as really special gift ideas? Find a unique christmas gift for each member of the family and all your friends, at affordable prices, which won't break the bank!

Flowers: Obviously, you've got Interflora, who you know are probably going to do a great job at getting your flower gifts delivered, but other online florists who also deserve a mention include (www.flowersdelivereduk.com), they do some amazing personalised roses! You can choose silk roses or fresh roses to add your personalised message onto and (www.serenataflowers.com), they have a fab range of flowers, often with some good deals.

Will you be, or have you been invited to someone's house over the festive season or a you looking for a wonderful looking group gift? Hampers are a wonderful gift idea, they can contain an assortment of food, condiments and treats, and the container itself is often highly desirable. Good quality hampers needn't cost the earth, either. Harrods (www.harrods.co.uk), for example, have hampers from as little as £30. Thorntons www.thorntons.co.uk, also offer a Corporate Christmas Party Box which is filled with party poppers, indoor sparklers, balloons and wine as well as delicious snacks, such as chocolate, turkish delight, toffee, fudge, truffles and even a model chocolate santa and Rudolph. It's a beautifully-designed gift idea!

Alcoholic gifts are well received at any time, especially Christmas and most suppliers have a price range which is flexible enough to suit any budget. Specialist firms despatch everything from a single bottle of wine to cases of top Champagne costing many thousands of pounds. (www.sparklingdirect.co.uk) have a brilliant range of champagne, cristal champagne and champagne gift packs.

(www.WineGifts4U.co.uk) also do a great range of personalised gifts including personalised wine gifts, personalised champagne, engraved gift ideas, personalised ale, teddy bears, design your own mugs and design your own t shirts. Perhaps this could be a one-stop shop to get everyone's Christmas presents from this year?

Looking for something slightly more adventurous? Try (www.intotheblue.co.uk) who offer a superb range of exhilaration day gifts, day's out and experience days. 

Christmas gifts are an annual "problem", it can get tiring and expensive, gifts of specialist foods and wines are a great idea, particularly at a time of year when people celebrate with family and friends. The websites and gift ideas offered here, will hopefully make it easier for you to find something extra special for your loved ones this year, taking away unnecessary hassle and tension during a time that's supposed to be full of happiness and good will.  

Anniversary Gifts - Traditionally (August 2008)

Anniversaries soon come around and getting that perfect wedding anniversary gift gets harder and harder! On www.WineGifts4U.co.uk/anniversarygifts.php there is a whole range of personalised anniversary gifts, which we hope will make it easier for you to find that special anniversary present, but the list below also shows you traditional anniversary gifts for the "main" anniversary years. Perhaps you could get a personalised anniversary gift and a traditional anniversary gift too?!

Do you know what you're drinking? - Alcohol and Units (August 2008)

I think many of us have no idea what we are drinking, because the system the UK uses for measuring alcohol in beverages is slightly complicated, so I've put together a helpful and easy to use guide so you can drink safely & responsibly!

The alcohol content of drinks is measured in units, with one UK unit containing eight grams of pure alcohol. Now, you can't just count each drink as one unit of alcohol unfortunately, as the number of units depends on the different strength and size of each drink, so it can vary a lot.

Know Your Units - How do I calculate what I'm drinking?

There's a whole load of alcoholic beverages on offer; wine, fortified liquers, beer, lager, spirits, ready to drink bottles, stout etc and each drink has a different alcohol content, you can see from the examples below just how the unit content of alcholic drinks actually differ...

Small Glass of Wine - 175ml - 12% abv = 2.1 Units

Spirits - 35ml - 40% = 1.4 units

Pint of Standard Beer or Cider - 568ml - 4.1%abv = 2.3 Units

Bottle of Beer or RTD - 275ml - 5% abv = 1.4 Units

To figure out how many units your alcoholic beverage is worth, there's a simple formula:

[Volume (ml) x abv]/1000 = Unit content

Small Glass of Wine - 175ml - 12% abv = 2.1 Units

175ml x 12/1000 = 2.1 Units

Can you guess the units of alcohol for the glasses below?

Click here to find out the answer!

So, what's healthy?

The UK Government advises that men should not regularly drink more than 3 to 4 units per day and women should not take in more than 2 to 3 units each day. Continuously drinking four or more units for men, and three or more for women can lead to progressive health issues, so it is best to stick to the recommended levels!

Drinking and Driving...

