Tag Archives: christmas

Eco Presents For The Ones You Love

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With all the shiny techno toys around, we’re all probably a bit geeky once in a while. But if you have the genuine article on your gift list – someone who’d camp out overnight to get the latest iPhone or who could expound at length on every minor character in the original TV Star Trek – then these snazzy gadgets could bring a teary smile to his – or her – face. Frost got the people from energyrethinking.org to give our readers some gift ideas.

Ten Top Eco Gadget Gifts For Geeks

1. Enviroplug This mobile phone energy saving adaptor fits between the charger and the powerpoint, notices when a phone is fully charged and turns off the useless “vampire drain” of power into the charger. It can save up to 90% of the energy wasted by the charger and about £50 a year.

2. Motion-Activated LED Outdoor Light Very cool, bright solar powered light only switches on when it senses someone about. So the solar charge it has built up all day lasts much longer. And what a surprise to a would be intruder. The five LED bulbs are rated for 30,000 hours.

3.Standby and Remote Starter Kit Leaving devices on standby wastes money, and contributes to carbon emissions. But sometimes, the on off switch at the wall socket is difficult to get to – hidden behind furniture or under beds. Plug in up to 3W worth of devices to this clever standby socket and then turn the power completely off or on by remote control.

4. Ecobutton You’re on the computer and you get an important phone call, or get up to make a cup of tea, or to accept a package for a neighbour. While you’re away from your desk, your computer is still eating up electricity and pumping CO2 into the environment. With this handy USB device, you can put your computer into sleep mode with the touch of a button. And when you wake it up, the Ecobutton software tells you how much money and CO2 you’ve saved, today and to date. Have a look to see how it works:

5. Solar Briefcase It’s called trickle charging. This solar charger looks like a briefcase, but open it up and it’s a generouse sized, two panel solar charger that can produce enough power to top up a car battery while you’re off on holiday, or provide winter maintenance power for a boat or caravan.

6. H2O long life Atomic Clock We love this water powered atomic alarm clock. It runs on water, with perhaps a dash of salt – something to do with electrolytic activity. It displays date, day and temperature, as well as time and is adjusted to the Atomic Radio Signal every day. It’s rated for a refill (a splash from the tap) every two weeks, but some users have reported it still runs perfectly at least a month after filling.

7. H2O Shower Radio The water rushing through your shower powers this H2O radio. And in case you get carried away and take a longer shower than you should, it has a shower timer that fits in line with the showerhead to remind you when enough is enough. And you can still keep singing along because it builds up a charge and continues to run for quite a while. If you want to wait until next year, they’re planning a model that will tell you exactly how much you are spending on your shower.

8. Ventus Spin EcoMedia Player Wind up technology just keeps getting better. Your favorite geeks can listed to all their favourite music, watch dazzling movie clips, tune in to popular FM radio stations, thumb through photo albums, and read text files for up to 45 minutes on the charge from one minute of winding. Plus it will charge a mobile phone. For a longer charge, plug it into a USB computer port for 55 hours of play time.

9. Solar Powered Digital Tyre Pressure Gauge The PowerPlus Pelican Solar Powered Digital Tyre Pressue Gauge helps you maintain correct tyre pressure – essential for safe and fuel efficient driving – even in the dark. It includes a tyre tread depth gauge and a back up battery for a brighter read out at night.

10. Stirling Engine Kit A Stirling engine uses low temperature heat differentials on a volume of gas in an enclosed space. That’s the science part; your Geek will get it. This Stirling Engine kit comes flat packed and it’s almost entirely made of cardboard, except for some laser-cut aluminium and a few PVC ball bearings. It’s fiddly to assemble but will run on a cup of tea or a glass full of melting snow. A really interesting example of engine power without internal combustion.

Eco Christmas Presents for Him http://www.energyrethinking.org/lifestyle-leisure/10-eco-gift-ideas-for-him/ and Her http://www.energyrethinking.org/lifestyle-leisure/10-holiday-eco-gifts-for-her/


10 Green Festive Tips for Christmas

It's Christmas time- there's no need to be afraid.

