It’s easy to use and there are lots of innovative products that would never occur to you

“It’s easy to use and there are lots of innovative products that would never occur to you.” Boxes on each page tell of the exploits of lifeboat heroes and the cost of lifesaving at sea. The catalogue is helpfully divided into sections – home, garden, travel and “Customers’ Choice” (products such as all-weather jackets and pocket torches which have proved popular with customers over the years). There is an emphasis on “rigorous quality- control checks” – but our pewter King’s Shilling tankard was less perfectly engraved than we had imagined.***FRIENDS OF THE EARTHCredit Card Hotline 01672 542266The order: T-shirt, pounds 9.95; Geo Stationery jotter block, pounds 2.35; A4 writing pad (40 leaves), pounds 1.65; 25 envelopes, pounds 1.55; plus p&p pounds 3.50.Service: delivery promised within 14-28 days Delivered after 27 days. Last date to order for Christmas, 10 December.This catalogue looks fantastic, with the “biggest range of organic cotton clothing in the UK” photographed on fashion models in beach settings. For the first time this year, it has been produced in association with Ecotrade – suppliers of eco-friendly cleaning and household products. The range isn’t large and concentrates on textiles, recycled glass products, low-energy lighting and natural toiletries.

Reading the catalogue is an education in itself: pillows and duvets can be filled with recycled, spun- plastic fizzy drinks bottles; chemical deodorants can be replaced with a stone that leaves an invisible layer of mineral salt on the skin; and T-shirts can be made from cotton (brown or green only) that deepens in colour when you first wash it. “The catalogue looks like a magazine,” said Susannah, “but I’m not sure people want that from a charity. The photography is great, but the clothes don’t look quite the right shape and are more expensive than you’d think.” We expected the Geo Stationery jotter, made from obsolete OS maps, to show different geographical areas. Disappointingly, each leaf replicates only a tiny section of Southport. Our other grouse was that the 27th-day delivery (just inside the 28-day limit) was cutting it a bit fine.*OXFAMCredit Card Hotline 01869 245011The order: “Lost in the Desert” T-shirt (children only), pounds 5.99; abaca jar, pounds 29.95; p&p pounds 2.95.Service: delivery promised within 14 days Goods arrived within 13 days. Last date to order for Christmas, 8 December.The best intentions are evident in this catalogue, which features products bought at a fair price from the poorest people in the world.

But we found its page layout visually the most exhausting; garish coloured boxes and photographs in which too many products are illustrated together do not encourage prolonged browsing “The presentation is old-fashioned,” said Susannah. “The catalogue does represent the people it aims to help, but this sort of ethnic ware doesn’t appeal to everybody, and it needs a more sympathetic portrayal.”Oxfam’s food baskets include exotic products such as mango jam and cashew butter. The bright colours and jazzy patterns of many products seemed perfect for children, though the T-shirt we ordered is the only one on offer. The abaca fibre jar turned out to be much larger than it looked in the photograph. Despite Oxfam’s suggestion that the jar would make a good container for umbrellas, the one we ordered fell over as soon as we put ours in.***WORLD WIDE FUND FOR NATURECredit Card Hotline 01283 506105The order: “Endangered Tiger” T-shirt, pounds 11.99; juggling frogs, pounds 8.99: plus p&p pounds 3.35.Service: delivery promised within 14 days Goods arrived within seven days. Last date to order for Christmas, 16 December.For animal lovers, the WWF catalogue is a rich hunting ground for gifts.

The T-shirts are great; ours got its message across with a realistic picture of a tiger, but there are also very sophisticated, all-over designs that go beyond the box illustration we chose. The best collection of throws (most of them reversible) and an imaginative children’s section are other strong features. “They’ve really thought about the kids’ things,” said Susannah, who commented also on the high proportion of WWF branded goods and strips on each page detailing the plight of different wild animals. The juggling frogs arrived with an amusing instruction leaflet – further evidence of a good-fun mentality.**SAVE THE CHILDRENCredit Card Hotline 01283 506500The order: “Wine Stains” T-shirt, pounds 14.99; babies’ activity ring, pounds 29.99; plus p&p pounds 3.35.Service: delivery promised within 14 days Goods arrived within three days. Last date to order for Christmas, 10 December.This catalogue has a huge selection of Christmas cards, gift-wrap and decorations. “It even shows the contents of the crackers,” Susannah enthused.

The layout is busy, the products are fun and the personalisation of gifts (with embroidery or printing) is a major feature. There are, as you might expect, pages of stocking-fillers for children – and the more you look, the more interesting things you discover. We both homed in on the authentic- looking soup-can safe to hide jewellery from burglars – “a brilliant idea,’ said Susannah, “amusing and practical.” The babies’ activity ring we ordered was just as much fun as it looked – full of squeaks, pockets and pictures. The “Wine Stains” T-shirt turned out to be natural cotton with “characteristic” flecks in it which have to be washed out – perhaps not so good as a gift.**MENCAPCredit Card Hotline 01283 506303The order: “Paranoid Cats” T-shirt, pounds 12.99; executive dishwasher kit, pounds 7.50; p&p pounds 3.35.Service: delivery promised within 14 days Goods arrived within eight days.