The legal drink-drive limit is 80mg per 100 millilitres of blood, but this cannot easily be translated into alcohol units as this measurement can be affected by age, weight, sex and whether food has been eaten, plus a host of other factors. It is therefore (to be safe) best not to drink and drive!

A little interesting fact: Your body breaks down alcohol at a rate of about one unit per hour - and nope, there's no way you can speed this up!

Recessionary pressures in the UK and how small-medium sized businesses can succeed (August 2008)

I rarely listen to the radio (unless I am forced to listen to Radio 2 at work), I never read the papers, and watching the news on television bores me. However, given my lack of interest in current affairs, with no mortgage to pay and limited responsibilities, up until now I wasn't bothered about world news or national issues. Lately though, I can't help but notice the recent dramatic changes in the UK's economic climate.

I work for a company, Vin De Terre Ltd, which established itself eleven years ago as a wholesaler in beers, wines and spirits, supplying shops within a fifty-mile radius of Spalding. This strategy worked fine until 1999, when supermarkets began selling alcohol at cut prices making it very difficult to compete in the market place. Vin De Terre Ltd, therefore diversified into a slightly different market segment, providing a similar service to pubs, clubs and restaurants, which had a very positive influence on profit margins. Since 2005, even this sector has also shown an enormous decline and with the smoking ban in public places taking effect from July 2007, as well as the widespread reduction in disposible incomes the whole pub sector has taken a very big hit.

Being an innovative company, the wholesale business in 2006 decided to find another opportunity of selling goods available from exisiting suppliers, and has since developed and established an online e-commerce website, www.WineGifts4U.co.uk selling personalised wine gifts, wine gifts, which were originally sold in bulk to exisiting restaurant customers within a 50-mile radius of Spalding, Lincolnshire but are now available to individual customers thoughout the UK.

The idea to sell personalised wine online came from a conference, which was attended in 2005 by our Managing Director, Asgar Dungarwalla. A presentation was given by Viking Direct, the stationary supplier, who make a point of personalising all of their customer mailshots in order to create a rapport with their customers by offering a unique selling point, making stationary seem a little more interesting. So, it seems the key to stay in business through these tough time is to be innovative, continuously looking for new ideas to excel within the market place.

Even without taking notice of the media and the situation at work, it is obvious to me that the country's economic situation is fairly delicate at the moment, with recessionary pressures hitting small, medium and large companies as well as the general public; the ever increasing fuel prices are a primary factor. Petrol is now at £1.15 per litre at my local supermarket, and I remember it costing 70 pence per litre not so long ago. Also, over a similar time frame, the cost of a weekly shop has gone from £100 to £150, meaning living costs have been rising sensationally, but my salary hasn't gone up as spectacularly (or at all infact!), leading to a fairly low disposible income left over at the end of the month. Some food producers have seen the cost of key ingredients rise by as much as 300% over the past year, and earnings for major food companies like Kellogg (K) and Kraft (KFT) have taken a hit. Ernest and Young describe the current economic climate as a "horror movie" at risk of turning into a "disaster movie" and Simon Rubinsohn, the RICS's chief economist suggested, "There are no positives out there right now". This is all rather worrying and with the credit cruch too...

What is a "credit crunch" ?

Quite simply, a credit crunch means that banks hold on to the cash they have as tightly as possible, making it harder for people to borrow money. The reason for this is America's mortgage market meltdown, meaning that banks are becoming very wary of whom they lend to. Banks are particularly averse to dealing with hedge funds and other financial institutions that might be exposed to the repackaged sub-prime US loans, which were lent to low income American households. Consequently, the cost of borrowing has risen well above target rates set by institutions like the Bank of England. However, it is still fairly easy to get a mortgage in the UK, if you are a good credit risk. On the whole, those with a lower credit rating are finding it more expensive to borrow, as banks tighten their lending criteria.

The Telegraph UK believes "the economic outlook for the business sector was "grim and ominous" and the downturn could be "longer and nastier" than previously expected." In my opinion, this description is probably very accurate, people still need to make a living though, so companies should try to look at reducing their costs as much as possible as well as changing or improving their exisiting business to cope and survive in these hard economic times.

Personalised Mugs (August 2008)

Personalised Mugs and Design Your Own Mugs - How To Get The Most From Your Designing Your Own Mugs

Obviously, we want you to be happy with your final personalised mug designs, so we have put together a few tips and ideas to help you along the way...(hopefully!)
We believe the three key areas you need to look at before submitting your personalised mugs are photo quality, image size and positioning of personalised message.

