If you’re anything like me the prospect of choosing a gift is a thing you fear. Your dilemma is that you would like to think of a gift that is astonishing and original, something capable of trumping all the other presents at a party. In essence everyone want to keep away from the socks for Christmas moment; the recipients eager anticipation as they tear apart the mysterious present followed by their brave faced but transparently disappointed response - “Oh…socks”. Yes, they may be brightly coloured socks with elaborate patterns on them but, ultimately, they’re just socks.

My big worry here, and the cause of my trepidation with getting presents is the unspoken assumption inherent in buying someone a uninspiring gift - well, I’ve fulfilled my obligation and bought you a gift, yes it’s a book token but frankly I really don’t like you enough to spend much time in choosing anything more exciting. Perhaps, this is most likely me being cynical and insecure but the fact remains that a well chosen gift that you have put some effort into choosing will always be received with appreciation.

The conundrum is - what makes a good gift and where the devil do you find them? A great deal depends, it goes without saying, on who you’re buying for - The key to the selection of gifts which genuinely mean something is to opt for something personal, rather than generic For precisely this reason, you will notice selecting for a certain type of person a lot less effort than others, if Uncle Henry enthuses about taxidermy then go out and find him a stuffed animal, it may be a no-brainer but he’ll still love you for it. Not everyone’s simple like this though, there are some people, and I know this from personal experience, who seems to be bereft of interests from which to draw gift buying inspiration. In such cases there is a challenge in tracking a present that is not specifically that personal but nonetheless feels distinctive and somewhat out of the ordinary, something that makes the recipient feel happy. Fortunately we now have the internet available for our use, and finding interesting gifts is a breeze should you wish to un-tap its awesome power.

Of course, regular surfers of the net won’t need warning that there’s a hell of a lot of crap out there so you need to know where you’re looking. I’ve no doubt that eBay is positively resplendent with thrillingly unique gift buying opportunities but it is so overwhelmingly large that unless you already know just what you’re looking for its not really worth bothering with.

Much more useful are the escalating number of websites that specialize in somewhat interesting gift ideas. There are a multitude of gadgety, boys’ toys type sites out there - Firebox and I Want One Of Those for starters along with more general gift sites like Needapresent.com or Lastminute. Some of these sites can be reminiscent of the old Innovations brochure about them but then, for more distinctive gifts ideas I’d particularly suggest Not On The High Street who specialise in different, personalised gifts and really do have the sort of gifts ideas that look like you’ve given the matter some serious consideration. And men, if you’re buying for the lady in your life don’t forget the classic never-fails fall-back gift - flowers.