Kickass Christmas Ideas For Men

I was looking around for Christmas gift ideas for my brother, dad, brothers-in-law and father-in-law. As I thumbed through some gadget magazines I found so much cool stuff I had to write my own Xmas list. It reminds me of one of Calvin's (of Calvin and Hobbes), a massive cross-indexed volume.

If Father Christmas - or is it Santa these days? - disappoints me this year I will definitely be very disappointed.

While I'm still working on my first draft - you can't be too careful with Christmas lists - I'll let slip a few ideas.

Solar Backpack
These things are becoming more common, and aren't that expensive. You can get one for 50 quid or less now, packaged with an abundance of adaptors to charge pretty much anything. See www.blackhillsoutdoor.com for an example.

Multi-Purpose Solar Charger
Hey, I know it's on the same vein as above, but just as cool. And if Santa feels a solar backpack or radio-controlled helicopter is out of his price range, or if you've just been a bad boy, then this could be a compromise. You can get these babies anywhere, just Google it.

Radio-controlled Helicopter
You can get some great little toys for under 30 quid. See www.rcmods.co.uk. This is the kind of present we (us men that is) dreamed of as kids, but those days they were too flimsy and far too expensive. You can never get too old for something like this, and it sure as hell beats getting underwear.

A nice pen with a built-in laser pointer
OK, with all the hoo-hah about silly twits trying to blind airplane pilots, make sure you don't buy one of these for the black sheep of the family. But for a sensible law-abiding chap like myself it would do just fine. Not sure what we would really use the laser for - what am I, an architect? - but never mind about that.

Miniature Tabletop Football
Don't laugh, you can't grow out of this. The problem with table football in the past was that the dumb things were just too big, a nuisance to get out, and not the kind of thing you would want in a modern apartment - destroying the aesthetics and making your beautiful home look tacky, which is not want the sophisticated modern man wants at all. Especially if he lives in a cool brickwork-exposed renovated warehouse apartment like they all do in the movies. These little ones are just perfect. See www.presentsformen.co.uk for a nice one.

Loo Stickers
Stickers that you can aim for when going to the toilet, increasing your accuracy rates by 80% (apparently) - also at www.presentsformen.co.uk. You get them in different sizes to improve your skills. Who says these are just for kids?

USB Coffee Warmer
Not sure what the green lobby has to say about this. Geoge Monbiot will probably hate this kind of thing. I mean, surely you should just drink your coffee when the temperature is just right? Loads of people sell these now. I may decide to hold out for the USB toasty maker.

Hope these help. I just hope Santa doesn't disappoint me.