What to do with unwanted gifts

Christmas may be over, but the lingering of unwanted gifts will be ringing in the new year. A scene from the first Brigit Jones film springs to mind, where, at a family Christmas gathering, Colin Firth was wearing a horrid deer-pattern knit given to him by his mother, feeling obliged to wear it to the party. The ultimate fashion faux-pas!

But what to do with unwanted presents? They don't need to go to the back of the wardrobe or to the charity shop in the nearest high street. Thanks to the latest trend from the United States, you can exchange those undesirable jumpers at special fashion parties. Swapping, it seems, is the new shopping. At "bitch'n'swap" parties women get together in one of their own homes, drink, gossip and swap their cast-offs. Not a bad way to get rid of clothes that neither suit your taste nor size.

Perhaps an idea for a new internet site