Got a partner or teen who loves their video games? If you often notice them spending hours in front of the games console then it could be time to get them their own dedicated gaming chair. The Ace Bayou Sound X-Rocker makes a unique Christmas gift that won’t cost too much, and will really enhance their gaming experience.

Features Of The Ace Bayou Sound X-Rocker

* Made from wood, steel and vinyl,
* Includes wireless speakers with volume control, input/ output jacks, headphone jack and side control panel,
* Easy to assemble,
* Uses fire retardant foam,
* Can connect up to Playstation, Xbox, Wii, MP3, CD, DVD, iPod, home theater.

Benefits Of The Ace Bayou Sound X-Rocker

One thing to look for in any gaming chair is comfort, and the Ace Bayou Sound X-Rocker certainly has that. It’s designed for adults, rather than kids, and is comfy enough even for those who play video games for long periods of time. It’s also very sturdy to sit in, which is important when some comparable video gaming chairs can be a little rocky.

Assembly is always important to consider on an item like this, but thankfully the X-Rocker is easy to put together. Although you have to add the arm rests, it doesn’t take long and there’s an allen key included to make this as easy as possible.

You can hook up a whole range of devices to the speakers in this chair, as all the cables come included. This means you can use it to relax while you listen to your iPod, or connect it up to video games using the wireless technology. The speakers are also housed very well in the design, at just the right angle to experience the sound the way it should be heard (from all around your head).

Drawbacks Of The Ace Bayou Sound X-Rocker

The only negative about this chair is the fact that it does take up space. However, it folds up if you need to get it out of the way for any reason, and it’s still smaller than a full chair for the gaming room. Its price means that it’s not the very best quality padding in a chair, but then again it’s well worth the money you pay and can keep you comfortable for hours on end. Most buyers have reported just how much their partner loved this chair as a gift!

Is It Worth Buying An X-Rocker Chair?

If you’ve got someone who loves their games then an X-rocker is an excellent accessory. These chairs are not only comfortable for gaming, but they also pull you into the gaming experience as you hear the sound from all around you. The Ace Bayou Sound X-Rocker, specifically, comes in at an excellent price point and will make a fun gift for the special man in your life.

Click here for more information

Holiday weight gain is often accepted as part of the season. Depending on what holidays you celebrate, the high-calorie treats can start at the end of October and go through to Valentine’s Day! But weight gain does not have to be inevitable. Here are some tips for avoiding it this year.

Reduce Stress

Some sources point out that stress can be just as much a factor in weight gain as excess calories. Engage in your favorite stress-reducing activity such as meditation, prayer, stretching, or deep breathing.

Regular Exercise

Yes, you’ve heard this before. But regular exercise not only reduces stress which, as noted above, is also a factor in weight gain; it also keeps excess weight at bay by burning it off. During the fall, exercises like regular walking and hiking are fairly easy to do; but when the weather gets cold, dark and wet in the winter, it can be more challenging. That’s when a fun exercise video can be a big help, or a mini indoor trampoline. You could also enroll in a class or go to the gym where you can exercise indoors.

Another benefit of exercise is the potential for appetite control. Sources say that vigorous exercise can reduce your appetite for several hours, so consider a brisk walk or workout before a holiday get-together.

Generally speaking, frugal and homemade gifts do not have the “cheapskate” connotation they used to. Frugal is in and, for many families, necessary this holiday season. Now that the stigma is lifted, get into the frugal holiday spirit with some of these homemade Christmas gift ideas.

Living Gifts

Giving potted plants to your friends and family can be a very welcome gift, especially if it’s something useful and pretty. Green, living plants at the end of December are often a welcome relief from the darkness of winter. Plants to consider might include air-cleaning varieties, such as English ivy or Schefflera, or herbs that can be used in teas or cooking, such as lemon balm, mint, or sage.

If you start this project in the late summer or early fall before frost, you can take cuttings of outdoor herbs and root them in containers. Indoor plants can be cut and rooted at any time, but make sure you give the plants time to get established in their pots (at least three weeks) before giving them away.

