It was billed a few years back as the ultimate in Christmas hamper luxury. Remember it? Maybe the £45,000 price tag somehow passed you by. Certainly well out of most people's league, even then, which is probably why the whole razzmatazz failed to make any impression. Just for the record, the luxury food and drink Christmas hamper went on sale at a well known delicatessen and wine bar in London's Square Mile, a restaurant frequented by lawyers, bankers and City financiers. At least three were snapped almost immediately, according to reports at the time.

Centre piece was an extremely rare bottle of Meinert Merlot 2000 and a range of other expensive wines and spirits, including a £15,000 bottle of Romanée Conti 1970, one of the best burgundies in the world, apparently. Nice one if you can get it. Also included in this Christmas hamper to beat all Christmas hampers was a kilogram of Royal Beluga Caspian caviare, reportedly worth more than £3,000. But so much has changed since those heady, bonus-driven days of 2007. The near collapse of the world banking system springs to mind. New phrases like 'double dip recession' entered the lexicon of the masses. Austerity now rules. Yes, maybe it does, but it don't mean we can't cut our cloth, as the old saying goes. Christmas hampers are just as popular as they've always been, at least when you come down a notch or two on the price range scale.

Hamper savings schemes, for example, keep trundling on year after year, just as they've always done, filling a major portion of this popular Yuletide market. And at the 'high class' end, the major up-market stores still trumpet style and luxury above everything else. However, even here, the most cursory of observations reveal a certain realism has now crept in with regard to price. A good thing, too! So you pays your money and takes your choice. And the choices and themes are amazing, and great value for money. Chocolate hampers are always a sure bet. You simply can't go wrong there, can you, especially if there are kids about? But stand well back. Then watch the hands dive into the chocolate Christmas hamper and listen to the squeals of delight – and that's just from granddad, surely the biggest kid of them all! Seriously, so many of us regard chocolate Christmas hampers as the ultimate in style and luxury.

Little wonder, given the ever-increasing array of mouth-watering nibbles available. Let's face it, the discerning palette has never had it so good. Think white chocolate, dark chocolate, smooth milk chocolate and a whole feast of shades and textures in between. Chocolate gifts and boxes of chocolates for him and her, for the kids, for your other half, for your favourite aunt, and so on. Throw in a fine bottle or two of wine or spirits, or even both, and a range of sweet and savoury tidbits and you've the makings of a perfect, totally irresistible Christmas hamper. Watch the contents disappear, fast. Gives a whole new meaning to the phrase double dip!