Christmas Comes Early to Olympia with the Spirit of Christmas Fair
Christmas came early this year as we headed up to Olympia for our first taste of the Spirit Fair - to explore this festive event and discover why it is becoming so popular, year on year.
The Spirit of Christmas Fair is the home of Christmas shopping, bringing together luxury clothing, festive food ideas and inspiration for gifts for all the family.
With the most exquisite boutiques and artisan producers, the fair presents a unique collection of gifts and with over 200 stalls selling high end, quality produce, this is most definitely the place to be when you are thinking about Christmas.
The House and Garden workshop was available to demonstrate everything from how to wrap the perfect gift to how to host the perfect party, including inspirational workshops on everything from creating your own fabulous flower arrangements and centrepieces, to decorating cupcakes and edible gift ideas.
And with the Food Hall upstairs we were spoiled for choice and deluged with festive gourmet inspiration. The Great Taste Awards Theatre provided the opportunity to meet some award winning producers, while the Mosimann's Restaurant was available for dining in style.
When shopping for Christmas got too much we simply popped up to the Luxury Travel Fair to browse through the vast selection of winter getaway destinations on offer!
With a £17.50 advance ticket price tag some people may wonder just what the Fair actually entails but once inside it is clear to see that there are huge savings to be made, with the majority of stalls offering special event prices on most of their available produce.
The savings alone more than match the entry price and the entertainment factor far out-weighs any other reservations. It is also worth considering an Unlimited Entry Pass to visit over a number of days.
At the Spirit of Christmas Fair you will discover products and producers you may never have met or discovered, unless you were there. We spent over six hours walking around a magnificent collection of gift ideas and Christmas decorations and would have easily passed a few more hours - or even an extra day - to continue our discovery of all things Christmas and more.
Some of our personal highlight include: -
For decorating your home, quite literally, we loved the Prêt à Vivre Mood Board Pack containing a myriad of design possibilities. A beautifully presented box containing a balanced pre-selected colour scheme with a variety of different materials and painted paper samples to inspire even the most indecisive designer.
If you are looking for decorations for festive December then Pollyfields will certainly calm the way for a relaxed gathering.
The perfume from their stand was Christmas eclipsed and with delightful sweet wreaths and jelly bean stars amongst a cascade of lavender, orange slices and cinnamon sticks, it would have been hard for Scrooge to not have been swayed.
Aside from decorating the home, we found some fabulous gift ideas for all the family, including the dog!
The luxurious beds on display at Charley Chau would have even the fussiest hound snuggling down for a nap. We even tested them ourselves and they make amazing floor cushions.
None of the usual air filled hollow bedding that is commonly used in many cheaper brands, these beds are firm yet soft and begging to be snuggled into.
Artisan jewellers sat comfortably alongside some more designer brands, offering a wide selection of styles to suit most tastes, making the range of ladies gifts that much easier to choose.
Quality fabrics and clothing, from pyjamas to winter coats and shawls lined the many stalls, offering the highest quality in needlework and design.
We loved the back pack snuggle blankets from Bobo Buddies. Designed with parents in mind, to make travelling with little ones fun and easy, each Bobo Buddy is a soft toy, a backpack, a pillow and a blanket all in one.
And if you are looking for designer knitwear for the whole family, look no further than Grannies Inc.
Their mission is... "to be the greatest bespoke knitwear company in the world by inspiring customers to design their own knitwear and in doing so, providing eagerly awaiting grannies with as much hand-knitting as their hearts desire"
Clemmente will help you set the scene for any season, but none so much as Christmas, with their array of unique, retro and unusual home accessories. We would certainly bookmark them throughout the year for that unusual or nostalgic present or gift.
"Once you immerse yourself in Clemmente's world and share the singular experience of our gift shopping website you are certain to find something truly special for your own loved ones".
Soap is a favourite choice for many as a gift, but doesn't always receive the warmest of welcomes from the person opening it. Soap can be boring at best or simply plain smelly... but not if you have discovered Sudzfun!
Getting creative in her kitchen, Sarah Hudson launched Sudzfun two years ago, making soap that not only looks, but smells good enough to eat.
If you have ever been overwhelmed by the mass mixture of soap stalls then you would be advised to visit Sudzfun without fear.
Skilful packaging contains any mixing of aromas, yet I feel we would not have minded had they all escaped. The testers we were presented with smelled divine and took all our will power not to nibble on.
The Food Hall was most definitely the place to discover alternative and complementary food and drink produce. Whilst turkey can always stay on the menu, it was lovely to discover smoked mackerel and duck from The Chesil Smokery.
Not available in the supermarket, this exclusive smokery sources from the most local, ethical and ecological sources that they can and only use the best ingredients, to ensure the quality of their produce.
Something else you won't find in the supermarket is the world's finest, all natural, truffle infused Black Moth Vodka. Made with European Périgord Truffles, it's five times distilled and three times filtered to deliver an exceptional finish.
The Black Moth Vodka shop is the only place online where you can buy Black Moth Vodka and after our taste test we would certainly recommend having a bottle or two available, not only over Christmas, but throughout the year.
The Food Hall was a mini-fair alone, with so many diverse stands offering delicious samples, and selling fabulous food from many independent and family-owned producers. Turkey need never again be dry or alone on the Festive table.
Sloe Gin was a popular alternative to mulled wine and when you discover the quality of Sipsmith's newly released Sloe Gin it is little wonder.
They make their spirits by hand, in genuinely small batches of just a few hundred bottles a time and passionately believe this is the only way to craft spirits of this quality.
And we agreed by taking a bottle home with us.
Christmas is a popular time for family gatherings, so for an alternative to the TV Jaques of London, the oldest games company and sports manufacturer in the world, were on hand with the highest quality, traditional old games of England, including Croquet, Chess, Table Tennis, Badminton and Mahjong.
If you missed this year's fair then we would suggest getting ahead of 2013 and make a note to book your advance tickets for The Spirit of Christmas Fair 2013.
In the meantime, you can still shop online at www.spirit-boutique.com where you will find anything you may have missed and enjoy your perfect year-round online boutique.
Spirit Fairs next event is the Spirit of Summer Fair running from the 15th to the 18th of May 2013.