The hampers: clockwise from top, Harvey Nichols, Harrods, Selfridges, Daylesford, Fortnum and Mason, Waitrose Photo: ANDREW CROWLEY
Contents: Apple & pepper chutney, handmade English shortbread, Bernard Latour Côtes du Rhône wine, Christmas pudding, brandy butter, chocolate coin, English chocolate selection, afternoon tea bags, tinned cafetière coffee, Prosecco, rustica olives, mini panettone
Best for: Sophisticates with a love of Italy.
Presentation: Perfection. Open up the traditional wicker hamper and inside find Selfridges' sleek trademark design. Nothing inspires confidence like that brazen yellow glow.
Taste: Divine. The wonderfully decadent nutmeg-laced brandy butter oozes with deliciousness and the shortbread is sensational. Close your eyes and savour the Kalamata olives with red pepper and harissa, and elegant Prosecco, and dream of next summer in Tuscany.
Highlight: The cutest yellow mini-hatbox encasing a slice of Italy's ceremonial Christmas cake.
Lowlight: None
Value for money: Absolutely. What price good taste?
Daylesford Organic's Merriest Christmas Hamper, £100, www.daylesfordorganic.com, 0800 083 1233. Last mail order date for guaranteed Christmas delivery in the UK is Wednesday 16 December; free delivery on first order. *****
Contents: Christmas pudding, Christmas cake in a tin, Christmas marmalade, Boxing Day plum chutney with port and walnuts, cranberry sauce, mini apricot jam, mini strawberry jam, mini raspberry jam, ginger dark chocolate bar, dark chocolate dipped ginger biscuits, mulling spices, bottle of Château Léoube red wine, bottle of raspberry gin liqueur, 2 mini glass bowls, 2 wooden spoons, wooden heart tree decoration
Best for: Style-conscious homemakers.
Presentation: The beige linen-lined, white wicker basket is exquisite, and the packaging is sleek and minimalist. Aesthetes will love it.
Taste: Amazing. The jams, sauce, chutney and marmalade taste homemade; the ginger biscuits are a delightful upgrade on the ginger snap as we know it; and the clean-tasting ginger dark chocolate is the perfect after-dinner treat.
Highlight: The sheer range of offerings. This box of delights takes in everything from covetable homewares, to pudding on Christmas Day, to breakfast, lunch, teatime and drinks.
Lowlight: A jar of organic mulling spices; nobody actually likes drinking mulled wine, do they?
Value for money: With its chic appearance and range of goodies, it's perfect for the person on your list who seems to have everything.
Fortnum and Mason's Classic Christmas Hamper, £150, www.fortnumandmason.com, 0845 300 1707. Standard delivery (up to 5 working days), £7; named-day delivery, £12 Tues- Fri; Saturday delivery, £20. *****
Contents: Christmas coffee, Christmas tea, cranberry sauce, Turkish Delight, St James Christmas pudding, mulled wine spice bags, King George iced Christmas cake, Cognac butter, Fortnum's Claret, Christmas chutney, ginger preserve, orange marmalade with Fortnum's whisky, Christmas musical biscuit tin, bottle of Fortnum's blanc de blancs Brut N.V. Hostomme
Best for: Old-fashioned epicures happy to hunker down with the cognac butter.
Presentation: Impeccable. If you want the last word in old-world comfort, only an old-fashioned wicker basket will do. Like a box from Tiffany's, the sight of a Fortnum's hamper – the store's trademark initials stamped on the side and beautifully crowned with a duck-egg bow – accelerates the heart rate (and does wonders for your social standing).
Taste: Faultless. The Christmas cake and pudding are in a league of their own, while the delicate Turkish delight is a lovely reminder of Christmases past. From the richly spiced chutney to the classic Boxing Day claret, hampers don't get more heavenly than this.
Highlight: The unapologetic air of tradition.
Lowlight: None
Value for money: Expensive but the essence of Christmas.
