Should Luxury Advent Calendars be sustainable? A return to the roots of a plastic-free Christmas.

Sustainable Advent Calendars

Last year we were named one of the best Sustainable Advent Calendars of 2021 by
Country and Town House magazine for our plastic free, Notting Hill chocolate advent calendar.

Sustainability is such an important part of our ethos, and we want to explore why more luxury brands should take the move to be plastic free in their advent calendars.

Advent Calendars and Plastic

If you are spending more than £30 on a luxury advent calendar, there will always be a few factors you consider. Price, aesthetic, contents and quality. However, there should now be one more standard. Sustainability.

Plastic is a cheap, easily manufacturable and mass produced material. Although a disaster for the environment, many chocolate companies and supermarkets rely on these cheap, plastic calendars in order to make a profit every Christmas. With small, factory-produced chocolates, with a low cocoa content and poor quality calendars, most people are not really getting their money’s worth! Nor are they helping reduce the masses of single-use plastics that gets thrown away every year on Boxing day.

Why We Can Afford to have Sustainable Luxury Advent Calendars

If you can afford to spend the money on a more luxury advent calendar, you should make sustainability a priority. The reality is, is that finding non-plastic solutions is not that difficult anymore! The growth of biodegradable plastic, cardboard alternatives, and many more, proves that it can be done. Many companies can afford to not cut corners with their packaging. They can choose biodegradable, plastic-free packaging options, although they might be more expensive. However, if their products are marketed as high-quality or luxury, their packaging should reflect this.

Melt Chocolate’s has been plastic-free since its foundation! Protecting the environment and the oceans is central to
our story. All of our products are hand-wrapped in beautiful and environmentally friendly packaging. Christmas Chocolate Gifts and Calendars are no exception! We have eco-friendly policies throughout our small-business. Our chocolate is made without palm oil, we use 100% renewable energy and we handmake and package it in our boutiques in London, reducing food-miles hugely!

The Pagan roots of Christmas: Christmas as a celebration of the Earth

Christmas has been turned into a consumerist holiday. Plethora’s of presents are purchased, indulgences of food are eaten and much is to be enjoyed. However, we don’t want our celebrations to leave a toxic trail on our planet.

In truth, we should return to the roots of the Christmas tradition in Britain, one in which is more heavily intertwined with pagan traditions than we might think. The Christmas holiday celebrations were both the celebration of the birth of Jesus and the feast of the winter solstice. The winter solstice was a time of celebrating the casting away of winter and the rebirth of spring and summer with the return of the sun. These celebrations often took form as
Wassailing, a ‘Twelth Night’ tradition that has been practiced in Britain for centuries.

During the festivities, it was customary to visit orchards to sing to the fruit trees and spirits, to herald a good harvest for the following season. Food and drink would be shared amongst revellers in a communal wassail bowl and was filled with warm spiced cider, ale and often topped with an apple. This tradition was a dedication to the earth and the fruits that would grow from it.

Our newly released 12 Days of Christmas Chocolate Advent Calendar is a nod to the Twelfth Night traditions. Following the well-known hymn ‘The Twelve Days of Christmas’ which grew out of these traditions, we have created a plastic-free, hand-illustrated advent calendar.

The calendar is crafted to look like a historical book. However, instead of containing old scriptures or hymns, it contains delicious mini chocolate bars.

Each night contains a different flavour, some of which are a nod to the ancient flavours that were consumed during the Yuletide. The Red berry bar, for the blackberries and holly berries, provided nutrition in the cold months of the year. The Christmas bar, contained the ancient spices of nutmeg and cinnamon which would have been dusted onto their wassail bowl to drink. The Wild bar to represent the ancient growth of Britain’s forests and wilderness which the pagans both feared and relied on. Other more modern flavours such as roasted almond and fiery chilli and vanilla would not have been available, but we are sure would have warmed the heart and the soul on a cold winter’s night in Medieval Britain.

Yet, this calendar is designed to not only look beautiful and taste delicious, but we have designed it to be sustainable and reusable! Our high quality packaging ensures that this calendar will last the test of time. Instead of throwing it away at the end of Christmas, or on the Twelfth night, why not keep it until next year! You can purchase 12 mini chocolate bars for next Christmas that will fit snuggly in your calendar. If you like our choice of flavours, we can provide you with a refill, if you’d like to choose your own, browse the mini chocolate bar library.

We also have a Vegan 12 Days of Chocolate Advent Calendar for those who are taking the extra step to help the planet.

So we hope that this Christmas you choose sustainably. With our plastic-free calendar, you do not need to sacrifice aesthetics, price (£49 for 12 mini bars!), or taste.

Check out the rest of our plastic-free, sustainable Christmas gift range…we have more Luxury Chocolate Advent Calendars and Gift Hampers for all!