Marks & Spencer Sweet Sweet Christmas Party Food 2016

Fruit cups £6 : Santa hats £4

Two weeks ago I showed you what Marksie's had instore for savoury party food this Christmas 2016. Flown in by Mrs Claus in her helicopter no doubt.

This time around I'm sharing the M&S Christmas party food sweet selection. Party food is on 4 for 3 this week, so again it's worth taking advantage of the offers as they will likely wind down closer to the big day.

Its worth noting you will find the party desserts in three different locations instore. So if you see a product in this blog you want to buy, but can't find it amongst the chilled fridge part desserts, try the frozen department and lastly the bakery section.

Pecan tarts £7 : Doughnuts £4 : fritters £4

A lot of the desserts have edible glitter on them, which I absolutely love. The pecan tarts have golden glitter, as do the chocolate orange brownie tarts. The brownie cubes have actual edible stars, while the Prosecco charms have a silvery sheen.

Brownie tarts £4 : Brownie star bites £4 : Viennese charms £4

This weekend there also is a Dine In £10 offer on. That's where you can get your hands on the glittery, chocolate mousse pine cones from the new M&S Christmas advert. 

Still shimmering are the lustred macaroons, which almost look too good to eat. 

Macaroons £7 : Pine cones in the £10 deal, or £4

Stollen £4

If you want some traditional Christmas tastes, there are of course mince pies, Christmas cake bites or slices, and Stollen.

After all the chocolate the passion fruit profiteroles taste fresh & sweet.  Finally we loved the mini red velvet cupcakes because they look like little Santa hats.

Cupcakes £4 : Profiteroles £6

What a lovely festive spread you can put on with M&S. Remember many of these desserts can be frozen so you can use them for New Year's if you wish.

Brownie stars

Red velvet cupcakes and Prosecco whirls

Passion fruit profiteroles  

Chocolate orange brownie tarts

Pecan tarts

M&S Christmas 2016 Party Food- 3 for 2 Savoury Goodies For a Tree Decorating Family Feast

It seems the older I get, the more it is that my favourite part of Christmas is the eating. Christmas dinner is one of my top three favourite meals ever, and the Boxing Day buffet is legendary in the Spence household.  

Another great part is the fancy party food that goes on sale in Marks & Spencer in mid-November. There are the yearly classics like smoked salmon bites and mozzarella cheese sticks, but there are always some new party food additions, so I chose a selection to try out before the season really kicks off.

For this post I stuck to the savoury selection, so watch for a sweet party food follow up in the next couple of weeks. 

First off, M&S have realised the great untapped market of BREAKFAST party food. Christmas Day breakfast is one portion of the day not set with tradition, apart from the universal fact that we all will have eaten chocolate pre-10am. Since I've had my own household, and even now when it's just myself & Smix, Christmas breakfast for us is a plate of thick American pancakes, bacon & maple syrup. Smix inevitably has to be told a thousand times to eat, as he's distracted by Santa's delights, so I'm thinking of changing things up a little this year and going with M&S's mini breakfast bacon cups. 

They come in their own tray to pop in the oven and when ready you have a bite size crispy bacon cup filled with scrambled egg, baby tomato & flecks of mushroom. They. Are. Amazing. I'm not even ashamed to say I ate the whole tray of them the morning I cooked them to test. They would be so much easier to get a kid to eat than sitting down with a knife and fork to eat pancakes and bacon. 

Also​ above are the new mushroom baubles. If you are cooking a whole fry, these would be a cool treat on the side.

The Brie and cranberry tartlets would also be good to be served any time of day. If you've never tried that combo, you don't know what you are missing. ​

All the savoury and sweet party food is 3 for 2 right now, and I'm thinking a little spread of goodies would be a nice tradition to kick off for tree decoration night. It's another one of those times the whole family gets together to decorate the tree and home, so why not mark the occasion with a little party too?

Some of the party food is more for an adult palate, but everyone will love the Christmas cracker shaped sausage rolls, and bacon & cheese rolls.  Cheese & bacon potato skins are another crowd pleaser, but my absolute favourite party food for the kids is the mini buckets of southern fried chicken pops with fries. There's also a fish and chips variety with the same novelty buckets. I love the buckets. I would buy these all year round, they are so cute. Mini posh dogs are another option for all ages to share.

Moving on to some of the more adult options there are lots of great Asian influenced foods. The sticky Asian chicken lollipops go really well with the oriental prawn selection. It's worth noting that all the party food oven cooks around 190-200, so I was able to cook everything together just by scheduling the times. 

