Festive Mashups: The Collaborations Defining Christmas 2025

Welcome to this week's GRATE!

Welcome to this week’s newsletter, where the festive mood is taking hold and whilst everyone is going a little crazy with Black Friday, I'm looking at what the big trends are for 2025!!  

If there’s one trend absolutely singing through this Christmas season, it’s the rise — and rise — of brand collaborations. Not just celebrity tie-ins or seasonal PR stunts, but thoughtful partnerships rooted in design, storytelling, flavour and cultural relevance.

A big part of my innovation work in Harrods was exactly this — partnering with brands, artists and makers to create exclusives and concepts you couldn’t get anywhere else. Christian Dior & Tom Kerridge were two of my favourites.  For years, this approach belonged largely to luxury retail… but what’s fascinating now is how thoroughly it has filtered into mainstream grocery, hospitality and food service. Christmas 2025 may be the clearest example yet.

Before we jump into this week’s five standouts, I’d love to hear from you:

Have you spotted a brilliant festive collaboration?

Or are you working on one inside your own business?

Share them with me — I’ll feature the best in an upcoming issue.

As always, enjoy the read — and I look forward to chatting more about collaborations when we meet.

Annie x

FORTNUM & MASON - BARS OF MUSIC

Crafted from single-origin Colombian chocolate, this collection of 16 flavoured, filled and inclusion bars from Fortnum & Mason turns chocolate into a multisensory storytelling moment. Each bar features playful illustrations by Victoria Semiykina and opens to reveal bespoke sheet music written by Nathan Britton to express the flavour profile.

Why it matters: A beautiful example of collaboration as theatre — elevating chocolate gifting through sound, art and design in a way only Fortnum’s can.

BALLYMALOE X GRAHAM NORTON – MULLED WINE CRANBERRY SAUCE

For Christmas 2025, Graham Norton has partnered with Ballymaloe Foods to create a limited-edition Mulled Wine Cranberry Sauce — blending Ballymaloe’s beloved cranberry recipe with Norton’s award-winning Shiraz. The result is a festive condiment positioned for roast turkey, ham, cheeseboards and gifting.

What we learn: This is smart cross-category collaboration rooted in Irish pride, shared audiences and seasonal relevance. It shows how familiar Christmas staples can be re-energised with the right talent partnership.

ALDI LIMITED EDITION PIGS-IN-BLANKETS LICKABLE WRAPPING PAPER

Aldi’s festive stunt takes Pigs In Blankets fandom to absurd, brilliant heights: wrapping paper you can actually lick — and it tastes like pigs in blankets. It’s engineered for social sharing and guaranteed to spark conversation.

Takeaway: Collaborations don’t always require another brand; sometimes the magic is between a retailer and a cultural obsession. Aldi nails the art of low-lift, high-impact PR innovation.

AFTER EIGHT X CAMILLE WALALA – ART-LED LIMITED EDITION PACKAGING

After Eight has teamed up with globally recognised artist Camille Walala to reinterpret their iconic green box with her bold geometric patterns. For me, this one is special — I collaborated with Camille in Harrods on an exclusive Easter concept over ten years ago (how time flies!).

Why it works: This shows the power of artist partnerships to contemporise heritage brands. Art-driven design gives products instant collectability and a fresh relevance in gifting season.

KRISPY KREME X PEANUTS

Krispy Kreme’s holiday collaboration brings Snoopy, Woodstock and the Peanuts gang to doughnuts and festive packaging — a perfect blend of nostalgia and family-friendly joy.

Lesson: Character IP remains one of the most reliable ways to build emotional connection. It’s a ready-made storytelling universe that elevates even simple NPD.

FLAVOUR SPOTLIGHT:MAPLE SYRUP - THIS YEAR'S QUIET FESTIVE HERO

While collaborations are stealing headlines, one flavour trend is quietly weaving its way through Christmas 2025 launches: maple syrup. It’s appearing everywhere — from maple-glazed pigs in blankets, maple-spiced nut mixes, and maple & chestnut stuffing, to maple latte specials, maple-infused desserts, and even maple-glazed savoury pastries in retail and foodservice. Several premium own-label ranges are also leaning into maple + brown butter, maple + pecan, and maple + bacon as cosy, indulgent seasonal pairings.

WHY MAPLE:

1. Comfort + nostalgia. Maple carries a warmth and familiarity that aligns perfectly with winter cravings.

2. Natural sweetness. As consumers seek less refined sugars, maple offers a “natural” and flavour-rich alternative.

3. Versatility. It works across sweet and savoury, allowing retailers to build cohesive seasonal ranges from snacks to centrepieces to bakery.

It’s not as loud as gingerbread or as classic as cranberry, but maple is absolutely one of the defining festive notes this year — subtly adding depth, richness and winter warmth to so many Christmas products.