Christmas chocolate tubs are getting smaller and cost more - how to get them cheap

Nope, it’s not just your imagination. Your favourite Christmas chocolate tub is getting smaller and more expensive.

Roses? The price per 100 g has gone up by 95% since 2021. Celebrations? Up 88%. Heroes? A respectable 71%. Quality Street? “Only” 59%.

The tubs themselves have shrunk too. Your Celebrations tub is now 21% smaller, and Quality Street is down by 15%. Heroes, on the other hand, has shrunk by 8%.

That’s all according to the Energy and Climate Intelligence Unit (ECIU) who believe climate change is one of the main reasons for the price increase. Chris Jaccarini, food and farming analyst at the ECIU said: “Climate change is making the family politics of who gets what from the big tub of chocolates that little bit more fraught this year, as boxes shrink and prices climb.

“From chocolate to sugar to dairy, the ingredients in our festive favourites are being hit by extreme heat, floods and disease outbreaks across the world.”

So how do you indulge in these popular festive treats without blowing your Christmas budget before you’ve even bought the turkey? Here are our top tips for getting your fix this year.

Look at the price per 100g

It's worth checking the per 100g cost of different chocolate tubs to work out which one’s cheapest.

Granted, cheapest doesn’t always mean best value. If a Quality Street tub is a couple of quid less than Celebrations, but you hate chewy toffees with a passion, you’d be forgiven for foregoing the saving.

Use price comparison sites

Supermarkets run chocolate tub offers all the time in the run up to Christmas. Without the discounts, a Celebrations tub can cost as much as £7. With the offers, you could get it for close to half price.

Sites like Trolley let you compare the costs of different items at popular supermarket chains. That’s how we worked out you can nab a box of Celebrations for £3.95 from Tesco with your Clubcard. Cadbury’s Heroes would set you back £5.25 at the same shop. Some other chains sell these same tubs for £7.

Buy in bulk (if it makes sense)

If you know you love Heroes or Celebrations, save the empty tub and watch out for offers on the bulk boxes. You can nab 2kg of Heroes for £15 at Morrisons currently. They just come in a cardboard box rather than a fancy tub.

The bulk box comes costs £0.75 per 100g and has the exact same chocolate as the Heroes tub which works out at £0.95 per 100g if you can get it from Tesco. It works out cheaper, you get a lot more chocolate, and you could even use some for stocking fillers.

Plus, you’re not buying a load of plastic tubs and can re-use the one from last year. It’s a win for your wallet and a win for the planet.

Use PlusSave to shave £££ off the price

If you’re a thinkmoney SmartPlus customer, you can get discounted gift cards at popular chains like Tesco and Morrisons plus hundreds of other retailers.

Discounts vary, but at Tesco for example, you can get 4% off your shop on top of all other Clubcard offers. So, for every £100 you spent, you’d save £4. That’s basically the price of a Celebrations tub right now. Free Celebrations with the weekly shop, anyone?

You’ll need to open or upgrade to SmartPlus to use PlusSave^ and get the discounts, though.

^Offers are subject to change and may vary. Check the thinkmoney app for the latest offers.