Take it easy

Rather than ask relatives for assistance, you could hire help to organise your Christmas party and someone else to choose your ideal party dress, even if it's not Trinny and Susannah.

In a nutshell, how wonderful would it be if you could make the festive season easy on yourself?

But it's not just an unachievable dream. There are services on offer that can take the heat out of cooking, gift buying, wrapping, shopping for clothes and even decorating the table, if you know where to look.

Here are a few pointers to help you on your way.

GIFT HEADACHES: If you can't think what you want to buy someone, use one of the many gift ideas services offered by different companies.

John Lewis has developed the gift assessment form, using an easy flow chart format to help you choose the perfect present for everyone. It asks a series of questions about personalities, budgets and past gift history which it hopes will give you some inspiration about which departments to visit for each person on your list as well as some specific gift ideas to make it easier. Forms are available from any John Lewis branch.

Alternatively, book yourself into John Lewis' Christmas Gift Clinic, where a shopping counsellor will run through your list and prescribe solutions to gift trauma syndrome, offering better shopping tactics and present ideas.

Other gift-finding services are available through sites such as www.thesiteguide.com, which will search through the thousands of websites linked to the site and send a few ideas for each person you've described, plus internet links to where you can buy them.

More quirky gift ideas can be gained from gadget and gizmo website www.iwantoneofthose.com, where you have to tick the personality boxes for the person you're buying for and wait to receive suggestions.

SHOPPING: The best bet with Christmas shopping, if you don't want to join the crowds but can't be bothered to trawl the internet either, is to use a lifestyle management company.

Whatever you want, from a tree to a turkey or a present for the person who has everything, they can get it for you.

Good bets to help you plan your festive season include www.jugglers4u.com (0845 644 4478).

Jugglers works on a subscriber basis starting at around £80 a month.

FOOD: Throw caution to the wind and hire a personal chef, who will help plan your menu, buy the food and then come to your house to cook your Christmas dinner.

Executive chef Fay Olinsky, of Personal Chef UK Ltd, will travel worldwide to create a menu for you and your guests, shop, cook, serve and clear away. She will even bring table linen, crockery and glasses if required.

She charges around £225 a day over the festive season, plus the cost of food and travel, and can also provide a personal butler for around £100 more. Visit www.personalchef.uk.com for more details.

If you can't afford a chef but are having a dinner party, cut out the slog and go for one of the entertaining services offered by some supermarkets. Waitrose Entertaining - By Invitation, for example, will deliver delicious dishes such as chateaubriand, carvery leg of lamb or monkfish roulades, with all the trimmings.

All the meals delivered are fuss-free - you just bung them in the oven or under the grill. For more information visit www.waitrose.com

If you've left it too late to make your Christmas cake, get someone else to provide one for you. There are plenty of suggestions on www.thesiteguide.com - Shropshire-based Simply Delicious will deliver cakes worldwide. Go for a traditional fruit cake from £6.50.

Or try another of their recommendations and get your turkey from www.realmeatco.sageweb.co.uk - order online, or buy from shops nationwide.

TREE: There's nothing like a real Christmas tree, but putting it up and decorating it can be time-consuming and frustrating.

But there are companies which will do the whole job for you and save you a trip to the recycling centre later.

Quality trees are available from Christmas Tree Land, which will help you choose your tree, decorate it to your taste in your home and take it away when Christmas is over.

Prices for this type of package start at around £210. Christmas Tree Land can also decorate your home with additional festive garlands. For details phone 0845 230 3663 or go to www.christmastreeland.co.uk. Based in Merseyside, they'll deliver around the UK.

GIFT WRAPPING: Don't leave all the presents unwrapped until Christmas Eve. Many companies now do gift wrapping as a matter of course, although some do charge for it so watch out for hidden costs.

Make sure you ask for the gift wrapping service when you order the goods online and if you are in a shop, check about the gift-wrapping service when you are paying for the goods.

FASHION: Want a party dress but don't want to wander aimlessly among the crowds in the high street this year? Book a personal shopper who will help you choose the items you want or, in many cases, trawl the store for you and return with a selection of items.

Many stores, including selected branches of Topshop and Dorothy Perkins, Debenhams, House of Fraser and John Lewis, offer this service. Some have private changing rooms and offer free refreshments. Topshop has a queue-jumping system for those who've booked a personal shopping service.