I always urge my wife to buy next year’s Christmas presents in this year’s January sales. It never works, come January we are shopped out and broke so, good idea that it is, we are looking at Christmas coming up and gifts to find in Spain.
Always appreciated back in the UK are Fine Spanish Products so this year we will be sending many people a bottle of Extra Virgin Olive Oil, a bottle of Cava and a bottle of our locally made Wine from the Contraviesa. The olive oil we buy in 5 litre containers from our local barand it really is the best we’ve ever tasted, the beautiful bottles come from a wine shop in the Alpujarras.
Maybe we will vary this with some Vinagre de Jerez, a bottle of Manzanilla and one of the Vino Dulce de Málaga which tastes just like Christmas Pudding to me. Then again, a fine Brandy de Jerez, some Pacharán made from Sloes and bottle of my home-made Apricot Brandy might go down well (every summer the neighbour turns up with an entire case of Apricots and we have to do something with them before they go off).
Cut-away of Bottle Pack
How are we going to get them back to the UK unbroken? Well, this year Citibox are giving away a three bottle gift pack to anyone who wants to FedEx bottles as Christmas presents. The Packs are rated for a drop height of 1.2m and meet FedEx’ specifications for safe delivery. They have adjustable bases to accommodate bottles of different heights. There’s even room to slip a salchicón or chorizo or some turón, a tub of home-baked almonds or some fig chutney in with the bottles. UK Customs will allow up to six bottles of wine without duty as a Seasonal Gift. We have not had any problems elsewhere within the EU. For the USA and Canada, the declared value must be under €25 to avoid the FDA getting involved.
And they’re FREE. They would cost you €7.50 each if you bought them but Citibox will give you free packaging when you send bottles via FedEx Courier this Christmas through a participating Citibox office (although we can’t combine this with any other offer). And remember that FedEx is cheaper than posting your parcels, 3 bottles start from €32.50 and 6 bottles from only €41.00!
They will be arriving in stores from this week. That’s Christmas Spirit the Citibox way!
