Christmas UK - Christmas 2018 Lookback

Christmas 2018 Lookback

Join us as we bunker down and relive the Christmas Run-Up of 2018 - a period where we all waited to see what would happen in the world around us, and decided that maybe we needed a bit of an escape from all of that. Regardless of how you feel about what’s going on out there, what unites us is a love of Christmas and all that it brings.

Pigging Out

Asda decided that we still needed a taste of Christmas during the Summer of 2019, and tried selling us “Pigs On Sticks” as a way of selling Pigs In Blankets to the Summer crowd. They may have been sold as barbecue food, but we all knew what they really were.

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Giant Pigs In Blankets fascinated the supermarkets, as Asda followed up with PiBs that were two-feet long and weighed in at 650g. Aldi tried competing, but, well, Christmas being Christmas, size is actually everything. Both supermarkets ruined everyone’s diets when it then became obvious that we could make our own with sausagemeat and bacon and fill an oven shelf with a ton of meaty goodness.

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Or maybe that was just us. Anyway…

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Sainsburys went for the healthier option: Pigs In Blankets flavoured tea. All the taste, none of the fat. Unless you add milk and sugar. For the sadists out there, they also offered a Brussels Sprout flavour, if you liked the taste of chlorophyll in the morning.

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Iceland went one step further, and sold Marmite-coated sprouts. Maybe we’re being too judgemental. Maybe it was like putting peanut butter and chocolate together. Or maybe it was like trifle with mustard.

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Shiny

And talking of odd pairings, this was the season of glittery gravy - although now everyone’s aware of the effect of microplastics on the environment, maybe we’ll be seeing less of edible glitter all round this year.

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But the big food headline of 2018? Every year, newspaper articles are written about “skrinkflation”, and that our favourite goodies are getting smaller every year. Of course, the reason for this is that it’s considered more important for everything to be sold at the same price every year, in spite of inflation and changes in ingredients. But, if you know where to look, you can get your truly giant 1kg and 2kg tins of sweets at a realistic price, and John Lewis tied up with Quality Street which allowed you to fill a giant metal tin with your choice of Quality Street chocolates. Don’t like the Coconut Eclair? Don’t have it. But we will think you’re a monster.

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NEWEST ENTRIES

It has become fashionable to knock the first signs of Christmas appearing earlier and earlier every year, even to the point of some people demanding that the festive run-up be restricted to early December. We here at Christmas UK reject this, and we revel in the hype, commerce and imagery that appears during the hundred days leading up to the big day. The sight of the first Christmas shop department, the first seasonal television advert, even the first snow-scented song on the radio are joys to watch out for. Christmas and the lead up to it, no matter what it means to you and how you celebrate it, can be an enjoyable experience if you let it be. So join us as we welcome “the most wonderful time of the year” and track how Britain prepares for and celebrates the festive season.
Even if it does start in July!