While we’re all deep in Christmas shopping, festive food preparation and drinks celebrations, do you ever wonder what celebrities are wrapping or unwrapping under their Christmas trees?
We asked some famous faces about their best gifts…
1. Shirley Ballas, BBC’s Strictly Come Dancing head judge and Always Discreet ambassador
“The best presents I ever received were a gold bangle from my mum bought in 2000, and a ring with hearts on it from my son [American dancer, actor and choreographer Mark Ballas, 38],” says the 64-year-old. “They are so special because they are from my family.”
2. Martin Clunes, star of Doc Martin and Men Behaving Badly
“Philippa [Braithwaite, TV producer wife] and I give each other trips for Christmas,” shares the 63-year-old actor.
“I remember Philippa gave us a trip to The Fife Arms in the Cairngorms. We drove up and stopped for a night in Yorkshire on the way and it was just brilliant. We didn’t have any dogs with us [he has five], we escaped.
“Braemar is such a beautiful spot and just the act of getting there, driving, was just stunning. We didn’t go at Christmas, because it’s a ski resort in winter. We went in spring when it’s green and so dramatic.”
3. Denise Welch, actress, TV personality and Loose Women panellist
“I’m not really into Christmas presents – but I love being all together at Christmas with the family, I truly do,” says the 66-year-old. “Last Christmas, we decided we weren’t going to get anything because we were all going to stay in this beautiful, big house in the Peak District.
“So, I said, ‘That’s your Christmas present and we’ll just buy presents for the children’, and I got this great big house for us – all of the family together in this big house, and that was my present to myself too.”
4. Michael Ball, musical theatre star
“I didn’t used to keep anything – any reviews, any memorabilia or anything that I’d done. Then one year Cath [McGowan, broadcaster and partner of 35 years] presented me with seven files of stuff,” says the singer, who is touring with Alfie Boe in 2025 and has just released his second novel, A Backstage Betrayal.
“She’d gone back to my school, collected programmes, letters, contracts, pictures, cast lists of everything I’d done right up until that moment. It was incredible.
“She wrapped it up and I opened it, and there’s Plymouth College King Lear, Year Six. It was amazing.”
5. Elaine Paige, musical theatre star, radio presenter and ambassador for Royal Voluntary Service
“We don’t exchange presents anymore. We’ve all got everything we need. I don’t need another candle, you know? But I’ve got twin great-nieces who are 12 years old, so obviously I get busy buying then gifts, that’s what Christmas is really all about, the little ones,” says the 76-year-old.
“When they were tiny, I took them to Lapland. There was Father Christmas on the plane, it was so fantastic. Their mother and myself and the two girls, we all went off to Lapland and it was just brilliant to see their little faces, the wonderment in the snow and sleigh riding, frozen lakes and through forests – it’s just magical.
“And I loved it as much as the kids. So that was probably my best Christmas present. The children were six or seven. When you get there, you get out the sleigh and there’s a little cabin in the middle of the nowhere and you’re all wrapped up in these big coats and blankets. Each family goes in and there is Father Christmas. The kids, their eyes light up, they can’t believe it. To see it through a child’s eyes, I tell you, it made me cry – I physically cried, it was so touching.”
