Birmingham residents and traders are hopeful of a Covid-free Christmas this year – without the stringent guidelines of 12 months ago.
Festivities were scaled down last year due to the Covid-19 pandemic guidelines.
Individuals were only allowed to mix with three families, creating a temporary Christmas bubble.
Prime Minister Boris Johnson has refused to comment on if Christmas will be similar this year due to the current Delta variant.
However, according to the Covid-19 Infection Survey from the Office for National Statistics (12th of November) the percentage of people testing positive for Covid in England is decreasing with under 926,000 people in England reportedly having the virus.
Despite these cautions, PR Executive at Think3 Digital Marketing Agency, Kerrie Ashall has been already preparing for Christmas.
She said: “I began Preparing at the end of August, the start of September, I mean I’m not one of those people buying next years decorations and gifts in the sale, but I do like to start early. I don’t think it’s ever too soon to start thinking about Christmas due to budget, however sometimes it does appear in stores too early and on TV adverts.”
Mrs Ashall orders many her gifts online. One of the places she has bought presents from this year is the Luxury British Cocoa grower and Chocolatier company, Hotel Chocolat.
Birmingham Eastside got the chance to explore how Hotel Chocolat plan these items during a press event where sculptress and senior chocolatier, Rhona MacFadyen explained her inspiration behind two treats, the Jolly Penguin and Santa.
She said: “When I was a child, I just loved thinking about the way you would make a snowman as a child, you know, it’s a bit wonky, it’s anything but perfect, and then for the penguin I wanted something that summed up the fun of Christmas.”
Not everyone can so easily enjoy chocolate. Sarah Chapman, a mother of four grown-up children had to start creating her own delicious delicacies after her third child was born with life-threatening allergies.
She said: “Simple food treats, like chocolate advent calendars and chocolate footballs, biscuits and sweets all needed to be researched or I simply make them myself. I actually enjoy cooking, and the planning for Christmas.”
Christmas last year was ‘horrible’ for Mrs Chapman and her family due to Covid measures.
She hopes this year will be different for her and her two young nieces.
“Last year was horrible,” She added. “My nieces are pretty frail. So, Christmas is extremely important to us. To top it all my homemade table setting caught fire. That was the last straw on a horrible day.”
You can find out more information about Think3 here.