The time has probably passed for Christmas delivery, and the shops are going to be rammed, so here’s a list of gifts that can be bought and delivered instantly from the comfort of the sofa in case you’ve forgotten someone on Christmas Eve.
Netflix
Netflix is arguably the king of streaming services, with thousands of movies and TV shows, including some very good original content. You can access Netflix in many countries around the world, and the company offers various levels of monthly subscription with no minimum contract.
The “basic” plan costs £5.99 ($8) a month for streaming to one screen at any one time in standard definition. The “standard” plan confusingly increases the resolution to HD with two screens at any one time for £7.99 ($11) a month. The top-tier “premium plan” streams to four screens at any one time for £9.99 a month ($14) and adds ultra HD resolution for those new 4K TVs.
Gift cards are available from £15 ($15) from PayPal.
Amazon Prime
Prime is a yearly subscription service for one-day delivery from Amazon, but it also includes access to Prime Video, Prime Music, Twitch Prime, Prime Reading, and photo backup, making it a one-stop-shop for a range of content services.
It costs £79 a year, or £7.99 a month, and can be given in three month $33 or 12 month $99 plans only in the US. UK users will have to resort to buying an eGift Voucher for the value, which are delivered instantly with your choice of values from £1 to £1,000.
Give a movie
It’s not possible to give an individual movie on Google’s Play Store, so Android users are out of luck. But if you want to give an Apple user a film rather than a gift card or a subscription, then its as simple as finding your choice of movie in the iTunes Store and hitting the gift button. Prices depend on the movie, but for example, Christopher Nolan’s World War Two epic Dunkirk costs £13.99 in HD and will play in 4K Dolby Vision on a 4K Apple TV.
Give an app
Giving apps isn’t possible from the Google Play Store, the Mac App Store or Microsoft’s Store, but is just as easy as buying a movie or game on the iOS App Store. Find the app you’d like to buy in the App Store and hit the gift button under share. Apps start from as little as 99p, with excellent apps such as the brilliant Photoshop replacement for the iPad Affinity Photo costing £14.99 ($14.99).
Give a game
There are plenty of options for giving the gift of games digitally. For those looking for a one stop shop for computers, Valve’s Steam store is great, allowing you to gift any title in its enormous library. Some games are available across platforms, others only on Windows.
Valve’s Steam lets you give any title available in its rather large library, with games compatible with Windows, OS X, Steam Machines and Linux. My choice is Sonic Mania, but you’ll need a Windows PC to play it and it costs £14.99 for all the classic Sega platforming you can handle. Alternatively, the new Bridge Constructor Portal costs £6.99 and runs on Windows, Mac OS and Steam Boxes.
Spotify
Spotify is free on mobile phones, tablets and computers, but Spotify Premium allows your loved one to listen to any track of their choosing from the 30m-plus library. You can take your music offline, remove ads and enable higher quality audio streams. Gift subscriptions start at £9.99 for one month, with a whole year available for £199.88.
Give a song or album
If a general music subscription is a bit too much like buying a voucher, you can gift an individual song or album through Apple’s iTunes. Find the track or album you want and hit gift. For those family members you don’t actually like, I suggest Crazy Frog’s Jingle Bells – just 79p.
Comics
Does your family member or friend have a tablet? Do they love comics? Then perhaps a digital comic ( like ebooks, but with way more pictures) is the perfect present for them . Giving individual comics or graphic novels is easy via Amazon’s Comixology. Just find the issue you’d like to send then hit the Gift in Cart button. Prices start at £1.49.
Alternatively, Marvel’s Unlimited service costs $9.99 a month or $69 a year, but giving it as a gift is difficult.
Vanity URL
Anyone can have their very own space on the internet. Why not treat your loved one to a unique URL of their own. It could be their name, business, something obscure or ironic, maybe even a subtle dig only they would recognise. Hosting services such as Tumblr allow you to use a custom URL for free making www.yournamehere.com an affordable reality. From 99p.
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