The Slanket was 2009′s best selling present by a merry mile if you judge ‘best selling present’ by what sold out very quickly indeed.  The Slanket was virtually sold out by the beginning of December with just Prezziesplus able to take pre-orders with new stock arriving.

Well, the good news is that online stores seem to be better prepared this Christmas with most stores still in stock of the precious Slanket – as well as the Kids’ Slanket.  But, be warned, that could change very quickly indeed as the Festive Season gets underway and online shopping ramps up in advance of Christmas.

For those that don’t know (and it’s hard to believe that anyone doesn ‘t know) The Slanket is a warm, cuddly blanket with sleeves available in lots of different colours – Dark Limoge Blue, Alaskan Blue, Hunter Green, Lavender Pink, Ruby, Purple, Chocolate, Cream and Beige.  The Slanket is completely unisex and there’s also a kid version to that’s smaller and cheaper.  Lots and lots of stores are now stocking the Slanket and the way to get the best price is to use a price comparison service – click here to search for the best price for The Slanket online.

As mentioned above, there’s also a kids’ version which is slightly smaller – click here for the Kids’ Slanket.

And there’s yet another innovation for Christmas  – the Double Slanket. That’s right, it’s double the size, double the fun and, of course, has 4 sleeves instead of 2 for getting all warm and cuddly with whoever you choose to share your Slanket with – click here for the Double Slanket.

If your Valentine is a keen gardener then a subscription to the Royal Horticultral Society may be the perfect Valentine’s Day present this year.  An RHS Gift membership costs just £49 and includes access to over 140 RHS recommended gardens as well as reduced price entry to the big events such as the Chelsea Flower Show, Hampton Court Palace Flower Show and the Tatton Park flower show.  Members also receive FREE the monthly magazine The Garden which retails at £4.25.

The monthly magazine includes gardening advice, access to seeds harvested from RHS gardens, reduced price tickets to special RHS events, workshops and demonstrations as well as special information on more than 4,500 plants.

Membership to the Royal Horticultural Society is perfect for either male or female gardeners with the annual flower shows the cornerstone of the Society.  These include the Chelsea Flower Show (May19-23), Cardiff Flower Show (April 17-19), Hampton Court Flower Show (July 7-12) and Tatton Park Flower Show (July 22-26).  You can buy tickets for any of these shows as a special Valentine’s Day present here.

RHS membership can be purchased for just £49 here.

Are you stuck for an ideal gift for Valentines Day and trying to move away from the norm or the traditional gift of flowers or Chocolates?  Or perhaps you’d like a present that’s slightly different to supplement some red roses.  Red Letter Days has a fabulous selection of experience days gifts for Valentines Day that can either be enjoyed alone or as a couple.

These range from pamper days, tea for two at Fortnum and Mason, wine tasting, spa days and a trip on the London Eye to dance workshops, hot air ballooning, a champagne flight trip over London, cocktail mixing or a massage treatment for two.  You name it and the chances are that Red Letter Days has the unusual gift covered – and it’s the true diversity of the experiences that make them ideal Valentines Day gifts.

And, as you may have gathered, the experiences and days out are not just limited to gifts for ladies or couples.  They can also serve up the high octane experience for guys such as Aston Martin or Ferrari driving, flying a glider, scuba diving with sharks, an SAS theme experince or even the ultimate men’s wet shave.  How’s that for a selection of truly unusual gifts.

Check out Red Letter Days’ fabulous range of unusual and luxury Valentines Day Gifts here 

Chocolate is a great favourite with the ladies and is always a popular choice as a gift on Valentines Day – perhaps as an extra present.  Chocolate Trading Company has some excellent gift boxes on sale for Valentines Day with some nice added extras including champagne chocolate hampers as well as full chocolate gift boxes and selections.

And to tempt Valentines Day shoppers that little bit more, Chocolate Trading Company is giving away a free Valentines gift in the form of a Free red chocolate hearts gift bag with every order over £25.00 excluding postage and packing.  The free gift is worth £2.99 so it’s a nice freebie for the romantic gentleman (or lady).

The free gift is available via a special discount code that you enter at checkout – the free gift will then be added to your shopping cart.  Chocolate Trading Company also have other discount codes for money off purchases.

Check out all Chocolate Trading Company offers and special discounts here.

See all Chocolate Trading Company’s Valentines Day gifts and selection boxes.

Flowers, of course, are a perennial favourite on Valentines Day and the best place to buy flower for valentines day is online – simply because the choice is so huge.  Buying online means you get the best of the prices too with prices starting from just £9.99 for an excellent bouquet or basket.  Unless you know a very good value florist locally to you, buying online means you’re assured of your gift arriving on time and delivered by courier personally.

The other great advantage of buying online is that you can see what you’re buying via photographs – as well as a great choice graphically presented.  In other words, you can rest assured knowing exactly what you’re getting for your money.  Many of the online flower delivery specialists also offer incentives for buying early as well as discount codes that you can use to get money off Valentines Day flowers.

