Monday 07 January 2019 9:33 am | Updated: Monday 03 June 2019 2:52 am

Hobbycraft benefits from Christmas boost as celebrities go big on homemade gifts

The popularity of personalised gifts and decorations helped Hobbycraft deliver a strong Christmas boost with robust growth in both online and offline sales.

The store pointed to celebrities leading the push for personal gifts as like-for-like in-store revenue grew 7.1 per cent, with a 28 per cent bump online.

The Kardashians and Jenners showed off a homemade gingerbread house on Instagram, while Kate Hudson and her husband showed off their personalised pyjamas and Tamara Ecclestone made an edible Christmas tree.

“A personalised present means so much more and Christmas is clearly the perfect time of year to create something extra special for loved ones,” Hobbycraft customer director Katherine Paterson said.

“Social media channels and influencers are helping to drive this trend and our results this Christmas show that crafting a thoughtful gift or decoration is a more enriching experience in these challenging times.”

The crafts specialist hosted 21,000 adults and children in workshops across its 94 stores in the run-up to Christmas.

Hobbycraft's blog and Christmas lookbook also attracted 10 per cent more customers than last year, with posts on crocheting, and Christmas hampers doing particularly well.

Owned by private equity house Bridgepoint, Hobbycraft increased its losses to £15m in the year ending February 2018.

However, it is one of several companies which managed to capitalise on Christmas, with Aldi showing its best-ever December and John Lewis getting a sales boost, despite more gloom having been predicted for high street retailers.