Category: News from UK Christmas Store

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It always surprises me…

…how different Christmas decorations are popular depending on where we are.  One day I might write a book on the subject, but for now here are my observations.

Animal decorations are popular everywhere

Fewer children than you think want gifts in exchange for their siblings

Tractors are very popular in North Yorkshire in 2022

Beer signs sell better further North

Someone somewhere DOES want a glass burger on their tree

 

Its nice to see our stock tubs running down.  When the delivery arrived I had to invest in more storage as we don’t yet have a proper stock room (goal for next year) and running a growing business from home means space is at a premium.  With Christmas less than 4 weeks away we kind of need our dining room back!

Im thrilled how much busier our website has been, so a huge thank you if you’ve ordered through it this year.  As always, we are doing our best to keep a quick turnaround so you have a good chance of getting your order quickly.  I send most parcels first class signed for but occasionally have to use second class signed for.  We have an integrated system that updates stock levels on the website as we sell at Christmas Markets, but occasionally this lets us down, so if there’s something you want please don’t leave it too late to order.  Postage and packing is a flat rate £5 no matter how much you purchase.

More Christmas markets this weekend with a 2 day event at The Dorman Museum and a local school Christmas Fair on Saturday.  It’s scary how close we are to the end of the season, I’ll be prepping for 2023 before I know it!

Cari

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A much needed rest weekend

New Christmas stock

Wow, well our first two events of the season have got us off to a flying start!  If you were one of the many lovely people we met at Shotton Hall or Gisborough Hall Hotel then a huge thank you for supporting our family business.  It really means the world, especially in the current climate.  You may not know that we juggle this with two full time jobs and I’m also doing a degree part time – it’s a lot to keep on top of!

We don’t have any Christmas fairs this weekend and our next events are supporting local schools, so the next public event is at Dorman Museum on 3rd and 4th December.  It would be lovely to see you there!

If you can’t manage to get to Christmas markets, then our website is the place to see our full range and ask about anything specific you are looking for.  We have a small stock order due soon and will happily try to source special requests.  I pass the post office every day and we endeavour to pack and post within 1 working day of receiving your order.

My weekend off will be spent stock taking and organising ready for our school fairs as we try not to take everything with us (a challenge for me as I always think ‘what if’).

Cari xx

 

Best sellers so far

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Stock delivery – how many boxes?

It’s exciting times here at UKCS Towers, with our stock for 2022 due to arrive.  While I’m contemplating how to unpack, check and price up all the new Christmas goodies with our puppy ‘helping’ (ahem!), I’m also curious as to how many boxes will arrive.

Its a guessing game we play every year.  The stock arrives on a large HGV rather than a transit, so could be pallet loads or a few boxes – who knows?

The other occurrence we have every year is how some items are larger/smaller/better than we anticipated – we order from a website image each year and it’s often hard to judge until you see them ‘in the flesh’.  It’s one of the reasons I get so excited for this time each year.

Our events calendar is looking a little healthier, with a nice balance between larger scale events and local school fairs.  I do try to support some local organisations each year even though the larger events are more cost effective business wise.  If you want to visit us at one of our events we have a list on our socials.

I’m planning to vlog delivery day, so if you don’t already please find our YouTube channel and subscribe (it’s free to do and encourages me to vlog more often!)

Cari

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Searching for Christmas Markets.

The countdown to our busiest retailing period is on.  Christmas stock should be arriving in a few weeks, at which point it will be available to buy online (once I’ve checked through everything!)

If you didn’t know, Royal Mail have announced a series of strike days which of course would affect our deliveries, so we’ve been arranging alternative courier services at no extra cost to you lovely Christmas fans.  Of course if you still prefer to shop in person you can buy from our stall at events throughout County Durham, Teesside and North Yorkshire.

Sadly Redworth Hall Hotel Christmas Fair isn’t on this year, but we will be at Gisborough Hall Hotel.  There are other events we’ve enquired about which we’re still waiting to hear back from, but the diary is looking quite sparse this year.  If you know of any large Christmas markets please do let us know.

Less than 100 days to go until the big day!

Cari xx

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Christmas has had its first outing of 2022

We were at Thirsk and Sowerby Festival on the Flatts recently with our other business, and decided to test the water by showcasing some of our 2021 stock – yes, in August!  While it might be too early for most, it certainly got people to notice and we were able to chat about our family run business and hand out flyers we got printed last year.  One of my goals is to make our online shop more profitable as so far in person event sales are the biggest source of income but take up time and money to attend.

It’s a shame we haven’t found any larger scale events a bit closer to home that have space for us.  In addition to events we attend each season, we’re keeping our fingers and toes crossed we will be successful with our application for Beverley Christmas Market this year.  It will be lovely to see how the event is run but I’m expecting demand to be great.  We will keep you updated!

So far this year we will be at Redworth Hall, Gisborough Hall and Bowes Museum, if you know of any other events please share them and we will take a look.

Cari

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What’s in store this autumn?

I’m already so excited for our 2022 Christmas stock to arrive.

