Manchester Christmas Markets mugs 2024 design revealed and deposit scheme explained

The design of the famous Manchester Christmas Markets mugs for 2024 has been revealed. And the good news is they are staying the same price as last year.

The festive receptacles are a distinctive part of the Christmas Markets experience here in Manchester for those who partake of a drink of mulled wine or hot chocolate at the wooden stalls dotted across the city. They form part of the mug deposit scheme across all stalls.

This is where you pay a separate refundable charge for the mug when buying your hot drink, or you can choose to take it home as a souvenir. The new designs revealed today follow a similar Nordic theme as last year and will be priced at £3.50.

READ MORE: Manchester Christmas Markets map and location guide

Designed in-house by the city council’s design studio, bosses say the design has been inspired by the success of last year’s much sought-after Nutcracker-themed mugs which sold out across the markets in record time.

Christmas Markets mugs design for 2024
(Image: Manchester City Council)

This year’s mugs feature a brand-new family of festive characters – Father Christmas, Mother Christmas, and all the elves. Bosses say they are “sure to be a winner with Christmas shoppers of all ages”.

The collectible souvenir mugs help spell the start of the festive season for the thousands of Christmas Markets visitors to the city, and will be available at each of the NINE city centre market locations from Friday, 8 November until stocks last.

Anyone wanting to get their hands on one of the must-have mugs this year is advised “to get themselves along to visit the markets sooner rather than later and not to leave their visit to the last minute”.

That comes off the back of the last two years which saw all of the 2022 Christmas mugs selling out completely the week before the markets closed, and every one of last year’s special edition mugs selling out even faster – despite market bosses ordering thousands more of the highly sought after mugs to meet expected demand.

Father and Mother Christmas feature on the 2024 mugs
(Image: Manchester City Council)

In both 2022 and 2023 the bumper sell-out saw market traders bringing out vintage mugs from previous years to keep up with the demand from Christmas shoppers.

As always Manchester’s special edition Christmas mugs can either be bought outright by Christmas shoppers or ‘rented’ when they purchase a hot drink at one of the Christmas Market stalls.

Customers will be asked to pay a deposit of £3.50 for their mug when they purchase a hot drink and can then either choose to return their mug to the stall afterwards to get their deposit back, or keep the mug and take it home with them as a souvenir of their visit to the markets.

Councillor Pat Karney, Christmas spokesperson for Manchester City Council, said: “Our designers have well and truly smashed it again this year to come up with a fantastically festive design for our iconic Christmas mugs, which we all know are the must-have accessory of the festive season.

Cute elves on the smaller mugs
(Image: Manchester City Council)

“With a different design unwrapped every year of our legendary Christmas markets, the highly collectible and covetable mugs have become much sought-after by Santa super-fans far and wide and I guarantee they’ll be all over your social feeds as we countdown to Christmas!

“Last year’s mugs flew off the shelves quicker than you could say Rudolph the red-nosed reindeer – so don’t leave it too late to come and get yours!”

He added: “No-one does Christmas quite like Manchester and we can’t wait to welcome everyone again this year to celebrate the season with us and to enjoy our biggest and best world-beating Christmas Markets!”

How does the deposit scheme work?

Customers will be asked to pay a deposit of £3.50 for their mug when they purchase a hot drink and can then either choose to return their mug to the stall afterwards to get their deposit back, or keep the mug and take it home with them as a souvenir of their visit to the markets.

You will just need to budget accordingly, as hot drinks at the markets are likely to range in price from £3.50 for non-alcoholic beverages up to £6 and over for boozy gluhweins and hot chocolates. Full details on drinks pricing will be confirmed when the markets open on November 8.

When do the Christmas Markets open?

The dates confirmed for the return of Manchester Christmas Markets for 2024 in the city centre are from Friday, November 8 through to Sunday, December 22 opening Monday – Sunday.

They will be open daily at the following times:

All craft stalls 10am – 8 pm

All bars and food stalls 11am – 9 pm

The only exception is on the final Sunday, December 22, when all stalls will close at 6pm.

Cathedral Gardens will also once again play host to the Ice Rink with food and drink stalls in Cathedral Gardens alongside it. This section of markets will stay open later than the rest, until December 31.

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