Harvey Nichols' Travelling Christmas Hamper, £75, www.harveynichols.com, 0845 604 1888. Named-day delivery £7; also available for European export. *****
Contents: The classy silver tins and oversized jars contain a mix of Anglo-Italian goodies: kitchen-cupboard classics (tins of breakfast tea bags and after-dinner coffee), home-from-home preserves (Seville orange thin-cut marmalade, Morello cherry jam), and biscuits with a touch of the exotic. One of the few Christmas staples is an enormous 500g jar of cranberry sauce spliced with orange.
Best for: Newlyweds who have family coming around for Christmas. It is packed with contemporary-looking larder staples with upmarket monochrome labelling.
Presentation: Beautifully turned out and utterly unsaccharine.
Taste: Delicioso, but could get a bit toothsome for some. If you haven't got a sugar rush by New Year's Day, finish off the hard-boiled sweets, which come in traditional favourites like rhubarb and custard, chocolate eclairs, and blackcurrant and liquorice.
Highlight: Panforte, a honeyed fruit and nut cake from Siena that makes for a chewier, more filling alternative to panettone.
Lowlight: The spiced cranberry fudge, which had an strong, artificial tang.
Value for money: A best buy – and surely too good to give away. Get one for yourself, and you'll find endless uses for the empty, cotton-lined hamper.
Harrods' The Knightsbridge Hamper, £225, www.harrods.com, 0845 605 1234. Order on the phone, online or in-store at the Food Order Desk. *****
Contents: Harrods-branded tangerine marmalade, strawberry preserve with champagne, Turkish Delight, mince pies with cranberries, luxury Christmas biscuit selection, brandy butter, cocoa-dusted almonds, Belgian chocolate mendiants, Assorted pralines, Swiss Marc de Champagne Truffles, black cherries in kirsch syrup, Christmas spiced loose leaf tea, Christmas pudding with brandy, Christmas ground coffee, Chablis, Champagne Premier Cru, Bourgogne Pinot Noir 2007
Best for: A chocoholic with a fondness for festive, afternoon tea, or a foreign foodie friend, for whom the festive tins would make great souvenirs.
Presentation: Plum seagrass box with sturdy leather-style lid; would live on as a stylish side table.
Taste: Rich and flavourful all round. Highlights include the aromatic, brandy-rich mince pies with crunchy pastry; the hand-painted Pralines give Artisan du Chocolat a run for its money,
Highlight: The black cherries in Kirsch – scrumptious warmed up and served with cream.
Lowlight: The layers of white polystyrene in which the booty is stored.
Value for money: Good
Waitrose's Wonder of Christmas Hamper, £110 reduced to £80 – available in Waitrose branches only while stocks last, 0800 188884. ***
Contents: Grissini breadsticks, Dean's shortbread rounds, Hamlet Belgian chocolates, Handmade Clotted Cream Fudge, Elizabeth Shaw Mint Crisps, Premium Buck's fizz, Waitrose Easy on the Dijon Wholegrain Mustard, Twinings Rich ground coffee, Waitrose 3 Fruits Fresh Fruit Marmalade, Waitrose Mincemeat, Waitrose Belgian Chocolate Sponge Pudding, Yorkshire Crisps, Border Butterscotch & Peacan Cookies, Waitrose all Butter Cheese Twists, Waitrose Roasted Vegetable Chutney, Waitrose Natural mixed nuts and raisins, Waitrose olive oil, 35 degrees South Chilean Sauvignon-Sémillon 2007, 35 degrees South Merlot 2007, Mulled Wine
Best for: A busy but festive soul who does not have time to shop for all the seasonal non-perishables
Presentation: A traditional wicker basket opens onto a layer of red tissue paper, with goods buried in polystyrene Wotsits
Taste: Good enough. Waitrose-own brand products never disappoint.
Highlight: Waitrose Belgian Chocolate Sponge Pudding, ready-mulled mulled wine, and tasty mincemeat (just hope the recipient has time to make pastry).
Lowlight: No show-stoppers in the mix; a bag of workaday nuts and raisins will hardly get Aunt Flo going.
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