Waitrose and Marks & Spencer Unveil 2025 Christmas Ranges, From Mulled Rosé to a Turkey Bauble

Waitrose and Marks & Spencer have begun revealing their 2025 Christmas food lines as supermarkets move early to capture shoppers planning the festive season.

Waitrose said it will introduce 267 new products for the 2025 holiday period, highlighting showstoppers such as a No.1 Free Range Turkey Bauble filled with festive stuffing, a No.1 Slow Cooked British Beef Shin with Bone Marrow, a spiced Sweet Cured British Gammon with Black Cherry Glaze and a No.1 Stuffed Scottish Salmon with prawns and salsa verde drizzle. The retailer also unveiled vegetarian centrepieces including a No.1 Cauliflower Cheese Galette Crown and a No.1 Mushroom, Malbec & Port Wellington, alongside sides and puddings such as free-range No.1 Stuffing Balls with bacon, smoked chestnuts and sage and a No.1 Nutcracker dessert.

Samantha Angell, Waitrose head of innovation, said the range aims to help customers craft "truly special Christmas moments" with centrepieces, party bites, gifts and trend-driven tipples. The retailer said online searches for the term "Christmas" had risen 536% in the last month as it rolled out the line-up in September. Waitrose also signalled a move into festive drinks innovation with a mulled rosé described as a pale pink blend carrying notes of red fruit, lemon zest and clementine.

Waitrose product developers highlighted trend-led items across its sweets and bakery range. Sophie Maltby, a dessert product developer, said the No.1 Nutcracker was intended as a showpiece rooted in nostalgia, while senior innovation chef Will Torrent pointed to social interest in limoncello when introducing Golden Limoncello mince pies. Emily Quinn, chilled vegetarian and vegan buyer, said the Cauliflower Cheese Galette Crown was produced by a Cornish bakery with more than 125 years' experience and uses Barber's Mature and Vintage Cheddars.

Marks & Spencer has not released its full national seasonal list but a peek from a Bexley Heath store on TikTok showed several items headed to M&S shelves. The clip included a Percy Pig Christmas special called "Naughty and Nice Piglets," snack mixes with maple bacon flavouring, salt-and-vinegar Christmas star crisps, butter-basted roast turkey crisps, peppermint bark, hot maple popcorn and Scottish shortbread petticoat tails.

The early reveals come amid ongoing competition among British supermarkets to win holiday food spend. Which? surveyed more than 8,000 members in January 2024 about their Christmas purchases and ranked supermarkets on essentials for the festive meal. Aldi topped that 2024 ranking with an overall score of 84%, followed by Marks & Spencer at 82%, Waitrose at 80% and Lidl at 78%.

Aldi's managing director of buying, Julie Ashfield, said the retailer was "thrilled to be recognised by Which? as the best place to buy Christmas essentials, for the second year in a row," crediting staff efforts to deliver value and quality. Which?'s ranking reflected consumers' assessments of taste, quality and value for money across categories including pigs in blankets, fresh vegetables and stuffing.

Retailers traditionally expand seasonal ranges earlier in the autumn to capture pre-planning and to promote higher-margin items, and the announcements underscore both product innovation and marketing strategies aimed at securing shoppers as the holiday season approaches. Waitrose and M&S did not disclose nationwide launch dates or full price lists for all items at the time of their September announcements.