Are practical Christmas gifts the way to go this year?
Reader poll
What sort of Christmas present do you prefer?
This poll ended on 24 December 2012.
Practical
Pretty
This is not a scientific poll. The results reflect only the opinions of those who chose to participate.
A BLENDER, an iron or a deep fryer - is this the stuff Christmas dreams are made off?
Footprints Market Research found 74% of Queenslanders would prefer to receive practical Christmas gifts, but Hervey Bay's Stephen Haigh disagrees.
Stephen, who owns Haigh's Jewellers in Pialba, said jewellery was the type of gift that captured the spirit of Christmas.
"There is some sort of element of surprise, it's a more personalised thing," he said.
Stretan Stojikovic, owner of The Good Guys in Hervey Bay, detected a more practical approach to Christmas shopping.
He has noticed items such as coffee makers, smaller appliances and deep fryers selling well in the lead-up to Christmas.
He said he didn't know if any husband had been game enough to buy his wife an iron for Christmas, but more practical items were definitely in vogue, along with the latest technology, including iPods and iPads, and electronic games for the kids.
Smaller televisions were also a popular buy this year.
But if there are those who had romantic notions, custom-made jewellery takes the game to a whole new level, Stephen said.
While New Year drew marriage proposals, some people were choosing to pop the question at Christmas.
Stephen said wives often came into the store to brief staff in the event their husbands came strolling in later to look.
10 popular Christmas gifts
- iPad
- Smart phone
- Television
- Kindle
- Jewellery
- Coffee machine
- Gift certificate
- Perfume/cologne
- Cameras
- Scooters
