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Compile a photo album
Gather together photos of the recipient from family and friends, scan them into your computer, print them out and put them in an album (or use the originals if you're allowed to keep them), adding comments from various people about the person you're giving it to. For a more professional finish, get the book put together by a specialist: Photobox does good ones (photobox.co.uk). You just scan and upload the photos, choose the design and size of the book, and away you go.
Share your favourite walk
Draw a map of your favourite walk - either marking it on a map or sketching it onto some nice paper (art shops sell single sheets of A3 paper quite cheaply). It could be a country walk, a pub crawl, even a shopping walk. Annotate it, pointing out your most-loved views/trees/picnic spots/pubs/tea rooms/shops. Draw silly little pictures (or great ones if you're adept) to denote places of interest, or write notes with interesting information (for neatness you can print these out and stick them on). In the run-up to Christmas, many places are giving money-off vouchers, so if the walk has a retail edge, see if any apply to the places on your walk and include them in the package (go to vouchercodes.com to find out who is offering what). Present the whole thing rolled up in a scroll and tie with some ribbon.
Make a memory patchwork
Make something small - a patchwork cot quilt, cushion cover or pencil case - out of scraps of old fabric. Ideally, the pieces should mean something to the recipient.
Write a recipe book
Write down all your favourite hand-me-down recipes; include anecdotes about their heritage, why they are special and when you made them. You can also tear pages out of magazines and make up a personalised recipe book according to a person's tastes (cakes, fish, gluten-free, etc). Muji's PP Portfolio File is a brilliant plastic (ie wipe-clean) book with pockets into which you can slide magazine pages or A4 pieces of paper. You can supplement this gift by offering to teach an inexperienced cook how to follow the recipes, or by presenting it along with one of the things featured - a cake, perhaps.
Plant a window box
Jane Perrone, the Guardian's gardening editor, suggests planting a window box or container with two types of bulb that come into flower at different times but won't clash if they overlap for a couple of weeks; for instance daffodils and tulips, or snowdrops and late-flowering crocuses. An apparently bare box of soil is a bit disappointing, so include some stalwart winter plants to add colour and interest until the bulbs come up.
A classic scheme could feature two or three small clumps of Thymus pulegioides Aureus and a variegated ivy, such as Hedera helix Glacier, at either end of the trough. A dozen bulbs of a small daffodil such as Narcissus Baby Moon (25cm/10in tall) with delicate multi-headed flowers that peak during March and April could be teamed with a white and green tulip such as Spring Green (45cm), which blooms in April and May.
If you prefer something bolder, Perrone suggests planting 20 bulbs of a white crocus such as C. chrysanthus Ard Schenk, which will flower in February and March. Its grassy foliage should yield easily to the dwarf tulip Red Riding Hood, which stands at just 20cm tall and produces bold ******* flowers and leaves veined with red in April. Both will look wonderful set against clumps of plain green thyme and oregano, with Hedera helix Pedata, the classy bird's foot ivy, trailing over the side and the dark purple and silver of the Heuchera Silver Scrolls.
Don't bother with pricey specialist bulb composts; just mix two parts of general purpose (preferably peat-free) compost to one part sharp sand or horticultural grit. An accompanying card listing what plants and bulb varieties you have used and a few simple care instructions will help to keep your gift in tip-top form.
Write a story
Write a story for a child. Include them in it and make it about a favourite subject - for example princesses or pirates. Illustrate it with drawings (once you get started it's great fun), or a collage in which you could include photos of the child or pictures printed from the internet.
Give a massage
Give a foot massage. This is an especially lovely thing to do for a woman who has just given birth (by the time the baby is born she may not have been able to see her feet, let alone attend to them, for some months).
Mix a few drops of the recipient's favourite essential oils with some almond oil.
If you are a bit squeamish about feet, you could give a hand massage. Use any hand cream, massage it in thickly, wrap their hands in cling film, then a warm blanket, and leave them relaxing for 10 mins, for added deep moisturising.
If you are feeling particularly intrepid, try giving a paraffin wax treatment to someone: instructions at http://tinyurl.com/f6czx
Pass on a book
Pass on books you have read and loved. Write a note inside saying when you bought it, what the book has meant to you and why you are passing it on. If you have a laminator, you could laminate your note to double up as a bookmark.