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I’ve just seen an ad for Littlewoods, or copses as they should be known. It’s your usual fare. Loads of cute kids on stage at a school and the proud parents beaming from the fold-up chairs below. It’s not a nativity of course, god forbid, it’s a singing tribute to how wonderful mums are. Nice? Well not really no, because the song- and there’s even a rap in there to keep it ‘street’, is all about how mum is wonderful for buying just about every consumer electrical gizmo you could imagine that doesn’t begin with an ‘i’.

There’s a laptop and an HTC Android phone. The first kid proudly holds up his X-Box Kinect unit like it’s the ‘fragrances that are also useful in scrabble’ shop’s entire stock of Myrrh.

It ends with a little girl, her ruby cheeks poking out from between the just-closed curtains, reminding us that the mark of a wonderful mum is the quality, measured in expenditure, of her gifts. And that we should, therefore, measure our own maternal love by that scale alone.
The add stops short of having Santa flying overhead trailing a banner from his sleigh that reads, “MONEY = LOVE, don’t forget kids!” But that mantra is sewn, inextricably, into the underpants of every precious, seasonal second.

I’m not against Christmas, contrary to the view of the parent of a child that approached me once and asked if I was Santa’s sister because his mum has said I was ‘Aunty Christmas.’ I love Christmas. I come over all Jimmy Stewart as soon as Summer’s over and I can’t hear the opening bars of ‘Silent Night’ without bursting into tears and wanting to join the Sally Army. I just hate this unnecessary and inexplicable extortion every year.

I don’t have kids, and I’m sure some of you are thinking, “If your wife’s as tight as you are, you never will!” But my sister does. My sister is a single mum with two sons. The eldest is 22 now so his festive focus has fully relocated from under the tree to under the table but his kid brother is 14. Old enough to want everything but too young to care what it costs.

When his mates are all tweeting photos of their new PS3 on their new ipads and running round to his house in their new trainers to make sure he got it because he hasn’t ‘RT’d’ yet, he’s going to hide his market versions- the ‘iPhone’ and the ‘Games Centre Play Console- with 7 game cartridges included!’ And look at my poor sister like she’s picking the last of Santa’s gonads from between her teeth just because she couldn’t get herself into deep enough debt to avoid the emotional scarring a shit present can have on a teenager.

He won’t really because he’s a good kid. He’ll do what I used to do and pretend it’s just as good as the thing you really wanted then find a way to hide it long enough to casually mention you played with it so much it broke, and suffering the inevitable comeback, “That doesn’t just apply to toys you know!”

I still remember desperately faking happiness when the ‘Evil Knievel action figure with interchangeable costumes and multi-trick stunt bike’ I’d asked for turned out to be a small plastic moulded ‘figure-on-bike’ with a big glued seam running down the middle that you revved up and watched career in a short curve into the nearest skirting board. Not to mention picking the stitching from the fourth stripe on my ‘same as Adidas’ trainers before I got to school only to be told by my jeering fellow students, as I knelt down for assembly, that they had different coloured soles- not from genuine Adidas trainers but from each other.

That was nearly 30 years ago. The pressure’s ten times worse now.

Why? Where did this law that you have to spend a couple of hundred quid on gifts come from?
Not the Nativity, that’s for sure. Its been sacked by Littlewoods in favour of ‘Grange Hill does the Ludovico Technique.’ (Google anyone?) And I’m sure Jesus would be spinning in his shroud, if he was still dead, at the thought of his birthday being hijacked by everyone else. Imagine if everyone got presents on your birthday. It’d certainly take the sheen off it I’ll bet, and that’s my point really. Birthdays are personal and they only involve one person.
Mark Twain said, “The two most important days of your life are the day you are born and the day you find out why.” I agree with the first part, although the day I heard my mum say, “by the time I realized it wasn’t wind it was too late,” doesn’t even make my top 100, but you get my point. Presents on birthdays make sense! Let’s just do that shall we?