Photo Quality:

Uploading a photo or an image onto your personalised mugs is a fairly simple task, using our interactive 'design your own' mug tool, which will take you through all the steps of designing your own mug. The main thing to consider though, in order to get the best out of your personalised mug (and be totally impressed) with the final product is to upload the best quality and sized photo or image.

To get the best image on your personalised mugs, may we suggest that you upload a digital photograph or an image from a modern digital camera, which was set on the high quality or fine setting?

You can upload a scanned image or photo onto your personalised mugs. The quality of this may be slightly reduced, but we are able to do some minor magic, to help you get the best from your image. If you would prefer us NOT to retouch your image or photo at all, please let us know. We won't mind!

Using a photo uploaded from a camera phone may also not bring you the best quality, but if this is the only image you've got, give it a try and we'll see what we can do.
If we think the image or photo you have provided for your personalised mugs just won't work, we'll let you know!

Image Size

You can upload images and personalised messages onto one, the other or both sides of the mugs. Portrait and landscape images are both great, but how great they look on the mug are dependent on whether you would like the same image on both sides or a different image on each side. Portrait and portrait images work really well, but portrait and landscape images don't look so great (but are still possible to do).

We use the whole image on the personalised mugs, so please ensure you want all of the image on the mugs before uploading it. If you need to edit the image before placing it on your personalised mugs, we suggest using Picasa, a free image editing software from google, http://picasa.google.com .

Personalised Message

The message often looks best just above, or just below an image ( this is if you wish to have both an image and text on one or both sides of the personalised mug). If you place the text over the image, it usually doen't work, as it is very hard to read the text. If you are just using text, centering the text on each mug side looks brilliant as does using the largest font size you can to fit the space. Please make sure you can see all of your personalised message before submitting your final personalised mug, because if you can't see the text on the mug on your design, you might not be able to see it on the final product (although again, here we can use a bit of imagination and minor magic!)

We have put together these few tips to help you get the best out of your design your own mug experience. If you have any further questions or queries, please do get in touch, we would be more than happy to help!

Problems with setting up an online business...

About a year ago, www.WineGifts4U.co.uk only offered personalised wine to its customers through the website. Today, the website provides a multitude of personalised gifts available for birthday gifts, wedding anniversary gifts, thank-you gifts and congratulations presents including personalised mugs.

The personalisation of mugs was originally designed to promote our personalised gift items at trade shows and exhibitions; we would take pictures of visitors with our camera, download these images and put them onto the mug on the day as a souvenir for the exhibition visitors.

Many of these visitors asked if we could put messages onto these mugs, for example, ‘Happy Birthday Daddy! Love from your kids’ or ‘I like my tea, white with one sugar please.’ This sparked the idea for us to add personalised mugs onto our website, because it seemed like personalised mugs would make great birthday gifts, father’s day gifts and thank-you gifts.

We now get orders for personalised mugs on a daily basis. You can either ‘design your own’ mug or use one of ‘Our Mug Designs’, which have been specially designed with birthday, anniversary, father’s day and other special events and occasions in mind. Recently, we have had baby scan images and French poetry appearing on the ‘Design Your Own’ mugs created by customers.

Personalised mugs are also ideal for corporate customers, who wish to promote their business in an affordable manner, or as a way of thanking clients for their continued support.

The sublimation process

Creating personalised mugs is an intricate and complex process involving the utilisation of a heat press, sublimation paper and a sublimation ink printer.

We take the personalised mug designed by customers and print them onto sublimation transfer paper through a special printer with sublimation dyes. We then take the print out and size the paper fit to our standard mugs, so that the images and text will look great on the final personalised gift. At this point, we heat the mugs for four minutes at a temperature of 200°C to fuse the sublimation dye to the mug. The mug is then cooled in cold water and then packed up and shipped out to the customer.

Personalised mugs are great gift ideas, try them today.

T shirts – how are the “fashionable” ish ones made?

T-shirts are not a topic of conversation that one might normally spend time discussing, especially since there are much more pressing issues in the world, which certainly warrant more attention, such as cyclone’s in Burma, and news of Royal Mail’s £200m losses.

However, I recently attended a meeting with one of our suppliers in order to understand how t-shirts often found in high street shops bearing witicisms, insults and funky art designs are made.

The t shirt making process (before heat transfer or screen printing) is a relatively simple automated process.

1.The basic t shirt is designed and the dimensions are transferred to patterns.

