STUFF.TV CHRISTMAS GIFT GUIDE – Christmas problems, gadget solutions

Problem – One TV, massive family

Battling over the remote on Christmas day as is as festive as mince pies and key characters getting offed in EastEnders. And who wants to sit as a family as the Queen Vic begins to resemble the outskirts of Baghdad?

Solution – Slingbox, from £70, www.slingmedia.com

Stick the a Slingbox in the lounge, hook it up to the one on your bedroom TV and kick back with some reruns of classic Premiership goals while Dad and Gran bicker over who killed Dirty Den back in the day.

 

Problem – Board games doing your head in

Gran and Grandad want to play charades, while the thought of a four hour Monopoly marathon sends your blood pressure into overdrive. Let’s face it, you only ever play board games at Christmas anyway.

Solution – console party games

Grab a copy of Buzz for the PS3 and use your console to up the ante. Alternatively, there’s always Scene!It on the Xbox and the for those feeling brave, Singstar to get the party started. Surely better than playing Battleships.

 

Kids going berserk over Christmas is par for the course. Haribo–fuelled tantrums and an overwhelming zeal for anything present–shaped can drive even the calmest adult to the brink of sanity

Solution – NERF Dart Tag, www.gadgetshop.co.uk, £35

Channel all that childlike rage with this NERF gun set. Ok, they’ll turn the house into a war zone, but at least they won’t disturb you while you slump in front of C4’s woeful alternative Queen’s Speech.

 

If you’re stranded with the folks and your partner’s jetted off with her fam’ to the other side of the world, talking to them isn’t going to be cheap, especially as your Ma and Pa are still on BT.

Solution – Two 3 Skypephones for £59, www.three.co.uk

Buy yourselves two Skype phones, hook ’em up both up to a WiFi network and chatter away for free while the annual jamboree of casual arguments and needlessly irate discussions about rubbish telly kick off downstairs.

 

Your 18 year old brother’s spending his first Christmas away from the folks, your Mum’s in floods of tears and he can’t get into the Christmas spirit building huts in rural Venezuela.

Solution – Flip Mino, www.theflip.com, £120

Film everything on a Flip Mino and upload it straight away to YouTube. He gets all the Christmas cheer without having to spend a fortune on a flight home and brave the cold. Plus it’ll make your Mum happy.

For more Christmas ideas, check out our daily stocking fillers and festive top tens.