A variation on this idea is bonsai trees. In the fall, you can often get very inexpensive garden plants that make great (and relatively quick) bonsai specimens. Juniper, cotoneaster, boxwood, Japanese holly, and rhododendron/azalea are just a few of the possibilities. You will need bonsai pots and some instructions, both of which can be easily obtained online. Your local library will have books on bonsai basics as well.

Baked Goods and Candy

Who doesn’t love to get baked goods or candy for Christmas? Sometimes, though, baked goods are not necessarily frugal. An elaborate fruitcake or complicated candy and cookie recipes can get rather pricey. Try making something large that you can divide up, or make simple fudge or cupcakes from a mix.

A quick and popular gift you can make from relatively inexpensive ingredients is holiday bark. All you need are broken candy canes, semi-sweet chocolate chips, and white chocolate chips. Strew the broken bits of candy cane onto a parchment paper-covered cookie sheet. Melt the semi-sweet chips and the white chocolate chips in separate containers in the microwave. Use spoon to drizzle ribbons of melted chocolate over the candy cane bits until they are covered. Sprinkle crushed candy cane or chopped nuts on top, freeze, then break into portions and place in glass jars to give away.

Cold Care Remedies

Christmas comes in the middle of cold and flu season. Give the gift of wellness by blending your own “cold care” teas. Mint, lemon balm, sage, dried ginger slices, and honeysuckle (you can cut and dry the leaves and vines of honeysuckle throughout the winter) make tasty and effective teas to help stave off colds. Put dried herbs in tea bags or pretty glass jars along with an infuser.

You can also make herbal honeys and syrups by gently heating the honey or syrup with the herb(s) of your choice, then steeping, straining, and pouring into bottles or jars for giving.

Homemade Cookbooks and/or Recipe Collections

Using a computer printer, hole punch, card stock, and yarn, you can print and bind a meaningful collection of family recipes. This is a great gift for friends at church or co-workers who may have tasted your cooking and would appreciate recipes.

The color green is a natural during the holidays. Why not take it literally, too? More and more people are becoming concerned about the wasteful nature of the holidays, and going green and approaching the holidays in an environmentally-friendly way is one way to stave off the waste. For those concerned about global warming and other climate issues, greening the holidays is part of ensuring there will be green holidays to come.

Here are some tips on how to green your holiday season.

Green Gifts

Giving green can take several different forms. One approach is to shop at second-hand stores and antique stores, or even yard sales. This reduces waste by reusing what’s already available.

Another way to give green is to make your own gifts, such as bath salts or potpourri. If you grow herbs, you can make herbal tea blends to give away. Children enjoy homemade gifts, too, such as handmade doll houses, hand-sewn stuffed animals, puppets, and puzzles. And don’t forget homemade candy and baked goods!

Consider shopping in your own attic and basement, too. Since used gifts are becoming more acceptable, it might be best not to try too hard to make it look like a new, store-bought gift. Instead, point out the value of giving used items and your green intentions.

Green Decorations

Go green in your holiday decorations by going for the green outdoors. Cut fresh greens from evergreen trees such as pine and holly, shrubs such as yew or boxwood, or vines such as English ivy. You can make garlands, wreaths, and swags from these simple items from nature. Gather pine cones, nuts, and interesting twigs and seed pods. These make attractive displays as-is, or you can spray-paint them silver and/or gold.

Keeping safety in mind, use natural candles instead of electric lights and LED lights instead of standard holiday bulbs.

An interesting, simple idea for natural candle holders is cross-sections of small logs. Using a hand saw, electric saw, or bow saw, you can cut a thick branch (about 3-4 inches in diameter) into cross-sections at 2-3 inch intervals. Use a drill to make a small hole the diameter of the candle you want to display (about 3/4 inches for a taper candle). Insert the candle and light!

Green Food

When you serve up your holiday meals, buffets, and hors d’oeuvres, think green. Foods that are locally grown and raised and/or organic are considered the most environmentally friendly. Homemade foods rather than packaged ones are greener, since it reduces wasteful packaging. Serve foods and drinks on reusable dishes and cups (a great place to look for holiday dishes if you don’t have any are antique stores and yard sales).

