This shop is like a cornucopia of strange little gifts, knick-knacks, cards, and bits'n'bobs…read more Exactly the kind of store you pop into in search of a birthday card for someone, and end up browsing amongst the eclectic gifts for at least half an hour. There was everything from teddy bears to photo frames; mugs and calendars to christening gifts; musical jewellery boxes to happy birthday banners. I can't lie and say everything was top notch, but I do recommend a potter if you've got time for a browse, or you have some time to kill while waiting for a bus. Like Mary Poppin's handbag, you never know what's going to come out of it...(or what you'll come out with!)

One of the lucky few places that stocks Hello Kitty and all of the above. If you're into your…read moremanga, your anime and your sanrio products, this shop is one of the few that I would consider to be your personal mecca. It's not the biggest store I've seen, but it's one of the only ones that exist (surprise surprise it's in Sunnybank!) and although small in size, is pack stacked and filled to the brim with all the things I find cute. Cuteness galore and I don't mean puppies. To the passer by, you may think, oh it's another weird ass trinket store with asian things in it and funny looking cats. But to really appreciate what is the 'Hello Kitty' phenomenon you need to google it or educate yourself first. Don't go in store and learn about it, it wouldn't work. If manga, anime and sanrio mean anything to you, you will walk in and fully appreciate the clutter, appreciate the hello kitty in the dinosaur suit. Appreciate the hello kitty earrings, and all the accessories related to the cat. She deserves respect. Get a tissue box cover with some kero kero keroppi or some little pichu dolls. It's crazy, and it makes sense. I love this place.

I wonder if the Sanrio crew are still as treasured in Japan (and elsewhere) as they once were. I'm…read morenot sure if Hello Kitty and her friends are quite as popular with the Australian youth of today, but when I was a teenager they underwent a huge surge in popularity, with every girl desperate for her own cute little pencil case starring these characters, or stationary to write useless notes to their friends. As far as I know, this is one of the few places in Brisbane left as a shrine to these adorable cartoon characters. It's a pretty big shop too, with any object you can imagine available with a Hello Kitty's of My Melody's mug stamped on it. Some of the items looked a little cheap to me, but maybe I've just outgrown it and can finally understand why the stuff is not universally popular.

You know those nerds who get more excited about designing and making the party invitations than the…read moreactual party? Yeah, they're so weird. And I happen to be one. Even back in the late 90s when my birthday came around, I was to be found on our hulking IBM computer make invitations with coloured, comic sans-style fonts and the ever-classy clip art. They usually said corny things like IT'S PARTY TIME! If only Invitation House had existed in those days, and I could have saved myself some Microsoft Word-related embarrassment. Luckily, Invitation House opened not long before my 18th birthday and so I finally had access to more than Windows 95 to create my masterpiece. When you go in you'll see the the walls are floor to ceiliing stacks of paper and card of varying patterns, colours, and textures. They have sheer overlay sheets, cute pins and embellishments, ribbons, and stamps. You can pick out what you want and dream up your own invitation, or the staff can help you. You can also pay them to assemble them all for you, or take your supplies home and do it yourself. Since my 18th I have also used Invitation House's wares to make 21st invites for me and for friends' parties, and often pop in to buy some nice paper or card if I'm making something special. Such a great idea for a shop, and I bet they do great business because it's such a niche market. Well done, Invitation House!

Stationery really excites me. Like REALLY excites me. I think it's the prospect of being super…read moreorganised while looking cute at the same time. Stickers, pens, writing pads, stamps, you name it I love it! I am unashamedly geeky in that sense. So Invitation House, which funnily enough specialises in invitations, got a little excited squeal from me as I walked through their doors. Floor to ceiling shelves of different sorts of paper. Embossed, bridal, paper with cupcakes on it, floral, dinosaurs, oriental and SO much more. There is literally paper for any occasion here. It's stunning quality and averages around $1.00-$1.50 per piece so depending on the size of the event you're hosting it could become quite expensive. In my opinion though, receiving a paper invitation in this digital age is a little taste of the past, and it sets the tone for whatever the event is that the invitation is for. If you are getting married, having an important birthday celebration or hosting some sort of event which requires an old-school invitation, I definitely suggest popping in to Invitation House for some inspiration.

Is this the last Morning Glory left in Brisbane? Oh dear, I…read morestill remember when I visited my first Morning Glory about fifteen years ago at Pacific Fair on the Gold Coast. Here at last was a place where I could get all my Asian pop culture paraphernalia - it was finally becoming main stream. Fifteen years later, this Morning Glory could be the final resting place for Hello Kitty, Keropi and many other celebrity plushies that have risen to stardom and died in ignominy. I like to think that there's still a viable market in Brisbane for Morning Glory. Surely, there are more little girls in want of a Hello Kitty apron. How about a giant Totoro plushie for your dashboard or a matching Blue Bear/ Pink Bear set to consolidate your relationship? While it's glory days are probably gone forever, I wager there's life in this shop yet. So get shopping! Hello Kitty says so.

When I was about fourteen, Hello Kitty and those other sickeningly cute Japanese animal characters…read morewere all the rage. Morning Glory was known as heaven for every girl in love with the characters and the insane amounts of stationary their button-nosed faces were plastered on. It's been a long time since I've seen a Morning Glory, I thought they'd faded into extinction, but here is proof at least one has survived. It's former, forgive me, glory has lessened somewhat and the store looks a little more tacky, a little less wonderland than it once did, but there's still a lot here. It's the perfect place to get a gift for any young girl, or to stick them for free babysitting while you do the groceries (I kid, of course).

