They say 'the best things in life are free', but it seems a bit tight not to spend anything on your friends' birthdays! But you don't have to spend much to give someone a really special gift. These cakes and cookies were given to me for my birthday by the fabulous Anisha and Nicole. Not only were they packaged beautifully but they were mouth watering-ly delicious!

These are the chocolate cupcakes (Hummingbird Bakery recipe) and brownie based cheesecake (Blissful Brownies recipe) I made for my parents for their birthdays.

And this is me having a great time using the giant cake cookie mold Lucy H bought me for my birthday!

But it doesn't always have to be sweet treats! One of my favourite gifts this year was a lovely long letter from my friend Krystin Dean, who lives in Georgia, U.S.A. We haven't spoken for a few months and I was very excited to see this little letter drop out of my post box.