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It’s Blue Monday on January 18 – but it doesn’t have to be the most depressing day of the year. Any one of these great gadgets will be more than able to put a smile on your face and will help you get through the month.
£6.45, from www.geniegadgets.com
Annoy your loved ones by only speaking to them through this tiny voice changer on Blue Monday. It comes with four different tones and you just operate it by pushing the switch along to your chosen voice and speaking through it.
It’s loud enough that everyone will be able to hear your commands, but also small enough to hide when they demand you hand it over.
For iOS and Android, £39.99, from www.mobilefun.co.uk
If you’ve got a project to keep you busy on the bluest Monday of them all, it will fly – or in this case – drive by. The base unit comes ready-made so you won’t have to involve yourself with the engine, but you will need to build the rest of the camper van brick by brick, whiling away the miserable day.
The instructions are easy enough to follow and when you’re done, charge it up and download the accompanying app. Then it’s a case of attaching the dongle to your audio socket on your phone and you can operate your new toy. It comes with noises and a turbo mode so you can really burn rubber.
£39.99, from www.firebox.com
If there was one thing guaranteed to trigger a smile when we were little, it was making a paper aeroplane that would actually fly and not just nosedive. Well, with this lovely little gizmo you can rediscover that joy. With a techie makeover and four plane templates provided, make your plane and add a few cheats to make it soar.
Stick the rudder and propeller at the back of the plane and the little computer chip at the front and via the magic of Bluetooth, you’ll be able to control your magnificent flying machine via a quick turn and flick of your phone. It takes just 10 minutes to charge (and will run for 20), is waterproof and strong enough to handle bumpy landings.
£9.95, from www.prezzybox.com
Granted, this isn’t particularly sophisticated, but it sure is amusing! The pen itself is much like one you’d find in a bank, a simple contraption attached to a base with a chain. An ordinary pen with an ordinary chain. Yet look at the base and you’ll soon be laughing into your cheque book.
Shaped like buttocks, the pen slides right on into the middle and when it enters the rump a large farting noise emits. Obviously, you’ll need to enjoy a bit of toilet humour to find this gizmo funny – but if that’s your type of gag, this is the gift for you.
£17.99, from www.findmeagift.co.uk
If someone gave you a toilet mat as a present, you may well feel a little underwhelmed, but if they gave you this one you’d definitely sing a song of appreciation. While you take a seat, you can play a ditty or two on the piano in front of you. It comes with a songbook so if you’re going to be a while, you can multi-task and learn a few tunes while you’re ‘busy’.
£24.99, from www.firebox.com
You’re a few weeks into your keep-fit regime and motivation is waning, it’s a bit too cold for that run and if you go to the gym you’ll have to leave the sofa, so it really is a conundrum. Why not shake things up with a sumo session? Better yet, why not manage a sumo fight so you can keep all your clothes on.
With two controllers, you and a loved one can go to war with your own wrestlers, trying to hit each other’s models as hard as possible in the hope of sending your opponent’s sports star toppling over. Before you get playing, you will need to get up and fetch some batteries – that counts as exercise right?!