Kikki.K and I are not friends. Something about the way they compartmentalise life into neat,…read morematching boxes doesn't sit well with me. It could also be that I find their creamy pink, blue and yellow colour scheme insipid. A lot of my friends like this shop and think I'm irrational and crazy. It all comes down to personal taste but I've never been tempted to buy anything useful or pretty from Kikki.K - not even as a gift for someone else. Their diaries, calendars, stamps, clips and photo albums are products I associate with aspiring domestic goddesses, unrealistic, neat homes and housewives and house husbands obsessed with cleanliness. I do appreciate though that a lot of people like their designs and it's definitely worth checking out their store despite the rants of one possibly crazy and irrational person like me.

Not just another office organising shop, this one is Swedish. I judged this place the first time I…read moreentered the store because the first thing I picked up, this organiser it's price tag rang high and true to the tune of $175.00. I pretty much walked straight out of the store right then and there, swearing to myself I would never go back in. Ridiculous. I walked past again a month later and they had pretty pink binders with polka dots, I curiously checked the price tag, and it was $39.95, a far cry from the $1 ring binders you can buy from Big W, but it wasn't over $100 so that was a step in the right direction I guess... there was a sale as well? I didn't end up buying the binder, I'm not too sure how I could justify the cost of a haircut to a cardboard binder with 3 metal rings. But, having said that, the things in this shop are very pretty, pretty enough for me to walk in twice. It's worth a look-into or a look through a window.

Scenario: You've discovered the calming and relaxation benefits of adult colouring in. You wander…read morepast Books@Stones before they open and see an entire window display dedicated to this new "trend" and you make a mental note to stop back in before you leave. Of course, there's something hush hush about admitting you are an adult who colours in but after recently discovering how relaxing it can be, I'm hooked. Thankfully, this book shop has quite a good collection of these books. But that's not all. While the front portion of the store is dedicated to adult books, the back half of the store is a wonderland for the young readers. There's a great selection of kids books (excellent for the Savvy Aunty who is eager to build her niece a well rounded library) and space for them to sit and read. In fact, as I was browsing the shelves an author was about to do a book reading for kids. Prices are reasonable and honestly no more than some online sites. Plus you get to take it home with you - what's not to love? If you're local this is one worth bookmarking!

This cute little bookstore on Logan Rd at Stones Corner specializes in Australian books & authors…read more Grab a coffee next door at the Green Door Gallery & Cafe and then go in and browse through their extensive range of fiction, non-fiction & kids books.

I'm starting to get to that age where a few of my friends have popped, or are having the question…read morepopped to them. Tying the knot, walking down the aisle, all that kind of stuff. Although I'm definitely not at that point in my life yet, I've taken some sort of unhealthy interest in wedding planning and have been keeping my eyes peeled for anywhere they might be able to utilise for their big days. I stumbled across The Wedding List Co. when walking through James Street last week and popped in to see what their deal was. I found out that they source and organise the registers for people's wedding gifts and their store on James Street is merely a show room to display some of the items that are available. There was everything from photo frames, to home appliances and beautiful Wedgewood china. The lady who was manning the store was lovely and told me that they can organise the register no matter what the location of the wedding. And with all of the other stuff that has to be organised for the most important day of your life, frankly it would be nice to put that responsibility in someone else's hands. If you have your big day coming up or have a friend who is in need of some organisational help in the gift registry department, give The Wedding List Co. a call. I wouldn't just drop in to the store because they're only open Thursdays and Saturdays unless by appointment.

Avoid at all costs! We signed up thinking that this could be…read morea good registry site, how wrong we were. The big reason we signed up is because they promised to match prices and get 25% off everything else after the guests had bought their gifts. Trying to match prices is a nightmare. You have to do all the work send them photos, highlighting the price and date of the promotion. Every other place that price matches asks for a link to the item and price, then they do the rest. So after our wedding, we closed the registry and went to add extra purchases, thinking we were going to receive the discount. Turns out, you have to buy items after your guests have bought theirs. Then, they give you a gift voucher (only valid at their website) worth a certain percentage of your extra purchases (e.g. spend $500, get $150 voucher) THEN they take 25% off that. What absolute crap! So you have to make 2 extra purchases to receive 25% off. So we spent $xxx thinking that we'd receive a voucher with the corresponding amount. We later learned that this voucher and discount does not apply to electrical goods and home appliances. We spent almost $1000 for nothing. Why was it advertised as 'receive 25% off and gifts not purchased'. There is no asterisk or any indication of any terms or conditions This should be taken down immediately. To make matters worse, delivery was just over 8 weeks. We were initially told 4-6 weeks (3-5 weeks longer then every other gift registry site we looked at. On the 7th week, we sent a stern email asking how long it would be and why. We were told it would take 8 weeks because 'that's just how it is'. No apology or anything. Wedding List Co was started by George & Karaline Loiterton because they had a 'negative experience' when they did their registry so they wanted to 'address the problem'. Well done you two, you now are part of the problem.

Great experience, the flowers were so fresh and arrived on time. I look forward to order again…read moreflowers here. I love them so much.

Excellent customer service! It's my 2nd time to order online from this shop, first time was for my…read moredaughter's birthday and this time for Valentines Day. I love their flower/wine/chocolate sets, perfect for any special occasion!