Aston Martin One-77 unveiled in Italy

Sticking two fingers firmly up at the Credit Crunch, Aston Martin fully unveiled their insanely exclusive One-77 concept this weekend.

This £1m supercar (that’s right: one MILLION pounds) was revealed on the banks of Lake Como at the Concorso d’Eleganza show in Italy. This is the first time that the car has been seen with a working power-train and it’s entirely hand crafted interiors.

It obviously impressed everyone there as it walked off with the Concorso d’Eleganza Design Award for Concept Cars and Prototypes, securing over 30% of the total vote.  Not bad for a first outing and also very pleasing if you’re one of the 77 punters who have plonked down the £200,00 deposit to secure their very own One-77.

Yes, the 77 in the name refers to the number of production cars that will eventually be made.  And they’ve already sold out.  If you’ve got a handy £1m lying around then you’ll just have to look elsewhere.

If you’re one of the people without £1m burning a hole in your pocket but still want your Aston Martin thrills (and who could blame you?) then we’ve got you covered with more Aston Martin Driving Experiences than you could shake an exquistely hand-crafted gear stick at.

(via: AstonMartin.com)

Toucan play at that game at Birdworld!

If you’re looking for a family day out in some glorious Surrey countryside, and let’s face it – with the weather like this who could blame you? – then you should look up Birdworld.

Birdworld is the UKs largest bird park and gardens and features 26 acres of family friendly fun. With old favourites like ravens and pheasants and more unusual birds like emus, ostriches and kookaburras – there’s something for ornithologogo… orthniologo… bird lovers of every stripe!  You can even see the penguins being fed!

It’s not just birds though: there’s also the fabulous Underwater World and the Jenny Wren Farm.

So, if you’re looking to owl with laughter, have a pheasant time, or just give a Starling gift experience then Birdworld will be just the ticket!

Birdworld tickets

Wossy pops into Madame Tussauds

It was surely only a matter of time.  Britain’s most famous (or infamous, depending on who you ask) radio host and talk show presenter has joined the a-list of the celebrity world and been recreated by the master waxworkers at Madame Tussauds.

Joining the likes of David Beckham, Tom Cruise and… ah… Ant and Dec?… Wossy is featured in a replica of his Friday Night with Jonathan Ross set along with his famous sofa.  His flamboyant dress sense is captured through personal donations from Jonathan himself: checked suit, colourful tie, and a cheeky eyebrow raise.

Wossy was closely involved in the whole model creation process, saying: “This is a great Honour, I sat for an over an hour while they made this and believe me that’s a long time to be sucking in your cheeks and holding in your stomach!”

If you want to get “chatted up” by Jonathan Ross, then get your Madame Tussauds tickets now! (don’t forget we’ve got a Madame Tussauds special offer for the Easter holidays as well!) Now, how long can it be until Russell Brand gets his own waxwork?

Sporting Easter days out at Ripley’s London!

Over Easter Ripley’s Believe It or Not! London is going sports mad (it’s pretty mad anyway but it’s going to be a particular type of madness over Easter). To get you in the mood for London 2012 you’ll be able to view 18 different Olympic torches.

But that’s not all, London’s oddest museum is going to play host to the world’s smallest body builder for the entire two weeks over Easter. Romeo Dev is only 2′9″ but don’t let his diminutive size fool you, he can seriously pump some iron.

Check out the video above of Romeo at Ripleys Believe It or Not! London or buy some Ripleys Believe It or Not! tickets for the perfect sporting Easter day out.

Easter fun for all the family at Go Ape!

Go Ape is a fantastic day out for Easter, it’s possibly one of our favourite days out on the website (and that’s out of over 2000 gifts). This is family fun for monkeys and apes of all sizes from baby chimp to daddy gorilla. Each of the 22 locations has something different to offer including the longest zipline in the UK at the Aberfoyle site.

The basic idea is to swing from tree to tree, using ziplines, rope bridges, ladders, walkways and tunnels (think Tarzan crossed with It’s a Knockout – which is definitely a TV show we would watch).  Check out the awesome zipline in Aberfoyle in the video above or click through for a slideshow of the office trip to Go Ape!

Head on over to Buyagift to get your Go Ape! tickets

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LEGOLAND event – LEGO Agents After Dark

This Easter weekend LEGOLAND Windsor has something very special planned for all LEGO fans (which would be all of us here at Buyagift HQ).

The chief modelmaker at LEGOLAND Windsor has discovered the knack of creating gold LEGO bricks – which is a very handy trick to know.  Unfortunately, as is often the way, he’s been kidnapped by Dr Inferno’s henchmen! Now, LEGOLAND Windsor is depending on you to save the day!

