Whether you’ve had your Christmas shopping sorted for months or you’re still deciding who in your family will be hosting the typical NZ Christmas dinner this year, NZS.com has you covered with a whole host of great Christmas ideas and tips to help you save money at Christmas and make the most of the holiday season.

The Christmas holidays may still be some weeks away, but office Christmas parties are already in full swing, which may mean participating in a little “secret Santa” shopping at the last minute.

If hitting the mall and finding some great Christmas gifts and the best toys for Christmas is your next priority, consider doing some of your shopping online to reduce your stress and help you avoid impulse purchases.

As for the silly season and Christmas Day traditions, why not get in to the spirit of things by sending out real Christmas cards (not emails), or by baking up a storm with some delicious Christmas recipes? And if you’ll be celebrating a Christian Christmas with the family this year, you could even get together with members of your church to sing some traditional Christmas carols at a local rest home to spread some holiday cheer.

Of course, the Twelve Days of Christmas doesn’t start for another couple of weeks so you’ve still got a little time up your sleeve to hang your Christmas pictures and sort your Christmas trees and decorations.

Good luck with your NZ Christmas planning! Be sure to keep checking NZS.com as more Christmas articles, hints and planning ideas are added over the following weeks.

Whether you’re looking for a holiday house or bach to spend a couple of weeks relaxing with the family, or a luxury retreat to indulge in the upcoming New Year’s festivities in style, the list of NZ accommodation options is huge for NZ travel buffs.

Make the most of the excellent online travel resources while researching your holiday, and book your NZ accommodation online now to grab some great travel deals.

And while you’re searching, why not check out the fantastic selection of NZ attractions available at your holiday destination? With so many great places to stay, sights to see and adventures to be had, your next holiday is bound to be a great one.

The Show will showcase the very best of rural life, allowing Cantabrians to experience the unique sights, sounds and smells of the country along with plenty of retail therapy.

The Canterbury Agricultural and Pastoral Association has held the annual Canterbury A&P Show every year since 1862. Livestock and machinery exhibits featured from the outset.

The Canterbury A&P Show has a proud history of promoting Canterbury agricultural and pastoral interests and is New Zealand’s largest A&P Show. The Show is the jewel in Canterbury’s agricultural and entertainment crown and continues to build on a long and successful reputation for bringing the country to town.

Tickets are available in advance through Ticketek, and gates sales will be $25 for adults, $8 for children, and $12 for students and seniors. Children under five years will be able to attend free of charge.

While 2008 Melbourne Cup winner Viewed shared the favourite’s tag along with Alcopop, the results were these:

Shocking took the win, paying $9.90, while Crime Scene took second place paying $10.80 and Mourilyan took third, paying $8.20.

No New Zealand trained horse has won the Cup since the Shiela Laxon trained Etheral won in 2001.

It’s now easier than ever to compare the best prices and book NZ airfares online, especially with quick web tutorials to help you through the planning and payment steps if you need a little extra help with your New Zealand travel deals purchase.

And if you’re thinking of travelling locally this Labour weekend, check out our top selection of New Zealand destinations before booking your domestic flights NZ and New Zealand travel deals.

Audio visual and entertainment technologies have come along way – particularly with the development of HDMI cables which reduce consumer confusion with their standardised connections.

Forget the once-common nightmare of hundreds of cords connecting your audio visual and home theatre. With HDMI you can easily connect televisions, audio visual, Blu-ray disc players, multimedia PCs, gaming systems, digital camcorders, and more.

To find out if your audio visual equipment is HDMI compatible or if you have any questions be sure to get in touch with your local home theatre distributor.

Ask any expert and they can wax lyrical about the advantages of Plasma vs LCD for hours, but in finding the right big screen for your entertainment and living situation you’ll need to do a little research.

Plasma TV has been declared one of the most important developments in consumer electronics technologies of the past decade, thanks to the edge it has traditionally had in display quality of contrast.

LCD TV displays however have been fast catching up with this technology, and are said to offer a lighter and les power-hungry alternative for space and eco-conscious consumers.

Organised by the University of Canterbury student club ENSOC, the Undie 500 is a long established student-run car rally between Christchurch and Dunedin. The name comes from the original requirement that vehicles purchased for the event do not exceed $500. Participants decorate vehicles and themselves before driving south to the city of Dunedin.

Controversy has surrounded the event for the last couple of years after Police were forced to arrest 69 people during the 2007 event, 24 of whom were University of Canterbury students.

Though the Undie 500 was officially banned last year, an unofficial version of the event was organised, which resulted in 30 arrests.

This year entry is limited to just 150 cars, and in an effort to clean up the event’s image, the Undie 500 is now being labelled a ‘charity drive’, with participants being encouraged to donate non perishable food items to Dunedin’s food banks.

There will be a 24 hour alcohol ban in place in North Dunedin from 6pm Saturday night, and Dunedin police have issued a warning that anyone arrested in relation to the event will not be offered police diversion.

Are you a Dunedin resident? Going on the Undie 500 Charity Drive this weekend? Send your comments and photos to news@nzs.com.

The Rotorua pools are a popular destination for tourists and travelling Kiwis. Rotorua Walk the Line divx may be one of the tourism destinations of New Zealand with its unique mix of adventure and therapeutic attractions, but there’s no doubt the spa Rotorua experience is at the top of all visitors’ lists.

If you’re planning a mini-vacation, a weekend away or a longer break during the off-peak season, check out the Rotorua pools and soak up the serenity.

Google was forced to reveal the blogger’s name after former Vogue Australia covergirl Liskula Cohen claimed statements published on the Google-run blog about her were defamatory.

Cohen confronted and reportedly forgave the blogger, and has decided against going through with a defamation suit. Even though her right to sue the blogger was the whole reason Google was forced to reveal the blogger’s identity in the first place.

And in a new plot twist, the blogger – 29 year old New York fashion student Rosemary Port – is now going after Google.

Port’s lawyer Salvatore Strazzullo said he was prepared to take a case against Google all the way to the US Supreme Court because the company had “breached its fiduciary duty to protect her expectation of anonymity”.

Port has argued Cohen had defamed herself by launching such public legal action, and claimed she had the right to an opinion. She said before the lawsuit and subsequent groundbreaking court order, there had been few hits on the website.

“That was before it became a spectacle. I feel my right to privacy has been violated.”