Puzzlebrains

Found this posted on another site and thought some of you might find it interesting!

http://www.babybushtoys.com/index.html

Love the Rubik's Cube.

I love the ideas

3 or 4 years ago my son came across a book about roundabouts in the UK -and it just happened to feature the roundabout opposite his sisters pub so he bought it and gave it to one of the barmen for xmas.

That book must have become a best seller. By the end of xmas day the print was almost worn off it and all of the regulars went out and bought a copy. They made a competition out of it- they had to go and photograph every roundabout featured in the book. Sad- but true

My son would have LOVED the "smasher breaker"!!

Mind you, I could think of some of the kids at school who'd just love the Rubik's cube. They could fiddle with it without looking at it and it might just stop them from turning off their neighbour's pc and losing all their work. Again.

And DON'T diss the box. All children LOVE boxes. And so does my cat.

And Gill, perhaps I should make a book which has pictures of bridges from the side in it?? What do you think?

Help!! Son has a relatively new girlfriend who I've not met but will do soon (He met her on the last day of his hols in August and she lives 3.5 hours drive away, and on the 2 occasions she's come to Leeds he's so besotted he can't bear to share her.

I must buy her a xmas present- all I know is she's 22 and a florist. From the 1 photo I've seen she's 100% not the kind of girl he'd usually go for ( usualy leggy with long blonde hair and with nothing in the brain department- this one is 5'2 , short dark hair and a career) and she appears to have a wicked sense of humour given the face she's pulled on the photo.

I want to avoid the smellies and chocs. Anyone got any ideas

My girl's 22 and she loves anything from Accessorise*. Scarf, gloves, little clutch bags, pretty earrings or necklace sets. They also do things like purses, belts etc.

Assuming you have Accessorise near you? They are a branch of Monsoon.

Any ideas for a friend of mine. I usually get something for her and her husband as a joint present (so Acessorise won't solve this one!). Nothing too ordinary, (I try to avoid the tin of biscuits / bottle of wine option and get something a bit different) Last year I bought a bird feeder, thinking she'd think I was mad and she loved it!

Also seeking ideas for three 18/19 year old nephews, one of whom is French, which causes it's own set of problems. (We rarely see him and when we do conversation is a litlle difficult)

giraffe wrote: Also seeking ideas for three 18/19 year old nephews, one of whom is French, which causes it's own set of problems. (We rarely see him and when we do conversation is a litlle difficult)

how is that different to normal teenagers?

When he grunts it's in French

I just meant I didn't know him that well and it rules out things like books / vouchers / DVDs etc. He often ends up with a few Euros, but that's SOOOOOO boring. French niece is no problem because of Accessorise

Depends how much you want to spend. The couple of teenager boys I know seem to really like those scary socks and underwear from Topshop which have cartoons of Batman and things on. Another top favourite is i-tunes vouchers! And I strongly suspect i- tunes vouchers are universal...

The English two, I've never heard them mention music. Might be an idea for the French one though.

I didn't know you'd been discussing underwear with F. He likes those Topman boxers too .

Now I know I'm strange. But not that strange!!

One for the boys of all ages. I must have bought about 10 of these things over the years and its on my shopping list once again.
An airblaster from Hawkins bazaar. Online or usually xmas shops in bigger cities.

It looks like a collapsible megaphone. You pull back a lever and it blasts a jet of air across a very large room(pub sized is best because you have time to set the thing off and hide it. ) Seconds later sometimes hair will fly in the air, a jacket opens with force, paper flies off a table or whatever. Hilarious- great for getting moaning grannies and grandads. Spectacular on combovers

EXCELLENT. You've just sorted me with an idea for my brother. Well done. (I did ask him what he wanted, he told me "wood"). I asked what kind of wood and he said he didn't mind. 4 by 2, 3 by 4, lots of possiblities. The really disturbing thing is I think he was being serious. This is the man who built a games room at the end of his garden, which is made out of flint, has a wooden gable porch and looks like a small cottage, and then liked it so much he won't put the pinball machine in it. Or anything else. It has its own hoover and microwave -"you never know when you might need to warm a pie" which he refuses to keep inside it because it "spoils it". So he had to build it its own "shed" to keep things in. He's also recently built a belltower for one of his other sheds, but that's another story...)

