I love Christmas shopping in Bulgaria: you never feel overwhelmed at the choice. This year with Varna’s addition of two new shopping malls, it is possible to buy all of your gifts under one roof. The new malls, Central Plaza in Chaika and Pfohe Mall on the main route out towards the airport, have extended the range of goods available especially in terms of clothes and shoes. They also offer the weary shopper sustenance in the way of designer coffee shops including Coffee Republic.

Pfohe Mall stocks some much-loved Western brand-named footwear and clothing, including Mexx, Hush Puppies, Pierre Cardin and Benetton, but these are mixed in with a diverse range of typical Eastern European fashions – garish, diamond-encrusted, shiny and predominantly black.

One of the best buys and widest selections at Pfohe Mall is the abundance of independent jewellery outlets, which stock everything from DKNY watches to chunky silver-plated bling. Both malls have a lovely range of Ratan toiletries. Ratan stock the kind of goods you would never buy for yourself; scented bath oils with luxurious packaging and soaps to match, all beautifully wrapped to give the impression that you really spent time thinking about the recipient. They also stock a good range of scented candles, but they are not alone on this score.

The Piccadilly Park Mall on the coast road towards Zlatni Pyasutsi (Golden Sands) has a shop dedicated to scented candles with aromas ranging from Christmas pudding to apple and spice.

It is always difficult to think of gifts that travel well, those presents that we can wrap up and send back home without paying extortionate postal fees. Piccadilly Park has a stand selling perfect and reasonably priced picture frames to suit all ages and tastes. For little girls, there is a collection of pink, fairy princess frames with a piggy bank and jewellery box as accessories. For teens there is a gold frame that shouts “party” and my particular favourite, a plush aubergine-coloured padded frame that comes with two scented candles.

For wine lovers, Piccadilly Park has an excellent selection of quality Bulgarian wines and spirits in Liquortex, with award-winning wines costing about 20 leva a bottle. The service is excellent, so don’t be afraid to ask for advice. Neighbouring restaurant La Pastaria is also selling gift vouchers, which can be redeemed against a meal – it’s a nice way to say thank you.

Children are easy to please at Christmas now that Hippo Land has opened up a superstore covering the whole of the ground floor of Pfohe Mall. The store stocks toys, games, clothes, books and baby goods including renowned brands like Playmobil and Lego. Beware, however, of cheap Chinese imports – the bricks won’t stick together and the toys generally fall apart after a couple of days. It’s certainly worth paying the extra for the real McCoy.

If you’re sending presents home with a desire to impress, invest in some of the fake brands that litter Varna’s main shopping street. A “Prada” handbag or a “Gucci” watch will always impress young fashionistas back home. If you choose your shop wisely you can even get watches in the correct designer box. Many of these shops stock designer scarves, which make ideal gifts for mother and if packaged correctly look like you have spent a fortune!

One of my favourite places to hunt down stocking fillers are the tacky 1 Lev shops – I call them “levaland” – that abound in every town and city. Last year I managed to pick up some Lancome mascara for two leva and a range of pocket-sized perfumes and aftershaves by top designers like Burberry, Clinique and Ralph Lauren. The cost was a mere four leva each.

Electrical goods also make great presents, particularly for those significant others who have never grown up. Most electrical goods are often significantly cheaper than back home. Small plasma-screen T’s and DVD players all fit nicely into a suitcase for those who will be spending Christmas away from Bulgaria. I also have my eye on the new interactive Wii toy. Far better than a PlayStation, the Wii allows you to physically participate in sports like bowling and golf as well as providing endless entertainment with a range of quizzes. The toy retails at 500 leva from Technomarket and is priced lower than in the UK.

The PSP is also a great little gadget, particularly for travellers. It enables you to play movies, store pictures, listen to music and connect to the internet all from a neat handheld device. This retails at 385 leva in Technomarket.

This year my Christmas shopping will start in one of the numerous phone shops, as my little angels have both asked for mobile phones, under the guise of “everyone at school has one” – who said Bulgarians were hard up? M-Tel is offering contracts for five leva a month, which will allow my sons unlimited access to one number – mine!

For my husband I will be spending 10.75 leva on a booze detector. With the police campaign against the war on the roads, this handy little device available at Piccadilly supermarkets enables you to do a DIY breath test to check whether you are over the legal alcohol limit.

For the person who has everything, try buying something from the Big Shop in Piccadilly Park and also located across Varna. This shop contains a huge range of items you would never think you needed; everything from a funky high-tech lemon squeezer to a practical de-icing mitt.

Finally, if you live in a quaint but inaccessible Bulgarian village and don’t fancy braving the cold weather in the city, there’s always the internet. From the comfort of your PC you can choose and ship presents from the world over a steaming hot cup of coffee.

Christmas parties, office parties, house parties, or simply a really good reason to celebrate often have undesired effects the morning after. A bad night’s sleep, a wake-up hangover and puffy eyes give yet another layer of meaning to Alfred de Musset’s classic phrase “Je suis triste comme un lendemain de fete” (I feel sad like the morning after a party). Hangovers, while nothing new, are never any easier to accept. Here are some possible “remedies”, as recommended by someone who’s been around for enough years to know:

Two aspirin before hitting the hay.
A double espresso (short) without sugar, to which lemon juice and salt have been added.
The juice in which кисело зеле/kiselo zele (Bulgarian sauerkraut) rests. Some recommend pickle juice instead.
Or maybe pickle juice, canned peach liquid and an alkaseltzer.
Juice squeezed from raw potatoes, drunk hourly.
Yoghurt (recommended to be very cold) and a sugar-wafer biscuit (вафличка).
Drinking a lot of water washes the alcohol out of your system, it’s said.
Mix some lemon juice, honey, a valerian tablet and some pure mint essence (be generous) and drink.
Have one drink of the same thing on which you got drunk the night before.
Dance like crazy till the morning, so you burn off all the alcohol and pre-empt a hangover.
And, of course, the all-time Bulgarian favourite: shkembe chorba with lots of chili and vinegared garlic, plus a beer.

FYI: the Bulgarian word for hangover is махмурлук/mahmourlouk.