Happy new year from all of the elves here at The Olde Christmas Shoppe! As we move forward into a new and exciting year with lots of Christmas fun to come, join us as we look back on 2022 and celebrate our favourite festive moments, trends and decorations from the past year…
Best Christmas Shoppe Moments
2022 was a year of many high points for the Christmas Shoppe team, kicked off by a magical trip to the trade show for a first look at all the beautiful Christmas decorations our suppliers had on offer this year – this was of course Claire’s favourite event of the year, and if given the chance we would have had more stock than you could shake a candy cane at! Sadly we can’t have it all, but we all loved our selection of products this year and hope that our customers did too.
We also had a lot of milestones this year, including our fourth birthday as a store and the addition of our very own Slush machine! This sparkling upgrade was a dream come true for the little kid in all of us, and a great way to put an even bigger smile on the little ones who come to visit our little slice of Christmas heaven all year round. Whether you’re a blue raspberry or strawberry fan (or even a cheeky mix ‘n’ match), the slush machine brings joy to all, especially after a night on the town.
As always, one of the best parts of our year has been the opportunities to engage with the local and international community, from charity fundraising to supporting local events and businesses. The year did bring some interesting challenges for business in the wake of COVID-19 with many smaller retailers struggling, and so we were proud to become ambassadors for the Scotland Loves Local scheme in the area and encourage others to shop at local retailers. We also had the opportunity to support Reactaid in their efforts to bring aid to Ukraine in this time of conflict – I was lucky enough to speak with Ewan about their important work which I write about here in our blog, and we were able to fundraise for them in the Helensburgh community with our raffled mega-hamper, raising £135.00 for this humanitarian group through the generosity of our wonderful customers! We look forward to supporting the team and other worthwhile causes more in the coming year.
And of course, no highlight reel of 2022 would be complete without an honourable mention for our very own Mace and of course his team of Christmas Shoppe Elves. We had the joy of sponsoring our tallest elf as he competed in Highland Games over the summer repping our wee shop, and he represented the shop yet again at the annual Helensburgh Winter Festival where he and his team of cheeky elves stole the show by helping Mr and Mrs Claus at Santa’s Grotto and entertaining the masses with all sorts of elfish mischief. We’ll be laughing at the videos and pictures for years to come!
Christmas Trends 2022
While Christmas is a constant that we can look forward to winter after winter, each new year brings a barrage of design trends that inform our festive décor choices. From new colour schemes that dominate stores and exciting new themes to jazz up your tree, we love anticipating and finding out about the year’s Christmas trends and 2022 was no different! Take a look at the most popular decorating styles of the past year – maybe you’ll even be inspired to change up your tree in 2023…
Bountiful Blue & Gold
This classic marriage of blue and gold saw a huge increase in popularity in 2022, and we can completely see why! There’s just something about the contrast of deep and dusky dark blues and warm gold or bronze tones that reminds us of the starry December sky, with a distinctly classic feel that ties excellently in with the vintage vibes that also rocked the year’s Christmas landscape.
Vintage Christmas
This year was all about capturing the timelessness of the season, and what better way to do so than to lean towards the traditional? 2022 saw the halls decked in the uber-festive maximalist style with traditional segmented and bulb-shaped baubles in any of the more classic festive colours – think gold, red and green – as well as a resurgence of a good old-fashioned bespectacled Santa Claus figure, because the holidays wouldn’t be complete without childhood nostalgia!
Natural Woodlands
This is one of our favourite trends from 2022, a décor remit that combines both the environmental consciousness of the modern day with the magical surrealism of an enchanted forest. Combining natural elements like pinecones, foraged items, wooden decorations and handmade paper crafts with earthy tones and woodland-themed decorations like our adorable selection of toadstools, this is a trend that we hope to see continue into the year ahead!
With all of these beautiful Christmas styles and exciting times behind us in 2022, we’re really looking forward to the new experiences, challenges and Christmas fun that wait for us in 2023 – and we can’t wait to see you along the way. As always, Merry Christmas from all of us at The Olde Christmas Shoppe!
