Six 10-litre Plastic Buckets With Lids; £10

Most of the buckets knocking around at Christmas are champagne buckets, or at least sparkling-wine buckets. I hate champagne, but I'd like a bucket, please. Six of them, in fact.
As the words of the immortal song "There's a Hole in My Bucket" point out, it's rather hard to transport water if you're bucketless or if your bucket is holey.

Plastic buckets are easier to clean than wooden ones, and less likely to rust than metal ones. That's particularly handy if the bucket's owner happens to be very old, very young, ill or doesn't have much to clean it with.

A bunch of buckets is a pretty simple present - but it could be hugely useful to many people. If you've got a few coins to defray the cost, chuck it in the bucket.

[ Save the Children shop, www.savethechildrenshop.co.uk ]