Here’s what I think we should do: Everyone, at the same time, stand up and say, “There won’t be any presents this Christmas.” Then enjoy a huge sigh of relief and start, for the first time in a long time, to really look forward to the holidays.

It’s important that everyone does it at the same time and sticks to it, which will be hard to organize and even harder to check, and there will be mass disappointment for every child in England but it will pass when they all realize they’re in the same boat and they’re not missing out.

Now imagine the Christmases that will follow. Everyone can just work until the holidays start and then enjoy time with their friends and families. Boyfriends and husbands won’t have to reduce themselves to asking the teenage assistant behind the perfume counter for suggestions because they’ve forgotten what their wife’s favorite is called and EVERYTHING just smells of perfume!

It can feel like a real holiday for a change and, once it’s all over, there won’t be a national depression as everyone spends January skint, cold and about as festive as Scrooge’s warts. Better still, single parents or families that have little or no income won’t have to worry that their kids will hate them and/or get bullied at school. Loan sharks, feeding on the poor and vulnerable in in the less affluent areas of the country, will have to find other ways to ‘help people out till pay day’.

A weight of unnecessary obligation would be lifted from everyone and we would all be no less festive for it.

As for Christmas morning? Imagine getting up (whenever you like- you’re on holiday remember) and strolling downstairs to greet your family with a hearty breakfast and a mulled wine and hugs all round. Elders can talk to youngsters while the crisp winter morning air draws the first flame from the Yule log. Christians can take a moment for silent reflection while the rest of us slap a bit of Slade on and work up an appetite for the largest and best meal of the year. Happy in the knowledge that it’s cost you no more than all the good will and genuine Christmas cheer you can muster.

Sounds great to me.

Guide To The Perfect Secret Santa Gift

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It’s that time of the year. Yes, the one where you have to somehow buy people presents that they won’t hate.

This is even harder, and far more treacherous, when buying for someone at work who you don’t really know. Getting Secret Santa gifts can be a minefield. So here are a few tips and tricks.

1) Do your research.

Think about the personality of the person you are buying for. Are they girlie? Sporty? Metrosexual? Don’t buy Shirley, who loves pink and teddy bears, a war DVD.

2) Go edible.

The best presents are usually edible. No re-gifting, no fake thank you’s, just eating. Hmm, what more could you want? Try and find out if anyone has any allergies or dislikes. Chocolate is a good bet. Or bubble bath.

3) Watch out for allergies or religious beliefs.

Rule out anything offensive or jokey. You never know how someone will take it and you need to work with these people all year. If you don’t get fired.

4) Play it safe.

Scented candles, bath oils, chocolate, a good book. Go for things everyone likes.

5) Be generous.

Don’t be known as the cheap person in the office. It’s always worth spending a few extra pounds and showing some class.

6) But not too generous.

You don’t want to embarrass people, or make the feel they have to reciprocate with something equally expensive. Or worse, think that you fancy them!

And more importantly, have fun!

The Gifts We Must Stop Giving: Ideas For Christmas

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Shop smarter, not harder, this Christmas
 
