Magazine subscription for present - which one?

[bozza]

OK it is for my SIL who is 30 and by Christmas will be heavily pregnant with her second child. Which mag would you recommend and where do you buy from?

She's just your average 30yo Mum who works part time really. She doesn't buy designer so I think a general interest mag would be best - something to flick through while (if!) the baby naps. I think Vogue would be out of my price range.

Grazia is ok
Red magazine as well

Red?
Marie Claire?
Cosmo?

An interiors one?

Food one?

Good Housekeeping????

Grazia or Red if she is trendy and interested in clothes, posh products etc (even if she doesn't buy them) if not then Essentials or She (less celebs, more affordable fashion, recipes and a bit of family/parenting stuff)

Good HouseKeeping.

I love GHK, has useful stuff in (like about appliances, and proper recipes that people could actually cook with food bought from a supermarket)and how to get marmalade stains out of your sensible john lewis sheets.. I like Sandy Tosvig (?sp) too.

It is not full of bullshit celebrity shitola, or articles about how I slept with my husbands estranged twin who is a celebrity chef, or clothes fit only for impossibly thin 15 year olds, and horrid horrid jewellry.

I am old before my time though.

Another vote for Good Housekeeping. I get my mum a subscription every year. She loves cooking though and enjoys the recipes.

I've made it sound dull with the appliances and stains.

It isn't...why can't I think of something fun and interesting to say about it?

I love GH too

Read Red sometimes but I flick through it in a fracton of the time.

I have GH on subscription last year and loved it.

(I'm 32)

My Dad got me a Red subscription last year. A fantastic present.

She is v lucky to have you as a SIL.

Another vote for Red magazine

I'd vote for good food personally but it's only any good if she like's cooking.

I love my subscription to Junior magazine, does that make me really sad?

Good food here too - if you get Tesco vouchers you can buy them with those and get them for a quarter of the price. I have one that cost me £8.50 for the year. Great!

Yes I like Olive, but only if she enjoys her food, otherwise I would prob go for Red as well

I got bought Eve by my Bro for Christmas last year and it is fab, I really look forward to it arriving each month

She is not really a foody to be honest - rather restricted in her tastes and what she cooks. But thank you everyone for your opinions.

Is it better to buy a subscription direct or to get one from WH Smith. And how does it work? Do you actually have anything to hand over on Christmas Day IYSWIM? Sorry I realise I am sounding rather ignorant.

Smiths sell subscription gift packs that you can wrap up but not for all mags. Often its better to check on the mags website to see what subscription offers they have as you might get a decent gift (think Red are doing the new Ghost perfume as a freebie and Grazia are doing reduced rates, but might be the other way round!) The gift could be useful as another pressie or a treat for you! You could then just wrap up the xmas issue of the mag with a card saying that she will be getting one every month. I always buy my mum a subscription for Xmas and do this.

As I said - you can buy any magazine with Tesco vouchers and you only pay a quarter of the price. Yes, you should (?) get something to give to them on Christmas day

My vote is for GH

although i have enjoyed getting Junior for the past few months...

I got GH for MIL about 2 years ago and she still has it (I renew it on the sly for her)

I love Eve personally, bit of everything in it, food, clothes, stories etc

I got mine on a magazine site, can't remember which one now

Go to the website sand look, or google the mag plus sub offer.
I have 3 on the go that were on offer at £12 for 12 issues.
i have a mag addiction

Eve. but definatley get them with clubcard vouchers - if you don't have them I do and can do it online for you if you want - you still have my e-mail don't you. here are the current ones you can get - and at that price you could even splash out and get 2.

I did nothing but mags one year - we had imposed a £10 limit on presents. You can say when you wnat the subscription to start, so I started with the February issue (comes out in Jan) and bought teh Jan issue and wrapped it for Xmas presenst with a note in explaining taht it was for the full year

stressteddy I don't shop at tesco usually. Do they sell the subscriptions not using vouchers? Is it just me, or does Good Housekeeping sound a teeny bit old? I am tending towards Eve atm depending on what deal I can get.