There’s something about glitter and glue that just says Christmas. Ever since nursery, I’ve loved making things for the holiday season – in fact, my parents still hang the baubles I made for them back then on our Christmas tree. This sums up what’s special about handmade presents – would a shop-bought decoration still be so treasured nearly fifteen years later? 

And what is more, now that we’re all cash-strapped students, getting crafty at Christmas is a brilliant way to save money, while hopefully having a good time. There are lots of ways to harness the Christmas flair, either with hand-made gifts and cards, or through home decors.

Everyone likes food. Baking is an obvious way to go, but you can also make your own sweets – melt some chocolate, dip in some nuts or ginger pieces, leave them to cool in a fridge, and you magically have a tray of gorgeous homemade sweets. 

If you want something a little more personalised though, fabric pens can transform an old t-shirt into a really fun gift. Just stretch out the t-shirt, pin it securely to a board (foam board is best) and get drawing. When you start thinking hard, most things can be personalised in some way – with pretty paper, stickers, glue, ribbon and a little creativity, you can get to work on notebooks, bookmarks, pencils, calendars, boxes. 

Key-rings are also pretty straightforward to make, and if you’re looking for something a bit quirky, thread beads on safety pins (they need to be small enough to push round the spiral) and then string the safety pins onto a string to make a bracelet, or string several safety pins onto one larger one to make a brooch. 

There is little point in spending lots of time and effort on a nice present if you don’t bother to wrap it properly. Ribbons are a quick and easy way to make even a present wrapped in newspaper look appealing (which can actually create an interesting effect), but if you’ve got a bit more time, layering different coloured tissue papers creates a gorgeously Christmassy look, as do pretty bags and boxes. 

Origami boxes are simple to make and perfect for a piece of handmade jewellery or some nice chocolates. If you’ve got lots of small presents for someone, use some red wrapping paper to make a stocking and stuff the presents in there. Plan this carefully though, or your presents won’t fit in the stocking, and prepare for a few false starts before you get it right. 

Alternatively, make an advent calendar and surprise someone with an unexpected present on the 1 December. I made one for my parents last year out of an old chocolate box, with different squares of coloured paper for each door.  Rather than filling it up with chocolates though, I wrote out quotations for each day of advent, and hidden in each quotation was the number of days left till Christmas. 

Another thing that you mustn’t forget at Christmas time is Christmas cards.  Make your own, printing photographs or drawings off the computer if you need to make a lot, and send them to all your friends. Then you can be eco-friendly, and save all the Christmas cards you receive till next year, when you can cut them up to use as gift tags.

Equally, there’s no point in having pretty presents if your house and room aren’t similarly festive. Strips of paper and a stapler can miraculously be used to create colourful paper chains, or you can unleash your inner three year old and make paper snowflakes. If your skill with paper has progressed at all in the last fifteen years or so, try your hand at origami – you can make beautiful baubles and hangings, or just scatter origami wishing stars around your house. There are some very helpful instructive videos on YouTube for origami craft.

Pinecones painted in metallic colours or glitter also work well at creating an affect, and you can’t really get anything cheaper than pinecones. Or take a leaf from the National Trust’s book by stuffing cotton wool into a pinecone and sticking on googly eyes to make a little fluffy white owl, with a seedcase for a beak. The most Christmassy of decorations for me though are candles (although I would like to assure the porters that, of course, I would never ever light a candle in college for fear of burning it down). At home, we have candles on the table every evening between Christmas and New Year. If you use glass paints to decorate the little pots that fancy puddings come in, and then slip a tea light inside, the candle-flame shining through the painted glass casts a dancing kaleidoscope of colours onto the table top. What could be more festive than that?