Never is our dining table more elaborately decorated than at Christmas. We want everything to look perfect for our guests. The table cloth is pristine, the cutlery shining and our best glasses sit waiting to be filled with Christmas cheer. What about your centrepiece though?

These, like everything else, can get battered and shabby over the years. If your centrepiece is letting down your table, why not make yourself a new one?

There are three main kind of Christmas centrepiece; the wreath, the candle holder and the arrangement. If you have made the Christmas wreath in our previous article, it's just a simple case of making this in a smaller scale. Add small bows to the wreath and put something interesting in the middle, such as flowers or pretty coloured tree ornaments.

The candle holder is very simple to make. Get an attractive candle that's quite thick and chunky and any kind of receptacle to stand it in, making sure that it can't topple over. Now entirely cover the holder with ribbons, foliage, bows, vegetation or anything you like. Attach with clear tape and overleap the pieces so the tape won't be spotted.

The arrangement is also another very easy piece to make. The only thing you need to buy is a piece of florists foam sponge, which is very cheap, and you use the same kind of ornamentation as you would for the wreath or candleholder. Set the sponge into a shallow dish or bowl, and push in your foliage etc. You can make it any shape that you want just by changing the angles that you stick everything into the sponge at. A sweeping shape is very attractive. This is where you have pieces sticking out of all the sides of the sponge so they are lying over the edges of the bowl or dish, and then you move up gradually towards the centre, angling the pieces so you can't see any of the sponge.

When everyone comes round for dinner this year and admires your table, complete with new centrepiece, you will have the great satisfaction of telling them that you made it yourself.