Green Cards

If you send holiday cards, consider using those printed on recycled paper, or send electronic holiday cards.

This holiday season, many people are looking for frugal ways to decorate their homes and yards. It’s actually not too difficult if you remember that people have been decorating for the holidays for centuries – long before electric lights and color trends! Here are some ideas for frugal holiday decorating.

Think Accents

Plush red velvet and satin ribbon makes for a luxurious and cozy holiday feel, but reupholstering your furniture or buying new chairs for the holidays is quite expensive. Instead of redecorating the rooms, think in terms of accents instead. Red velvet throw pillows, for instance, or a green satin lamp shade, can go a long way toward a festive feel without the expense.

Your Own Look

It’s easy to spend a lot of money trying to keep up with decorating trends. So don’t! Develop your own individual look that reflects your taste and distinguishes your style year after year.

Recycle Cans and Bottles

The metallic shine of empty beverage cans -many of which are conveniently in red and green – and the green, red, or clear plastic of empty drink bottles can be utilized for all kinds of interesting decorating projects. With a little creativity, you can make a Christmas tree, small or large, by wiring or gluing cans into a cone shape.

The same principle could be applied to make a wreath out of empty cans. An empty plastic drink bottle could even be used as a tree topper – turned upside-down, a holiday bulb could be put into the bottle through the neck and the bottle slipped over the tip of the tree.

Decorate and Feed the Birds

String popcorn and cranberries onto upholstery thread, and drape the garlands all over your outdoor shrubs and trees. Birds will enjoy the offering and the look is festive. In keeping with this theme, make bird feeder ornaments out of pinecones and orange halves – spread peanut butter on the cone and roll it in seed, and fill orange halves with bird feed. Hang with colorful yarn or ribbon.

For festive sounds, attach small, inexpensive jingle bells to the bird feeders and garlands. When a bird lands, you’ll hear the sound of the holidays!

Old Ornaments

Do you have more ornaments than you know what to do with? Or do you just have a big collection of old ornaments that you really don’t want to hang on the tree again? Display them in creative ways around your home. Hot glue ornaments onto a foam ring to make a wreath, or glue them onto a foam cone to make a tree shape. You can also display old ornaments on a mantelpiece surrounded by a garland of greens, or in clear glass bowls.

Nature-Inspired Decorations

From pine cones to nuts, branches to seed pods, nature provides a wealth of decorating items. With a can a gold spray paint, you can transform pine cones and nuts into a mantelpiece-worthy display. Gold-sprayed pine cones and nuts can also be glued into a wreath or used in a centerpiece with greens and candles. Spray interesting branches gold and insert them into a pot of sand or gravel; hang ornaments and ribbons from the “tree.”

So it’s almost Christmas and time to hit the Christmas tree store or farm! But what should you look for when you get there? We have a warning for you! Some Christmas trees will keep their leaves and look healthy right through to twelfth night, while others start shedding needles everywhere before they even make it through your door. How can you tell them apart?

Variety Of Tree

Did you know that Christmas trees are not all the same variety? There is no special type of tree that is a Christmas tree species. In fact, there are many different kinds of tree that are used as Christmas trees.

Firs are the most popular, including the Grand Fir, Noble Fir, Balsam Fir and Douglas Fir (which is not a true fir). Most firs are thick, bushy trees.

The Fraser fir has one of the best shapes for a Christmas tree and the branches have enough space for decorations. It also keeps its needles well, as long as you do not let it dry out. This makes it one of the most popular Christmas trees.

You will also find spruces (e.g. Norway Spruce, White Spruce) which have more pointed branches with bigger spaces between them. These can be easier to trim. The Scotch Pine is often planted as a Christmas tree crop. You may find other pines and cypress trees too.

Often times, a Christmas tree store will only sell one or maybe two varieties. So if you want a particular variety, you are going to have to shop around and ask the stores which variety they have. Alternatively, call a few Christmas tree farms or look on line for a farm that grows the variety that you want.

How Long Has It Been Cut?

