I love an Aldi specialbuy, but there is one time of year that its bargain homeware finds are at its very best and that is Christmas. I was lucky enough to get a preview of the new Aldi specialbuys before they land in store at their Christmas show, and there are some serious gems coming up.
Starting this week, the budget supermarket will be dropping luxury candles, Aldi cast-iron cookware, elegant wine glasses, coffee machines, and so much more. In typical Aldi style, all of these items look ALOT more expensive than they are, and bear a striking resemblance to many high-end versions…
I’ve been writing about Aldi for 6 years now, so I know which buys come back every year, what will sell out fast, and I have also tested a number of the products in my own home. I’ve pooled all this experience to come up with a shortlist of the specialbuys I’ll be making a beeline for with my trolley, and the buys you don’t want to miss.
Cast-iron sets
Every year Aldi launches a cast-iron set for Christmas in a small edit of new colours, but this year has my favourite colourways to date.
At the Aldi Christmas show I spied a beautiful ombre green 4-litre cast iron dutch oven priced at an incredible £16.99, and a stunning orange shallow cast iron casserole dish, for £19.99. Both of these will be available from 13th November.
Aldi has some of the best priced cast iron dishes you can buy, with Habitat’s cast iron cookware the only other retailer coming close at £35 for a 3.3L cast iron casserole dish. I own a complete set of the Aldi cast iron cookware and can vouch for the quality, and surprisingly I’ve found the shallow dish the most useful pan in the set.
Candles and diffusers
Now this is the Aldi Christmas offering I’m most excited about this year. It’s no secret that Aldi makes good, affordable designer dupe candles. However, if I’m being honest I’ve found the scents and packaging from the last few years a little lacklustre, but not this Christmas.
They’ve bought back the crowd-pleasing festive inclusion candles and are dropping an Aldi Diptyque candle dupe in store this weekend. However, it was the Hotel Collection Confetti Glass Hurricane Candle, priced at £24.99 and available from 6th Novembe,r that I’m expecting to be a bestseller. It looks almost identical to the Baobab candle that cost £480 at John Lewis, and the Aldi version smells divine.
If you can’t wait for your home scent fix I’m also eyeing up the Extra Large Hotel Collection Diffuser in the Tobacco and Oud scent, priced at £12.99. I loved the smokey and sultry scent of the tobacco, but it is also launching alongside a sweeter Vanilla and Oud, and White Musk and Oud from the 12th October.
But for the true candle fanatics Aldi is also launching an advent candle filled with small version of its Hotel Collection candles. It is priced at £24.99, and available from 26th October, the Aldi candle advent calendar is just cheaper than the Yankee Candle wreath advent calendar which is £28.99, but the Aldi candles are small 50g votives instead of tealights.
Christmas decorations
In what I think might be a first Aldi is launching a faux Christmas tree on the 30th October, priced at £39.99. While it might not be able to challenge The White Company Nordman Fir Christmas tree, which is one of the best artificial Christmas tree our team has tested, it is an amazing price for such a fluffy tree.
It is available in green and snow-dusted, but after seeing the snowy version in person, that’s the one I’d go for.
If you already have the tree sorted, then I’d suggest you turn your attention to the range of bows and novelty decorations Aldi will be selling in-store from 30th October.
Big bow decorations are going to be everywhere this year and are already selling out at other brands, so keep your eyes peeled for the Aldi version, which is just £2.99 for the tree topper version.
The baubles are a little more playful and focus on some of the brand’s most popular special buys and will include everything from the infamous Aldi air fryer to their iconic cast iron sets for just £3.99.
Kitchen Appliances
It wouldn’t be Christmas without Aldi dropping a few very well priced kitchen appliances. This year the standout star is set to be the espresso machine they’ve bought back from last year, priced at £59.99 and dropping on 7th December.
They are also dropping a beautiful hot chocolate maker, priced at £24.99 on the same day that looks very similar to the Smeg Milk Frother, available for £149 at Amazon.
Tableware
To round things off, Christmas is when you can find the best tableware at Aldi. I called out their champagne glasses last year as one of my favourite Aldi Christmas specialbuys for 2024, and this year I was equally taken with the wine glasses, that are priced £8.99 for a set and will be landing in store on 27th November.
They have a very similar shape to the The White Company’s bestselling Pimlico wine glasses that I’d been eyeing up, but at £34 for 4 glasses I’m opting for the Aldi versions instead.
Finally don’t overlook the 18-piece Laguiole Cutlery set priced at £16.99, and almost identical Laguiole Cutlery set will cost you back £165 at John Lewis. I invested in the Aldi set two years ago and use it everyday; it’s only recently started to show any signs of wear.
This is just a sneak peak of what’s to come over the next few months from Aldi. Which buy will you be keeping an eye out for in store?
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