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How to credit crunch your Christmas
Melanie McDonagh9 Dec 2008
This is the season of goodwill, credit crunch or no credit crunch. An economic downturn is no excuse for making no-present pacts with your nearest and dearest: that's just stingy. What the crunch does call for is imaginative thinking: heavens, even David Cameron has gone to Woolworths (while he still can), to pick up some bargains for his children.
Recycling can work admirably, so long as the original donor doesn't actually end up getting her own present back. It's not the end of the world if they do: PG Wodehouse wrote an essay about a smoking cap that he received as a present and would give away every third or fourth Christmas, because he would always end up getting it back from someone else.
A cash-strapped budget makes us think harder about the recipients and their tastes. One of my best presents last year was a book of medieval ghost stories from a friend, which didn't cost a great deal but was just perfect. Just throwing money at presents is a cop-out: this is a year for making an effort. Here are my tips for gift-giving when money is tight.
Make it fabulous
Take time with the wrapping. I hoard catalogues from art dealers - Bonham's, Christie's and Chris Beetles, the cartoon gallery - and use the picture reproductions on the outside of what I'm giving. Or else plain gold paper with plain red or green or navy satin ribbon - street markets can be good for that sort of thing. For children you can stick chocolate ladybirds or coins on the outside. Hoard boxes (flat-packed) - anything looks enticing inside them.
Scour the charity shops
I picked up three very pretty little sherry glasses for a tenner in the one up the road and they were cheap because they were unboxed and an awkward number. You can also find things like cashmere jumpers for about £20 and of better quality than the high street. Make sure they're laundered, wrap them in tissue paper and put them in a box (see above) and they won't feel second-hand. Charity shops are only as good as their neighbourhood, which means that shops in Kensington and Chelsea, Belgravia or Knightsbridge can yield rich pickings.
Give something useful
After a decade of over-consumption, useful presents can be really welcome. Claus Porto, the Portuguese soap-maker, has some for under a tenner, in interesting Art Deco wrapping. And what about handkerchiefs? They're more environmentally friendly than tissues. Aim for funky or pretty ones: we're not talking boring-retro here.
Promises can be worth a lot
These can go an awfully long way to making an inexpensive present seem more special. One friend offered me half-a-dozen babysitting nights on dates of my choice. It was particularly thoughtful as for her time is far more precious than money. I took her up on it, too. Children could offer a few sessions of car-washing or similar.
Make your own gifts
If you can't make your own jam, you can buy some nice home-made stuff from charity fêtes or the like. If you're a good cook then home-made chocolates (there's an excellent River Café recipe) are simple and, with good ingredients, can be delicious. Ditto home-made macaroons: you might not be able to afford the ones from Ladurée, which are heaven, but they are not hard to make.
Think about quantity
Style-writer Rita Konig maintains that sometimes, to make things look good, you simply have to have lots of them. So, one pair of socks, no matter how nice, isn't going to rattle anyone's cage but half a dozen pairs, well wrapped, have the wow factor. Italian stationery shop, Campo Marzio Design, on Piccadilly, near St James's Street, sells five vibrant-coloured little notebooks wrapped in ribbon for a fiver, which has lots more impact than just one.
Keep a present drawer
This involves buying ahead, when you find things that you think will make good presents when you're on holiday, say, or in a lovely toyshop that has things you can never find normally. Consider that a tip for next year.
Reader views (3)
We're surely not not meant to be doing though association here are we? Woolworths: everyone knew what it stood for in the past, but now it has no real purpose and though we may claim to love it, we don't really think of it as being the place to go for the things we need. Is this today's Conservative Party.
He should have gone to Aldi: lean, mean, no waste, every pound going much further!
- Tonyb, Melbourne, Australia, 09/12/2008 22:46
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this man will do anything for publicity, are to believe that this eton & oxford educated toff millionaire is feeling the credit crunch?????? paleeeeeeeeezzzzzzzzz
- Norbert, london, 09/12/2008 14:48
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It could have been a happier Christmas had we had an economic government and not a state controlled tax-the-working class bolshevik machine called Crash Gordon! Now there is no money left...
- Peteo, London, 09/12/2008 13:16
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