While we all try our best to keep up that polite exterior, most of us have some experience of forcing a smile upon receiving an unwanted gift. Novelty ties, ill-fitting underwear, naff toiletry sets – it seems we are a nation stuck in a never-ending cycle of buying for the sake of it, and receiving useless presents in exchange.
To support the launch of their new range of lifestyle gift experiences, powered by Time Out, Smartbox set out to find out more about the nation’s gifting habits.  They surveyed 845 people, up and down the country, and found that:
Receiving
·         Graciously accepting and quickly returning unwanted gifts is fast becoming the norm. 44% of people have returned a gift that was bought for them, with Londoners he most likely to do so
·         40% of people asked prefer to choose their own gifts
·         When asked to name the worst present received, the most popular response was an item of clothing (particularly socks, ill-fitting pants and hosiery)
·         It’s not all about the money. A whopping 84% said that an expensive gift would not mean more to them, with 95% claiming they’d prefer a gift that’s thoughtful, regardless of cost.
Giving
·         Despite the efforts of the eager 8.5% of the population who begin their Christmas shopping in January, 47% don’t feel their gifts are always truly appreciated
·         66% often spend more on a gift than they had hoped to, with a shocking 42% admitting they often spend more than they can afford.
Garry Barone, Head of Sales and Marketing at Smartbox UK, said: “We all know what it’s like to receive a gift we’re not too keen on, and I think if we’re honest, most of us have bought a gift that we knew wasn’t quite up to scratch. When you think about it, buying for the sake of it is a pretty pointless and sometimes costly exercise – particularly when it comes to Christmas. Our survey found that the average person buys for 10 or more people each year – and spends around £250.
“However, when it comes to receiving gifts, it really is the thought that counts. A Smartbox lifestyle gift experience gives you the best of both worlds. While you choose the themed Smartbox that best suits your loved one, they themselves are able to take their pick from up to 200 experiences detailed within.”
Smartbox is Europe’s leading lifestyle gift experience company. This year, they have joined forces with Time Out to offer an incredible range of gifts to suit every age, personality and pocket.
Unlike your usual gift cards and vouchers, each Time Out Smartbox comes in a quality gift box. The voucher comes with a glossy book featuring full details on each experience, making it really easy to choose. What’s more, the price is nowhere to be seen, so they never need to know how much you spent.
The booking process is easy as the voucher is activated on purchase.  All the recipient needs to do is choose what they want to do, where and when. They book directly with the experience provider and redeem the voucher on site. And with many of the packages available for two people, you can share the experience – bonus!
The Time Out Smartbox range includes:
·         Adrenaline (£119.95)
·         Adventure (£29.95)
·         Charming Getaways (£139.95)
·         Delicious Retreats (£199.95)
·         Gourmet Escapes (£269.95)
·         Table for Two (£59.95)
·         Tastings (£29.95)
·         Unusual Escapes (£89.95)
·         Zen & Spa (£59.95)
Also available:
·         The Michelin Star Dining Smartbox (£169)
Smartbox gift boxes are available at selected John Lewis, Butlers, Beales, Clinton Cards, Waterstones, Heal’s and Cargo stores. See website for full details & terms www.smartbox.co.uk.

BRITONS VOTE CHERYL COLE, PETER KAY AND JAMIE OLIVER AS THEIR TOP CHRISTMAS DAY HOST.

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The nation’s sweetheart Cheryl Cole, funny man Peter Kay, celebrity chef Jamie Oliver, comedian Dawn French and Domestic Goddess Nigella Lawson have been voted Britons top Christmas Day hosts according to new research out today. Four out of ten adults stated they would love to receive an invitation to spend Christmas Day with one of these celebrities because they would be guaranteed a day of laughter, good food and entertaining conversation which are the three essential ingredients to make Christmas Day a success.

Making up the remainder of the top ten Christmas Dinner hosts was witty music mogul Simon Cowell, showbiz duo Ant & Dec, Friends star Jennifer Aniston, heartthrob David Beckham and singer Katy Perry.

The Travelodge poll of 6,000 Britons also revealed due to the hardship of this year 68% of adults want the warmth and love of a conventional family Yuletide gathering at their parent’s house this year – whilst a fifth of Brits, want to re-capture the magic of their childhood Christmas at their grandparent’s house this festive season.

In search of family love, over the next two days 45% of Britons will defy the peril of the big freeze and drive an average 122 miles in order to celebrate a traditional Christmas in the bosom of their family. Respondents reported they will spend an average eight hours this festive season driving to visit family.

Further findings revealed in the lead up to Christmas this year, a fifth of British couples argued regarding which side of the family they were going to be spending Christmas Day with. On average four heated arguments took place between couples before a final decision was made.

Over a quarter (27%) of couples surveyed stated they will be having two Christmas dinners this year, consuming a whopping 3086 calories – because they feel obliged to visit both set of parents on Christmas day.

