‘Overwhelming’ response to first Christingle chocolate orange

‘Overwhelming’ response to first Christingle chocolate orange

With traditional Christingle events likely to be cancelled or radically different this year, the world’s first Fairtrade chocolate orange box, with relevant symbols, is now available.

The box also doubles as a charity collection opportunity with a slot for coins. Everything is plastic free and can be recycled.

With a few simple tweaks to liturgy, order of services or events it is now possible to run a safer, socially distanced or zoom Christingle.

‘The box has been on the drawing board for the past seven years but I thought now was the time to do a pilot,’ explained David Marshall, founder of Meaningful Chocolate Co. ‘The response has been overwhelming. We have seen people buying for whole schools, Messy churches and as stocking fillers. One church leader, based in Chesterfield, wrote: “The Christingle chocs are great. Just what is needed this year.”’

In 1747 Bishop Johannes de Watteville started the Christingle tradition in Germany. The Moravian Church then spread the tradition. In the UK, since the 1960s, Christingles have been used in Advent to share the Christmas message and raise funds for charity. 

Meaningful Chocolate’s sugar comes from cooperatives in Paraguay and Belize. Most of the cocoa from cooperatives in the Ivory Coast (Kuapa Kokoo Co-operative Cocoa Farmers and Marketing Union Limited Ghana). Beans are also sourced from cooperatives in the Dominican Republic, Peru, Panama and Ecuador. The chocolate is blended in Belgium.

Buying products from Fairtrade producers enables them to obtain fair prices for their crops and have decent working conditions.

Click here for more information

• Meaningful Chocolate Co. will be at CRE National 2021 (12-14 Oct, Sandown Park, Esher, Surrey)

Our next exhibitions