SHEIN, the online retailer that’s saved many-a-birthday night out or hen do with its inexpensive fashion range, is going to pop up in Manchester next week.
The global fast fashion giant is teaming up with Klarna to visit the city centre on 23 September.
But this won’t be your average retail experience. The two businesses will have an enormous, bright pink bus parked up at Spinningfields Square.
There’ll be loads of freebies, like makeovers and snacks, and the chance to win prizes.
Inside the In Pink We Trust tour bus, there’ll be the chance to experience the world of SHEIN – something that’s normally solely online.
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The brand will showcase everything from knitwear to denim to partywear and accessory collections inside a luxurious walk-in wardrobe.
Then outside, a terrace area will be a haven for homeware, with SHEIN’s new home decor and appliances on display.
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The SHEIN x Klarna bus tour is coming to Manchester. Credit: Publicity picture
The first 100 visitors will receive a complimentary goodie bag filled with pink presents.
And there’ll be luxury pampering experiences available in the custom-built Glam Stop, from complimentary manicures to hair styling sessions using the SHEGLAM range.
To fuel your shopping? It’s free popcorn and candy floss from a pop-up sweet stall.
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SHEIN and Klarna will also install a Spin to Win and a retro arcade grabber, with tech gadgets and beauty buys up for grabs.
HELLO! magazine’s Fashion Monthly Editor Jill Wanless will host a Trends at Twelve talk to show how she’d style up her favourite SHEIN looks.
The whole thing will be soundtracked by DJs Kat Brown Sugar, Emma Rose, and Latoya Reisner.
SHEIN x Klarna’s In Pink We Trust tour bus will be in Manchester at Spinningfields Square from 10am to 5pm on 23 September.
The best picky bits and Christmas party food in M&S this year
Daisy Jackson
Can some scientist please explain why us Brits have such a compulsion to roll out the picky bits and party food (ESPECIALLY if it comes from M&S) as soon as there’s a vague sense of occasion?
Birthday party? Picky bits. BBQ season? Picky bits. Had a long day at work and can’t decide what to have for tea but definitely don’t want a Pot Noodle? Picky bits.
And when Christmas or New Year’s Eve rolls around, the urge to consume random little morsels of food intensifies.
Whether it’s British classics squashed down into tiny portions and jammed on a buffet table or fancy little appetisers you hand around a party, we just can’t get enough.
Which is why we’ve raided the shelves at M&S once again to bring you all the best picky bits and party food available for Christmas 2024.
As for prices, the more premium M&S Collection party food items are generally priced at £7.50, with the more standard range coming in at £5.50 each, and all available on a four-for-three offer.
And yes, you might end up spending an obscene amount of money on miniature food items that won’t do a single thing to quell an appetite, but my gosh, won’t you feel like a prim and proper princess when you slide those teeny weeny fish and chips in front of your guests.
Let’s begin.
Brits abroad
M&S party food 2024 – chicken shawarma and Middle Eastern flatbreadsM&S party food 2024 – patatas bravas stacks
M&S might be the most staunchly British institution of modern times, but us Brits also love nothing more than to lift the culinary expertise of other countries onto our own plates.
And this year is no exception – M&S has whipped up a whole host of party food inspired by international favourites.
From little potato stacks that pay homage to everyone’s favourite tapas dish, patatas bravas, to tiny chicken shawarma kebabs to Middle Eastern Flatbreads, if you want a little spice on your Christmas buffet, they’ve got it.
Well aren’t you a fancy pants?!
‘Ooooh, someone’s doing well’ comes the chorus of praise as you hand around your mini prawn thermidor (these tiny gold trays even have a cheddar cheese crumb on top).
‘Wow, that must’ve been a good Christmas bonus’ they say as they accept a mini coquille St Jacques, complete with extra-small shell.
If upper middle class was a nibble, it would probably look like these guys.
Little Britain
Mini scampi and chips, and miniature pies at M&SMini Yorkshire puddings and cheese and ham scones from M&S party food range
Imagine all your classic British dishes, pub food, Sunday dinners, comfort meals cooked by your mum – you picturing them? Okay, now imagine them again but really, really small.
