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media partners
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The 2011 Alternative Christmas gift guide
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 Women in Business, whether they be a “mumpreneur”, entrepreneur, inventor or simply a woman determined on making their first million, buying something useful, practical or totally indulgent can be as difficult as putting together a business proposal for the bank manager, so we are here to help!
We haven’t listed them as the top 10 as they are all fabulous in their own right but there is an eclectic mix of sensible, technical and even saucy, so grab a cup of tea and have a browse at some fantastic products...
Thanks to Donna Pinnell; MumsClub head of S.P.E.D and owner of gift boutique littlelilypad for compiling this fabulous guide.
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Cambridge Business Dictionary - £27.50
Available on www.amazon.co.uk
This may not be the most glamorous entry but with the impact of the recession and the rise of digital business the language of business is changing at a rapid rate and women in business need to keep their finger on the pulse. The Cambridge Business English Dictionary is designed for both native and non-native speakers of English so the definitions are designed to be clear, easy to understand and jargon free! So if you want to know what “toxic debt” is or “the definition of “clicks and mortar” this is the perfect gift for you!
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Front Cover Make Up Set – Gilt Edged - £25.00
Available on www.boots.com
Women in business are still women, so if the Monday to Friday brings power dressing or dressing down in front of a PC, weekends still need some glamour! The Front Cover Make Up set is the ultimate party collection for golden girls... to let you glitter, shimmer and shine from your head to your toes. No matter how successful a woman is, she still needs to feel like a yummy mummy or a sexy senorita and the Gilt Edged gift set can certainly add some sparkle!
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Mac Book Cover £24.95
Available through stockists www.be-ez.com/where.html
If you have a Mac Book, you want to protect it, so we have found a brightly-coloured range of sleeves designed to lovingly protect the MacBook. These sleeves are available in a variety of colours, pink, blue and green and the sleeve offers full protection for the Apple MacBook Air 11, MacBook Air 13 and MacBook Pro 13. It utilises be.ez’s exclusive memory foam, the sleeve’s 5mm thick low resilience polyurethane material regains its shape after being indented, meaning that the sleeve will protect the netbook from bumps and knocks. (and let’s be honest, if you have children this is highly likely) It is ideal for slipping into hand luggage, a school bag or neatly tucking into a briefcase to prevent scratches. Essentially it is a stylish sleeve that is definitely suited to women who want something stylish, sleek (and a little bit sexy).
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Pico Pix Projector – 3 in the range
view them at www.itsbigtime.co.uk
Have you been at an event or organising an event and needed a projector? At Mumsclub, we know how cumbersome (and frustrating) it can be. So you can imagine our delight to find this pocket sized projector which fits perfectly in a handbag or laptop bag and connects to a multitude of devices. How fantastic to be able to share your presentations, images and videos with a small pocket projector. This gets a huge thumbs up and an essential item for all event organisers.
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Audéo Perfect Fit Earphones (PFE) £119.99
Available on www.audeoworld.com
Earphones may not be high on the Christmas list but this product developed by Phonak AG, comes with ergonomically designed foam tips which automatically mould to the shape of the wearer’s ear. This not only provides a comfortable, secure fit but can reduce unwanted external noise by up to 23 decibels– the equivalent of ambient music in a restaurant or a conversation with an (annoying) colleague in the office. It may not be crystal earrings but it does give crystal-clear sound quality at a lower, safer volume and reduces the risk of hearing damage.
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Serif Photo Plus - £59.99
available on www.amazon.co.uk
If you are managing your own website or simply love photos, the Serif Photo Plus is an easy to use program for any woman who wanted to edit, enhance and organise their photos on the computer. It can be used for personal and business reasons, from getting creative with family photos to enhancing images for business' marketing materials and/or website, this software is an affordable and easy to use solution.
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Menus4Mums membership www.menus4mums.co.uk
Available for either 6 months (£40) and 12 months (£60)
Menus4Mums is an online family meal planning service which helps busy parents put tasty, nutritious food on the table for their families, and save time and money too! All members receive a weekly menu planner of family dinners, based on current supermarket bargains to keep the price down, along with easy-to-follow recipes and a shopping list sorted into supermarket categories, helping to make life that little bit simpler. Great for a busy business mum who hasn’t got enough hours in the day.
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ZOMM Wireless Leash - £69.99
Available on www.zomm.co.uk
As women who *may* have a habit of losing things, we love the ZOMM Wireless Leash. It is essentially keyring-sized multi-functional gadget, conceived by a woman with other women in mind. The three key elements are vibrating, flashing and sounding an alarm whenever they stray a set distance away from their phone, personal safety alarm and a call answering service. We think this is perfect for busy career women or mums trying to balance a million things at once and we especially love that it was designed by a mum! New to the market now!
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Digital Silence in-Ear headphones - £69.99
available on www.amazon.co.uk and www.play.com
Who doesn’t get frustrated by intrusive sounds of commuter trains, loud overhead announcements and street noise? The DS-321D headphones may provide you with the perfect solution as they contain Digital Ambient Noise Cancelling Technology, which enables users to listen to what they want without any stressful interruptions. This is a fantastic Christmas solution for commuters, music lovers and on-the-go business women. Music lovers will enjoy the sound quality producers intended, making the DS-321D the ultimate stocking-filler this year. The HD quality speakers and on cord voice microphone will allow users to make their business phone calls in blissful silence, blocking out the hustle and bustle of the city so they can concentrate on their calls and if you are anything like the Mumsclub team – we like to talk!! So give Mum a peaceful Christmas with Digital Silence!
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Bluetooth Keyboard KeyFolio Pro for iPad 2- £99.99
Available from www.kensington.com
If you are anything like us, we like the idea of an iPad more than the actual practicality of it for business. We know it has fantastic apps and we know it fits in our handbags but the lack of keyboard and super sensitive touch screen has always put us off a little. We were therefore delighted to find the Kensington Bluetooth Keyboard for the iPad2. Its built-in Bluetooth technology delivers wireless operation and one button set-up. A multi position stand holds your iPad 2 in place while the rotatable frame offers landscape and portrait use (we particularly like this feature). The keyboard can be charged within 4.5 hours to provide 90 hours working time and 45 days standby time (and if the charge runs out, this means you are working for 90 hours without a break ….. so can we suggest you take one??)
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And finally, if you are a woman of a sensitive disposition, may we suggest you don’t read any further...
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When compiling this list, we had a lot of suggestions, some amazing, some irrelevant and some down right wacky but we did have this final suggestion. This range of books was launched by a mumpreneur with a mission to turn readers from ‘mother to lover’ in five minutes with a collection of erotic short stories. They are published in hard copy and for your e-reader, so if you didn’t want anyone to know what you were reading, you can just download it as an ebook. If you want to know more, go to www.xcitebooks.co.uk They are saucy, don’t say we didn’t warn you!
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Don’t forget!
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...Get online and get your business moving...
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All rights reserved 2007-2012 Jane Hopkins MBE
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