Tartan and Scotland are as synonymous as Hollywood and glamour. Every Scotsman knows his clan tartan and Americans love to trace their ancestry back across the Atlantic to find their family pattern.

Today however, tartan is found not only in cloth, but in Scottish jewellery, wall coverings and packaging as well. With its multiple colours, heavily featuring green, red and blue, tartan gifts feature heavily at Christmas; there even exists a tartan called Claus of the North Pole, designed specifically for Santa.

Tartan Christmas jewellery is easy to come by and there are a lot of options available on the web. From different patterns to different shapes, silver surrounds and engravings, it’s a perfect feast for the eyes. Some designers even provide a bespoke service, using your family tartan to create your own, unique, Christmas gift.

With so many cheap pop up stores around, tartan Christmas jewellery has bit of a tarnished image, with associations to tacky Scottie dog toys, and fake ginger wigs. However, that is not always the case, and whilst some tourist shops exploit this misconception and sell their fake wears at knocked up prices, there are plenty of wonderful boutique shops selling original Scottish jewellery, hallmarked – so you know you’re getting a gift of the highest quality.

And for those of you who shy away from patterns, Scottish jewellery is about more than just the tartan. The craftsmen of Scotland are producing wonderful collections, from delicate silver filigree hearts to lapel brooches, Celtic knots to intricately engraved gold bangles.

The main emphasis in Scottish jewellery is on quality and craftsmanship; from the makers to the resellers, everyone involved in the process will go out of their way to make sure the piece is unique and genuine. So if you’re one of the many yet to start your present buying, silver or tartan Christmas jewellery is a very good place to start.