Over half of the nation (51%) believes it’s important to spend Christmas Day with the family because that is the true essence of Christmas. Only seven per cent of Britons are spending Christmas day with their friends rather than their family this year.

The report also revealed a fifth of Britons have avoided the calamity of their family’s spare room and the prospect of sleeping on the floor and sofa by booking themselves into a nearly hotel on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day.

One in ten adults surveyed stated their biggest bug bear when visiting their family is there is nowhere to sleep and they cannot bear the prospect of spending the night on the sofa or floor.

Shakila Ahmed, Travelodge Spokeswoman said, “It seems Britons will be driving home to the bosom of their family this Christmas despite the big freeze. In today’s climate Brits are longing for love and support from their families and are keen to re-establish family ties. Although when it comes to staying over a growing number of Brits are opting to stay in a local hotel so that they can get a good night’s sleep. We have seen a surge in Christmas bookings within the last few weeks and in our recent £10 sale, rooms were getting booked by the second for the Christmas period.”

Londoners Life 7 by Phil Ryan

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The recent London attitude to bad weather has been weary fortitude. Usually it’s rain. But more recently add to this mix – Tube strikes. Tube breakdowns. Train breakdowns. Student protests. Council cutting back on bad weather provision. Freezing cold. And then to cap it all. Snow. Look at the London news and it’s a repeat of every other year. Fed up people complaining. The train company did this. Or more accurately didn’t do anything. Nothing works. Where’s the grit? It’s part of the London cycle.

We just repeat the same problems. My more surreal moments in the inclement weather being watching an elderly man on skis in Hampstead High Street. Calmly floating down the pavement he looked very determined. And so did the small dog he was using to pull him along. A spaniel. But my favourite being a miserable looking bus driver repeating in a monotone “Snow off your shoes please” to every passenger. This elucidating a frenzied procession of semi Flamenco moves from a bunch of cold people who just wanted to get on and sit down. It looked like a street dance off with shopping and elderly people.

But it’s Christmas now. The race begins. Buy. Buy. Buy. And all the local papers go into charity mode. Good causes. Smiling old age pensioners in hats. Cheery looking homeless people grinning over a bowl of soup. It’s so very Victorian. And so very London. The TV is straight on it. Out come all the Dickens analogies. It’s as if the presenters can’t help themselves. “And here’s a real old curiosity”” It’s a bleak house tonight” and one that made me choke during a report on a local council closing a toddlers club “The spirit of Christmas present lost in a scoogelicious committee decision” Scroogelicious! And then comes that unique London traditional phenomenon the absurd pre Christmas sales in the posher shops. Items such as a Swarowski encrusted hot water bottle or a platinum apple phone. Slashed from mind numbing prices to surprisingly staggeringly high prices. Who is buying this stuff? I thought there was a recession on? But the London Christmas rolls on. It’s party season. You can tell by the tents set up in Leicester Square to deal with the incoherent drunks paralytically spreading the yuletide cheer. I think we should wait until they’re completely unconscious and then stick them in air freight containers so they wake up in say Bolivia or Morocco. Watch the drinking statistics drop away!