New this year is the hog roast on mini crackling plates. These are really tasty & I've not seen anything like them anywhere else.

The mini scallops en croutes with champagne sauce are most definitely a more adult taste, and serving them in a shell is just plain fancy pants. They taste great too.

So that's the savoury party food we tried out, all 3 for 2 right now. I will feature the sweet selection soon, but in the meantime I want to share with you the  Christmas cake I ordered this week for Christmas Day. M&S actually sold this same cake last Christmas & I spotted it in store & decided to buy it closer to the day. Then my local store sold out of them! Luckily I phoned round nearby stores & managed to drive and buy one on Christmas Eve in east Belfast. So this year I've been smart and ordered and paid for it already, to pick up Christmas week at my local store. I can't wait!

Sneak a Little Slice of Christmas into Everyday. Xmas 2016 Launches at M&S.

31st October, Halloween, 1st November, its Christmas. The population always seems split this month. There are those who think it's far too soon to think about Christmas, then there is festive loving folks like myself who are ready to dive straight in to turkey and cranberry everything.

Marks & Spencer's food hall is starting to turn holly berry red, with their Christmas party food and festive flavours appearing in every department. So I visited the Sprucefiled store to choose from the little items you can start adding to your day now, without having a full on turkey dinner. There are dozens of products you can pick for lunch and dinner to get you in the Christmas mood. 

Pigs in Blankets £1.75 : Scotch Egg £2 : Mince pies £1.20 : Turkey wrap £3

Every year M&S bring out a Christmas lunch menu for their takeaway food. That includes sandwiches, salads, sausage rolls, wraps, juice and mini desserts for one. This is the 11th year that they have partnered with the charity Shelter, donating 5% of every sale to the homeless charity.

Soup £2.50 : Turkey feast sandwich £3.25 : Sausage roll £1.75

Club sandwich £4.50 : Juice £1.50 : Rolls £3.25

Profiteroles £2 : Cheesecake £2 : Macaroons £1.75

Moving on to the rest of the Food Hall, we see the traditional M&S crazy crisp varieties.  Prosecco or Bucks Fizz handcooked crisps are pretty unusual, as well as turkey & maple syrup, but the flavour I'm most excited about is Blackstick's Blue cheese. I already love the blue cheese itself, and the spreadable cheese you can get too, so these are right up my street.

Crisps all 2 for £3

Christmas flavours are also reaching the shelves of the confectionary and biscuit aisles. Even Percy has had a Christmas makeover. 

Jaffacakes £1 : Marzipan £1

One last deal I have to mention. It's just arrived in store & I anticipate it selling quickly, so if you think it's a suitable gift you should think about buying it while there is a good choice available. 

You get a lovely, thick felt stocking, which you can fill with three items of your choice for £10. There are sacks of minty sweets, chocolate skittle games, chocolate gingerbread men, snowball sweeties, winter caramels and various Christmas themed games. 

All 3 for £10 plus free stocking

I choose the decorate your own lolly kit, decorate your own biscuits, and the crazy chocolate cracker. For £10 you could divide the items as three separate presents, or use the stocking as a gift bag to give the selection of your choice to someone. Or, like me, you could pick them for yourself! 

What's your favourite M&S Christmas product?  Check out what else is in store on the M&S website.

M&S Christmas Party Food 2015- Christmas Tree Pizzas, Churros & Chocolate Clutch Bags.

When I was a kid Christmas party nibbles meant cocktail sausages and breadsticks. Now thanks to M&S festive food includes smoked salmon filled shells and Brie & cranberry tarts. The 'second wave' of seasonal treats have arrived in Marks & Spencers food hall, and with  two for one and 3 for 2 offers across the party food range this could be the best time to stock up & freeze for the end of the month's celebrations.

Seafood served in shells is a party I want to go to  

The pizza trees are so simple but effective. We had them last year, so this is a repeat buy. Perfect for kids while the grown ups have the fancier food that might be too rich for children. 

These mini posh hot dogs are the evolution of the humble party cocktail sausage. The pork belly I highly recommend, again it's a repeat buy for me from last year.

Not a party food, but part of the Grill range, if you can't wait for Christmas dinner then why not have a teatime of turkey, cranberry, bacon & stuffing burgers? 

As with every year you can buy a range of tasty pre made stuffing to save time during preparation of the Big Meal. 

Carrying on its the savoury treats, it wouldn't be Christmas for me without a fortnight of serious cheese overdosing. I'm serious about the Cornish Cruncher and my true love Blacksticks Blue.

