AS if we don't have enough to do at this time of the year, the December issues of the glossy magazines are full of suggestions on how to waste hours, days and weeks preparing for Christmas.

With so many more rival mags determined to outdo each other, their ideas are getting crazier. I have listed 15 of them below. All but one are genuine. Can you spot which one?

1. Thread a collection of coloured crystal beads onto fishing wire and secure with a silver jewellery hook to make a delicate pendant. Attach a whole row of them along the bottom of a window blind for a twinkling effect. (But how long will they last with children/cats/dogs in the house?)

2. To make a Christmas stocking with a difference, drill holes all over a child's wellington and push in snippets of box foliage, securing each sprig with glue. Finish off with plain ribbon tied in a bow. Perfect for an avid gardener. (What a waste of a perfectly good welly.)

3. Give your best linen napkins a personal touch with bejewelled circlets. (The sequined tiaras wrapped around napkins in the accompanying photograph cost from £165 each - or you may have a few lying around in a kitchen drawer.)

4. Scoop out the inside of red and yellow chilli peppers and push a fairy light through each so the light shines through. But, remember, don't leave them on for extended periods. (Probably best to have a fire extinguisher - festively decorated, of course - nearby.)

5. For a rustic table decoration, use a glue gun to secure hazelnuts or kumquats to a round oasis ball. (You need about 100 nuts for one ball. But they look just as good in a bowl - and then you can eat them.)

6. Thread glass chandelier drops on translucent ribbon and hang around windows and mirrors. (But first, you must take your chandelier apart.)

7. Transform a polystyrene ball into a sequined bauble, using pins to overlap adjacent sequins until the ball is completely covered. (If you have too much time on your hands, this should help kill a few weeks.)

8. Spray walnuts and fir cones silver and pile into a bowl or scatter across table tops. (But they look so much better before they've been plastered in paint.)

9. Use up all those odd socks by stitching them together to make a huge, colourful patchwork Christmas stocking. (What, even the tattered ones with holes in them?)

10. Present gifts of sweets in organza fairy sachets. You need wire, glue, organza, beads, feathers and flowers and a whole morning set aside to make just one. (But could you bear to watch the children rip them open?)

11. Take 24 pebbles, paint them red, apply a number, using glue and glitter, on each. Place a clue under each pebble, with gifts hidden around. (On second thoughts, I think I'll buy an advent calendar at the supermarket.)

12. Decorate drinking glasses by painting guests' names on in silver. (But what if you're not likely to invite someone back - unless you know someone else with the same name, isn't that a waste of a glass?)

13. Use newspaper, wallpaper paste, tissue, lacquer, varnish and gold leaf to make papier mache bowls for sweets. (But will anyone notice when you pass the sweets around?)

14. Spray apples gold and hang with red velvet ribbon along windows or mantelpiece. (But what will they look like when they've gone rotten by Boxing Day?)

15. Buy all your decorations, wrapping paper, cards and presents in the shops. Then simply sit down by the fire, open a bottle of wine and relax.

l With thanks to Country Homes, Prima, Homes and Gardens, Essentials, Good Homes and House and Garden