Guilty of giving ‘bad gifts’? Don’t worry, there is a way to make them good...

From socks to smellies and mugs to candles – who hasn’t given one of these normcore items as a present? There’s a reason for that, says Fleur Britten, they are convenient... but that doesn’t mean they can’t be gorgeous too – just follow these rules

Bad gifts turned good: we’ve got it all wrapped up on how to turn disappointing presents around (Alamy/PA)

Panic rose in me recently as I read new research revealing this year’s top 10 unwanted Christmas gifts, among them socks, chocolates, bath smellies and alcohol. As I cast my eye over the blacklist – “clothing, mugs, candles, home accessories…” – I realised, to my horror, that I have literally given every single item in recent Christmases. Was my lazy gifting responsible for some of the estimated 55,3934,286 “bad presents’’ received by “long-suffering Brits” last Christmas, as the report, commissioned by Not On The High Street (NOTHS), claimed?

You can hardly blame us, though – sometimes something generic (a bottle of plonk, a potted plant, chocs) feels more appropriate than something creepily specific for someone you don’t know well. And frankly, buying Christmas presents is such a headache, it’s not surprising that we surrender to normcore. Indeed, many of the report’s items feature on my own wishlist – I’d far sooner receive sensible/boring/useful gifts than pointless gimmicks for the sake of a short-lived smile and a box ticked. The point is that, with a little thought and careful sourcing, it is actually possible to turn bad gifts into good ones, to make it look like you actually care. Here’s how to buy fail-safe this Christmas, whatever your budget.

Socks don’t have to be a bad gift if you choose cashmere or bamboo – the poor girl’s alternative (Bamboo Clothing)