You may be of the school of thought that thinks wrapping up the pressies can be dealt with by using an old newspaper and Sellotape minutes before Santa is expected. If you've got a household full of stockings to do, are cooking for 20 on the day and have a full-time job, then you're excused. Perhaps the answer is to delegate.

Some stores will do it for you, though not always automatically and it's usually very time-consuming. More and more websites though are coming to the rescue: notonthehighstreet.com (which brings together a host of small, often craft-based, companies that don't have websites of their own) not only sends everything out ready-wrapped in tissue paper with a label but it also sells the means to do your own wrapping. On its home page there's a very classy image of some plain brown paper with white ribbon (black would be just as chic) and attached is a wooden alphabet letter (a good way of identifying whom the present is for - at £3.60 a time).

If you're a slightly hopeless, out-of-touch godparent or grandparent and aren't up to speed with the taste of children there's wickeduncle.com, where you can shop for suitable presents for kids based on their age. These are then sent ready-wrapped with a handwritten message.

And let me introduce you to firebox.com, which not only has the sort of jokey, gadgety toys that boys love, but also will send them ready-wrapped. It offers six wrapping options and you may be surprised to learn that the third most popular of them is its CrapWrap (£3.95) - the sort of botched-old-paper-and-sticky-tape number that looks as if it had been done in two minutes by somebody with no artistic flair. “This uniquely shoddy process”, it states on the website (you only find this fabulous item once you've bought something and you're checking out) “may result in one or all of the following: product highly visible, evidence of nail-scissor use, hair found on Sellotape, rips and tears.”

For those who feel this is the year to make a personal effort and jazz up the wrapping - possibly to make more of the diminished present inside - I recommend VVRouleaux (it has one shop in Glasgow, two in London and departments in several John Lewis stores and at Peter Jones).

Do as Annabel Lewis, its owner, does. She uses petal paper - what's left over after they've used it to make their paper flowers - and it comes in heavenly colours (£2.95 a sheet). Always use wired ribbon, which the shop sells in myriad colours and patterns and widths, as it makes the best bows that hold their shape.

You can also tie all sorts of odds and ends to make a great stream of rag ribbon. Add butterflies, small birds, roses - all sold by VVRouleaux. For children add fun additions to the parcels: pink mice, lollipops, candy sticks (Stephen Woodhams did a great tree for The Ivy Club, which consists of painted wooden branches embellished entirely with pink-and-white candy sticks).

If you hate the idea of waste and you're thinking eco this Christmas tune into naturalcollection.com for recycled paper and tags (six sheets of paper and six tags for £2.25).

Otherwise, choose a colour scheme. I'm doing bottle-green this year with a bottle- green-based tartan ribbon. Newspaper can look quite creative. Tie it up with chic black-and-white checked or striped ribbon. You can colour-code presents by keeping a different ribbon for each family or different tissue paper. The best idea that I've come across for treating something very small (but often precious), such as jewellery, is to take an unwanted hardback book, cut a hole in the middle with a sharp knife, put the tissue-wrapped jewel in the middle and wrap like a book. Brilliant.

PS: Time, goes the saying, is luxury. If you haven't any of it left let me recommend the personal shopper. I spent my entire Saturday in Selfridges, Oxford Street, London, last week and as I finally crumpled at the knees and collected the last of my parcels, I glanced into the personal shopping suite - a gorgeous room, filled with a brilliantly edited collection of the best on offer, culled from every department in the store. No need to trudge around yourself - sit back with your list and let the personal shopper do the work. Too late for me, but in time for those who don't believe in doing much until Christmas week. Call 020-7318 3536 to book an appointment up to and including Christmas Eve.

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