Amezaiku is the Japanese craft of lollipop-making, which dates back to the 700s when artisans made mouth-watering and artistic lollipops to be presented as gifts. Carrying on the tradition is 26-year old Shinri Tezuka, the owner of a small shop in the Asakusa district of Tokyo called Ameshin.

My name is Jakub and I’m a painter, illustrator & concept artist who lives and work in Poland. My speciality is dark fantasy, character design, concept art and portrait. Since several years I work and paint digitally, but I never gave up traditional drawing and painting. For me the most important in my work, is create unique atmosphere and tell some kind of story through my creations.

“This is a shot I have envisioned in my head for a while, and only possible to shoot today with the invention of the GoPro. Shot at a beach break near my home. The board broke on this wave, but the vision made it worthwhile. Shot with the GoPro Hero 3+ and a Gripstick Pro Mount”. (Photo and caption by Mike Coots)

These animal portraits and painted headdresses by Amy Hamilton are adorably perfect for this time of year. They feel so soft and wintery, and would make amazing notecards for gifts.

A giant panda named Kai Kai looks on as he opens a gift to celebrate his upcoming 14th birthday at the River Safari wildlife park in Singapore on September 10, 2021. (Photo by Roslan Rahman/AFP Photo)

Gifts for the homeless are handed out during Santa Bar Crawl, Oxford, England on December 5, 2017. Here: Oxford university students on a Santa-themed pub crawl. (Photo by Greg Blatchford/Rex Features/Shutterstock)

“In a nutshell and to prevent my english readers from experiencing eye bleeding after having read too many syntax errors, I’m a french journalist – I work as an editor, not as photographer – who happens to be nuts about photography. Being the happy owner of too many Leica M for a man to shoot, I spend most of my free time shooting my friend and my town, Strasbourg, in b&w and sometimes in colors”. – Manuel Plantin

Photo: “Even detectives got the blues”. Strasbourg, 2011 (Photo by Manuel Plantin)

Curator Anna Reynolds with a doll called Pamela and a toy horse on wheels at the launch of the summer exhibition Royal Childhood at Buckingham Palace, London, which celebrates royal childhood with toys and family gifts belonging to the royal children when they were growing up, on April 2, 2014. (Photo by Sean Dempsey/PA Wire)