But food and drink feature large in a London Christmas. The major restaurants falling over themselves to do deals. The Evening Standard is full of coupons suddenly. Who cuts them out? It must be very difficult to go on a date with someone who surreptitiously starts sliding coupons under their credit card come bill time. Not really giving the right impression. Hi I’m sexy but very cheap. But the 2 for one offers often come with a sting in the tail. The good stuff never seems to be included. And then when you do stray from the deal it sends the price into the stratosphere. But that is the London way. Just like the Traditional German markets that suddenly seem to be appearing everywhere. Londoners just accept the fact that a load of fake alpen huts will start springing up on every corner. Bratwurst. Hot wine. Weird looking ginger bread. All to the accompaniment of brass band music. They have a thing called Winter Wonderland at Hyde Park with a huge German fair. And it’s a mixture of baffled looking Japanese tourists uncertainly smiling unsure whether they were tricked over the war and hardy Londoners braced against the cold munching on surreal looking sausages in rye bread that has the consistency of an elderly carpet tile (and a similar taste I might add) all secretly longing for a bacon sandwich. But it’s Christmas in London which means anything goes. Apart from Christianity. This is a no no with most London councils. I saw an article with some Council leader who seemed confused at the concept. He thought it was an economic opportunity with a holiday attached. The Christ and religious bit clearly passing him by. Hence that horrendous Winter Festival concept put about by the more moronic ones. Even though they all get the cast of East Enders in to turn on the Christmas lights. Huh? But they’ve figured out that upsetting Christians is easy – they’ll just turn the other cheek. The most radical things some local Christians round here did was to sing a load of Carols outside the Town Hall. How vicious was that? God bless them. Or as my local council would put it. Winter bless them.

Oh yes just a quick update on my human signs. They’ve now got them dressed as furry animals. Quasi Disney Characters. With holly and tinsel stuck all over them! They still have Golf Sale and Cheap Computers written all over them but it’s nice for the children. And very confusing. Goofy clearly reduced to sidelining in cheap Golf equipment since his falling out with Mickey they must suppose. Anyway finally after the shopping then comes the final Christmas ritual. The big get away. In London we head for the airports and the streets fall silent. It’s a very odd time. The usual rush and whizzing around replaced albeit temporarily with a brief period of tranquillity. I tend to stay to enjoy the peace and once everyone else comes back then I leave. The prospects for the New Year a bit uncertain this time. The austerity year I heard it called. I chatted to some people in a café the other day and asked them their fears and thoughts about the coming year and all the cuts. I listed all the things that were going to be closed and cancelled. They all shrugged. So what they said. And ordered another latte and biscotti. Denial. No. It’s a London thing.

Well that’s it for this year! Merry Christmas to you all. And here’s crossing my fingers for 2011. So whoever they may be – may your God or non belief go with you.

Regards Phil

T’WAS THE NIGHT BEFORE CHRISTMAS…AND OVER TWO THIRDS OF BRITS WERE STILL SHOPPING

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Despite best intentions, 68% of Brits still search for gifts on Christmas Eve

· Brits set to waste £2 billion[1] on panic-bought gifts this Christmas

· A nation of last-minute Christmas shoppers – over three quarters (76%) of us panic-buy the night before Christmas to ensure stockings are filled

· Half (50%) of shoppers have deliberately bought something overly expensive or extravagant in a moment of panic

· Panic-buy Britain: 32% have bought on a whim because they couldn’t find what they are looking for and 32% because they unexpectedly received a present and felt obliged to return the gesture

· Almost half (48%) of consumers admit to avoiding the panic by recycling an unwanted gift they’ve already received

· Christmas shoppers urged to use InvisibleHand (www.getinvisiblehand.com) to grab the best festive bargains.

Ever woken up realising you’ve forgotten that all-important present the morning before Christmas Day? Well you’re not alone. According to new research[2] from InvisibleHand, the free online shopping tool, over two thirds of UK shoppers (68%) also end up buying last minute gifts from the shops on Christmas Eve, while over three quarters (76%) of us end up panic-buying to ensure Santa’s quota is met.

In fact, panic buying last year led to half (50%) of consumers deliberately purchasing something overly expensive or extravagant. Going by last year’s overspend, Brits could be set to waste a whopping £2 billion on last-minute, panic-bought gifts this year[1].

Not being able to find the ‘right’ gift (32%) and being unexpectedly given a present and having to return the gesture (32%) are among the main reasons why people end up panic-buying. However, consumers also put pressure on themselves with over a quarter (26%) leaving it until the last minute because they can’t actually decide whether to buy someone a gift or not. A forgetful 18% end up in a flap because they simply forget to buy a gift.

