5 ways socks can give your Christmas a personal touch

Whether you’re hanging them ready for presents from Santa or are looking forward to getting a new pair on Christmas day, socks have a long and illustrious history with the festive period.

But this versatile item of clothing can do so much more than just hold bags of chocolate coins or keep your feet cosy by the fireplace.
   

Here are 5 ways socks can add a personal touch to your Christmas festivities…

1. Homemade advent calendars

The excitement of advent calendars becomes somewhat lessened when you start to realise that it's going to be a chocolate everyday (well, maybe not depending on how much you love chocolate).

But if you create your own calendar for loved ones you can include a different surprise every day.

A great way to make a festive one with a bit of personality is to use baby socks. Or you could mix up sizes, starting small and getting bigger as you go. All you need is 12 pairs of socks, a piece of string or even a string of Christmas beads, something to attach the socks to the beads like a peg, and 24 surprises!

2. Christmas sock puppets

We all love sock puppets – especially the young kids. And Christmas is a great time to get creative with them.

Get the whole family round the dinner table with a selection of socks in all colours, some stick-on eyes, a few tubs of pipe cleaners, old scraps of material and a tub of glue.

Here are some tips for extra fun puppets:

• Cotton wool makes a great beard for Santa
• Black buttons can stand in for coal as a snowman’s eyes
• Cut the end off a red sock to make an elf's hat
• Use brown pipe cleaners for reindeer antlers

Finally, when Christmas is over for another year (or 9 months), it’s time to pack away your decorations.

As you’ll have a few pairs of brand new socks, you can get rid of some of your older ones. But instead of throwing them out, use them as a safe way to store fragile baubles until next year.