He makes me look so boring and normal, doesn't he?

Bunnylump wrote:And I strongly suspect i- tunes vouchers are universal...

You might want to check with that just to be sure! I got a voucher that I had to re-gift because they aren't usable in Hong Kong.

on the itunes website

Gift Cards and Certificates are valid for use only in the country in which they were purchased. Only residents of the U.S may redeem gift certificates purchased in the U.S.

however you can purchase from the french website be charged in euro's and everything should be ok...personally id call his parents tell them what your thinking they should be able to buy a card there and you can send them the money to cover it... just get them to post it back to you so you can wrap/insert it into his card

I've sorted out the big Nieces, but I still think I might just send money for the big nephews. I did the little nieces this morning. They are more or less Lally's age, so I find them relatively easy (we also see a bit more of them, so know what they are into). I'm starting to make some headway with it all. I wrote my first card today (but only one so far!)

I'm not after any more present ideas but I would like some ideas for games for New Year's Eve. We're having the crew here this year (between 8-14 of us depending on who's doing what). In past years I've made games like "Ask the family" or "Give us a clue". Like a complete div I used my music lyrics quiz last year at my friend's house last year- and it was really good fun (everyone having a go at singing out of tune and slightly inebriated lots of 70s-80s hits to try to get the answers). I did wonder about a murder mystery or a pub quiz but need some inspitation. Even some silly party games would be good (back willing). The sillier and louder the better. Any ideas?

I've got some more of those Chinese lanterns to let go and see if we can avoid burning the neighbour's shed down this time.

The Christmas Card game

Here's a good "New Year" game. After all, once Christmas is over, why not use all those christmas cards for a purpose? This is a variation of a word-based game published as "Apples To Apples".

Get everyone to contribute their cards, because the more cards the better.
First, you only want the picture on the front, so tear off the back half (and put it in the recycling bag.)

Now, create a sort of deck of these cards. Then, shuffle the cards and deal them out (face-down) so that everyone has a "hand" of the same number (six or seven is a good number.) Everyone can now look at their cards.

Now choose someone to be the first judge. This person names something that you might find on a card picture. They may want to choose something that appear on one of their cards, but they do not participate in the round.
Everyone else now chooses a card from their hand and puts it face down on the table. Shuffle the cards and then turn them up. Everyone must choose a card, even if none of them really fit the category.

The judge (the person who named the category) now picks the card they think "best" matches the category they named. They may use any reason for their pick, although utterly incongruous ones should be avoided (unless the judge states in advance that they are likely to do so!)

The person whose card was chosen takes it and puts it face-down in front of themselves. All the other cards are discarded. Everyone now draws a replacement card from the unused cards. If you run out of cards, then simply shuffle up the discards and deal them out again.

The job of judge now passes clockwise to the right. It is suggested that everyone should have a chance to be the judge.
The "winner" (if that's the right word) is the player with the most face-down cards (i.e. having had the most cards selected.)

example categories of things that appear on lots of cards:

Fattest robin
Campest Santa Claus
Most Victorian street-scene
Completely traditional Nativity scene
Most completely "unChristmassy"
A picture with snow on it
A card with glitter on it

Going on from your song lyrics game - an old car-journey game from my childhood could be adapted for a drink-fuelled party

Alphabetic Song Titles.

Yes - as easy as it sounds. First person starts by singing a snatch of a song with a title beginging with "A" [Arrivederci Roma?], next person takes "B" [By the Light of the Silvery Moon] and onward.

Pop a 5 second time limit on to give a bit of pressure, and make a note of how many fail (often by singing a first line with the right letter which is NOT the title - singing "Is this the real life? Is this just fantasy?" for 'B' is valid and very clever of whoever thinks of it).

The great thing about this game (which I've just realized) is that it's timeless. If your music comes from where Brian and I come from, or from the teenagers - as long as it HAS a lyric then you can play the game.


We had lots of alphabetic games in the car - pick a subject (fruit & veg) and we'd go round Apple, Banana, Carrot, etc. Probably my earliest memories of 'puzzle' thinking. But I'd think the music one would be good amongst friends.