Its always a challenge trying to get everything unpacked, checked for damage and added to the website each year, but this year will be even more tricky because of this little guy.

Photo of our dogHe loves woofing at delivery drivers, is even more eager to get into parcels than I am, and generally thinks the world revolves around him.  He’s loved so much but the thought of trying to navigate new Christmas stock with a puppy – oh my!

Somehow we will manage though.  The things I have on order for this year include returning favourites and new – would you like a sneaky peek?

 

New Christmas stock

I am keeping my fingers firmly crossed that it is all in stock and arrives as planned, so that we can have a fantastic start to the season.  What decorations would you like to see available?  Do you have a colour theme for Christmas?  I’d love to know.

Cari xx

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I’ve found my dream home

There’s a Youtuber I follow (and admire) who has turned her life around from credit card debt to buying her dream lakeside home in a few years.

She’s done this by hard work (lots of it!) and a positive mindset shift.

There’s another lovely lady a bit closer to home, who has gone from lots of debt to her dream house (complete with beck and granny cottage).  It took her a bit longer to get there, but again used a combination of hard work and a positive ‘can do’ mindset shift.

I find them both very inspirational.

They show me what’s possible with the right attitude and tons of hard work and ‘keepy going’.

For years I’ve had this dream of opening a warehouse/showroom with a ‘Christmas experience’ area for families to bring their children to during the run up to the big day.  I can see it clearly in my head.

I can picture my children (virtually adults now) working there with me and my husband – a proper family business.  It feels like the natural next step from where we are now.

Today I was scrolling social media and a property appeared in my feed.

Its not far away, has plenty of space for us all and outbuildings ideal for my Christmas project.

I’ve saved the images and I’m manifesting it.  I’ll let you know when we move!

Cari

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The one with the wrong boxes…

Hello, hope you got to celebrate Christmas in whatever way you choose and that you’ve been able to relax a bit over the last few days.  We were lucky enough to visit our family and we’re now starting to prep for New Year.

We’re currently half way through painting our living room, so yesterday we got a bit more of that done and switched round some furniture.  I’m trying to put plans in place for our forecast website growth, so all my paperwork is organised and we have plenty of postage labels too.

One of my big goals is to turn our downstairs ‘office’ (aka the dumping ground) into a mini warehouse/dispatch area (it’s not even big enough to swing a cat).  This means sorting out the spare bedroom into a new office area, then getting some strong shelving ready for the next stock delivery in the summer.  It’s a big job that I had planned for this summer, but you know how I am with plans – it just didn’t happen.

For now I’m just doing what I can to be ready, which meant ordering some smaller postal boxes (I got orders through on Boxing Day – how cool is that?).

The new boxes arrived today, a day earlier than expected (yay!) so I assembled some ready for packing.

The orders didn’t fit.

I had measured so carefully, trawled websites until I found just the right size, but they were millimetres too small.

Frustrated, we reverted back to cutting down the larger boxes for these orders.  The new boxes will still be useful for the smaller items like our glass angels or the glass trees, so won’t be wasted.

I’m excited for 2022 now, we’ve had an amazing 2021 season and I’m so grateful for each and every one of you who have supported us.  All the hard work over the last ten+ years is finally paying off.

Wishing you a very Happy and healthy New Year!

Cari & family

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It’s always a tricky one – our last Christmas markets of 2021

I really love Christmas markets.  There’s something magical for young and old, especially at the best ones.  Even as a stall holder you can feel the excitement, that tingle down your spine in anticipation.

Bowes Museum has long been towards the top of our list for ‘must attend’.  I remember one year it was so cold the fountain froze over enough for the more daring visitors to stand on.  That was tough.  The cold seeps in no matter how many layers you wear, and obviously the more layers, the longer it takes when you need to ‘pay a visit’.

I’ll leave that one there.

Bowes Museum Christmas market is over three days.  This causes problems at Our Grotto as I’m usually at work, unable to take the day off.  I try to persuade the Head Elf to go instead, with varying degrees of success.

We were facing the same dilemma this year. Friday would be my last day of work before Christmas.  Head Elf was all set to go, taking the teenage Elves along for assistance.

Then our plans changed.

Work was having to shut a week early, which was really disappointing as the last week before Christmas break is the best – filled with class parties and Christmas Dinner.

The one silver lining is that I can now go to Bowes on Friday – YAY!

I’m so excited to be there all three days this year.  I think we might have to have a special offer or two to celebrate.

Cari

 

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Decorating for Christmas, and a market after our cancelled ones?

I’ve got my fingers and toes crossed….

Figuratively that is.

After two weekends of missed or cancelled events, I’m hopeful that we will be out and about on Saturday.  Is this the end to the season we are hoping for?

I’ve placed a follow up order with one of our suppliers, only a small one of a few bits that have proved very popular lately, but that’s it until January when I’ll hopefully be ordering for Christmas 2022.

How are your Christmas plans going?  Have you finished all your shopping yet?

We managed to put our tree up last week, but haven’t found space for any of our new decorations.  It would have to be these cute cat baubles if we did add anything new.