As a result of the panic, consumers cut corners with three in ten (31%) buying something the wrong size so that the recipient could return it after Christmas. Men are particularly bad at adopting this cunning ploy – 38% use this tactic. Two in ten people (19%) even buy something that they know the recipient won’t like. Again, men lead the way with 24% having used this ruse.

People even resort to ‘re-gifting’ – almost half (48%) admit to re-cycling an unwanted gift they’d already received. What’s more, women seem to be the best at this with almost half (48%) having recycled unwanted gifts in the past, compared to just 30% of men.

Robin Landy, founder of InvisibleHand, says: “As the carol goes: ‘‘tis the season to be jolly’, but for most of us the weeks leading up to the big day are often another story altogether. This is especially the case if you’ve left your Christmas shopping to the last minute. This often leads to panic-buying and consumers making extremely poor purchasing decisions, often forking out far more than necessary as a result.

“Purchasing Christmas gifts under pressure could see a staggering £2 billion wasted on panic–bought items this year alone. This is astonishing and could be easily avoided by shopping online. The key thing is for consumers to shop around to make sure they find the best prices available to avoid paying vast amounts. There are some great deals to be found by savvy shoppers looking to track down a Christmas bargain.”

InvisibleHand’s top five tips for online Christmas shopping:

§ Search online to make sure you have the best price available to avoid spending more than you need to

§ Ensure you read the terms and conditions regarding postage and packaging to avoid any unnecessary costs

§ Be sure to read up on delivery times to ensure gifts arrive in good time

§ Take advantage of discount vouchers on offer by searching online and entering a promotional code before clicking the ‘buy’ button

§ Check whether the retailer offers a gift-wrapping service, which could save you time in the long run.

Guinness World Records Announce Largest Santa Claus Collection.

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Retired Canadian teacher enters the Guinness World Records™ 2011 edition with world’s ‘Largest Collection of Santa Claus Memorabilia’

Jean-Guy’s 25,000-piece collection fills his entire house!

74-year-old Jean-Guy Laquerre from Boucherville, Quebec, today celebrates being officially recognised as the biggest collector of Santa Claus-themed memorabilia in the world, having accumulated an incredible 25,189 items from 33 countries over the past 22 years. His record-breaking collection, which is still growing in size, has earned him a place in the Guinness World Records 2011 edition and will also feature as part of the new Guinness World Records iPad app Guinness World Records: At Your Fingertips, which launches today on the iTunes store.

Jean-Guy began his collection in 1988 after being left a Santa Claus statuette from the early 1900s by a deceased relative. This touching gesture inspired him to start hunting for everything Santa-related, from postcards and brooches to toys and posters. And just like Santa, in his bid to keep expanding his collection, Jean-Guy has his own band of helpers – friends rather than elves! – that send him gifts from antique shops and garage sales, to help boost his assortment of Father Christmas merchandise.

Now the enthusiast has been rewarded with a certificate, a place in the 2011 edition book and will also feature in the new Guinness World Records app which launches today. Commenting on his record-breaking collection, Jean-Guy said: “To be included in the Guinness World Records book is a big honour. It’s the best of the best, the top of the top – like being an Olympic gold medal winner! Being part of the iPad app gives me even more joy as it will help spread the happiness my collection brings to people.”

Guinness World Records Editor-in-chief Craig Glenday says: “Jean-Guy personifies the magic of Christmas ­ his collection is a joy to behold and brings a smile to the face of even the most hardened of cynics. He’s the kind of grandfather that every child would want!”

An ideal Christmas gift for both knowledge-seekers and aspiring record-breakers of all ages, Guinness World Records 2011 edition is available now from all good book retailers (RRP £20).

The Guinness World Records app Guinness World Records: At Your Fingertips launches today, delivering more than 150 photographs, 140 records, 20 stunning video clips, and three exclusive games that enable iPad users – for the first time ever – to be able to attempt and set real Guinness World Records straight from their iPad.

Guinness World Records: At Your Fingertips is available now at the iTunes Store for £2.99. For more information visit http://www.guinnessworldrecords.com/ipad.aspx