I’ve always wondered why my home-made hot chocolate never tastes as good as when I buy a cup in a classy chocolate shop. How do they make it so creamy and delicious? I came across this French Hot Chocolate Pot Gift Set today and answered my own question – I’m definitely going to buy one of these little pots and see if I can create my own delicious ‘chocolat chaud’ from the comfort of my home.

The traditional French design has a wooden whisk in the lid and a wooden handle to hold on to, and the shape of the pot is really cute and petite – I can just imagine offering this to my guests on a silver tray with classic fine-bone china teacups, well if I was posh and rich I would anyway!

A 300g box of the finest Organic Drinking Chocolate by Prestat is included in this set, which is made with flakes of organic chocolate with 60% minimum cocoa solids. Mmm I can almost taste the chocolate melting in my mouth … what a fab Easter pressie this would make!

Available for £29.95 from Gift Inspiration

Whenever Easter comes around I often wonder how big the biggest Easter egg ever made would be. Well this year I decided to find out and found it at Ananova.com; I feel utterly jealous of anyone receiving a gift like this.

The egg was made by Belgian chocolate producer Guylian who is also responsible for those unbelievable tasty Belgian Seashells. It took over 50,000 bars of chocolate, 26 people and 525 hours to build; in the end it measured 8.32 metres high entering the Guinness book of records. Now that’s what I call an Easter egg!

This really is the Ultimate Easter Gift Basket! Packed full of delicious chocolates, marshmallows, M&M’s, Jelly Beans, Twizzlers, candy eggs … not to mention the 15” Easter Bunny that’s completely pose-able – what a treat for a relative of any age this Easter! A dollar bill is included in one of the plastic eggs to kick of the Easter egg hunt and pencils are included to encourage younger children to get creative.

I was pretty upset to discover I couldn’t get my hands on this here in the UK, however I managed to find a similar gift basket from Ripe Gifts that comes with a microwave-warmable Easter Bunny! The basket also comes with yummy treats such as Belgian white chocolate and hazelnut pralines, egg-shaped Easter candles and Simnel cake steeped in French brandy. This basket wouldn’t be suitable for young children, but would make a great gift for a special relative. I love the microwave-warmable Easter Bunny!!

Easter is truly my favourite time of the year as I am a serious chocoholic! There is so much to choose from; the choice just gets bigger and better every year.

I love all chocolate but there is something about cracking open an egg with your teeth! I have been looking for something a bit special and found this lovely ‘Happy Egg’ on www.hotelchocolat.co.uk filled with luscious smooth pralines in milk and white chocolate. How can you not smile at these happy little faces! The best bit though is that the shell is extra thick; great to sink your teeth in to! It is pricey at £18.00, but their chocolate doesn’t contain nasty additives, it’s made from authentic, wholesome ingredients so you get what you pay for.

Hotel Chocolat have been around for about 10 years and started out with just a catalogue based business and then opened their first shop in 2004. They run a Chocolate Tasting Club where you try out new chocolates every month… yummy, sounds like heaven! Check out their website for loads of good ideas for special people and occasions.

I just love these fun ceramic egg candles! Use them to brighten up your Easter Day dinner table or display them separately around the house.

They come boxed in an egg carton which looks just like the real thing, and in 6 different pastel colours, with each candle (unscented) about 4 inches tall.

A box of six costs $24.95 plus package and postage. Find them on www.harryanddavid.com which has many other gift ideas.

How about this cheery little personalised mug for an Easter present – far less fattening than chocolate, and will last a lot longer! You can have the name of your choice printed on it with up to a maximum of 25 characters.

It comes in full colour and costs £9.95 (+£1.95 postage & packaging); free delivery if you spend over £20.00.

You can get yours from www.gettingpersonal.co.uk.

Looking for a quirky gift for your favorite mum on mother’s day? Well why not adopt a hen? If your mum fancies herself as Barbara from The Good Life but doesn’t have the time to pick potatoes and pluck chickens herself this could be the perfect gift.

Adopting a hen involves selecting the breed and age of hen you would like to adopt, and then the people at Adopt a Hen will go and buy this hen for you and house it within their sanctuary where hens can roam in woodland amongst 30-50 other hens, saving it from a life in a battery farm. Costs vary depending on the hen but the average is about £25 for a year. For this money you get an information pack, an invitation to come and visit the farm at anytime and access to the hen web cam, so you can see your happy hen clucking away!

Extra options such as adopting a pair of chicks for a one off £25 fee, who will be reared in safety joining the hen farm when they are old enough, are available. The best thing about the service is that providing you don’t live too far from the hen sanctuaries you can get a package which includes tasty free range eggs from your happy hens. Yummy!