Summer’s here but Christmas is just around the corner and will be being celebrated at London Packaging Week 2024.

The summer might finally be here, in one way or another, but that doesn’t mean it’s too early to start thinking about Christmas.

In fact, with ‘Pumpkin Spice season’ upon us and just over 100 days separating the opening of London Packaging Week 2024 on 11 September and Christmas Day itself (meaning just four paydays, if you’re counting), it might even already be too late!

The reality is that Christmas is likely already in the bag – or box – if you work in packaging. Designs are prepared, orders are made, and packaging is manufactured months in advance. But for those turning their attention to Christmas 2025 or still having a requirement for festive-themed packaging for this year, London Packaging Week 2024will be the gift that keeps on giving when the event returns on 11 & 12 September at ExCeL.

As one door closes…
The relationship between Christmas and packaging extends far beyond one day of gift-giving. In the run-up, most homes have one if not more of the now ubiquitous advent calendars, waiting to be opened each day of December.

Advent calendars have historically been used to count down the days of Advent in anticipation of Christmas. Over the last 50 years they have evolved from images and verses hidden behind small doors to including small chocolate surprises, and today’s branded toy versions [Lego Star Wars is always a big winner in the author’s household] to high-end luxury options packed with beverages, cosmetics, candles and other such desirable gifts. As a result, costs can vary from small change to hundreds of pounds.

Regardless of the price point, all require packaging that is both functional and aesthetic. Whilst nobody wants a door that won’t open or a badly aligned inner tray that makes it hard to access that day’s treat, everybody wants a visually appealing calendar or box that jumps off the shelf and provides a rewarding and engaging experience from the first day to the last.

Microcarton Packaging (K72), Pollard Boxes (J60) and Vrijdag Premium Printing (K30) are just some of those attending London Packaging Week 2024 with beautifully sculpted and sustainable advent calendar options for brands and retailers of all sizes. Customisable and able to be specified for a variety of products and end-use markets, these deliver striking and impactful engagement, from the simplest constructions with inserts to the most luxurious rigid boxes featuring drawers and a hinged book-type design.

Whether highly decorative and playful, or minimal designs enhanced with foiling and embossing, each and every possible advent calendar request can be imagined and turned into reality. This is facilitated by increasingly sophisticated designs and constructions that allow the simple Santa-shaped chocolate morsel to be replaced with any number of products and gifts.

Something for everybody
Whilst children and adults alike can still be sure of a daily hit of sugar thanks to cartons with pre-cut and perforated doors that give them direct access to their favourite sweet treat, for those with a savoury tooth, pork scratchings have been another big winner as a non-traditional advent calendar filler in recent years. This necessitates a larger packaging format to house more substantial products. Similarly, beer and gin connoisseurs can crack into rigid and heavy-duty corrugated boxes filled to the brim with cans and bottles of their favourite tipple(s). Kids and big kids alike can then spend December assembling and building a haul of festive-themed toys. For the glamourous and preened, advent calendars shine, sparkle and shimmer with cosmetics and perfumes. Even pets aren’t forgotten, with Fido and Cleo getting dally treats and titbits.

As such, advent calendars now give the smallest brand to the grandest the opportunity to tap into this growing and highly lucrative part of the festive season and ensure their name and products receive added exposure throughout the month of December.

Such is their appeal, advent calendars have even made it into the London Packaging Week 2024 Innovation Gallery. Each year, the Innovation Gallery plays host to the latest and often most sustainably focused innovations, serving as inspiration and a foil for future packaging projects.

Produced by New Island Printing (G46), the Estee Lauder advent calendar is highlighted for being both luxurious and sustainable. It features a stunning design that couples red with the brand’s iconic blue colour aesthetic, set against a brilliant metallic gold background. The outer case is made of rigid FSC board wrapped in metallised paper, which is both printed and embossed with gloss and satin coating. The interior rigid board compartments hold metallised paper folding cartons. By being made entirely out of sustainable materials and certified 100% recyclable, this examples the sustainable nature of modern advent calendars at the high-end of the scale. Specifically, FSC boards and papers and metallised papers are used to replace traditional plastics materials that might have once been required in such a design.

This is just one example, albeit a particularly good one, of just what can be done with advent calendars today. Who knows what they’ll be capable of tomorrow? A good way to find out and be sure to stay off Santa’s naughty list is to make sure you’re ready for the next big trend in advent calendars by registering today to attend London Packaging Week 2024, taking place 11 & 12 September at ExCeL.

This article is part of a series published ahead of London Packaging Week 2024, outlining products, trends and industry developments to look out for at the show.