Weekend Argus (Saturday Edition)
Get your family their perfect gift
With only 14 shopping days to go until Christmas Day, leisurely browsing for that perfect gift can quickly become a last-minute shopping panic. TANYA WATERWORTH took a look at some unusual gift ideas for everyone, from adrenalin junkies to couch potatoes
ATaking it to the edge is the Boomslang canopy walk at Kirstenbosch Gardens. This unique boardwalk offers visitors and adventure enthusiasts a unique perspective of the historic gardens. The 130m long timberand-steel walkway is wheelchair-friendly, and offers a bird’s-eye view of the flora and fauna at Kirstenbosch. The walkway is open daily from 8am until 7pm. Entrance is R65 for adults, R35 for students, R15 for children aged 6 to 17, and is free for kids under 6. E-mail kirstenboschinfo@sanbi. org.za for more information.
Give your loved one a journey back in time with an ancestry DNA test. It has been touted as the gift of history. There are a number of online sites, such as Living DNA, Ancestry and Family Tree DNA. The costs range from R1 000 to R3 000.
If your loved one is all about keeping healthy, fit trackers are constantly evolving. The latest tech offerings include monitoring sleep patterns – how long and how well you have slept, and receiving messages and texts while you are on the move. This is in addition to the usual record of your workout, heart rate, distance, calories burned and steps climbed. Costs vary with a variety of trackers on different platforms, but for an idea of the price the popular new Fitbit Alta fitness tracker costs R2 700.
There’s a massive choice of fun gifts online, from a Star
Trek Enterprise pizza cutter, R270, to a Sudoku toilet roll, R139. Sites with those off-the-wall ideas include thinkgeek and ridiculousgifts.com.
It’s goodbye Siri and hello Alexa if your choice of gift focuses on some cutting-edge tech in the home. While the original Alexa can tell you all about the weather, traffic, security cameras and turning your lights on and off, the Alexa Show does what the name says and shows you things, from Amazon video content, music lyrics, to-do and shopping lists, as well as audio books and hands-free or video calls to friends and family. Prices vary on different sites, average cost is R5 000.
Wowee Fingerlings are for the young and young at heart. These cute interactive baby monkeys can grab on to your fingers, respond to sound, motion and touch with blinking eyes, head turn and cute monkey babble. They come in various colours and if you have more than one, you can clap your hands twice and they will sing together. Cost R400 to R600.
Chocolate Waffle Shots are a fun way to keep the party going. The chocolate-dipped mini cups can be filled with a liqueur of your choice, alternatively espresso or a dollop of ice cream. They are available on a number of sites and a set of six costs in the region of R350.
Start a new family tradition and give the gift of a Christmas Tree Growing Kit which provides aroundthe-year pleasure as the kids can watch it grow. Or you can buy your own seedling at a tree nursery and plant in a pot. There are a number of websites with growing kits and the average price is R540.
For the wildlifeand conservation-minded, a great gift is to foster an endangered species such as a baby elephant or rhino. There are a number of organisations online, with the best known probably being the David Sheldrick Trust in Kenya which saves orphaned baby elephants.
Organisations differ regarding donations, with the Sheldrick Trust asking for a minimum of R700 a year for their Christmas Fostering programme.