If you go to a farm, you will probably find that the trees are freshly cut. Most of them will sell within a few days and they can cut more whenever they want. In a Christmas tree store, however, the trees may be kept in storage for a long time. The store may take a shipment, put a few trees on display and keep the rest to bring out later.

This means that if you want to get the best tree from your Christmas tree store, it is a good idea to buy early, right when they begin selling them. You will probably get the freshest trees that way.

Traditionally, many people shop for a Christmas tree on the first weekend after Thanksgiving, which is usually the beginning of December. If you go a couple of days before, say on the Thursday after Thanksgiving, you will probably get ahead of the crowd.

Where To Shop For Your Christmas Tree

A lot of families like to go out together in the car or truck to choose and buy a tree. That is great, and if you like to do that you probably have a favorite Christmas tree store in your area.

But if you find that all of the buying and transporting of a tree is an unwanted chore, have you thought about shopping for your tree online? With a few clicks of your mouse you could have the perfect variety and size of tree delivered right to your door.

Of course, a lot of people do not care about what kind of tree they have. All the fun of Christmas, for them, is in trimming the tree. Right after Christmas they will throw it out. But you can enjoy your Christmas tree for longer if you take our advice on your trip to the Christmas tree store.

It’s never too early to start planning for Christmas. In fact, in many homes and families Christmas is the biggest holiday of the year. It’s a time when everyone comes together for family traditions and holiday celebrations. If you’re on a budget then planning is the key to a peaceful, stress free, financially sound holiday.

Planning Helps You Gain Control

The word budget gets a bad name. Instead of thinking of your holiday spending as a budget, think of it as a plan. A plan for how you’re going to spend your money this holiday season. When you know how much you have to spend and where you’re going to spend it, suddenly everything seems a bit more manageable. It’s much easier than staring at a credit card and hoping you are able to pay it off next month.

Planning Helps You Stay Out of Debt

The very thought of going into debt before the holiday season even starts is enough to put a dark cloud over the holidays. It’s a mood killer. And the pain of debt can last long after the holidays are over. Planning how you’re going to spend your money and knowing how much you have can ensure you stay out of debt. And if you do plan on using a bit of credit card debt to manage Christmas spending then planning will help you know how much you can use without causing major financial stress.

Planning Helps You Have the Conversation With Family

Often when you’re on the budget it means having a conversation with your family. You’ll need to communicate expectations with children as well as with extended family. When you have a budget plan already in mind it’s easier to come up with compromises.

For example, you can ask your extended family to do a secret Santa gift exchange rather than buying a gift for everyone. And you can ask children to make a shorter Christmas list this year with their top three gifts. Santa can be on a budget too.

Planning Also Helps You Know How Much to Save

Knowing how much you have to spend is only one part of the budget equation. A plan also helps you know how much you have to save. Maybe you can invest in a Christmas club or skip the lattes for a month or two to save a little extra cash.

Before Christmas gets here, sit down and create a plan. Figure out how much you have to spend and how you’re going to spend it. Then determine how you’re going to save the money you need for the holidays. You’ll be prepared and ready for a stress free holiday season.

Cuisinart ICE-30BC Pure Indulgence 2-Quart Automatic Frozen Yogurt, Sorbet, and Ice Cream Maker

Many of us think about creating our own frozen yogurt, sorbet or ice cream but never get around to actually doing it. After all, it seems pretty complicated and a hassle to get into. This is what makes the Cuisinart ICE-30BC Pure Indulgence 2-Quart Automatic Frozen Yogurt, Sorbet, and Ice Cream Maker such a fantastic choice for Christmas: it’s something that we’d probably never buy for ourselves but would love to receive as a gift!

Features Of The Cuisinart ICE-30BC Pure Indulgence 2-Quart Automatic Frozen Yogurt, Sorbet, and Ice Cream Maker

* Fully automated,
* Can be used for ice cream, sorbet and frozen yoghurt,
* Stainless steel design,
* Heavy duty motor,
* Ready in as little as 25 minutes,
* Ingredient spout for adding in extras like fruit or chocolate chips,
* 2-quart freezer bowl,
* Comes with instruction booklet and recipes,
* 8-1/4 x 8 x 11-1/4 inches in size,
* 3 year warranty.

