The best Christmas gifts for friends and family

When it comes to choosing gifts for the winter holidays, many people fall into a stupor and ask themselves: “What to give to make it useful, original and enjoyable?”. But in fact, there are a lot of options, and there is always a gift that suits the theme and budget.

New Year 2018 is the year of the yellow earth dog according to the eastern calendar.

Every year, in accordance with the Chinese eastern calendar, it is determined which animal will be the symbol of the coming year. And if 2018 is the year of the Red Fire Rooster, then 2018 is the year of the Yellow Earth Dog.

Folk beliefs, myths and legends indicate that the mysterious Dog is the patron of noisy parties and cheerful companies.

Therefore, the celebration of the coming year should be full of sparkling joy, bewitching positive emotions and incredible happiness.

However, the outfit for the party should also be appropriate: mustard and yellow colors will come in handy.

What to give your beloved woman for the New Year 2018?

Of course, all girls and women are multifaceted and diverse: someone would be pleased to receive a new interesting book or encyclopedia as a gift, and someone would be delighted to travel along the Golden Ring of Russia.

But they all have one thing in common. In fact, the entire beautiful half of humanity is crazy about some unexpected gifts and pleasant things.

If the question arises of choosing a New Year's surprise, and there are many options, you should refer to the general list of things that will delight any lady.

Flowers in a box.

Flowers as a gift are something that will never cease to be relevant. The beautiful half of humanity is crazy about beautiful, delicate and sensual bouquets. Somewhere in the depths of her soul, every lady identifies herself with a certain flower: with an independent forget-me-not, a laid-back chamomile or a delicate peony.

In addition, a bouquet of flowers is a manifestation of attention, it will definitely be a great addition to the main gift, its highlight. Having received such a pleasant surprise, the lady of the heart will see all the love and attention invested there.

However, you should clearly understand which flowers should be given and which should not. It is also equally important to know the meaning of the colors themselves.

Of course, if the girlfriend prefers certain flowers, for example, peonies or daisies, then the best option would be to give them.

If you want to give something new, unusual and unforgettable, then you should understand floriography (the doctrine of the symbolism of flowers and their meaning). Indeed, often people simply ignore these seemingly trifles. But in fact, such details are very important and can say a lot about the person who gave flowers.

Love.

This bright concept is symbolized by different flowers, and each of them has its own shade of this feeling.

• Acacia - symbolizes a secret, unrequited love in a good way.
• Amaranth, or amaranth, speaks of eternal, undying, true love.
• Ambrosia - symbolizes mutual, happy love.
• Pansies, or tricolor violet - speaks of the partner's awareness of all the charm of relations with his beloved.
• Gardenia - has virtually the same meaning as acacia, but with a touch of slight sadness.This shade can be correlated with one of the most famous poems by Alexander Sergeevich Pushkin, written during his exile to the Caucasus - "On the Hills of Georgia".

On the hills of Georgia lies the darkness of the night;
Noisy Aragva before me.
I'm sad and easy; my sadness is light;
My sorrow is full of you
You, you alone ... My despondency
Nothing hurts, nothing worries
And the heart burns again and loves - because
That it cannot love.
1829

• Carnation grass, or pink carnation - symbolizes the first, innocent, pure, sincere love.
• Red carnation - means an uncontrollable passion for the beloved, an obsession with love.
• Honeysuckle - symbolizes the strength of a love union, serious intentions.
• Daisy - means strong feelings.
• Narcissus - despite the fact that he is usually associated with selfishness and individualism, he symbolizes unrequited love with the hope of reciprocity.
• Forget-me-not means pure, sincere love.
• Orchid - symbolizes admiration for the beloved.
• Rose white - means pure, immaculate secret love.
• Rose without thorns - symbolizes love at first sight.
• Rose red - means crazy passion, true love and feelings.
• Purple lilac - symbolizes first love, first true feelings.
• Tulip red - means a declaration of love.
• Chrysanthemum red - the meaning is almost the same as that of a red tulip, but with the hope of further love relationships.

Sympathy and friendship.

This warm, pleasant and soothing feeling is symbolized by a large number of flowers and plants.