You can see a great range of Valentines Day flowers here.  You’ll also be able to get up to 10% off at selected retailers.  They’re also taking orders right now – so you can click away and get your order in early this Valentines Day.  Roses are always a favourite but you can also choose to add a balloon, chocolates, teddy bears, hampers and other assorted gifts.  Other popular flowers on Valentines Day include chrysanthemums, lilies, carnations and tulips as well as a selction of other seasonal spring flowers.

Don’t pay more for flowers than you have to this Valentines Day by ordering early.

Yes, it’s the Slanket again.

In case you didn’t already know the Slanket sold out everywhere at Christmas but stock at the online stores will be replenished very shortly for what promises to be a very quick sell-out for Valentines Day.  The Slanket is a big colourful blanket with sleeves that sites probably halfway between a blanket and a dressing gown.  Whatever it actually is (or can be described as) it has proved very popular indeed with the UK public so grab one while you can for Valentines Day.

The Slanket is completely unisex in that it can rightly be purchased for both men and women.  However, my guess is that it would prove to be a very good gift for a lady this Valentines Day.  It comes in a variety of colours from pink, blue, and ruby to green and chocolate – and is particularly suitable given the Arctic conditions we are experiencing this winter.

Prezziesplus has more stock arriving on January 28 for dispatch in time for Valentines Day – but if Christmas is anything to go by  then will sell out fast.  Orders are being taken right now for Valentines Day so be quick and you’ll be able to reserve one for February 14.  Prezziesplus was the online retailer that managed to get extra stock as Christmas approached so I’m happy to recommend them this time round.  The Slanket has also been reduced in price to £29.95 which is pretty much as close to a bargain as you will get.

Order the Slanket here.

Prezzybox should have approximately 100 slankets for sale tomorrow (December 18)  This is the good news from Prezzybox for those still looking for one for Christmas.  However, these will sell out very, very fast.

Keep checking their website and also be prepared to take any colour available.  They should have some of every colour going on sale but they have slightly more of the Limoges Blue Slanket.

The Slanket has become the ‘must have’ item this Christmas and online stores have simply not been able to keep up with demand.  Prezzybox is the only online store with any stock left.  The delay in getting remaining stock live on their website has been the need to fulfill back orders that were guaranteed for Christmas.

Be lucky and keep checking their website during the day.  I doubt the remaining stock will last more than an hour when it goes live.  Slankets ordered will arrive for Christmas thanks to Prezzybox’s distribution system.  The Slanket costs just £34.95 at Prezzybox – delivery is just £3.95.

Here are the direct links to the Slankets at Prezzybox:

Lavender Pink Slanket

Limoges Blue Slanket

Ruby Wine Slanket

Hunter Green Slanket

Chocolate Brown Slanket

I thought I’d bring you yet another Slanket stock update as I know there are still people trying to get one of these for Christmas.  This product has undoubtedly been an unprecedented success – but the upshot is that it’s been very hard to get hold of for those that weren’t ‘early birds’ on this.  However, the good news is that it’s still available if you know where to look.

Presents for Men has stock remaining on the Limoges Blue Slanket  ONLY.  Hurry as this won’t last long.

Prezzybox (as we reported last week) will have stock of The Slanket available on its site very soon.  How many and of which colour remains to be seen.  I am hoping that they will let me know today and I will post the information as soon as possible.  Keep checking their site here.

Prezziesplus has now been wiped out of The Slanket until January now but they do have stock of the Kids Slanket still available.

The Slanket is in stock at Presents for Men.  They have 2 colours currently in stock – these are the Limoges Blue Slanket and the Ruby Wine Slanket.  Once again, expect this stock to dwindle very fast as the weekend approaches – and stock may not last past the weekend.  Stock numbers are unconfirmed as I’m writing this but their website confirms that it is in stock.

The Slanket at Presents for Men is priced at £34.99 – which is pretty much the standard price for this item.

Be lucky and be quick if you want a Slanket for Christmas.  Click here for The Slanket at Presents for Men.

Maplin has extended its 3 for 2 offer on toys until Christmas Eve – although you’ll obviously need to order before then to be sure of delivery for Christmas.

They have a great new section setup for the offer which includes very neat presents such as remote controlled helicopters, remote controlled planes, remote controlled cars, motorised trikes, Meccano and even a usb piano!! They really do have some great gifts.  Click here for the Maplin website. 

There are lots of other offers too that have been announced today:

Barratts sale starts Monday – click here

New Savile Row discount codes – click here

New Screwfix Direct discount code – click here

Kitbag new Sporting Gifts – click here

Gluv footwear discount codes including 30% off everything – click here

Flowers Direct new discount codes – click here

Cloggs new discount codes – click here

UK Soccershop FREE shorts offer – click here

Urban Retro new discount codes – click here

John Lewis new offers and price reductions – click here

Burton 20% off everything – click here

Digiat Direct FREE 3-year warranty on all Plasma and LCD TVs – click here