Tips and Tricks for Christmas Markets purchases

I have not put a real suitcase inside a suitcase, but I have brought along soft sided duffel bags. Then I check my real suitcase for the way home and take the soft bag as my carryon. I keep the purchases with me as I know I am very careful with them.

I have also shipped things home, usually dirty clothes, and then take the new purchases with me in my carryon. I just go to the post office and get a box there and use that to ship stuff vs having a merchant ship it for me. That said, if I am at a real store with higher end breakable items, I do have them ship it for me.

My only tip is to not go crazy with the Christmas mugs. I am on some Christmas market FB groups and they have gone nuts with the mugs. Guess I don't get it. A few are nice, but who needs 50 mugs?

That said, when you get your Glühwein or hot cocoa in a mug, you pay a deposit. When you bring your mug back, ask if you can trade it for a clean one so you aren't schlepping around a sticky mug. Often, you must bring the mug back to the stand you got it from, not just another stand. Stands selling Feuer Stange Bowle will often have a unique sort of mug, but check and see. Medieval markets will have nice, red clay mugs that also look quite different.
You may want to have some bubble wrap in your bag. Just get one mug per market. Check the dates. At the beginning of the markets, many stands are trying to get rid of their mugs from former years.
The French markets tend to use plastic cups and mugs with deposits.

I went to the markets last year and I put a packable duffle bag in my carry on roller bag. I waited until our last stop to make any purchases so I wouldn’t have to lug two bags around. I put my dirty clothes, etc. in the duffel bag and checked it, and kept my carryon bag with me to hold anything more fragile.

These are great tips!! I knew about the mug thing, but not the differences in quality Thanks all!
*Where do you feel some of the nicer quality mugs are found? We are pretty set in the cities we
are visiting, but have some flexibility at the end of our time.

The two common ways to ship to USA are DHL or the Post. Post is much cheaper. I prefer to ship instead of carrying stuff from place to place. Most shipping places have all the boxes and gear, but it's cheaper to prepare your package using stuff from a shop like Tedi or Rossmann. Personally, I don't buy stuff from the Christmas markets unless it's unique, as the prices are crazy. But then I'm not shipping much stuff home for a couple years now.

You should think about looking for the thrift shops, or places like Oxfam, where you can find some deals. I also hit the antique shops and flea markets, (flohmarkt in German, brocantes in French). Some places are known for specific handicrafts, like Black Forest carvings, or Daum glass from Nancy. Those are the kind of things that stay special. (I have a whole wall of antique etchings of places I've visited over the past 30 years).

Do your shopping early, and put it in your room, then spend the evenings just walking and enjoying the festival at it's best. The markets do kind of seem the same, so don't try to jam too many of them into a trip.

Great advice KGC! Thanks for your reply!

Obviously if the suitcase is strong enough to stand the handling. I will concur with sending by post and be prepared to pay the price. They have packing material to purchase too. A carry-on works, but you have to safeguard the package. Be wary of what you are buying. There is a ton of junk out there and I think it would be a challenge to find "Made in Germany" at the markets. No meat and fruit etc. I've mentioned eBay.de sometimes if you are looking for something particular. At least with a mug you have the memories and a Pfand chip to go with sometimes. I've got my share in the Kreller.

The only time I’ve brought a suitcase within a suitcase was when I was buying a LOT of down bedding items for gifts. Otherwise I do what many others have mentioned, above. I pack a lightweight, foldable duffle bag and fill it with dirty cloths for the trip home. My other purchases are carefully packed into my carryon or large personal item bag.

My husband and I go to the Christmas Markets almost every year. We always find unique items (made in Germany) and buy enough to fill two extra totes for the trip home. Last year I bought the Rick Steve’s Hide-Away tote for $19.99 and was pleased with the quality. I bring some extra bubble wrap for the mugs but most vendors wrap items well, often in a box. We also like shopping in some of the upscale shops and department stores. The toy selection in Germany can’t be beat. We also bring home some food items, but stick to candy and bakery items. Don’t get caught bringing in Spatzel with bacon bits! All meat products are prohibited.

Thanks again for all of the replies! I just purchased the Hide-a-way tote! I have read lots of times about items that are imported and I am not very interested in that. Best markets for handmade??

Hi,

We have a mug from each towns Christmas Market we visited. We also stopped at the local Brewery Shop to get a beer glass, as most have different shapes and the Brewery logo on it. So much cheaper than a gift shop. We got them home by (May sound icky) putting each mug and glass in a dirty sock to protect it and packed it in the “middle” of our suitcase. Doing this on a few trips we never had one break.

If you visit Regensburg, go to the Thurn and Taxis Market (near a castle of the same name). They do charge admission, but it has a beautiful atmosphere and we found a nice selection of handcrafted items.

If wooden ornaments-pyramids-schwiboggen catch your eye, look for those made in the Erzgebirge (Ore Mountain) area of Germany.

Shipping back to the US from Germany - I spend $210 to ship a Swatch watch + box via DHL to the US, slowest service possible. I'm guessing the postal service would be cheaper, but a mid-size watch box (8 in x 4 in x 4in) will run you at least $50 to the US in the post.
That said, I just shipped 2 books, about 2 pounds (1 kg) from the US to The Netherlands, and that was $51USD. And the recipient will pay $21 in arrival customs.
The answer is yes, shipping to the US can be monumentally expensive. There's no more slow boat service that was cheap. Sadly, that went away long ago. It was the best ever.
Now it's an expensive air delivery service.
It's way. better to carry the bag in a bag. That's what my gf and I did Christmas 2023-Jan 2024 - we brought nearly an empty bag. I have status on Delta, so I have 2 free checked bags international. One carry, one checked. That said, I just brought my bigger backpack plus rollaboard, and I only carried everything back on.

We always bring wine skins because they work so well for anything breakable, not just wine. Recently we’ve also started traveling with or buying there a small shoebox sized Rubbermaid type container—it’s a little bulky but really helps things hold their shape (talking to you, gingerbread). We also use it to help us with transferring wet clothes when handwashing or dealing with swimsuits.

We did our first Christmas market trip last year. We brought a small roll of bubble wrap, some small scissors and some tape. That helped to wrap our mugs. We didn’t get too many other breakables. We did fall in love with a snow globe that took up a ridiculous amount of room in our suitcase and we could have ordered from Amazon. So see if that is an option before making big purchases!

We brought a tote bag and put a lot of clothes in it, then checked it coming home.

Another lesson we learned: you need way fewer clothes than you think. We wore thermals under jeans every day. With a heated towel rack in the bathroom, you can hand wash & dry them overnight easily. You’ll wear your coat, scarf & hat constantly outdoors, so it doesn’t matter what you wear under that. I wore a t shirt and light sweater under my coat. Added a thermal top if it was windy.