• Cornflower - symbolizes admiration for the grace, grace of a girl.
• Calla, or calla - means admiration, respect.
• Bell - symbolizes that the young man is constantly thinking about the girl.
• Magnolia - means nobility, purity.
• Melissa - symbolizes mutual understanding, sympathy, reciprocity in a friendly way.
• Sunflower - means adoration, delight.
• Rose pink - symbolizes politeness, courtesy.
• A dark pink rose means gratitude, gratitude for all the moments spent together.
• The tulip is yellow - although in wide circles it is believed that yellow is the color of parting, but the yellow tulip symbolizes admiration for a smile, delight in the external and internal beauty of a girl.
• Jasmine - means a somewhat two-sided concept, namely an offer of friendship instead of love.
• Iris, or iris - symbolizes that friendship for a person who gives flowers is of very high importance.
• The rose is yellow - despite the fact that yellow is considered to be a symbol of separation, a yellow rose does not mean this concept at all. Friendship, incredible joy and happiness filling the chest - this is the true meaning of this flower.

Modesty and tenderness.

Interested in how to express such quivering states of mind as modesty and tenderness? There are flowers that will convey everything you need exactly!

• Gladiolus, or skewer - symbolizes sincerity, purity of intentions, a request from a girl to give a young man a chance.
• Lily of the valley - means reliability, reliability, honesty.
• Lily white - symbolizes purity, purity.
• Lotus - means chastity, purity, harmony and tranquility.
• Daisy - symbolizes modesty, purity, childishly charming tenderness of a girl.
• Mimosa - means sensitivity, attentiveness.
• Snowdrop, or galanthus - symbolizes consolation, but not in a negative sense, unlike geranium, hope.
• Rose pale - pink - means youth, joy, energy, filling with vitality.
• Lilac white - symbolizes innocence, purity, purity, chastity.
• Violet blue - means confidence in intentions, recognition.
• White violet - symbolizes modesty, tenderness.

What flowers should not be given?

Any holiday can be ruined by flowers that initially carry negative notes. To avoid a sudden, unexpected turn of events, you need to know the flowers that should not be given to your beloved under any circumstances.

• Aloe, or agave - means bitterness, mourning, sadness.
• Aster - symbolizes sadness, but not “bright from the bright torments of love”, like in Pushkin Alexander Sergeevich, but dark, languishing and endless, like in the work of Mikhail Yuryevich Lermontov.
• White carnation - means contempt, disgust.
• Carnation yellow - symbolizes refusal, lack of feelings or serious intentions.
• Carnation striped - means rejection of any proposal, refusal.
• Geranium, or crail - symbolizes consolation when parting with notes that a young man will always be with a girl, but only as a friend.
• Hydrangea - means cooled feelings, lack of attraction, indifference.
• Calendula, or nails - symbolizes depression, misfortune, torment.
• Lime flowers - mean infidelity to your beloved.
• Lily yellow - symbolizes lies, frivolity and lack of serious intentions in terms of love.
• Lily orange - means a bad attitude towards a person, hatred or dislike.
• Tea rose - symbolizes parting with a hint that the young man will always remember his already former lover.
• Black rose - means goodbye forever, separation due to death.
• Chrysanthemum yellow - symbolizes frustration, bitterness from rejected love.

Jewelry.

No matter what anyone says, girls are distinguished by their love for jewelry! And for good reason: a flaunting ring on a finger or a bracelet on her hand will always remind a lady of that wonderful moment when she received such a pleasant surprise. Jewelry, as a rule, is given not to just anyone, but to those girls towards whom young people have serious intentions.

Rings are now very popular, bracelets and pendants are catching up with them, pendants that came from the West and Europe have become especially popular - medallions with the signs of the beloved's zodiac.

The most popular and reliable jewelry houses in Russia are several manufacturers:

• Adamas;
• Bronnitsky jewelry factory;
• Sokolov;
• Tiffany & Co.
• sunlight;
• Pandora;
• Swarovski
• Moscow Jewelry Factory.

When choosing such an interesting gift for your beloved as a piece of jewelry, you should discard all prejudices, folk beliefs and myths about the decorative stone inserted in the gift or the material used to make the jewelry. The main thing is to choose what is associated with the beloved, her soul and character.

It doesn't matter if there is 925 sterling silver or rose gold, emerald or diamond in the jewelry. Attention and invested mental strength in the choice of a gift - that's what plays an important role in this regard.

What to give your beloved man for the New Year 2018?

Sport shoes.

If your loved one is involved in sports, then it is likely that they will need good sports shoes (unless it is swimming, wrestling or skiing).It is worth paying attention to sneakers designed for certain sports. There are shoes for football, basketball, running and other healthy recreation options.

Sports shoes should not constrain the foot, well ventilate the foot, have excellent shock-absorbing properties and be as comfortable as possible. Even if the hobby for sports is not a professional field of activity, that is, if it is simple jogging on the street, then you can look at sports shoes with insulation so that you can run in the winter.

