As usual, we leave everything to the last minute and those few days in the run up to Christmas are about going to battle in various shops to spend your hard-earned cash on over-priced junk that will cost half of what you paid for it in January. Don’t get us wrong, we love expensive Christmas presents. But we really love handmade ones!

Art

Even if your not an artist, in fact, it’s even better if you can’t even draw a straight line get out the paints and make a stab at painting a picture for someone you love. Some one did this for me once and the result was so incredibly crap that it still takes pride of place on my wall and I smile every time look at it. Keep it nice and big and put in a nice frame to complete the effect.

Music

Mix tapes, mix CDs, DVD’s full of MP3s, Soundcloud mixes… whatever. We can never have enough new music. It’s even better if it’s personalised as the type of music that they like, rather than the type of music you like. New undiscovered artists are great, but the back catelogues of the greats shouldn’t be ignored. Classical music and early Jazz/Blues are generally free and there’s no copyright issues.

Food

If you’ve got a garden, or even a window box, it’s possible to grow vegetables. Granted it’s a bit late now but one for next year or any birthdays during the year. A hamper of home-grown fruit or vegetables is a brilliant gift, tasty and beautiful to look at.

Cooking

If you’re good in the kitchen then you have the perfect skills to give as a Christmas present. Make a handwritten menu with different options for each course so they can choose what to eat. It will give you something to put in a card on Christmas day. If you can bake, then shortbread, cookies, cakes…whatever, are always gratefully received.

Sex

Ok you can’t give it to everyone, but the special someone will never turn down this gift. Make a ‘coupon’ book of various favours that your partner can cash in at any time.

Classics

All the classics are free to download on to your Kindle. Make a selection of the best and fill up their tablet with some of the best books they will ever read.

Photo album

Create a photo album on your Facebook devoted to one person and fill it photos of them. Find the best photos and get all your friends to post nice comments. What you will have is a public photo album full of compliments that will make Christmas Day great for anyone. You can’t buy that.

Family Tree

Even if you know your family history, very few of us have it written down. Get some posh paper and ink and put some time into creating your family’s history. You can give it to every family member for Christmas. Sorted.