Christmas is a time for getting together with family and friends, celebrating and rejoicing. It is also a time for sharing and giving, and gift-giving is a cornerstone of the festive period.
Often used as a way of showing friends and family how much we care about them; the value of a gift is more often in the sentiment and thought than the price.
This makes presentation an important part of gift-giving, in which packaging plays a central role. From high-end boxes for luxury drinks and cosmetics to elegant ribbons and tags to finish the package off, there’s so many ways that packaging can be used to make a striking first impression and show sentiment.
This will be demonstrated in a number of different ways by exhibitors at London Packaging Week 2025.
Deck the halls
Premium Christmas ornaments from Impact Emotion (J24) make for an original corporate gift that can be easily slipped into greeting cards or used to decorate windows. Based on an exclusive and unique pop-up concept, these Christmas ornaments are finely cut from metal, allowing for complete customisation to showcase a brand. They are personalised on both sides and delivered flat, unfolding in seconds to create a delightful surprise.
Luxury Christmas baubles made of stainless steel take this a step further. Available in circular and diamond shapes, they are also personalised with a company logo and provide a 3D way of making a standout impression.
Curtis Packaging (F70) offers custom-designed hanging gift set packaging that combines festive charm with functional protection. From decorative baubles to tree-hanging packs, tailored solutions can include protective fitments for secure product placement or elegant tissue-wrapped interiors for a premium unboxing experience. They are perfect for seasonal gifting and elevate products while enhancing their display appeal.
Seismo Packaging (F64) has developed luxury wine packaging that is designed with a unique fan-shaped opening structure, offering both elegance and interaction. As the box unfolds, a beautifully printed fan design spreads open behind the wine bottle, creating a stunning visual display that elevates the unboxing experience.
Crafted from rigid paperboard and speciality paper, the packaging is durable while maintaining a premium look. Artistic details and an innovative structure make it perfect for wine gifting, festive occasions, as well as promotional events, ensuring the product stands out on the shelf and leaves a lasting impression.
Marber (D62) notes that beauty gifting comes alive during the festive season. To capitalise on this, the company creates eye-catching gift sets for the festive season that are designed to generate excitement and interest. Using both primary and secondary packaging, these add extra value to products and appeal to the eye. That can be bottles, jars, and tubes, or rigid paper over board gift boxes and small format folding cartons.
The Cosmetic Holiday Box from Vrijdag (H80) is another example of packaging being used to elevate cosmetics around Christmas. This subtle and embossed box is used to house an exclusive selection of brands and products, including special perfumes, exceptional beauty products, and beautiful make-up. Whether giving this box as a gift to a loved one or enjoying it yourself, the Holiday Box adds to the festive experience.
Another important element of the festive period for many is advent calendars. Traditional chocolate versions are almost old hat these days, with everything from cheese, wine, and beer, to children’s toys and luxury cosmetics coming in calendar form these days.
Vrijdag offers a number of advent calendar options for high-end brands and products. Its series of advent calendars for Dutch department store De Bijenkorf example this perfectly. With unique structural designs and striking visuals, they even feature QR codes to provide further information and inspiration to consumers.
Knoll Printing & Packaging (G50) has similarly worked with major brands in recent years to create bespoke and intriguing advent calendars. Take its work with make-up brand MAC, for example, to develop a unique keepsake advent calendar full of glamour and surprise that also has a fun interactive aspect. The structure is made of FSC-certified paper and board to ensure material traceability and is wrapped with plastic-free metallised paper. The rigid box contains 24 individual folding doors to safely secure the product. The interior of the box can be lifted out by the ribbon handle, which makes the entire box a keepsake.
The advent calendar Knoll developed for Penhaligon’s is even more intriguing. The structure is made entirely of grey cardboard and wrapped with paper. It consists of two cylinders with a front opening, which together recreate the singular shape of the Penhaligon’s bottle. Adorned with a large removable green bow, the calendar is printed with the brand’s festive graphics in six-colour offset and hot stamped.
Upon opening, the holiday countdown is revealed by the discovery of 24 inner doors, behind each of which there is a surprise, including miniatures of the most emblematic Penhaligon’s fragrances and body delights.
Seismo Packaging (F64) offers an advent calendar box that is crafted from sturdy paperboard and is designed to go beyond the traditional drawer-style calendar. A transformable structure enables the box to be rearranged into multiple shapes, creating a playful and interactive unboxing experience for the holiday season.
Out-of-the-box thinking
Other festive packaging options might be as bold and striking as luxury wine packaging and advent calendars but nonetheless can have as much of an impact.
Berisfords (G22) has been making ribbons since the mid-19th Century and today offers a comprehensive array of options, including bespoke and personalised ribbons. For Christmas gifts and packaging, festive themed, colourful, and satin ribbons are examples of the different styles and finishes on offer.
Packaging Source (B20) designs and manufactures bespoke packaging products. This includes festive themed gift boxes for Cafe de Nata and its freshly baked pastéis de nata – Portuguese egg custard tarts. These delicious treats make for great gifts and are often carried away from stores in bespoke presentation boxes. By adding a touch of festive flair and having Rudolph sniff one out, the experience is elevated.
Falconer (E64) has set the tradition of making a Christmas gift set for its own customers. These are gifted to valued customers as an extra special gift and intended as an inspirational, innovative and highly creative in-house production, “guaranteed to delight, entertain and leave a lasting impression.”
A notable recent example was a Christmas gift set based around The Nutcracker ballet. This theatrical story was presented in a gift box created as a book.
On opening the box, the inside front cover contains a diorama, lit up with lights, which begins the story of The Nutcracker. On the opposite side, authentic looking pages narrate the magical plot, before the reader arrives at the back page where four ‘Falconer’ inspired cocktail recipes are found, alongside a range of ingredients, each packaged in individual compartments. These included: Slingsby Marmalade Gin, tonics, dried botanicals, a handmade Christmas candle and handmade chocolates.
All the packaging material used to create the pack is FSC and fully recyclable.
The outer book is produced on board with a cream reverse to lessen the raw edges. The intricate foil embellishment creates an old schoolbook appearance, which, when combined with traditional green shades on the cover, is designed to give a 3D look and draw the eye to the foil. Inside and behind curtains, the 3D diorama gives a sense of excitement and imagination. The diorama has a novel secondary function in that it can be taken out of the outer book and used either as a Christmas card that lights up or as a festive decoration.
The pages, produced to look like an aged hardback book, are printed on the uncoated side of cream- backed board, with matt gold borders to frame each page. The gifts at the back of the book are individually packaged in textured stunning iridescent solid gold board to complement the foil detail throughout.
This creates a magical interaction and an experience that lasts long in the memory.
Such festive-themed products and their creators will be on show at London Packaging Week 2025.
To discover how you and your brand can leverage these ideas and designs to delight and amaze your customers, visit London Packaging Week 2025 on 15 & 16 October at Excel in London.