The Spirit of Christmas Fair
The Spirit of Christmas Fair is held every year at the beginning of November at Olympia. As you walk through the doors the citrus smell evocative of Christmas envelops you, thanks to Pollyfields Christmas garlands right at the entrance.
With over 600 stalls there is something for everyone and it really is a shopping extravaganza. We went as a group of 4 friends and spent almost 7 hours there! We had a fabulous time.
Having been before, we started upstairs in the Great Taste Market. Here there are lots of stalls, many with a food theme and lots of opportunities for testing. We tried gin, popcorn, sausages, gin, vodka, gin, crunchy cucumber relish, fudge, a bit more gin and some vodka.
We were now warmed up and ready to hit the main hall. Method is what is needed here as it’s a little overwhelming and the OCD member of our group was getting a little stressed about missing something!
Massive variety of products are on sale, from pure luxury clothing and homeware through to niche items and stocking fillers with show discounts on offer on many stalls. Absolutely something for everyone and judging by the size of our bags at the end of the day, several things for everyone in our group. Special thanks to dotcom gift shop for their generously sized and sturdy bags given away with every purchase.
We all had our favourite stalls but some that we felt we had to mention…..YuYu hot water bottles, which made us all very happy, having perfume put on by Richard E Grant, beautiful Christmas decorations at Indigo & Rose amongst others, Anno for cranberry gin (why isn’t this sold in bigger bottles) and elderflower vodka, WragWrap for their innovative reusable wrapping solution, Warner Edwards for his gin passion and product knowledge – in fact it was lovely at so many stalls to meet business owners and product creators with such passion for their wares.
The Fair has plenty of opportunities to purchase food and drink although we felt some of the options were expensive. We choose to buy a gourmet sausage in a roll, from the Great British Sausage Company and top up with samples from Chocolicious Cakes (gourmet brownies) and Propercorn (popcorn).
Would we recommend the day out? Yes we would, but we aren’t sure it is something to take the family to as it’s a long day. Much more suited to a girls day out. Take bottles of water, big shopping bags and plenty of money! See you there next year.
