“On the fifth day of Christmas my true-love gave to me, five gold rings.” That’s all very well but if your budget doesn’t quite run to that, here are some golden suggestions instead. Five wallet-friendly gifts under £100 that even old Scrooge wouldn’t moan about.
Our first gift is a retro classic, the stylish Old Fashioned Steel Jerry Can. If you look closely when The Great Escape comes on the TV this Christmas – as it nearly always does – you may well see some of these, stacked behind the latrine.
Acknowledged by writers and pundits as a real design classic, this German-invented container is simple, beautifully made and ideal for storing petrol, oil or just about anything else that pours, and comes in retro khaki.
Of course, things have changed a bit since the forties and this contemporary Jerry Can is fully safety-tested, with Dangerous Goods Approvals (UN).
It is made from low-carbon, cold-rolled steel, with a triple-handled configuration and lined with rustproof material.
It has a locking pin-in cap so it can’t open accidentally, a leak-proof bayonet closure and a special wide neck for easy, spill-free pouring.
What’s more, this iconic item comes at £29.95 with free, next working day delivery. A piece of design history, with an old-fashioned price tag.
Even Ebenezer himself might have put his hand in his pocket for our next golden gift idea. The Traditional All-Steel Garden Roller.
A great gift for the lawn enthusiast, this quality roller is just the thing for putting that perfect British stripe on your lawn, flattening humps and bumps or rolling out new turf.
Another modern take on a time-honoured ‘object-of-desire’, this roller has all-steel construction for strength and durability, with real traditional styling.
A smooth surfaced cylinder gives perfect results, the handle is comfortable and ergonomic and an adjustable full width scraper bar keeps your roller clean as you go.
Used empty or filled with sand or water for more weight, this roller is as traditional as turkey, as sensible as sprouts and as cheap as chips with its £49.95 price tag and free, next working day delivery.
Our next ‘golden suggestion’ is a sideways take on an old Christmas favourite, the record breaking ‘Workmate’ that became the DIY must-have in the 70s. This great Fold-Away Sawing Bench with Clever Attachment is a similar practical solution.
A top gift for anyone who uses a chainsaw to cut logs, it is a stable, strong and sturdy sawhorse with a classic y-shape to cradle logs and keep them steady.
But more than this, the all-steel sawhorseoffers real innovation, a special pivoting holster that holds the chainsaw while cutting, protecting the operator and making sure they don’t have to pick the saw up and put it down again every minute.
The sawhorse is adjustable, taking logs of varying sizes and it folds flat so you can store it away easily.
And at low price of £49.95with free, next working day delivery, this decision should be as easy as falling off a Yule log.
Number four in our five gold things is a gift for both your true-love and their lawn. We all know piles of soggy, decaying leaves left on the grass are unhealthy and can cause all sorts of problems, so this excellent MD Garden Sweeper is the perfect present.
Robust and easy to use, with a practical 65cm working width, this manual, push-along sweeper will lift and collect leaves and other garden or outdoor debris.
It will work on both lawns and hard-surface areas with its adjustable brush height.
A high-speed brush clears up efficiently, and the sweeper has large wheels for manoeuvrability and a large catching bag for fewer emptying stops.
The sweeper has a heavy-duty, all-steel body for robustness and durability, but a far from heavy-duty price, weighing in at £89.95, half the RRP.
Finally, proving once and for all that Christmas is not a humbug, this superb, shiny and simple push-powered Traditional Reel Mower is the very thing for getting some mild exercise whilst mowing the lawn.
Traditional as mince pies and comfortable to use, with a soft-grip handle, this mower comes from environmentally sound company Greenworks, who have vowed never to fill the air with carbon emissions.
The mower has no cable restrictions, no maintenance or fuel costs and is perfect for the small to medium-sized lawn. It’s easy to push and has a rear roller for that pleasant striped effect lawn enthusiasts love so much.
Being a cylinder mower, the five revolving blades cut against a front-mounted blade for a precise, scissor-like cut and a fabric grass collector is included.
The larger front wheels make turning easy and the cutting height is lever adjustable from 15 up to 40mm.
It is available at the low price of £99.95, instead of the £139.95 RRP, and comes with free, next working day delivery.
So there you have it. Five golden opportunities to treat your near, without it being too dear. Watch this space for more garden gift ideas for Christmases past, present and future, all at Scrooge-friendly prices.