You can learn more about how to choose the right sneakers, what are the proven and reliable brands, as well as get acquainted with the best sports shoes in 2018 for men in dedicated to this article.

Subscription to the gym, swimming pool or any courses.

A good gift for your beloved will be a subscription to a gym, a swimming pool or any courses: linguistic, programming or learning a foreign language. Such subscriptions are most often sold in the establishments themselves that provide a certain service, and are designed for a month or more.

You can choose immediately until next year or for two to lead a healthy lifestyle or develop spiritually together. Thus, the gift will be both heartfelt and useful. The price of such an original gift depends only on the duration of the subscription and the scope of the services provided. There are also gift certificates created specifically to give a loved one something new, original, unusual.

Clothes and accessories.

This section includes a tracksuit, a swimming suit, underwear that regulates heat transfer in the human body, a sports bag or backpack, as well as casual watches, sunglasses, a windbreaker or sweatshirt. There are many things that can be needed for any man, including a person engaged in active physical activity. You can also add a special sports bottle here - a shaker, from which nothing spills.

And if a beloved man is fond of tourism, including skiing, then equipment that will be very useful will be an excellent gift option.

A good gift for a man with almost any hobbies can be a watch. This is a useful and status thing. You can choose both classic and smart watches with many functions (more on that in the next subparagraph). The main thing is to choose a watch for the style of clothing and lifestyle of a person. Whether they should be protected from water or shockproof depends on these parameters.

It is worth noting that if a girl believes in signs, beliefs and examples, then giving a watch to her lover is a bad omen. It is better to present it not as a gift, but as a regular purchase. And all because giving a watch to a man means separation. But to believe the signs or not, everyone decides for himself.

Smart watch or fitness bracelet.

Such gadgets help in sports and in everyday life with the help of sensors that determine indicators of vital parameters, such as heart rate, body temperature. You can count the number of steps taken, measure the number of calories burned during exercise.

Such a gift will make life, and especially sports, more modern and practical.There are both smartwatches and fitness bracelets.

The first can show the time, through them you can view notifications. They can become an accessory not only for everyday life, but also for sports.

The latter often have less functionality, but a stronger design (it's not scary to break the screen when falling or hitting a hard surface). However, this is a good gift to track your own activity and monitor your health.

To learn more about the varieties of such gadgets, the rating of the best models of smart watches and fitness bracelets in 2018, as well as their pros and cons, you can find out in article dedicated to this topic.

Collector's editions of computer games, paraphernalia or works of art based on something.

Every year, the society discusses the pre-order of some new game. By the way, this can be the perfect gift for your lover. An excellent New Year's surprise can be a game for a personal computer or a console, as well as a board, card game. If just playing is not enough, then you can look at the collector's editions. There are fewer such copies in stores, and in addition to the game, there are nice bonuses in the box: books with illustrations from the creators and developers of the game, a soundtrack recorded on electronic media, figures or various paraphernalia from the game. Such unexpected souvenirs will find their place on the shelf and will please the eye.

This can also include everything related to the series or your favorite game: scarves, hats, backpacks, posters.

Particular attention can be paid to the figures of heroes. There are both exact copies of the characters, and more cute, sophisticated, idiosyncratic and unusual variations.
Books can also be considered attributes that help you learn more about your favorite universe of a computer game, movie or TV series. Fans of MARVEL and DC Comics, as well as WarnerBrothers, can give comics or posters with characters from these huge universes.

If, for some reason, the option of an unforgettable gift for a loved one did not come to mind, then you should simply ask the young man directly what he wants to receive for the New Year.

Perhaps there is something that a man has long wanted, but for some reason does not want to talk.

And it's better to ask, but buy something that will bring joy than miscalculate with a surprise.

30 additional gift ideas for your beloved man:

What to give friends for the New Year 2018?

Friends are those people who accept any gifts, even the most absurd ones, because the main thing is attention. Therefore, choosing gifts for the winter holidays is a real fun for them! You don’t even know what to give: a funny T-shirt or some original thing?

Tickets for a concert, theater or a trip along the Golden Ring of Russia.

It happens that friends have the same taste in music. Then VIP tickets to the concert of your favorite performers will be an ideal gift for the New Year.
These can be tickets to a concert of rap artists (Scryptonite, Oxxymiron, Markul, Obladaet), pop singers (Egor Creed, Klava Koka, Polina Gagarina), jazz legends (Alevtina Polyakova, Irina Rodiles, Olga Oleinikova) or underground and cloud— musicians (LSP, Pharaoh, T-Fest).