You’ll need to learn the LEGO Agents’ tricks of the trade at the secret Agent academy in order to find the chief modelmaker – before it’s too late!  This incredible event is chock full of spy-themed activities and culminates in a spectacular laser show on Adventure Land lake.

This spy-tastic event runs from the 10th-12th April, and LEGOLAND stays open until 9pm on these days.  Make sure to get your Legoland tickets to take part in this amazing day out at LEGOLAND!

New at Alton Towers – Sharkbait Reef

Alton Towers have opened another fantastic new attraction, brought to you in association with SEA LIFE! With 25 locations around the world (including all centres that we sell SEA LIFE tickets for) they really are the experts in all things fish (and sharks, and rays, and seahorses…) and now they’ve brought their brand of marine expertise to Alton Towers.

What makes the Alton Towers SEA LIFE! centre extra special? The theme: Pirates!

Gone are the gallery-style collections of oblong tanks, and in their place comes displays of all shapes and sizes offering astonishingly close views of an array of fantastic sea creatures through windows which are flat, curved and even bubble-shaped!

Join Captain Black and crew to discover over 300 species of aquatic life under the wreck of the galleon in Mutiny Bay or dip your fingers in the tropical pool and let Shrimp give you a manicure (tidy results not guaranteed).  The very best part of all this aquatic discovery? It’s included in the price of your Alton Towers tickets!

How not to choose a name for part of a Space Station

One news story that caught our eye here at Buyagift HQ last week was the way in which NASA – the agency that put a man on the moon, no less! – vastly underestimated the power of both the internet and Comedy Central faux-news anchor Stephen Colbert.

NASA ran a competition to name the new room that is due to be added to the International Space Station next year. They had four, good, sensible and 21st century type names: Earthrise, Legacy, Venture or Serenity.  So far, so boring.

Their big mistake was allowing people to write in a suggested name. Big mistake. Huge. Read more

Diggerland, WiReD, and Alain de Botton…

Yesterday saw the launch of a shinily resurgent WiReD magazine in the UK.  The tech/lifestyle/futurist/whatever magazine has had a somewhat chequered history in Blighty and is trying again to crack this tricky market.

In between the articles on the development of the (absolutely smashing) BBC iPlayer and ‘Lifecasting’ there was one that sprang out.  WiReD sent renowned philosopher-for-hire Alain de Botton (a man whose brain runs so hot that it actually burned the hair from his head!) to Diggerland to experience first-hand the thrill of driving these mighty yellow construction machines.

de Botton’s verdict? “It’s fascinating to sit at the controls of a digger such as the JCB 3CX… The strength of the digger’s arm is awesome.”

So he enjoyed it then!  If you want to experience the awesome power of the JCB 3CX digger arm yourself (and, really, you’d be daft not to!) then we’ve got Diggerland tickets for all the locations around the country here: Diggerland

via: Wired.co.uk

List of rare McDonald’s monopoly 2009 stickers

Update:

Recently we’ve been getting a lot of traffic from our friends in the US regarding the rare stickers needed for the US version of the McDonalds Monopoly game. Although we’re based in the UK, we thought we’d try and be useful by providing a list of the rare stickers needed. To the best of our knowledge they are:

• Mediterranean Avenue ($50 prize, 2000 prizes)
• Short Line Railroad ($500 prize, 750 prizes)
• Vermont Avenue ($1,000 prize, 125 prizes)
• Virginia Avenue ($2,000 prize, 75 prizes)
• Tennessee Avenue ($5,000 prize, 10 prizes)
• Kentucky Avenue ($10,000 prize, 6 prizes)
• Ventnor Avenue ($25,000 prize, 8 prizes)
• Pennsylvania Avenue ($50,000 prize, 4 prizes)
• Golden Avenue ($100K prize)
• Boardwalk ($1 million dollar prize, 1 prizes)

If you’ve got friends or family in the UK and want to send them a Christmas gift this year then make sure you take a look at our range of Christmas gifts.

Good luck!

Original post below:

As we’re still really pleased to be working with McDonald’s again in their McDonald’s Monopoly promotion we thought we’d try and give everyone a bit of a helping hand.

If you’re collecting stickers for the various prizes then you’ll want to know which ones are the rare McDonald’s Monopoly stickers and which ones are ten-a-penny.

(Of course, if you want to win one of the TWENTY £1000 SHOPPING SPREES that are on offer then they’re Instant Win… believe us, it’s one heck of a gift experience…)

To the best of our knowledge, the following stickers are the rare ones for the McDonald’s Monopoly Best Chance 2009 game

Read more

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