I'm keeping my eye out for the cheese balls that I loved from the party food range last year, but if that doesn't make a return then I'll have to make do with this almost tennis ball sized offering that's £5.

I might pick these up for New Years, as I still haven't tried haggis. 

When I'm picking up food hall goodies for blogging I always have to call up to Sprucefield. It's a chance to nosy round their flagship store with huge home & clothing departments. They've added a massive Christmas store department with everything from decorations to cards, presents, wrapping paper and novelty crackers. A lot of the wrap, cards etc are on 3 for 2 offers too.

Back in the Food Hall and onto the sweet gifts and party foods. Making a change from the traditional shortbread tin gift, this lantern took my fancy with a design you could display all year round.

Fancy marshmallows are a fairly recent fad, but I love them. Snowflake shaped mallows are even better. 

I also spotted these 'create your own hamper' kits for £10. Super  for creating a personal gift for someone who has M&S favourites but also really useful for putting together a hamper for families with dietary needs like nut allergies or gluten intolerance, who otherwise might not get to enjoy premade hamper gifts.

These limited edition golden chocolate shoes and clutch bags are very cool. I'm neither a shoe or bag aholic, I think they'd have to make a chocolate taxidermy stag head for me!

I imagine with both designs being limited to 2000, they'll only be available in selected stores. If you fancy buying one for someone it might be worth phoning your local store to check if they have any in stock. 

You can order specially made cakes in store, with this cool penguin design only costing £20. 

There are so many shiny sweet gifts to choose from. 

I definitely had to grab some of the fancy mallows. Pistachio anything is always good. These would make an excellent alternative gift for a teacher, rather than the usual deluge of shower gels!

Cute carrot cake muffins, part of the 3 for 2 party deal.

I'm probably one of the few people who doesn't go Continental Market mad every December, but I do love Churros. Now I can get a fix with these ready to eat beauties. 

M&S seem to out edible glitter on 90% of their Christmas desserts- and that is BRILLIANT. I wish I could eat shimmering everything. 

So I think there will be one more pre-Christmas M&S food blog post, so watch out for the last selection of goodies in a week or two. 

Christmas 2015 Has Arrived in Marks & Spencer's Food Hall

Tis the season to eat all-y! Christmas has arrived in Marks & Spencer with  3 for 2 offers across party food as well as gifts & beauty departments. Stock up now, freeze and avoid the crazy rush in late December.

I called into the Belfast city centre branch to pick up some of the Christmas food that's just hit the shelves. 

There are lots of party food favourites back in store, with some cute additions like mini chicken buckets and chorizo cups. 

Again Marks and Spencer are partnering with Shelter with their Christmas lunch products. You can eat & be merry while also helping the Shelter charity. 

The orange and clementine juice tastes like childhood Christmases with a baby orange in your stocking from Santa. 

Christmas dinner is my all time favourite meal, so I'm glad M&S have a sneaky pre-Christmas roast turkey dinner for one. 

The glitter poinsettias caught my eye.  

That is one big walnut whip. The hot chocolate flakes are part of the 3 for 2 offer on Christmas trimmings. 

My favourite part, the party desserts. They are all mix and match on 3 for 2. 

This is a nifty little idea. Ice your own letter to Santa. I don't quite know the logistics of how Santa reads it if it ends up in your stomach, but we can put it down to Christmas magic. 

They've a range of Christmas crisps on a two for £2.70 deal. I have to be honest and say I wasn't keen on these parsnip ones. 

More from the lunch selection, very cute mini traybakes. 

Stunning macarons you have there, M&S. 

I wish I had picked up this parsnip drink now. Can't imagine what it might taste like! 

Could You Eat Reindeer This Christmas? Share a Lidl Magic

Tonight Michael and I went along to probably the most impressive launch night we've been to, as  Lidl NI showcased their range for Christmas 2015.

They had set up a replica Christmas market inside the Life Church in Belfast. Sparkly lights on Christmas trees and stalls brimming with treats. 

The entertainment came in the form of the Bugle Babes. 

So what can we expect in store? As usual Lidl's deluxe range is out of this world, with oysters, chowder and the finest meats. 

Have you ever made one of these gingerbread houses? I've tried. Never again. So thank goodness Lidl have a ready made one you can buy! 

These little desserts are so cute. One is chocolate orange and it tastes amazing. Good idea as a Christmas dinner dessert, when you're so full of turkey & trimmings that you couldn't squeeze a full size dessert in. 

