It’s that time of year again – oversocialising, panic-present-buying, frantically wrapping up work deadlines. Oh, and there are good bits, too. (The free-flowing amount of chocolate! The widespread sampling of finger food! The fact everyone is excited to see the cliff-edge of 2008.)

I hope everyone is having an awesome wind-up of the year.

If you’ve still got things to tick off your Christmas list and are looking for some foodie ideas, how about getting someone…

-into a cooking class (where you can learn everything from how to make gelato to sushi to fancy artisan pastries).

-A charity gift such as food for a child in East Timor, a veggie garden that can feed close to 2000 people in Mozambique, or a multi-tasking duck that’ll provides eggs and keep pests under control in a rice field in Bali. Or send someone a gift certificate to Kiva, an organisation fuelled by a great, life-changing idea.

-And, on the other side of the spectrum, splash out on a gift certificate for a fancypants restaurant such as Longrain, Rockpool and pretty much anywhere you like. (Just ask – Oscillate Wildly don’t advertise it, but they do gift certificates, so you can treat someone to a degustation.) Or buy someone high tea for two at The Tea Room or a Tea Appreciation class at the Observatory.

-Or resolve the fake-tree-vs-pine-tree argument by opting for a hand-made chocolate Christmas tree from Boon Chocolates. How beautiful do they look? Of course, they might not last til Christmas if there are hardcore chocoholics around (even mild-mannered choc fans might not be able to resist).

-Or you can make/bake/cook something, dash it off in a pretty jar or box, and wrap it up in ribbon. Sometimes the hand-made presents are the ones that linger the longest.

Happy holidays.