Now you’ve got a good idea of the items in our next M&S party food category.
There are mini Yorkshire puddings filled with slow-cooked beef, red wine and mushroom jus, and a garlic and herb crumb.
There are neat little cheddar and ham scones, miniature pies filled with beef and ale or chicken and leek, and even picky bit-sized scampi and chips portions, complete with newspaper wrapping. Cute!
The classics
M&S prawn selectionM&S pigs in blankets and halloumi in blanketsM&S Smoked salmon appetisers
These are not just buffet food items, these are M&S buffet food items, and that means they come with a bit of pizzazz.
Yes, there are pigs in blankets, but there are also halloumi pigs in blankets (which they weirdly haven’t made vegetarian) served with a hot honey drizzle.
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We love a battered prawn on a party food selection and M&S has done a selection of tiger prawn nibbles – prawn baguette toasts, prawn and coconut bites, and prawn and potato lattice balls. The word prawn is starting to look weird.
There are also smoked salmon appetisers, where smoked salmon strips are rolled around a honey roast salmon mousse. Hope ya like very small fish!
I’d love to be a fly on the wall when the M&S party food is discussed, because I’m pretty sure no one around that boardroom table is telling them ‘No, Arabella, that’s a silly idea’. Arabella does what she wants.
This year, she’s heard all the ‘girl dinner’ trends and gone ‘WE SHOULD MAKE A CHRISTMAS DIP’ – the result is a turkey feast dip topped with shredded turkey and bacon, cranberry sauce, cranberries and a stuffing crumb. WHY, ARABELLA?!
They’ve also brought back the novelty-shaped bao, this year in two festive shapes – penguins and polar bears.
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And of course you can still get miniature steak sandwiches and I don’t know why that makes me so uncomfortable, but it does.
A very yeehaw Christmas
M&S Mini beef burgersBuffalo chicken croquettes and New York deli spring rolls at M&S
Giddy up, cowboy, it’s time for the rootin’-tootin’ M&S party food show!
Everyone’s favourite fancy supermarket has gone stateside this year, drawing inspiration from the healthiest of nations… America.
There are Buffalo chicken croquettes, served with an extra Buffalo sauce dip, mini beef burgers (always the hardest thing to eat), and, weirdly, spring rolls inspired by a New York deli?
They’ve shoved salt beef and sauerkraut into a spring roll and then served it with a mustard and gherkin dip. You do you, M&S.
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Now you’re just showing off
M&S party food 2024 – the charcuter-tree. Credit: The Manc Group
You’re presenting your charcuterie on a flat board? Peasant.
Real fancy people present their cured meat and cheese selection in the shape of a Christmas tree (obviously) and M&S have got a build-you-own kit available for £25.
An extra shout-out to the security-locked Serrano ham joint, which came with its own block and knife, for another statuesque meat buffet option.
You can get FREE carrots for Santa’s reindeers from Morrisons this weekend
Emily Sergeant
Morrisons is back giving away carrots to feed Santa’s hungry reindeers for free this Christmas weekend.
Isn’t this just the cutest thing ever?
With the most wonderful time of the year officially here, and the big day itself just a few days away now, the supermarket retailer has decided it’s time to spread some festive cheer and help families prepare for Father Christmas’ visit by giving away more than 185,000 wonky carrots at all its stores across the UK – including those in Greater Manchester.
British wonky carrots are oversized or misshapen, but Morrisons insists they “still taste delicious” – and we don’t think Rudolph and his pals would disagree.
Morrisons is giving away free carrots for Santa’s reindeers this weekend / Credit: Morrisons | Wikimedia Commons
During the festive season, carrot sales at Morrisons more than double in the week before Christmas compared to the previous week, which just proves that the tradition of leaving food and drink out for the big man in red is still as popular as ever.
By giving the carrots away for free, Morrisons says it hopes to encourage shoppers to choose wonky vegetables more often.
Wonky veg is great for reducing food waste, as this produce would’ve otherwise been discarded.
The free carrots are available for anyone to collect at the front of all Morrisons stores across the UK from this Saturday and Sunday (21 and 22 December).
Daisy Jackson -
14th September 2023 