Benefits Of The Cuisinart ICE-30BC

The manual that comes with the ice cream maker has an excellent collection of recipes to get you started, so you won’t need to buy a separate recipe book (at least at first). They’re easy to follow, and don’t take too long to make (though you need to put the bowl in your freezer in advance). This is good news for eager learners who want to see how their first home made ice cream has turned out!

The design of the ice cream maker is also something to consider. Some of us have so many kitchen gadgets that it’s impossible to try and fit them all in on the countertop. Thankfully, the Cuisinart ICE-30BC doesn’t take up too much space, and its simple stainless steel square-shaped design helps to keep it from standing out too much.

Drawbacks Of The Cuisinart ICE-30BC

It takes around half an hour to make a batch of ice cream, and during that time you will notice the noise it makes as it gets to work. Although this might bother some, it really isn’t for long at a time. Most people who’ve bought it say that it isn’t too much noise while it lasts.

To get the ice cream maker to work, you also need to make sure that there’s room in the freezer to freeze the bowl the day before you want to use it. Make sure your freezer is cold enough: if the bowl doesn’t freeze fully then the ice cream maker won’t work.

Should You Buy The Pure Indulgence Ice Cream Maker From Cuisinart?

The Cuisinart ICE-30BC is an excellent gift for anyone who likes to experiment in the kitchen. The best thing is that it’s not just limited to people who feel they are good cooks – anyone can use this, and there are plenty of recipes already included to get you going. All in all, it’s something different, something fun, and it won’t break the bank as you might have expected!

Christmas cruises are becoming more and more popular, and it is easy to see why. On a luxurious cruise ship, sailing around fascinating coasts or islands in a warm climate, you can have a Christmas that you will never forget.

People choose Christmas cruises for all kinds of reasons. Perhaps you just want to do something different this year, or want some time in a warm climate. Those are great reasons for going on a Christmas cruise.

Other people may want to get away from the ‘regular’ style of Christmas celebration for one reason or another. Perhaps you cannot face the thought of cooking another huge family meal this year. Or if you are alone in life or have recently suffered the loss of a loved one, Christmas at home can be a depressing business. But if you go on a Christmas cruise, you will be surrounded by friendly people, some of them probably in the same situation, and tons of different things to do.

So where should you go? There are many possibilities. From North America the most popular choice is a Caribbean cruise. Most cruises sail from Miami, but you can leave from other ports on the Eastern seaboard, even as far north as New York.

A typical Caribbean cruise lasts for a week and visits four or five islands. The Caribbean is a huge area so you could take a different Caribbean cruise every year very easily.

Further north in the Atlantic Ocean, Bermuda and the Bahamas are also very popular destinations. Or from the West coast, you can take a cruise to Hawaii or fly to Honolulu and then cruise around the Hawaiian islands. Hawaii is a great place to spend Christmas and you can expect your cruise to have a special Hawaiian Christmas flavor.

Further afield, you can fly to many destinations worldwide to begin your cruise. In Europe, ships sail around the Mediterranean or along the fjords of Norway. You can cruise around the coast of Mexico or South America, different parts of Asia, Australia and New Zealand or down the east coast of Africa.

And what can you expect from Christmas cruises? Of course, many of the features will be the same as on a regular cruise. You can expect wonderful food and drink along with many organized activities to help your on-board social life go with a swing.

At the same time, there are likely to be some events specific to Christmas and probably Hanukkah too, if it falls during the time of your cruise. You can expect everything from parties to religious services celebrating these festivals.

You don’t need to take along anything special on Christmas cruises but if you want to make more of your seasonal experience, why not pack some decorations to brighten up your cabin? Or take all the cards that you have received to display around your bed? This will get you into the Christmas spirit even if the surroundings of sun and sea are not what you are used to at this time of year!

If your cruise includes New Year’s Eve, you can have a great time celebrating without ever having to worry about driving home. In fact, Christmas cruises can take away all of your holiday season pressures.