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We all want Christmas to be a personal thing. The best presents, the slaved-over turkey, Christmas pudding even better than Grandmother used to make.

We want beautiful and-picked gifts, ideally from a specialist shop in a small Austrian village, that glisten with our own sweat and tears. To create your Perfect Christmas I recommend starting preparations some time in February the year before.

If you have better things to do however, be prepared for the December rush when all notions of the inner romantic fade and what we end up with are hardbacks from the bestsellers list, board games we'll play once a year and the X Factor Christmas single for a petulant eleven year old. If this sounds like your gift list, then I sincerely hope you have ordered all said items online.

My homemade Christmas delights

Gifts don't miraculously become thoughtful by staring at them in a queue for an hour. Yes, sometimes it's nice to feel the softness of a certain scarf or jumper, but that is what product descriptions are for. Cashmere: soft. Hessian: not soft. Simple. Right, so we’ve got that sorted.

There is absolutely no excuse for adding to the misery of the shopping experience by whacking others with a bag full of heavy books when you could happily wait at home for your purchases with a mug of cocoa and the Christmas re-runs.

Sandra Vogel's latest blog goes into festive online shopping in more detail, so once you've worked out whether it's worth the postage and packing (though lots of places offer free p&p) have a web session and just get all those simple items ordered and out of your mind. If there's a (preferably free) gift-wrapping service, order that too. Nothing says "I love you but I have absolutely no clue how to show it through packaging" quite like a box held together with parcel tape and old wallpaper scraps from the spare room.

Once the big, simple things are out the way, then you can do the whole 'personal' thing.

I find homemade gifts are perfect for the 'just in case' present; the ones for people outside your immediate familyÌý who you're not entirely sure you'll get to see and for whom the budget is something around the £1.24 mark. This is where crafty delights come in.

Food is by far the easiest thing. Unless you're absolutely hopeless in the kitchen, there's not much that can go wrong with cookie ingredients and a timer. Mix dough, eat half of dough, cook rest in oven for ten minutes. Cool. Lick bowl.

A simple fudge – see Nigella's chocolate pistachio fudge – is also a quick treat that can be stored in the freezer and either brought out for guests or given as gifts. But rather than hand them out from an old plastic takeaway container, try to get creative with packaging.

I've found Christmas becomes much more manageable when there's a decent stock of arts and crafts supplies in the house. Cellophane bags, ribbon, shiny card and glitter pens make a simple treat look a little more festive – or in my case like a six year old did them for a school project. Either way, it all screams that all-important buzzword – 'THOUGHT!'

³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖmade chutneys, mulled wine, infused oils, even beauty products can be made with minimal effort and made to look pretty through recycled bottles, jam jars and lots of ribbon. If you've little time to collect containers there are some fantastic packaging websites.

When searching for these, you might find it useful to type in 'glass bottles', 'cupcake boxes' or 'cellophane bags' rather than 'packaging', as it refines your search and means you’re less likely to end up on a wholesale site with a minimum order of 3000 units.

My personalÌýfavourite siteÌýon everything that requires an apron is ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ Food, always brimming with tasty ideas. Just in time for Christmas,ÌýEmily Angle has blogged about treats that can be stashed in the freezer to make for an easier life.

Channel 4 has brilliant crafty ideas on its page. I particularly like theÌý and would give try them myself if I wasn't petrified by this line: "All wax has a flash point, so a double-boiler is essential to prevent it bursting into flames." Eek!

Of course, not only are there plenty of ideas available online, but you can also find guides and videos on the basics like, for example,Ìý how to properly. If you're getting crafty to save money, bear in mind that some ambitious items require investing in special equipment, so choose your ventures wisely and be sure to leave enough time to allow for the Christmas delivery of supplies.

Most importantly, enjoy the process. If you find yourselfÌýcursing at the oven, step away from the kitchen and head to the bakery.

Hajar is a regular contributor to the WebWise blog and has also made award-winning programmes for ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ Radio. In her spare time she loves reading, writing and singing.Ìý