One of the most popular gifts you can give someone, not just at Christmastime, but for most occasions, seems to be chocolate and candy. Shops are busting full of chocolates for sale at this time of year, and the choice is vast. The highest priced chocolates are always those with the highest cocoa content, and the ones that have been made by hand. You could easily replicate some of the simpler handmade chocolate recipes for considerably less than the shop bought versions, and the recipient will still have lavish handmade chocolates – and since they’ve been made exclusively for them, the chocolates be savoured even more.

It’s interesting to note that a lot of the cheaper chocolate bars and sweets in the market, aimed for children have a lower cocoa solids percentage, and have higher sugar content. So for a more luxurious result, when you are choosing a basic chocolate to start from, make sure to look for one with a high cocoa solid percentage. Anything over seventy percent will be a little more costly, but make your finished chocolates will taste exponentially better – and appreciated so much more by the chocoholic recipient.

The easiest of all homemade chocolates to make are truffles, and the basic recipe is very quick, and easy. They only take about thirty minutes start to finish. If your older children can resist not eating all the finished chocolates, they could help make a batch of these as a great, inexpensive gift for their school teacher.

All you need for the basic recipe is: 150g/5oz of quality chocolate, and 150g/5oz of ground almonds, 75g/3oz of caster sugar, two tablespoons of double cream, and some cocoa powder.

You need a heatproof bowl, large enough to sit and rest on the rim of your saucepan. Fill your saucepan half full with water and bring to the boil. Once it is boiling, remove from the heat and place the bowl on the top – add pieces of broken chocolate into the bowl and allow all the chocolate to melt. (The water and the chocolate never mix.)

Now remove the bowl (beware – it will be hot) from the saucepan, and stir in the ground almonds, cream and sugar into the mixture. Mix to a firm paste. Roll the paste into small balls, and then toss in the cocoa powder.

For a really extra special adult gift, why not add a little of their favourite tipple to the mixture while you add the almonds, cream and sugar? The most complimentary are orange or brandy liqueurs, and rum. All of these can be bought in small bottles.

Once your handmade chocolates are complete – simply wrap in a little foil (easily found at craft stores), placed in colourful paper tissue, or put into small sweet cases; all put into a small box, or jar.

Be warned though – once you have made these homemade chocolates, don’t be surprised people are requesting them every year, and perhaps throughout the year.

Every year it’s the same: the bad jokes, the silly hats, and the plastic trinket… but not every Christmas cracker is the same, in some houses, people have actual funny jokes, originally decorated crackers, with little gifts inside them that are sure to please.

Homemade Christmas crackers are an easy way to save a little extra money, without compromising on quality.In this the second part of this two part article, we’ll discover how to complete your homemade Christmas crackers.

The obligatory hat can be purchased very cheaply at a party shop, or you could create your own from some colored paper. Simply search online for “party hat patterns.” Making these homemade hats is a great project to keep the kids busy for a few hours on a rainy autumn day.

Your local pound shop or dollar store will have lots of fodder to choose from to suit a lot of tastes. The contents of a Christmas cracker is not expected to be expensive so some wrapped sweets, a small toy car, or a little tub of lip gloss is perfect for children. Older children and adult crackers could have items such as a few liqueur chocolates in a small bag, a lipstick, cosmetic jewelry or a tie pin.

To make your homemade crackers go with a real bang, make sure to buy the “snaps” that commercial crackers have inside them. If your local craft shop doesn’t have these, they can easily and cheaply be purchased online. Amazon.co.uk currently sells eighteen cracker “snaps” for £1.50.

When you are making your crackers, make sure the length of the cardboard tube is shorter than the length of the “snap”. Wrap the tube as normal, then place the “snap” into the tube, making sure that part of one side sticks out beyond where the paper has been tied, but not longer than the length of the paper. Once the cracker is full make sure the other end of the “snap” sticks out from inside the second side of the cracker, but again is not longer than the length of paper. The idea is that when both people grab their side of the cracker they hold their side of the “snap” so when they pull… BANG!

Even with the money you have saved by not buying shop-made Christmas crackers, the only difference your guests will notice is that your homemade ones are of a higher quality, with better trinkets inside and even better jokes.

Every year it’s the same: the bad jokes, the silly hats that always tear, and the plastic trinket… but not every Christmas cracker is the same, in some houses, people have actual funny jokes, originally decorated crackers, with little gifts inside them that are sure to please. Homemade Christmas crackers are an easy way to save a little extra money, without compromising on quality.

The basic way to make a homemade cracker is quite obvious really; take a cardboard tube, wrap with seasonal paper leaving the ends open and the paper longer than the tube, tie one end with ribbon, insert the cracker contents, then twist or tie the other end.

With the credit crunch draining on our pockets, it’s a relief to know that the majority of the bits and pieces needed to make your homemade crackers are already under your roof. The cardboard tubing inside your toilet rolls, and kitchen rolls makes a perfect start for your crackers, so get saving those tubes now, and be assured that you’re not only saving your cash, you’re doing your part recycling those tubes into crackers in the first place!

You can wrap the cardboard tubes with your usual Christmas wrapping paper, and if your home is anything like mine there will be plenty to choose from. (Tip: save used wrapping paper this Christmas for next year’s crackers.) Of course, colored paper costs mere pennies at your local stationers, and if you are creative you could use this and decorate the finished plain cracker with glitter, stickers, ribbons, or smaller layers of other colors of paper. A variation on this is to use brown paper and decorate with strips of color paper or ribbon, wrapped around the circumference of the tube. It’s a good idea to put a name tag on the crackers as this allows you to personalize the contents of each cracker perfectly to the person it’s intended for.

Once your cracker is wrapped, slide a second cardboard tube into one side of the cracker, leave a space between it and the glued in tube. Tie a small piece of ribbon or string around the cracker where the space is between the two cardboard tubes, this is to stop the contents falling out. Remove the second cardboard tube, and keep it to one side for when you have to close the other side.

There are hundreds of joke sites on the internet, so it’s easy to find suitable material for the jokes inside your crackers. You could either use your computer to print out the jokes you want, and then cut the paper to size, or simply write the joke on a small piece of paper.

In the second part of this two part article, we’ll explore how where to find the rest of the contents for your crackers – including the one bit the child among us all loves, where to find, and how to make your crackers go with a “Bang!”