Watch one of the avalanche of Christmas adverts this year, and you’ll wonder how we ever managed to celebrate Christmas before the advent of large, profit-hungry retailers. Much of what is sold back to us as convenient or aspirational, we can make and do for ourselves.  Yes, it takes time, but so does traipsing up and down the high street, or spending hours on line.

Home made gifts are personal, thoughtful and imaginative. The very wonderful ‘Instructables‘ have a whole range of ideas for things to make and do this Christmas. Their selection of 101 things to make and do for Christmas is full of wonderful ideas.

We particularly like their bubble wrap calendar, which makes use of old bubble wrap, and gives the satisfaction of bursting a bubble on every day of the year to come. Their version uses a printer to make the calendar, but you could easily draw your own.