Light my fire this Christmas:Initial surprise at discovering what look like sticks of wood in your stocking will be replaced by . . . horror when you realise that you were right - they are sticks of wood. But before your Christmas spirit evaporates, wait: these aren't any old sticks.
MayaSticks kindling for campers (about €3 a pack, www.fashion.ie; www.light-my-fire.se for stockists) are apparently what the ancients in central America used to light their barbecues. They're made from pino de Ocote, a fatwood pine from the Guatemalan highlands with an 80 per cent resin content that will light even when wet. The wood is plantation timber, so you needn't worry that you're incinerating an old-growth forest to toast your marshmallows.
• The dynamo pedometer (€12, www.muji.co.uk or Muji, 45 Chatham Street, Dublin 2) is another environmentally-friendly outdoor tool - it's a wind-up distance measurer for exercisers who take it all In their stride.
• With the hair-shirt era upon us again, this might be an ideal time to make a pre-emptive strike against the recession and embark on a globetrotting camping holiday, in the hope that life has returned to normal when you return. Or, if you can't afford a real VW camper van when you cash in those shares, how about a couple of colour-coded Volkswagon camper-van key covers that will fit most flat-top keys (€3, www.objects-of-design.com).