Manufacturers have lifted the lid on their 2001 seasonal offerings. Tracy West samples the goods C hristmas is coming which means only one thing for confectionery ­ sales are set to go through the roof. According to Cadbury, which uses Information Resources' data, the Christmas confectionery market returned to growth last year, with sales up 2.6% to £478m. The novelties and selection sectors showed biggest growth, up 9.4% and 9.8% respectively, driven by increased sales of tubes and selection packs. Mars performed particularly well, with its Celebrations 500g carton and 1.5kg tin heading the top 10 best selling lines at Christmas. Cadbury's Roses 500g came in third with Celebrations in again at the fourth position. As a result Mars' share of the Christmas market grew by 17.9% while both Cadbury and Nestlé saw a decline. For 2001 Mars is investing £4.5m in its Celebrations brand in a bid to maintain its best selling position. There will be new TV advertising and there are some new presentations. The Celebrations Christmas pudding contains 2kg of the twistwraps and has an rrp of £17.49. There is also a new 89p minibox. Another Mars' boxed chocolate, Bounty Calapuno, launched earlier this year, is performing so well that a new 300g pack is being launched in time for Christmas. The good news for Mars continues. The company more than doubled its sales of novelty gifts last Christmas. Trade relations manager Sam McElligott says the range was popular because it focused on value for money and add-on items that would last. "Consumers need to feel that they are purchasing a quality gift to complement their choice of branded chocolate," she says. New for 2001 are fluffy M&M's character rucksacks. Available in red or yellow, they come filled with 125g of M&M's. Rrp is £4.99. There are also M&M's Bursters ­ foil-wrapped M&M's characters containing M&M's Minis. Wobble Blox comprises a game and chocolates in a tube while Skittles Springy contains chewy sweets and a slinky spring. There is also a new Galaxy Advent calendar which contains 24 chocolates and a surprise gift. Meanwhile Nestlé Rowntree is pinning its hopes on a Quality Street spin-off to boost sales this Christmas. The Big Purple One is a mega size version of the hazelnut in caramel twistwrap chocolate. At 35p and positioned as an impulse treat, Nestlé hopes it will become the Christmas equivalent of the Creme Egg at Easter. New All Stars boasts being the first boxed assortment specifically for kids. It contains miniature packs of Nestlé's best sellers, all in a bright yellow box for £2.99. And despite being launched in time for Christmas, it will be available year round. Old favourites Black Magic and Dairy Box have been improved with new chocolates and both are available in ready gift-wrapped packs. A limited edition cool mint variant has been added to the Matchmakers range. Nestlé's link up with Disney continues and this year kids' lines will feature the new Atlantis film and Winnie, Buzz and co. For bigger kids there's a Kit Kat Chunky computer pack containing a branded mouse, mouse mat and four Chunky bars. And Yorkie is celebrating its 25th anniversary with the launch of a commemorative truck-shaped pack. Nestlé is backing its Christmas range with a £10m spend. According to Cadbury Trebor Bassett, 84% of all bulk pack assortment sales happen in the 16 weeks prior to Christmas making this the optimum time for retailers to make incremental sales on gifting brands. Cadbury's gifting brands get a revamp in time for the anticipated sales surge. Packaging on Roses and Milk Tray has been redesigned and both brands will be supported by TV advertising pre-Christmas. Roses assortments include two new chocolates and there are also three new tub packs. Twistwrap assortment Miniature Heroes has a new 900g tub and 2kg dumb-bell presentation. There is also a Pass the Parcel pack designed to be used in the kids' musical game. Heroes will be supported by TV advertising and a promotion on Virgin radio. Cadbury's track record with selection packs is excellent and it is driving sales this year with a high value win a trip to Lapland' promotion. For teenagers there is The Box, a selection of full sized countline bars in a trendy silver box. There are also Santa and Reindeer noses filled with Cadbury's Dairy Milk pieces, a milk carton-shaped box and an eye-catching 400g slab of Cadbury's Dairy Milk. On the sugar side there are gift packs complete with gift tag for Bassett's Liquorice Allsorts, Jelly Babies and Maynards Wine Gums plus tubes of Jelly Babies,Wine Gums and Flumps. Kraft Foods reports sales of gifting confectionery have grown in value and volume over the last 12 months. The company says the trend towards gesture gifting' ­ giving confectionery as a thank you' or token gift ­ is in growth. Doug McGowan, trading controller at Kraft Foods, says: "Token or top-up gifting is on the increase with brands like Terry's Chocolate Orange benefiting from year round increases in sales. Traditional boxed chocolates are also enjoying a return to growth. Boxed assortments is an area retailers may have been tempted to neglect but if they do they will be missing out on sales." McGowan reckons consumers are looking for more impressive mainstream boxed assortments. Kraft has upgraded its Terry's All Gold range with new packs featuring illustrations of the chocolates on the front and eight new chocolates inside. Star of Kraft's 2001 line-up is Terry's Chocolate Orange Snowball, a white chocolate version of the Orange. It exceeded trial sales expectations last year and is available nationally this year. Meanwhile Terry's Chocolate Orange Mini Segments are available in a new segment-shaped 330g tub which retails at £3.95. The Chocolate Orange brand is backed by a £3.2m TV advertising campaign and for the convenience sector a stock incentive sees Terry's Chocolate Orange packs with banded-on free boxes of Mini Segments. Also from Kraft, white chocolate lovers will be pleased to hear that Suchard Tendresses are available au blanc'; Toblerone comes in a twistwrap version entitled Toblerone One By Ones; and It's Christmas Dime' packs feature individually-wrapped mini Dime bars. Other new lines include Vodka Shots from Elizabeth Shaw ­ milk chocolates filled with orange, vanilla and raspberry vodka. Standard packaging is a 195g silver tube, rrp £5.49. There are also 99p trial packs. Ferrero has two new presentations for its Rocher: a diddy T4 four-pack which, at 99p, is marketed as an impulse gift; and a Rocher bell containing 16 chocolates, topped off with a red ribbon. Rrp is £3.99. Rocher will be backed by a £3m TV campaign in the run-up to Christmas. Kinnerton Confectionery has a new Who Wants to be a Millionaire? Chocolate game and The Simpsons Can of Chocolate Duffs, which contains solid chocolate shapes. There is also a Bob the Builder Tool Box with a candy-filled hammer, chocolate bars and a bag of jellies. Belgian brand Duc d'O, available in the UK via Ryne Quality Confectionery, is running an extra free promotion in the run-up to Christmas. The 250g Pralines Selection and 250g Truffles Selection come with an extra 125g of chocolates free. Staying with Belgian chocs, Guylian has a new 500g gift box, rrp £5.99, plus a La Trufflina Star presentation. TV advertising continues for the brand pre-Christmas using the Too good to giveaway' theme. At the premium end of the confectionery market are Lindt and Bendicks. Lindt's 1001 Christmas Dreams is a premium novelty range for adults. Pralines, liqueurs and truffles come in eye-catching packaging and a display stand shows off the range. Prices start at £1.59 for a 100g liqueur tablet to £6.99 for a golden tin of chocolates. Bendicks of Mayfair has transformed the packaging of its Luxury Chocolates and Luxury Dark Chocolates to give them a contemporary look. The chocolates have been revised, with favourites doubled up to optimise the range on offer. Walkers' Nonsuch has gone nuts' with its festive toffee gift selection. New this year are two best selling 100g Andy Pack bars in Brazil nut and original creamy, along with a branded toffee hammer. {{FOCUS SPECIALS }}