By Sandra Quinn

Tis the season of mulled wine, warm apple cider, egg nog, Christmas work parties and of course Christmas shopping.

While some people are made for this season and have been stocking up on the ideal presents since the middle of summer, others (let’s face it, most of us) live in dread of having to go out, queue for parking before trawling through shop shelves and queueing to pay, carting around numerous bags and then going home feeling defeated, broke and somewhat like a broken human being after the whole ordeal.

Most of the big ticket items in high demand for the tech lover in your life have probably already been secured, but the trickier items come in the way of stocking fillers, so we have come in to (hopefully) save the day and give you some food for thought.

Here are our top picks and as they are stocking fillers, they all come in for less than 30 bucks;

  • For the big and little kids in your life, the Untamed Raptor by Fingerlings (an interactive collectible baby dinosaur) is pretty cool. Reacting to sound, motion and touch, this little dude roars, grips onto your fingers, chomps its jaws and is just amazingly brilliant.
  • No matter who you are, you no doubt have someone in your life who is constantly plagued by a dying phone. A nifty, but powerful, portable smartphone charger may just be the saving grace. The Box Smartphone Charger provides two full charges, is neat and tidy and powered by 3000mAh and comes in at a great budget price of €20 or under.
  • Do you have a tech, TV and movie lover in your life who just can’t stretch to buying a smart TV? The Google Chromecast, while it has been around for years, may be the answer here. The tiny little media streaming device plugs straight into the HDMI port on your TV and provided you have a great internet connection, it allows you to stream television shows, Netflix, YouTube videos and more on your TV through your smartphone.
  • The NOW TV Smart Stick with HD and Voice Search allows you to stream TV shows and movies and equipped with voice search, it takes all of the hassle out of searching for the remote or actually having to get up to look for one, instead just tell your remote what you want to view and let the device do the work.
  • Another one for both the big and little kids, take a look at the Yellies E5380EL20 Flufferpuff Voice Activated Spider Pet which reacts to sounds and will move, yell, talk, sing, clap or play music on demand. The louder you yell, the faster the spider will go and every single spider has a different and quirky personality to get attached to.