If friends agree in the same tastes about such high art as theater, opera or ballet, then it is definitely worth giving tickets to a theater performance.There are a huge number of options for what to go to: from staging famous works of art, dramas, tragicomedies and comedies to performing your own, author's scripts and plays.

If friends like to relax, have fun and travel to new places, then a great option would be to buy tickets to a resort, whether it's skiing Austria or sunny Italy.

If preference falls on traveling around the Motherland, then it is worth buying a tour, for example, along the Golden Ring of Russia. You can also consider a trip to the cultural capital of Russia, St. Petersburg, or to the information technology capital, Moscow. In addition, these two capitals also have suburban attractions: craft centers, reserves or estates of famous people.

For example, right in New Moscow, annexed to Moscow a few years ago, right next to it are estates and estates of various political figures and artists, poets, and musicians.

Also, do not lose sight of the fact that near Moscow, in the Moscow region, there are a huge number of estates and locations where Russian TV series and films were filmed. So, the Serednikovo estate in the Moscow region is the place where the now popular series “Closed School” was filmed, which tells about a group of teenagers investigating strange, inexplicable, mystical, and sometimes frightening events that happened and are still happening in their school. Everyone can visit this complex, and the guides will tell you about the history of this memorable place.

Printed joint memorable, important, memorable photos.

What could be nicer than receiving from a friend or girlfriend those printed photos with which you have a huge amount of positive emotions associated? It can be the first trip to a concert, an unforgettable trip to the sea, a fun birthday party with friends or a wedding, the wedding of one of your friends. Therefore, presenting a collection of common joint commemorative photographs on New Year's Eve is a great idea! Friends will not remain indifferent, because such a sweet, sincere and warm gift remains in their memories forever.

If there is no color printer or instant camera at home, it does not matter! It is always possible to print the necessary photos from the Instagram service or via a link in street instant printing machines, for example, Boft. Such machines are located almost everywhere in large cities of Russia, and the price of printing there is not at all expensive. Photos are printed in Polaroid format, usually with a square frame. Such a print format, on the contrary, adds a feeling of comfort, something familiar, warm to the soul of the recipient of the New Year's gift.

An alternative to purchased gifts are those that are made by hand. Ideas - in the video:

What to give parents for the New Year 2018?

Parents are those people who will be happy to receive as a gift from their children even a stone on a string or a crooked, sloppy application, but made by the hands of a child, with soul and love.

However, the years go by, the children grow up, and, consequently, the priorities of gifts change. Of course, parents will be pleased to receive hand-made crafts from children, but an adult can give something beautiful, elegant and useful.Something that will always remind parents of their beloved son or daughter.

Modern paintings or interior items in the Art Nouveau style.

Of course, all people are different. Someone likes contemporary art, and someone admires the paintings of Repin, Savrasov or Vasnetsov.

Parents, of course, can be presented with a replica of the painting by the painter Vasily Vasilyevich Vereshagin “The Apotheosis of War”. However, they themselves can buy such a replica at the festival of fine arts, which takes place annually in major cities of Russia and the CIS.

But modern paintings, modern interior items - this is what will obviously remain in the hearts of parents and will remind them of their beloved child around the clock that the gift is in their apartment.

Modern paintings and interior items are different. There are paintings that, as if by gradation, narrow towards the center, and there are those that stretch along the wall in a wide strip. The range is huge, and most importantly - such a gift will be remembered for a long time!

You can also make such modern paintings yourself. Beads, felt, rhinestones or watercolor - the choice of manufacturing materials is huge. It is enough just to go to the art store and buy the products of interest, as well as a glass panel to protect the artistic composition from dust, dirt and possible mechanical damage.

Home pet.

Do not forget that far from the last role in choosing such a gift is the presence of an allergic reaction in parents to an allergen contained in pet hair.
However, if there is no such allergic reaction, then you can safely choose the breed of a pet for parents.It should be based on the preferences of the parents themselves: if their soul lies in smooth-haired cats, you should not choose long-haired cats or dogs, and vice versa.

Also, you should always remember that you need to give not a big dog or a huge cat, for example, a manul, which brings a lot of problems, such as tufts of wool on the floor, difficulty in grooming or feeding. A pet should please, always remind of the child who gave it. Therefore, it is worth choosing small or medium-sized dogs with short or medium hair length and cats that are not very large and whimsical to care for. Then such a gift will be remembered for a long time!

What is the result?

In fact, choosing the right gift for a loved one is not difficult. It is enough just to study and understand the tastes and preferences of a person, and then everything will come to mind by itself. There are a huge number of options, you just need to decide on one, truly right choice.