City Christmas gift guide 2019
Christmas season is in is in full swing and if you have been busy quaking at the price of wrapping paper and turkey crowns, then the space under your tree may still be looking a bit bare.
However, don’t worry, City’s Christmas gift guide 2019 is here to give you the best new products and books coming from our student businesses, short courses and academics.
From charitable socks, to brain racking puzzles, City’s Christmas gift guide 2019 has the best present suggestions for you, your mother, your brother and even that person you’ve never heard of but whose name you pulled out from the secret Santa hat!
The socks you want for Christmas
First up it’s those Christmas stocking staples — socks!
Joey Li and Thuta Khin’s (MSc Marketing, Strategy and Innovation, 2019) social good startup, Leiho, donate a pair of warm socks to a homeless shelter for every pair that they sell.
Clean socks are the most requested item of clothing from homeless shelters and charities however they are the least donated. Putting their best foot forward, Leiho has already donated 100 pairs of socks this December.
Buying these socks from Leiho will give something very useful to a person who needs it the most. See their range of socks here.
Get a game going around the dinner table
Who needs bingo and Monopoly when you and your family could be screaming at an Alexa!?
Thomas Hewitson (MA Political Campaigning MA, 2010) and his Webby Award-winning creation LabWorks use Amazon Alexa and Google Assistant to play voice-controlled games.
Games range from quizzes, true or false and even space exploration narratives where you call the shots. Check their full range out here.
Top quality items from independent sellers
Find the items that aren’t on the shelves do your Christmas shopping in style with Philip Linardos’ (MSc Management, 2014) creation, ShelfNow.
The online platform bridges a consumer gap by using data to combine independent sellers with local buyers in their area — giving small businesses access to exclusive affordable products.
Find your perfect Christmas spread on ShelfNow here.
Fight plaque after Christmas
Three City graduates have come up with the best thing to help your teeth after all those Christmas chocolates.
Hawaa Budraa, Gina Dorodvand (BEng Biomedical Engineering, 2015) and Remi Basaru (PhD Computing research, 2018) dental hygiene startup, Uunn, uses a connectable lens and a smartphone to scan your teeth after you brush.
Information is then relayed to you on an app saying how much plague is left in your mouth.
Sign up to their mailing list to find out when they go on sale in the New Year.
Stay warm by the fire with a good book this Christmas
Blood Orange
Find a drama more enticing than the fight for the last Yorkshire Pudding!
Harriet Tyce’s, Novel Studio alumna debut novel Blood Orange went on sale early this year following a pre-emptive six figure bid from publishing company Wildfire.
The story tells of Alison Wood, a criminal barrister relishing in the roaring success of her career, however her personal life is collapsing right before her eyes.
A passionate affair with another man turns physiologically dangerous, and becomes cruel enough to risk everything she values.
Everything You’ve Ever Wanted
Fed up of social media culture? Then get ready for Life on Nyx, a programme that allows 100 lucky winners the chance to escape it all, move to another planet and establish a new way of life.
Short story writing and Writers’ Workshop alumna, Luiza Sauma, novel Everything You’ve Ever Wanted, has come out to rave reviews, telling the story of how to escape the mundane life of likes and swipes by heading to another planet, with only one catch — you can never go back.
Make this the perfect book for anyone who is social media mad.
The Big London Treasure Hunt (The Travels of Ermine (who is very determined))
If you are as determined (as Ermine), to find something for your little ones this Christmas, then how about a treasure hunt?
Novel Studio alumna Jennifer Grey’s children’s book, tells the story of a mouse called Ermine who is ready to explore London and help her new friend Mindy, who has to find her lost Tudor treasure before a devious villain.
The Today Programme Puzzle Book 2
Tackle the conundrums that have been confounding the nation every day at 6.47am, with the official Radio 4’s Today puzzle book.
Cass Actuarial Science and Insurance academics have contributed to the 280 cryptic, numerical and linguistic brainteasers from Britain’s best-loved radio programme, set by the world’s ultimate puzzle masters.
Who doesn’t love a puzzle at Christmas?
