| With just two weeks to go until the opening of Manchester’s legendary Christmas Markets on Friday 8 November, the design of the city’s iconic and always much-anticipated Christmas mugs for 2024 can now be revealed. |
| Designed in-house by the city council’s design studio, this year’s edition of the highly collectible mugs follows the success of last year’s much sought-after Nutcracker-themed mugs which sold out across the markets in record time. Continuing the Nordic-style theme from 2023, this year’s mugs feature a brand-new family of festive characters – Father Christmas, Mother Christmas, and all the elves – that are sure to be a winner with Christmas shoppers of all ages. The collectible souvenir mugs that for thousands upon thousands of visitors to Manchester’s Christmas markets help spell the start of the festive season, will be available at each of the city centre Christmas market locations from 8 November while stocks last. Anyone wanting to get their hands on one of the must-have mugs this year is advised to get themselves along to visit the markets sooner rather than later and not to leave their visit to the last minute. The advice comes off the back of the last two years which saw all of the 2022 Christmas mugs selling out completely the week before the markets closed, and every one of last year’s special edition mugs selling out even faster – despite market bosses ordering thousands more of the highly sought after mugs to meet expected demand. In both 2022 and 2023 the bumper sell-out saw market traders bringing out vintage mugs from previous years to keep up with the demand from Christmas shoppers. As always Manchester’s special edition Christmas mugs can either be bought outright by Christmas shoppers or ‘rented’ when they purchase a hot drink at one of the Christmas Market stalls. Customers will be asked to pay a deposit of £3.50 for their mug when they purchase a hot drink and can then either choose to return their mug to the stall afterwards to get their deposit back, or keep the mug and take it home with them as a souvenir of their visit to the markets. Councillor Pat Karney, Christmas spokesperson for Manchester City Council, said: “Our designers have well and truly smashed it again this year to come up with a fantastically festive design for our iconic Christmas mugs, which we all know are the must-have accessory of the festive season. “With a different design unwrapped every year of our legendary Christmas markets, the highly collectible and covetable mugs have become much sought-after by Santa super-fans far and wide and I guarantee they’ll be all over your social feeds as we countdown to Christmas! “Last year’s mugs flew off the shelves quicker than you could say Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer – so don’t leave it too late to come and get yours! “No-one does Christmas quite like Manchester and we can’t wait to welcome everyone again this year to celebrate the season with us and to enjoy our biggest and best world-beating Christmas Markets!” Manchester’s Christmas markets open on Friday 8 November and close on Sunday 22 December. They will be open daily at the following times: All craft stalls 10 am – 8 pm All bars and food stalls 11 am – 9 pm Father Christmas will take up residence in St Peter’s Square after Remembrance Sunday. The magical Manchester Christmas Parade takes place on Sunday 8 December. The Ice Rink in Cathedral Gardens will be open for Christmas skaters from Friday 8 November until Wednesday 1 January. The food and drink stalls in Cathedral Gardens alongside the skate rink will remain open until 31 December. For more information about Christmas in Manchester visit https://www.manchester.gov.uk/christmas |