Aldi Christmas Range 2017 – Here is a Special Preview

Aldi Christmas Range 2017

Last week I had the pleasure of being invited to my first Christmas in July event of the season. Christmas in July is the time when all retailers show off their hero Aldi Christmas range for the press to see and then write about. And here is a sneaky peek for you to see everything you have to look forward to. I hopped on the train to Moorgate (an easy 35-minute journey!) and met the buyers and PR teams from Aldi at their fantastic Christmas in July location.

I promise I intended to use my 4 hours of London child free time wisely and go to several Christmas events like Co-op, Tesco, Iceland but alas I was having such a great time at Aldi I just stayed there!

I’ll talk you through in the order I took it and will put in lots of pictures as some of it is seen to be believed. Aldi are serious competitors to Waitrose and M&S this year and I for one, cannot wait to get my hands on the food and gifts as they start to arrive in store.

Glass of Champagne

I walked in to be presented with a glass of the lovely Aldi Brut champagne. A nice way to start the day, 10:30am and a glass of sparkles. I was escorted to the savoury food, so the fish range, canapes, and cheese. It was great to meet the new team from the agency that took over Aldi food just 6 weeks ago. We talked cheese,  which I love and was introduced to the buyer. Aldi have an exclusive soft cheese as part of the exquisite range just for Aldi Christmas and just for Aldi. It’s from cows that eat certain food and is only produced for like 2 weeks of the year. I cannot wait for that.

I met Christian the now fish buyer (he bought the Aldi Christmas decorations and lights range last year) who comes from a family of fisherman. He’s now with his heart products and you can tell. I love talking to someone who is passionate about what they do and he was. I got to taste it all from beautiful smoked salmon to lobster. Aldi are doing a fish platter that I have always loved buying from M&S for £15. Half the price at Aldi and just as good quality. The canapes range was amazing, sliders, spring rolls, you name it. There was also posh chilled desserts (like this Tiffin) which were so beautiful and of course I had to try them for testing purposes.

Cheese and Wine

I moved onto to cheese and wine tasting next with my wonderful friend Sam Caporn the Mistress of Wine. If you ever need a wine expert for a tasting party or event you must check Sam out. She is so down to earth but passionate about this subject (and also has a rare master of wine qualification).

We tried blue cheese with sweet pudding wine, that I adore. And basically chatted for a while, whilst she served up wine to journalists. I helped out a bit telling them what wines were good;-) Bumped into the only other Lynn I know who is my age from the agency whom I have been working with for 18 months now and had a good catch-up on life, wine, client work, Mrs Mummypenny progression, Good Morning Britain appearances. We discussed Christmas plans and how stressful they can be, unless you are organised with this beautiful piece of stationery!

Gifting

There is so much to mention here, so here are my favourite products. From pineapple cocktail shakers to candles, from wooden toys to jumpers and ear muffs and slippers. Loved it all. I bumped into Kelly from Reduced grub at this point so we walked the range together.

The Meat Selection

This was the hero area at the back of the room where we congregated. I do love my meat and this was such a good spread. Just look at these turkeys and Beef Wellington and sausages and ham. Again I had to taste it all. The cocktail sausages were flavoured with prosecco, really really good. The carved rib of beef was amazing.

I find the best thing about these events is actually meeting the buyers who travel the country sourcing the best products for us consumers. They know the farmers and producers and can tell you the story of the product, I just love that. Talking to the meat buyer about the exquisite range turkeys was fascinating. I do love a turkey and love to hear where the animals come from and how they have been treated. They come in packaging with full cooking instructions, basting tools, you will have all you need to cook it to perfection. Nice touch.

Sweet Treats and Wine

I met the director of wine buying and had such an interesting chat about the process of making champagne and sparkling wine. There is so much effort and stages involved that now I know why its costs more. Although the Aldi Veuve Monsigny Brut costs just £14.99;-) In fact, I got a bottle in the goodie bag after the event and will be drinking it tonight for our wedding anniversary.

The final section was Christmas puddings and sweet treats and this was the ultimate centre piece of the Robin yule log.

So I hope you enjoyed my introduction to Aldi Christmas. What do you think of the products and my photos that I took with my new posh camera? I’m getting pretty good at photos I think;-)

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