It’s that time of year already!

At Happy Creative we all love Christmas, and so to make it even more fun and exciting, this year we’ve decided to spread the happiness to get you all as much in the mood as we all are!

Whether you’re a traditionalist and prefer the smell and look of a real tree, or go for an artificial version, few images conjure up the perfect picture of Christmas better than a glowing tree, and it’s commonly accepted that you start to feel ‘Christmassy’ when your tree goes up. A lot of you will have been putting up your Christmas trees over the weekend, and at Happy we’re exactly the same. We’d have had it up weeks ago if we could!

For children across the world, and all of us who are still big kids at heart, there is a magic to a Christmas tree that you can’t get at any other time of year. Just for all of you who still revel in this magic, here are a few titbits that you can add to your own Christmas tree repertoire:

• The use of evergreen trees to celebrate the winter season occurred before the birth of Christ

• The first decorated Christmas was in Riga, Latvia in 1510

• The first printed reference to Christmas trees appeared in Germany in 1531

• Recycled trees have been used to make sand and soil erosion barriers and been placed in ponds for fish shelter

• Christmas trees remove dust and pollen from the air

• 59 per cent of real Christmas trees harvested are recycled in community programs

• An acre of Christmas trees provides for the daily oxygen requirements of 18 people

• Christmas trees take an average of 7-10 years to mature

• 100,000 people are employed in the Christmas tree industry

• 98 per cent of all Christmas trees are grown on farms

• The best-selling trees are Scotch pine, Douglas fir, Noble fir, Fraser fir, Virginia pine, Balsam fir and white pine

• Other types of trees such as cherry and hawthorns were used as Christmas trees in the past

• 73 million new Christmas trees will be planted this year

• Thomas Edison’s assistant, Edward Johnson, came up with the idea of electric lights for Christmas trees in 1882

• Christmas tree lights were first mass produced in 1890

• Every year since 1947, the people of Oslo, Norway have given a Christmas tree to the city of Westminster, England. The gift is an expression of good will and gratitude for Britain’s help to Norway during World War II

• More than 330,000 real Christmas trees are sold via e-commerce or catalogues.

This last fact ties us in nicely to our Social Media led Christmas Incentive! If you’re reading this, then you’re obviously keen to win our fabulous Christmas hamper!?

In case you’ve arrived here without receiving the email, a quick outline of our Happy incentive is here:

Each day you will receive a Christmas email (or follow our progress on Twitter and Facebook) which will ask you to perform a task. It may be to comment on a blog (like today!), follow on Twitter or to ‘like’ a page on Facebook for example. When you perform this task you will be added to a free prize draw and have the chance to win every day of the campaign. You can take part on all 12 days so good luck!

We have collaborated with a number of our Happy friends and so each day is sponsored by a different organisation.

Today’s task is simple, and it’s sponsored by the whole of the Happy Team!

Leave us a comment (click the little speech bubble at the top of the post) letting us know what makes you happiest about Christmas and be in with a chance of winning our Christmas hamper stacked with tasty goodies! Looks nice doesn’t it!?

There’s a few other goodies in there as well…

If you’re not on our email list and want to take part on all 12 days of the competition, please send an email to hello@happy-creative.co.uk and we’ll be more than Happy to put you on the list! Remember to keep an eye out for all the other days’ tasks, and good luck!

Please also forward the emails to your friends and family – let’s spread the happiness!!

Finally, all of us at Happy would like to wish you a very Merry Christmas and a Fabulous New Year.

Happy Creative, a full service marketing agency based in Blackpool, Lancashire. To learn more or contact us please go to

www.happy-creative.co.uk