Hand-made gift ideas from Craft Fairs in the run up to Christmas

There’s an alternative Christmas shopping experience in craft and design fairs, where products and coffee stops are all under one roof, writes Carol O’Callaghan. 

THE thought of looking for presents and negotiating an umbrella and multiple bags at the same time, while wondering if anyone will ever invent windscreen wipes for spectacles, makes many of us take refuge in shopping centres.

That, and having the personal experience a few years ago of my grocery shopping bursting through the bottom of a rain sodden paper bag, and standing by helplessly as the ingredients rolled down a hill at such speed that I couldn’t pursue them.