Get Crafty this Christmas

We’re putting the focus on a sustainable, handmade Christmas this year, with our weekly Christmas crafting sessions helping visitors make their own decorations and gifts.

Our retailers have everything you need for a crafty Christmas, so here are a few ideas to help you get started.

Make it a cracker

Pull in the praise by showcasing your own crackers at the Christmas table. You can get a little help from M&S, with their 100 per cent plastic-free recyclable Fill-Your-Own Christmas Crackers, £8 - six crackers that come with jokes, paper hats and name tags and can be filled with any small gift you like. If you’re feeling particularly creative, start from scratch with an A4 piece of patterned paper like this striking Festive Woodland Wrapping Paper, £2, from Fig & Fox, a cardboard tube (a finished toilet roll is ideal), sellotape, and ribbon. Place your paper face down with the longest sides at the top and bottom. Position your cardboard tube lengthwise in the centre of the paper. At each end of the tube, score your paper with a pair of scissors without cutting through it. Wrap your paper around the cardboard tube, overlapping the edges slightly and gluing in place to create one wide tube. Twist one side of your cracker around the end of the cardboard tube and secure it with festive ribbon. Gently add your cracker fillings and secure the other side of your cracker with a ribbon. Lay the table with your crafty crackers taking centre stage.

Happy hamper!

Pull together a few of the recipients’ favourite things and make them into one heavenly hamper. Choose a roomy hamper or box, line it with tissue paper, fill with gifts and finish with a big bow or ribbon. This Christmas gift basket, £5, from Flying Tiger, comes with hamper filling, clear gift wrap, ribbon and a card.

Smart cookie

Create a garland with a difference by hanging a selection of Christmas cookie cutters on some Christmas ribbon. Foodie friends will love it as a quirky decoration – and they can also use the cutters to make their own festive biscuits. Pick up this Christmas Cookie Cutter Set with star, snowflake, snowman and Santa shapes for just £6.95 at ProCook.

Hug in a mug

The perfect cosy Christmas gift, create your own hot chocolate mugs to give to friends and family. Place drinking chocolate – Cadbury Hot Chocolate is just £1.25 at Poundland – or cocoa into the bottom of a Mason mug jar and top with mini marshmallows and chocolate stars. Wrap ribbon around the lid with a handwritten name tag for the finishing touch.