Every Christmas I write my wish list - not only for myself, but for the 'men' in my life. Well, one of them isn't quite a man yet, being only twelve, so he needs a tad more help. These lists supply me with ideas, as well as providing my family with a selection of items that I would like to see under the tree. However, for this article at least, I will be concentrating on manly gifts...

The little man in my life is mostly concerned with game systems, and of course toys. The big man isn't quite as interested in video games, but definitely shares my son's interest in toys. Now you may be thinking along the lines of toys for bigger boys, but in this case you would only be half right.

My fella is a toy collector - Lego, Polly Pockets, Toy Story, Batman, puppets, dinky toys - well, I'm sure you get the picture. Some day, you might even see his collection on a show called, "It Came From the Basement". The pride and joy of his collection would have to be his Batman and Snap-On collectibles.

Not everyone is a collector, but I'm pretty sure you have run across that one child who refuses to take his or her toy out of the box to play with it, preferring instead to place it on a shelf where it can grow in value.

Few people have that mindset when it comes to toys, but the ones who do have collections that range in the neighbourhood of hundreds of thousands of dollars.

Serious toy collectors pay top coin for vintage and hard to find toys.

I can probably guarantee that my man has at least one if not two of each of these toys in his collection. Most collectors have doubles, triples, and sometimes more, of many pieces in their collections.

The reason for this is sales.That way, they can make a profit and keep one for themselves.

However, very few toy collectors keep a large stock for sales. The majority of people who collect do so for their own enjoyment.

Personally, my choice for that perfect gift for my collecor has to be the cookie jar batmobile!

Not only toys are sought after - unique and different products like light switch covers, licence plates and posters are equally important for the person who wants a complete collection.

That is what makes collecting so much fun for some folks - finding that one-of-a-kind product that no one else has!

Now I can't attest to the fact that the articles shown here are one-of-a-kind. But they are different enough to be very desireable for that special person on your list.

I was lucky enough to find a dealer who specialized in retro signs earlier this year, and gifted my man with not only the one shown here, but several others.

Everybody loves a classic piece, whether it's a book, music, or for those special people, action figures! This selection will have your little, or big boy dancing with delight!

It's a known fact that toy collectors are just little boys who haven't really grown up. And when you enjoy playing with toys, why should you? Watching their faces when they discover that special piece that would go wonderfully with the rest of their collection is really a joy to see.

It takes you back to those long ago Christmases, alight with holiday magic, stockings on the mantle and the promise of Santa on Christmas morning.

Can you imagine the joy when the stockings are opened Christmas morning and Santa has delivered these great action figures for your little collector to enjoy?

I know it would be cause for celebration at my house!

Once you get over the loss of watching your little, or big boy resist the temptation to open their gift after the wrapping paper has been ripped off, and that does take a bit of getting used to, you can bask in the warm glow of satisfaction, knowing you have given years and years of enjoyment.

The first time I got to help trim my boyfriend's tree, I was delighted! As we started opening the boxes of decorations, I was surprised to see strings of batman lights and little snap-on truck lights.

There were boxes of baubles, villains and heros alike, strings of lights, and garlands of little batmen running around the tree. It was truly spectacular!

As you can see by the selection here, there are many different ornaments for the collector in your life.

And you get to be the only one on your block with a tree that is as unique as you are!

These are also great gifts, and ones that will be opened and enjoyed by the whole family, year after year.

Each Christmas, you can add to the collection - something I do every year is buy a new ornament for the tree.

There are gift sets or individual ornaments, depending on your taste - each one is an excellent choice.

I know there are a couple of baubles he doesn't have - maybe I should get them before he sees this...

My money is on the Hallmark Bat Signal...

No...wait...the five piece set looks interesting...shoot...there are just too many choices! I might have to wait after all...

Not only does my man collect batman, he also collects Snap-On specialty items. He has the most wonderful selection of zippo lighters, Christmas decorations, large, ride on toys, toy tools, specialty tools, commemorative tools, hats, statues, scale models and gift sets.

All of these items can be found in the Snap-On Tool catalogue - see your local Snap-On dealer for local specials, and make sure you have this catalogue on hand!

Now we enter the realm of the heavy duty collectors. These collectors might be interested in toys, but mostly, they are interested in investing in their heavy duty tools, and Snap-On has that covered!

The preceding and following capsules show some of the selection of air tools, screwdrivers, wrenches and gadgets that Snap-On has to offer.

There are a lot of men out there who would love to see something like this under the tree!

Not only does Snap-On supply an excellent range of products, their prices (I know - look expensive right?) actually reflect the quality of the product. They stand by their guarantee - lifetime - and aren't stingy in replacing broken or defective tools.

My man uses Snap-On for work - he is a body man with over 30 years experience - and he swears by the tools they provide. These tools need to be heavy duty to withstand the forces applied every single day, when fixing the vehicles we tend to crunch from time to time!

Not only does the product have to stand up to the torque applied when using them for what they were designed for, they also have to stand up to the beating they get when dropped on the shop floor...or thrown...depending on the situation!

At any rate, these are a few of the choices available for the collectors in your life! I know my collector will be checking this hub out when I tell him it's finished...after all, he won't be able to resist the call to arms!

Who knows...maybe there will be something here that he doesn't already have...