Give your time
Think about what your forte is and pass it on in the form of vouchers the recipient can "cash in". Nearly everyone has something they need taking up or taking in, for example, so if you are handy with a needle you can give them a certain number of hours sewing. If you have a good eye, offer to act as a personal shopper (men particularly appreciate this). In one consumer study, children rated "more time with their parents" over the latest toy, so give your children "playtime" vouchers (make any rules you deem necessary, such as "weekends only", so they don't try to "cash them in" just as you're going to work). You can go to the guardian website and download our vouchers at guardian.co.uk/thriftychristmas. Or make some Moo cards (moo.com) as a DIY gift token.
Give home-made sweets
For a change from homemade truffles, Andrew Turner, executive chef of the Landau Restaurant (thelandau.com), suggests a more unusual sweet: Salt Caramel Boule Parisienne. Boil 50g double cream on the stove. Put 50g sugar in a separate large pan and stir until golden brown. Gradually add 30ml golden syrup to the sugar, then add the warm cream. Remove from the heat and stir in 25g unsalted butter and a pinch of salt to taste. Leave the mix until it is barely warm and pipe into 10 dark chocolate shells, filling to just under the brim (you can buy the shells from good chocolate shops, including high street shops such as Thorntons). Leave in the fridge to set. Melt 100g of dark chocolate in a bowl over a pan of hot water. Pour melted chocolate into the hole to seal the chocolate ball. Put in the fridge until set, then roll the balls in the remaining warm chocolate and then into 200g feuillentine paillete (available in supermarkets) or finely chopped chocolate cornflakes until covered. Leave in the fridge to set. They should be kept refrigerated.
Bottle some Krupnik
Give a bottle of home-made Christmas Krupnik. Henry Besant, founder of worldwidecocktailclub.com suggests this recipe. Buy a bottle of the best Polish vodka you can afford and pour the contents into a saucepan. Add 500ml of runny honey, 2 cinnamon sticks, 3 cloves, a teaspoon of grated nutmeg and an opened vanilla pod and heat gently until the honey is completely dissolved. Simmer for 20 minutes (but do not allow it to boil). Let the mixture cool and then strain it through muslin into a bottle of your choice. Decorate with ribbon and a cinnamon stick around the bottle neck, and add a tag with a serving suggestion, such as: "Serve with warmed cloudy apple juice and a dusting of nutmeg; add a dollop of double cream for a richer alternative."
Decorate a bird box
You can easily make decoupage objects - such as this beautiful bird box, suggested by Gisele Scanlon, author of The Goddess Experience. It is waterproof and can be put up outside. Buy a simple bird box (B&Q do one for under £5). Spray it with graffitti paint and leave to dry (you might need two coats). Using pictures cut from magazines, old maps, children's books or sheet music, arrange on the box underlapping and overlapping to create a collage effect. Glue into place with PVA. When the glue is dry, apply a coat of clear acrylic to the birdbox. Leave to dry overnight, then seal with a coat of water-based varnish. When this is dry, spray with a hard-wearing gloss varnish. The more coats you apply, the more durable and waterproof the birdbox will be.
Pot some terrine
Adam Byatt, chef patron of the award-winning Trinity restaurant - trinityrestaurant.co.uk - gave us this recipe for a goose, cranberry and chestnut terrine. To make six 250ml kilner jars, you will need: 1kg diced leg of goose, 250g good-quality sausage meat, 50g dried cranberries, 2 onions (diced), 70g cooked chestnuts, ½ bunch sage (chopped roughly), 50ml brandy, 10g salt, 50ml port, 50ml madeira, black pepper to taste, 150g foie gras (optional), 1 egg, and 50g breadcrumbs. Fry the onion in a hot pan with a splash of olive oil until dark brown. Cool, then mix with the rest of the ingredients and leave to stand in the fridge overnight. Place the terrine mix into the kilner jars (filling them three-quarters of the way up) and bake at 180C for 30 minutes. Leave the potted terrine to stand for 20 minutes before closing the jars and chilling. Attach a tag to the jars to say that they should be kept refrigerated and that, once opened, the contents should be eaten within three days.
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