There’s nothing worse than running out of gas when you’re in the middle of a BBQ.

I’ve always struggled to work out how much gas is left in the gas bottle. There’s various ways to tell according to tips I’ve had.

Apparently if you pout hot water on the side then you’ll see a line where the cold and the hot meet, and if you tip it up and listen you can get a feel for the gas sloshing around inside.

None of these though, I’ve found, are foolproof.

And of course if your man loves a good BBQ there’s nothing more embarrassing than having to tell the guests that the BBQ is out of action before the steaks are cooked.

And of course BBQing is mans business, so chances are if there’s BBQs at your place it’s his job.

So here’s a gift for a man who doesn’t want the embarrasment of a failed BBQ because the gas ran out. It’s simple but a great idea. Read more

Barking dogs can drive you, or him, nuts. Here’s a gift for a man who’s being driven nuts.

I used to have a barking dog in the house next to me. It started up barking at about 4 am, so I know how annoying barking dogs can be. It ruins your sleep, and makes you grumpy.

You don’t have a man who’s a little grumpy because he’s losing sleep because of a barking dog do you?

Luckily for me we moved away and now all I have is a rooster to wake me up early!

But seriously, barking dogs can be a serious disruption to his, and your, sleep.

Here’s a gift idea for a grumpy man. It should overcome the barking dog problem. It’s a cleverly disguised birdhouse. It’s not really a birdhouse at all, it’s actually an ultrasonic device designed to stop that dog barking.

It’s a quiet dog behavior modification tool. He barks and it emits a sharp ultrasonic sound that dogs don’t like, but people can’t hear. It can be set to emit the sound by barking at various distances up to 50 feet away.

So, dog barks, gets blasted by ultrasonic noise, associates the noise with barking and learns not to bark if it doesn’t want the noise.

Voila. Barking stops.

Great idea huh! Patented already.

Get it from Hammacher Schlemmer. When you get to their home page just type “barking dog” into their search box at the top of the page and there it is. $69.95

Better sleep is worth way more than $70. Read more

What about gifts for smokers, after all, they need a gift too.

Everyone seems to be down on smokers nowadays, and I should admit that I too am a non smoker. However that doesn’t mean that if your man is a smoker he doesn’t deserve a nice gift.

And why not a smoking related gift while you’re at it.

Perhaps a nice ashtray that might get some conversation going amongst his friends when they see it?

Here’s a lovely ashtray from India. I love arty gift ideas from Asian countries, and I’ve written about Chinese gifts too.

But I love Indian crafts. Especially after visiting India and seeing some of the wonderful crafts that come out of that country.

So why not a beautiful Indian ashtray. Read more