Christmas Gifts

Something they would not think to buy for themselves but will use once they own it. A Seiko wall clock for a kitchen still telling the time off the oven, a Now Playing vinyl holder for someone with the turntable and the records already, or a kettle that looks this good, like the Alessi Plissé, which gets noticed most mornings of the year.

Something that keeps everyone at the same table after the meal. A backgammon set can be learned after dinner, and this one comes in a linen-covered box handsome enough to stay out after the decorations come down. For the evening when nobody wants to choose a film, The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou on Criterion Blu-ray lets the cast do the persuading.

A long build or a game of their own. The LEGO Millennium Falcon is 7,541 pieces and 84cm long, enough to fill the slow days until New Year, and it ends up on display rather than back in the box. Nintendo's Game & Watch: The Legend of Zelda is a self-contained handheld, so it needs no console and nobody has to fight over the television.

One that keeps them busy on Christmas afternoon without batteries. The Where's Waldo? box set is the first seven search-and-find books, and it tends to pull in the adults too. For the child who asks how rockets work, the LEGO Technic Artemis rocket stands over 70 cm tall and separates in three stages when you turn the crank.

An everyday object from a maker known for doing it well. The Mondaine Evo2 puts the Swiss railway clock on the wrist, the TFA Dostmann wall clock is built like the weather instruments the company makes, with a legible face and a quiet movement, and the Braun Classic watch keeps to a clean dial with a single accent and nothing decorative.