Gifts for good causes, compiled by Nicoline Greer.
MAKE A DATE Taking inspiration from the film Calendar Girls, the Yummy Mummies are a group of 12 mothers who have got together to create a calendar with "an untraditional twist". They have teamed up with stylist Sonya Lennon, Bobbi Brown cosmetics, Robert Chambers Hairdressing and O'Connor Diamonds to create the calendar shot by photographers Gerry Grace and George Brown. All the proceeds go to Our Lady's Hospital for Sick Children. The Mummies are hoping to raise in excess of €100,000. The current major focus for the fundraising is to complete a €10 million building project in the grounds of the hospital, which will contain day services for cystic fibrosis, dermatology, neurology, cancer, hepatology and infectious diseases. Available in Eason's, Dunnes Stores and most local newsagents countrywide and also at www.yummy mummies.net for €10.
CHRISTMAS WITH A BANG Silly hats, even sillier toys and really bad jokes that somehow you end up laughing at but, Christmas wouldn't be Christmas without them. This year, Christmas crackers from the Oxfam Fair Trade Shops all have a fair trade gift - jewellery, key-rings, Christmas decorations and other little surprises that will please the fussiest Christmas guests. They also have the usual joke and hat, plus a great "snap". There is a choice of two designs in boxes of six for €15. And if you like a chocolatey Christmas, you can lessen the guilt by buying Oxfam's new range of Divine Delights chocolates: fair trade dried mango, brazil nuts or dried apricots covered with rich chocolate, and chocolate coins for €2.25. Fair Trade Christmas cake and pudding are made using only fairly traded sultanas, raisins, sugar and honey. Available in Oxfam Ireland Fair Trade Shops: 54 South King Street, Dublin, 9; Lower Abbeygate Street, Galway and 16 Rosemary Street (just off Royal Avenue), Belfast.
AROUND THE WORLD Make sure that someone in the developing world gets something for Christmas, too. Trócaire is in its fifth year of these kinds of gifts and have eight "Global Gifts" priced from €15 to €150. The idea of buying a chicken, a goat or fish farm has captured people's imaginations and so far 220,000 gifts have been bought, raising nearly €7.8 million. Call 1850-408408 or 0800-912-1200 from Northern Ireland, see www.trocaire.ie, e-mail globalgift@trocaire.ie. Concern has a similar scheme called "Gift of Hope", where you can buy a range of gifts from three mosquito nets for €15 to a manual water pump for €180: www.concern.ie, 1850-458400. And Bóthar in Limerick offers the chance to buy yaks, bees and camels for the people that need them. www.bothar.org, 061-414142.
SWING HIGH At a time of year when everything seems a little crazy, the Mexican Hammock Company brings a little serenity. The company has been working with co-operative groups in rural Mexico for more than 20 years. The hammock comes with a fixing kit and can be up in time for a post-Christmas chillout session: when it's all you're capable of after all the consumption. There is no wobbling out of these expansive things - the large size will take up to five people. Feliz Navidad! The Mexican Hammock Company, info@hammocks.co.uk, www.hammocks.co.uk, 00-44-117-9425353
WE ARE FAMILY Samantha Mumba, Pierce Brosnan, Bob Geldof, Ronnie Drew and Liam Neeson are some of the celebrities who have had their family snaps taken for UNICEF's For the Children - A Celebration of Families. There are 64 intimate, never-seen-before photographs of some of Ireland's most famous celebrities and their families. All proceeds from the book go to UNICEF Ireland's "Growing up Alone" campaign, which is raising funds in support of UNICEF's work for the millions of children already orphaned and made vulnerable by HIV/AIDS in sub-Saharan Africa. €30, available in Easons and bookshops countrywide. It is also available directly from UNICEF Ireland by calling 1850-767999 or from www.unicef.ie. Above: Ronnie Drew and his actor son, Phelim.
PLAYING FAIR Behind the glossy exterior of the world of football, thousands of children in Pakistan and India are involved in the largest football production operation for the World Cup. The Amnesty International shop has been buying fair trade footballs from the Sialkot region of Pakistan, where the businesses have entered into an agreement with the International Labour Organization and UNICEF for the elimination of child labour from the soccer ball industry. Amnesty also has a shop full of beautiful fair trade products such as handmade paper photo frames, albums and notebooks, games including jigsaws and marble chess sets, and sublime chocolate from Ecuador. Shops at: 2-3 Middle Street, Galway (091-533637) and 48 Fleet Street, Dublin 2 (01-6776361)
THE WEE HOURS Donal Dineen presents a Christmas Party in Project next Sunday week. Recent breakthrough stars of his late-night Today FM radio show, Somadrone, Dry County and Jape will be appearing live. A big-screen picture show will run throughout the entire evening: it will be a second chance to catch a series of super-8 films shot by Donal Dineen and premièred to a sold-out crowd as part of the Dublin Electronic Arts Festival in October. Dancing feet will be catered for with the Small Hours sound system spinning the year's stand-out tunes in between live sets. Small Hours Christmas Party Live, Project, Sunday, December 19th, Space Upstairs, 8 p.m. Tickets: €13/€10. All Proceeds go to Sister Mary Killeen's Street Children of Mukuru Project, Nairobi, Kenya. Box Office: 01-8819600 or www.project.ie
UNDER THE MISTLETOE You'll be waving your mobile phone above heads of kiss-able people when you get the Simon Community's festive offering. For their SMS fundraising campaign, you text "Home" to 57500 to make a donation and they send you a mistletoe logo or wallpaper for your phone. The €3.25 for each text goes toward helping people experiencing homelessness. What you do with the mistletoe is up to you.
PLAY YOUR CARDS RIGHT Most charities now produce Christmas cards. Here are two of our favourites. The Irish Society for Prevention of Cruelty to Children (ISPCC) cards, which are designed by children between eight and 16 and are bursting with colour and energy. Available by calling 01-6794944 or e-mailing christmascards@ispcc.ie and from Tesco Ireland stores countrywide. €6.99 for 10. Focus Ireland also has a fun quirky illustrated range by Irish designer Emma Eustace in black, silver and gold with a glitter finish. The money raised will help them fulfil their philosophy that "everyone has a right to a place they can call home". €4 per pack of four from www.focusireland.ie.
INDIAN SUMMER Colour on a Grey Canvas is a book compiled by UCD students, which gives a photographic account of their voluntary work in Delhi, India last summer. The students raised €40,000 and worked on seven different projects, from literacy programmes for underprivileged children to working with mentally and physically handicapped orphans to building a two-classroom school in a slum. The pictures are accompanied by the students' memories. All the money from the book goes back into the programme, which will visit Haiti next summer and create a month-long camp for more than 100 children with AIDS. Available from UCD at www.ucdvo.org or in some Superquinn stores, €20
SANTA'S LITTLE HELPERS The AIB and Barnardos Toy Appeal (until December 17th in all AIB branches) is looking for new toys and books (unwrapped) for children attending Barnardos services. And tomorrow, a collectors' toyfair at Sandyford Community Centre, Co Dublin (11 a.m.-4 p.m.) will give the €1 admission to Barnardos. Phone 01-2959149.