And here it is, the infamous reindeer meat! Could you try it without feeling like you're chowing down on Rudolph? 

My Mum always does a buffet on Boxing Day, so I'm going to have to bring a pack of this and see what everyone's reaction is! 

I realised I had never tried oysters before. They were tasty. 

So there we have it. A little taster of Lidl Christmas 2015. I'm all in a Christmassy mood now. 

Marks & Spencers Winter Warmers to See You Through to Christmas Party Food Season.

Your local M&S is no doubt bulging with Christmas treats. Serving sizes for more than just your nearest and dearest, but to feed granny, the little cousins & your chatterbox Uncle who will turn up on Boxing Day expecting a feast! That's a situation you can take care of with Marks and Spencer's three for the price of two over the entire party food range.

My Sprucefild visit this month was to pick up some winter warmers, rather than festive themed novelties. Hearty, rich food for the shortening days. 

Yet, I couldn't resist these party foods. Who's child wouldn't be excited about tiny hotdogs for a Tuesday tea time?

M&S also do a range of min burgers. This includes brioche baplets, a tomato salsa, cheese slices and the burgers. We added in our own pepperoni and plum tomatoes.

The third party item I tried this week were these Sticky Lollipops. If you are from Northern Ireland I can tell you these are as delicious as something you'd get from Zen.

These smoked salmon pâté snacks are part of the range that donates a preparation of profit to Shelter.

Finally, I couldn't resist trying out their Turkeh sandwich either.

And Santa's grotto at Sprucefield looks beautiful.

It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas at M&S #FollowTheFairies

There's a certain November day when the light is just right, the shops are sufficiently bustling and the smell of cinnamon is in the air, and it hits you, the Christmassy feeling. With all the new Christmas adverts launching this week, including the Marks and Spencer fairies my Christmas feeling hit me on Saturday.

Our son has had his eye on this adorable little tin of gingerbread men the past two weeks, so this Saturday I allowed him to pick one of the light-up tins for his own Christmas display.

Marks and Spencer invited me to pick out my top choices from the new Christmas and party range, to share with you, my readers, what I think it worth stocking up on for celebrating with this December.

Yeti £2.50 : Gold Whips £1.65 : Christmas Pudding Cookies £2.00 : Twigs £1.50 : Smaller sweets 60p

You won't be short in supply of sweet treats to pick from. Reindeer twigs (Matchmakers) and smaller lunch time chocolate novelties can be found near the till. The coconut covered mini Yeti are a sweet idea, and if you ever want a cookie that tastes EXACTLY OF CHRISTMAS then you'll adore the Christmas Pudding Cookies.

Then there's the return of the chocolate sprouts. These look so realistic in their needed bags and cost only £2.00

There are also chocolate Santas.

Juice £2.00

I couldn't do a Christmas food round up without including mince pies. I only started eating & enjoying mince pies about two years ago. Before I thought they tasted disgusting. Maybe my palette is changing as I age, but I still play it safe by making sure the mince pies I do eat around Christmas time are from M&S, where the quality will be superb.

Heres a cool little idea, a Night In Christmas Treats Box for family movie night, or indeed nibbling through on a Saturday night, cheering on your favourite in Xfactor. Makes a nice alternative to the yearly getting smaller box of Roses chocolates.

Treat Box : £8.00 : Mini Mince Pies £2.50

I also treated myself to this gift box of very special handcrafted chocolates. The Chocolatier's box is something special. The colours make them look like jewels rather than exquisite desserts. Hands off, this is mummy's box of chocolates.

With all the sweet treats, I didn't have much budget left over for savoury, but as ever M&S is streets ahead with the quality & inventiveness of their party food. Remember to call in soon as items are on 3 for the price of 2. Freeze them until party season & have saved some money.

Pork Belly £6 : Ready to Eat or Heat Prawns £7

Pizza fashioned into Christmas tree shapes are ideal if you've kids coming round to visit.

I've often wished you could concentrate the taste of Christmas into one thing, and M&S have only gone and done it. Dare you try the 'Christmas Soup'? Tell me what you make of it on Twitter (@rudedoodle).

Christmas tree pizza £5 : Christmas Soup £2.50

Finally, a quick peek at some other items in store which I didn't try out, but which look splendid all the same.

M&S helps homeless charity Shelter every year with proceeds coming from sales of their Christmas takeaway lunch selection. The packaging is almost too cute to throw away.

And there's a whole red labelled section of the store for those basic Christmas ingredients you might forget otherwise. PLUS they are on 3 for 2 right now.