What to do if you still have Christmas presents to buy

It's Christmas Eve and you haven't got all of your Christmas presents. Do. Not. Panic. Here's what to do.

The thought of going into town to sift through the dregs is as appealing now as drinking a cold cup of tea. Outside. With no shoes on. If you haven't got all of your Christmas presents by now, there's not a whole lot you can do now so just accept it. You don't have to do nothing, however. You will have to go to the shop, but only to buy a few supplies that you may not have at home. Don't worry, they're cheap.

Here's what we're going to do.

Vouchers.

Listen, we have no time and fewer resources, so let's get practical. For the people whose present you neglected to get, you will, of course, make up some excuse why they're not getting anything today/tomorrow/Stephen's Day. But, you will have a little token to give them that will prevent clenched smiles and rolled eyes.

All you need is blank paper and an envelope. Write/type the voucher on the paper and, eh, pop it into the envelope. A little bit of decoration goes a long way, and try to give something good, like babysitting your sister's kids for a whole weekend or making dinner AND clearing up every day for a week. Even if you only have an hour, you can do it in that time, even while getting crafty. I like this idea of using the pages of an old (and cheap and in a language you don't understand) book. You could use pages from a magazine, too (I sometimes use magazine paper as wrapping paper).

It's a quick fix, but it's better than nothing, especially if you're beating yourself up about it. Just make sure you honour it!