CHRISTMAS TREES:
Quinnsworth/Crazy Prices have pre-decorated artificial trees fitted with decorations, lights, the lot (6.5 foot, £39.95, 3 foot £9.95) Just pull it out of the box and plug it in.
HELICOPTERS AND EXECUTIVE JETS: At very short notice, Westair Executive Jet and Helicopter Charter will bring a relative back from the UK, transport family from one side of this island to the other or take friends or family on a scenic tour.
Four seat helicopter costs £400 per hour. Executive jet (eight passengers) costs £1,800 per hour. Westair is based at Shannon Airport and can be contacted at 061-475166/474167, or 24 hour mobile 088 560504.
JEWELLERY: "We get men coming to the door in a panic after we close at 6 p.m., pushing £100 notes through the door," says David Andrews of Weir's, Grafton Street, Dublin.
"It's always the same story, I've been in the pub and I'm going to be in real trouble if I don't get something." Do Weir's oblige? But of course, "We don't want marriages to break up," explains Andrews.
ANTIQUES: Grainne Pearse of Courtville Antiques, Powerscourt Townhouse Centre, Dublin, invariably indulges the half dozen sheepish men who come knocking at her door at closing time on Christmas Eve. "Antique jewellery is the ideal last minute gift because it's romantic and it's always a little bit special. There's only one of anything," she says.
WINE: At Mitchell and Son Wine Merchants, Dawson Street, Dublin (open until 5.30 p.m. today and tomorrow), Patricia Quigley says there tends to be huge problems with courier deliveries on December 23rd and 24th, as most offices are closed and cannot accept deliveries, while most homes are empty because the residents are out doing last minute Christmas errands. Vouchers are a safer bet because they can be pushed through a letter box. Also, the recipient of your largesse may not necessarily like your personal choice of bottles (cases from £60).
Procrastinators who insist on giving cases of wine will love the latest trend it is now considered acceptable for wine givers to ask the recipient to collect the wine themselves, which is now easier since the opening of the new Dawson Street car park beside Mitchells.
Mitchell's restaurant by the was, is 6pm today but not tomorrow. "We couldn't get people to go home on Christmas Eve. We learned the hard way," says Patricia Quigley.
FLOWERS CHAMPAGNE AND CHOCOLATES: It's nearing midnight on Christmas Eve, you're being pushed out of the pub and you still haven't bought that gift? Don't despair. Flowers Direct, freefone 1800 211311, will take your order up to 11.55 p.m. on Christmas Eve and deliver the goods on Christmas Day (flowers start at £20 plus £10 for delivery).
4A.M. PANIC: Many service station shops will be open 24 hours tomorrow and Christmas Day. The 24 hour Shell Service Station in Dalkey, Co Dublin, for example, will be selling teddy bears (£6.99) and a range of Bewley's Handmade Chocolates (£3-£6 approximately).
CHRISTMAS DAY DINNERS: Clancy's Carvery Professional Catering at the Spar shop, 48 Sandycove Rd, Sandycove, Co Dublin, tel 01-2805157, will be open on Christmas Day selling a turkey and ham Christmas dinner with all the trimmings for £9.99 a person. They will give you disposable plates, but most customers bring their own and ask chef David McCann to load them up while proprietor Ger Dooley hands out the complimentary glasses of mulled Wine.
Mr Dooley began his innovative Christmas dinner service last year when he recognised the need in his local area, with its high population of elderly and single people, for ready prepared hot meals.
Last year, one customer turned up in hysterics. Having offered to buy the turkey for his large family's Christmas Day gathering, he had been driving around with it in the boot of his car. When the boot was opened by the women of the family, the stench was almighty. Clancy's was actually able to provide the man with an entire cooked turkey with stuffing and gravy (£50).
The Portable Food Company, tel 088 615912, will take last orders at 1 pm on Christmas Eve for a stylish Christmas dinner. For £40 a person, they will prepare a goose or the traditional turkey and ham dinner, with starters and desserts, and will deliver it to your table on Christmas Day.
Considering the day that's in it, chef Eamon Slater and his catering partner Brian we would ask you to put you own plates in the dishwasher afterwards. (You can do that much, can't you?)
Christmas lunch at Jury's Ballsbridge, Dublin, tel 01-6070050, is booked out for non residents, but there is Still availability for guests who check in tomorrow to wake up on Christmas Day for breakfast in bed and Christmas lunch in the hotel. In the Embassy Garden Restaurant the set Christmas lunch menu is £43 per person and in the Coffee Dock, £28 per person. Or, you could check in on Christmas morning, eat a huge lunch (there is a full menu to choose from by It he way, not just turkey and ham), then retire to the hotel bar or to your room for some quiet TV and spend Christmas night in luxury with no washing up! Jury's Ballsbridge are offering rooms at a special rate of £75 with the option of a second room free for either two adults or up to three children under 12 sharing. Ideal, too, for bringing the children up to Dublin to see the panto after Christmas.
DUBLIN ACCOMMODATION: Procrastinating family and friends are perfectly capable of arriving on your doorstep to spend Christmas at very short notice. For those who find the prospect of spending the week together under one roof too challenging to contemplate, there is also short term apartment accommodation still available today. Hipson Properties, tel 01-6768384 (open today until 6 p.m. and re-opening for one day on December 27th) is offering self catering apartments accommodating four to five people in Christchurch Hall, Dublin for a special Christmas rate of £250 per week (the usual rate is £350 per week). Each apartment is furnished to hotel standard with two double bedrooms, a sofa bed in the living room, television, washing machine and dryer and fully fitted kitchen with everything you need to cook with. Christchurch, with its wonderful church bells, is the perfect place to be on New Year's Eve so if guests wish to stay longer than Christmas week (December 24th morning of 31 st) they can stay extra nights (say, New Year's Eve and New Year's Night) for £50 per night.
ST STEPHEN'S DAY: Spend that awkward post Christmas gap helping to keep the spirit of ceol, caint agus comhluadar alive with The Tullaroan and District Heritage Committee, Kilkenny, tel 0560-69107 or - 69202, who are organising a Wren Boys Competition for St Stephen's Day. Teams from a dozen counties will converge on the picturesque village of Tullaroan to compete for £500 in prizes. (Tickets £6 family, £3 adults, children free if accompanied by an adult, Senior Citizens and unwaged, £2 each).
CHILD ENTERTAINMENT: Wondering how to keep the children occupied after Christmas? The Busy Bee Christmas Holiday Cooking Course for 11-16-year-olds at the Cookery Centre of Ireland in Killiney, Co Dublin. The four day course costs £60 and takes place from 11 a.m.- 1 p.m. on December 30th, December 31st, January 2nd and January 3rd. If parents find the location too distant, course organisers can collect children from Dalkey Dart Station and drop them back again.