2.The t shirt material is then cut to the dimensions of the pattern, these pieces can include seperate front and back sections or atubed body, sleeves, perhaps pockets and trim.

3.The pieces are then sewn together. The hems of sleeves are generally finished before they are fitted into the garment, since it is easier to hem the fabric while it is flat. An automated system moves the sleeves to the sewing head by conveyor. The edge may be finished by folding it over, forming the hem and stitching, or by applying a band. The band may be attached as a superimposed seam or folded over the edge as binding.

4.One or more labels are usually attached at the back of the neckline. Labels provide information about the manufacturer, size, fabric content, and washing instructions.

The t shirt is now ready to be designed upon!

There are two main processes which can be used to transfer ink or designs from a computer onto the plain t shirt or garment.

Sublimation

Sublimation itself is a process used to imprint a design or image onto products with a polymer-based surface. First the artwork is designed or scanned into your computer. The design is then printed using sublimation ink onto sublimation transfer paper, and heat applied to the receptive product such as a polyester coated outer tshirt using a heat press. The result is stretchable, extremely durable and can be washed without fading

Screen Printing

The increasing demand for low volume runs of personalised clothing combined with the ease and speed required when producing transfers, make the screen printing an excellent system for the personalisation of clothing.

Used in conjunction with a computer and a heat press, the screen printing can produce single or multiple colour transfers in a wide variety of high performance materials, including floc and flex materials.

The screen printing system allows businesses to produce transfers that can be industrially washed, dry cleaned, tumble dried and ironed, making them ideal for sports, promotional and work wear.

Company’s, individuals and groups of people use personalisation of garments. You only need to go to your local Wetherspoons to see those on a hen party or stag do, or check out your favourite football team playing at the weekend to see how popular and useful personalised garments can be.

So, many of the “fashionable” t shirts found in high street shops bearing funky designs are made using one of the technological processes above. Lucky for us, right? Else we’d all be walking around looking pretty plain and similar!

What everybody ought to know about blogging (April 2008)

As a daily user of the internet for the past ten years or so, I felt ashamed recently, when I was asked to explain to an elderly member of the community what a 'blog' was. I have heard the term thrown about in relation to the web over the last few years, but as I had never used one or knowingly seen one I was stumped.

Since then, I have done some research and compiled it in this blog! So that anyone else in a similar predicament to myself doesn't have to feel as stupid as I did!

What is a blog?

Share whatever you want with the world through a blog.

A blog is short for a web blog, kind of like an on-line diary. Your blog can contain whatever you want it to contain, as there are no set rules to the structure or layout. Combine your personal thoughts with politics and breaking news, for example. When you write a new post, it will appear at the top and subsequent posts will follow below. People who read your blog can make comments and reviews on what you have posted, they can link to your blog if they find what you have written interesting or informative and they can also email you with remarks or questions.

To make it easier for other bloggers or viewers to navigate through your blog posts, you can archive your posts under categories.

Where can I keep/find a blog?

There are a number of places where people can keep their blogs on the internet, www.blogger.com, www.livejournal.com and www.wordpress.org.

You can either host your blog on your own web server, as part of your website (if you have one) or you could use a free hosted service with the most popular software being Word Press, Blogger and Blogspot.

Some hosted services, such as Blogger, will post to your own webspace if you provide the necessary FTP information.

Happy Blogging!

Let's Celebrate 90 Years of the Royal Airforce in Style! (April 2008)

April 1st 2008 marks the 90th anniversary of the establishment of the Royal Air Force. This important anniversary will be marked by a number of special celebratory events, which will take place throughout the year.

The first event, which launched the 90th anniversary year, took place on 18th March at the RAF Museum in Hendon where the Chinook helicopter ‘Bravo November’ (veteran of the Falklands and Afghanistan) landed in time for the flypast of 4 Tornado aircraft.

Another of these celebrations to take place on the actual anniversary date, 1st April includes the Royal Air Force's Red Arrows flying in formation with 4 Typhoon aircrafts along the River Thames to the London Eye for the very first time in history. The route of this large-scale event will give Londoners, no matter whereabouts they live in London the opportunity to see the display.

The flypast has been organised so that the formation will fly over the London Eye at exactly 1 o’clock. The Royal Air Force has invited Londoners to come and see the show to help celebrate this special birthday as a way of saying a big thank you to both exisiting and past airmen and women who have served the Royal Air Force.

