Kids birthday parties are pricey. UK parents spend more than £200 on cake, entertainment and party bags each year. Argos has launched a Birthday Club to aid party-stricken parents, offering ideas, tips and 20% off party essentials. Could it become the go-to brand for setting birthdays off with a bang?

Christmas seems to come earlier every year – or at least the marketing and advertising frenzy that precedes it. Festive madness is becoming even more all-conquering since the arrival of Black Friday in the UK, but how has the way Brits shop and think about Christmas changed?

It's become the norm to simply send a Facebook message on a friend’s birthday. Budweiser is hoping to add a more personal touch by trialing a campaign that lets members of the social network gift a Bud on their friends’ birthdays.

On their birthdays, Facebook users receive well-wishes from about 24% of their friends list. In June 2014, Brazilian start-up Máquina do Bem started taking advantage of this by allowing Facebook friends to give a donation to charity as a gift.