Hi everyone! Ready for my 2017 Christmas Market Mugs post? I hope you are! So way back in 2015 when I first started my blog I posted all of the mugs I’d bought at Chicago’s Christkindlmarket in the past few years. I’ve been going since 2009 (except for 2011 I think) when I took a German class in college. Guten Tag! Although I only took one semester of German it was a lot of fun and I loved the market so much I had to go back.

Every year the market does a new mug design so I have quite a collection now! I have gotten most of the mugs in the past few years. I don’t ever use them, I only take them out at Christmas but they’re just too adorable. Take a look!

First I’ll show you my new 2017 mugs! The market has been doing two mugs for a few years, one for adults and one for kids. That doesn’t mean you can only get whichever one is assigned to your age group. It just means that the kid’s mug can’t have wine in it. You must get the adult mug if you want wine. But you can get hot chocolate in either! (Although if you have an adult one with hot chocolate and try to leave the market you get stopped by the guards at the exits because they need to make sure it’s not wine. Open container laws and all that.)

So the cute little red one is the adult mug! I think it’s just so cute although I have to say the wide open top was annoying when trying not to spill. The market was pretty empty when I went with a friend (we got hot chocolate) so we didn’t have to worry but when I went a few weeks later with my mom it was so crowded we could barely move as is!

The snowman mug is the kids mug of course! I bought this without a drink in it, since I just wanted both. It’s a cute grandpa snowman and I thought it was way too adorable to leave behind. I thought about waiting until I was back downtown for a musical (I went to see Wicked a few weeks after my first visit) and since the theatre is one street over I thought I could just stop by and get it. I’m glad I didn’t wait because it was wayyyyy to crowded and the lines were crazy. Luckily I now have both.

 

The next three mugs I think are also very cute. The little blue one is from 2016 (thankfully they started putting years on the mugs recently). So for the most part every mug has the same few features: the structures that have the stores in the market, the Picasso statue, the Christkind (the German people that are dressed up and have something to do with the holiday, somehow I’m not 100% sure even after years of going), and the Chicago skyline. Oh, and a tree. I loved this design and the rounded off top was nice.

The green one is from 2014, and I also really love this one. I think the round ones are the cutest actually. The interesting shapes are so fun!

And the little snowman is the 2015 kids mug. That was the first year for the kids mug so I had to get it.

I think these are the more boring mugs out of all of them. The tall mug is from 2013 and the little one was from a remote market in 2014. So the main market is always at the Daley Plaza in Chicago (hence why the Picasso is on the mugs, because it is in the Plaza), but a few years ago they started adding more locations outside of the city. In 2014 they opened one at the Oakbrook Mall which is really close to where I go to school. I did go to that one for two years until they moved it to Naperville, which is a south western suburb. It’s quite far from me and although I do go there on occasion for book signings at Anderson’s Bookshop (I’ve met quite a few YouTubers there!) I didn’t go for the market. This year they also added a market at Wrigley Field I think, where the Chicago Cubs (baseball) team play so they had three markets. I only went to the downtown one though.

And lastly, the boot mugs! These are everyone’s favorites, but the market doesn’t use this shape every year. The white one on the left is from 2010 and the red one is 2009, so the first two years I went to the market.

The rounder one on the right is from 2015. This was the second year they had two markets and I bought mine at the market in Oakbrook. That year they actually had the same mug at the downtown location so although I went to that one too, I didn’t buy another one. There was also another kids mug but it was almost identical to the 2014 snowman except for a green scarf and I felt that was just too similar and didn’t buy it. but this boot was so adorable!

Overall, I love the market a ton. I do make it a point to go every year, although usually I have a reason to be in the area (like musicals). I do enjoy looking at all the beautiful items and while they are expensive, they are very well made and hand made too. I don’t often buy much but there’s food, ornaments, candles, tea, soap, chocolate, drinks, and so much more. It’s one of my favorite things to do in Chicago during the weeks leading up to Christmas and I can’t imagine a season without stopping by to get a new mug.

---

And those are my Christmas Market mugs! Let me know which ones are your favorites! Also, do you have a Christmas market near you?

Thanks for reading!

Pamela

Follow me on social media!

Instagram | Youtube | Facebook | Twitter | Goodreads | Bloglovin‘ |Pinterest | Email |Snapchat: StarringPamela |