Other events include a dinner to be held at the Royal Air Force Museum and the presentation of both the Royal Air Force and Royal Air Force Regiment Colours in July at the Royal International Air Tattoo. In September, the Battle of Britain weekend will allow for an excellent opportunity to celebrate the contribution that the personnel of the Royal Air Force have made to the defence and security of the Nation across the 90 years of its existence and show that the ethos remains as strong today as it was in 1918.

www.WineGifts4U.co.uk specialists in personalised wine, champagne and other gift ideas has been working with the RAF for the past 11 years, supplying RAF mess' with personalised wines. One of the RAF mess' has commisioned a special personalised label to be designed to honour this extraordinary occasion.  This unique label design can be found at exclusively at: http://www.winegifts4u.co.uk/pdlabels.php?spiritid=&cartid=-1&sid=71&maincat=15&bid=
Order this original label design and choose a wine bottle to put it on. It can be ideal as a gift or to keep as a display piece for yourself!

Personalised Gifts On The Move With The Apple iPhone (20th March 2008)

In today's society, there's not a lot you can't do is there? Every day there appears to be some new gadget or gizmo available to buy, which can do things you would never have imagined possible.

Most recently, I have been amazed by the Apple iPhone, which I received as a 21st birthday gift a couple of weeks ago purchased from FoneLink (07855 555786). I asked for it as a present, because I was fed up with my nokia, which I'd obtained second hand over four years ago, which only allowed me to send SMS and make phone calls, and because I have everything I need, but mainly because I was intrigued by the way 02 and Apple's multi-million pound advertising campaign made this new piece of technology look.

In all honesty, I didn't really understand what the iPhone was all about even after seeing the advertisements on Sky, in the newspapers and in shop windows. I understood from Apple's UK website, that the iPhone released in the UK in November 2007, 'combines three devices into one – a mobile phone, a widescreen iPod and the best mobile Internet device ever', but I still wasn't sure exactly what it did or how it worked. I just thought it looked good and therefore I new I wanted one!

Since receiving this revolutionary phone on 5th March 2008, it is practically attached to me. I am still, after 2 weeks fascinated by the capacity of the 115 x 61 x 11.6 mm phone weighing just 135 grams.

Not only am I able to send SMS and keep track of all the messages that I receive and send, but I can play pool, take photos on the 2.0 Megapixel camera as well as use the metronome from the installer application to help with me with my piano playing. What I find even more interesting is that I can surf the net using the WiFi and Edge facility practically anywhere I go, which means I can access emails and browse videos on YouTube. It also means you can purchase gifts from www.WineGifts4U.co.uk whilst on the go!

One of the first things I did was to see if the website worked on the phone. Now, I believe that although the website is easy to navigate, it is very interactive and I thought this may prove a problem, but it actually didn't. I managed to order a couple of bottles of personalised labelled wine without any effort at all!

So, if you're looking for an original gift this father's day, an upcoming birthday or a wedding anniversary present for someone who has everything they need, I would suggest buying the Apple iPhone from FoneLink (£100 + £35 mobile tariff for 18 months) first and then placing your personalised gift orders on www.WineGifts4U.co.uk whilst you're on the move!

Californian White Zinfandel Wine Review (12th March 2008)

With summer just around the corner there are many functions take place, such as weddings, barbeques, summer balls and parties.

One of the products we sell at www.winegifts4u.co.uk is a White Zinfandel, a rose coloured wine from California.

Here is a few quick notes about the White Zinfandel wine:

Historically an inexpensive jug wine, White Zinfandel is a quaffing wine that is sweet, soft, and low in alcohol, making it a popular choice with those who would not otherwise drink wine. The sugar content can make White Zinfandel taste almost like a fruit punch, although some examples have crisp acids and are balanced in their own way. White Zinfandel is typically manufactured for immediate consumption rather than for aging.

This blush wine was introduced in California in the early 1970s. It became the most popular varietal table wine during the 1980s. Consumers liked that it was sweeter than most wines (and it was a pretty color). Many people were introduced to the rose wine category through White Zinfandel.

Have you ever wondered how rose wine is made? Well..., when the red grape is crushed for its white juice, the skin of the red grapes is left in contact with the juice for a short amount of time, which makes the liquid turn pink!

Our californian white zinfandel is light and easy to drink with subtle tastes and aromas of luscious strawberries, raspberries and other ''summer'' fruits. The wine is best served chilled.

Last year, we noticed that the White Zinfandel sold very well as a personalised gift for weddings and birthdays!

In a couple of weeks we will be writing an article on how bubbles are made in champagne.