So maybe you’re ready to attempt making a gift by hand yourself. What are your skills? What are your hobbies? Do you have any special talents, including those you may have let lapse? If you have an artistic talent, then making a gift yourself is just a matter of tailoring your artistic skills to the recipient.

If you wish to give them a painting, make sure you have a clear understanding of what sort of painting they’d likely appreciate. You may feel that tailoring a painting so that the colour scheme complements their carpet is heresy, but if it’s intended as a gift you might find it prudent to accommodate that preference. The exception, of course, is if you’re a world-renowned artist whose works sell for thousands of pounds, in which case they will almost certainly grow to like it rather quickly.

Likewise if your talents lie with photography—choose an image that they’ll like, rather than what you think they ought to like. A safe bet and consistent winner is to take a photo of their favourite person or pet, make a quality print at a large size, have it mounted or framed and give it to them.

If you’re a writer, your options are more limited. Not many people would be thrilled to be featured in a short story; it feels like an invasion of privacy. A poem can be an option, but you’re almost certainly going to have to find a way to present the poem that makes a keepsake—a precious object—of it. Draw it out in calligraphy, and have it framed, or craft a hand-made greeting card featuring your original poem.

If your talents lie with custom wrapping of fishing rods, consider that such a gift would only be appropriate for fellow fishermen. If you have a talent or hobby that doesn’t coincide with the recipient’s interests or perhaps have no talents or craft-oriented hobbies worth mentioning, you don’t have to rule out a hand-made gift. You can always get them something that someone else crafted by hand.

Where to start? Perhaps there are craftspeople in your area. Do a little research and find out what the traditional crafts are, and who is good at them near you. Chances are, unless your recipient is an enthusiast of the craft, they will be unaware of what’s being done in their own backyard. On the other hand, if you’re going on holiday to an exotic locale, you may find handicrafts for a pittance that would become cherished keepsakes back in your more mundane setting.