It’s funny how a hand-made gift or card always makes it look like more thought has gone into the gift even if you don’t make it yourself! I always find that my friends appreciate hand made items a whole lot more than mass produced shop bought cards which come with ten layers of plastic wrapping. Next time you feel like passing on your best wishes skip the boring white cards with metallic prints and pick up one of the unique designs from Noo noo-art . They are decorated using everything from metal to fabrics!

The cute baby card pictured is one example of the cards made by Noo noo (so called because her baby nephew couldn’t say her name Lou!) – the cards can be personalised with the new baby’s name and colours of your choice. You can also get a range of individual cards and gifts to celebrate other occasions. Noo noos cards are more like a piece of art work than a simple card and are something you definitely wouldn’t want to throw out the day after your birthday.

I’ve seen a lot of adverts around for personalised photo books recently. I think they are a great modern take on the photo album. The idea is that you send in a selection of your favourite snaps and they are turned into a classy coffee table book. The books are hard backed and properly bound. They are made using high quality paper and the photos are treated for red eye, date stamp removal and are restored to ensure they look like they are straight from a publishers printing house.

The books even come in a personalised presentation box or tin. These books are a wonderful idea to celebrate an important life event such as a wedding or christening. I think they would be a great gift to give to someone on returning from a holiday, a book displaying what you got up to is so much better than a postcard or a tacky souvenir. They start at £49 for an A5 sized book and you can order one from www.bagsoflove.co.uk

Apparently you can actually buy an acre of land on the moon and give it to someone as a gift. Maybe a little outrageous for a birthday present but if you know someone interested in astronomy; imagine how much they would appreciate this idea.

I think it’s a fantastic scheme and definitely something I would look into participating in myself. As well as owning part of the moon, you can also order land deeds for planets Mars and Venus, there is even a range of novel space related gifts to accompany your acre.

The gift pack includes the lunar deeds, constitution and bill of rights, lunar site map to show you where your property is located, a transcript of the Declaration of Ownership and all the appropriate documents so you can prove the land is yours! The gift is available at MoonEstates.com for just £16.75 per acre and would make a unique, personalised gift for any special occasion.

My best friend recently got engaged and I found it really difficult to find a suitable engagement gift. My initial idea was a bottle of champagne but then I presumed everybody else would have thought of that as well; it’s the easy option! I wanted to get something that showed I had put some time and effort into choosing their present so I opted for a Memories photograph album from Marks & Spencer.

My plan was to take lots of photographs at the engagement party then fill the book for them so they had some nice memories of the night. However, after a few glasses of red wine I forgot about the pictures and had to collect them off other people!

While searching for their present I also came across this lovely Memories Box; the box is big enough to store photographs, cards, invitations and other special memories that often get lost in the back of the drawer. It is beautifully decorated with silver diamantes and has a silky ribbon to secure the box shut.

These gifts would also be great for a christening or a wedding present, the photo album is not yet available on their website so you will have to go to a store but the keepsake box is available for £9.50.