Festive Gift Fair

At Festive Gift Fair you can do your Christmas shopping at independent stalls offering presents, decorations and food and drink, with 325 stalls planned across Halls 17 and 18 at the NEC Birmingham. Festive Gift Fair is organised by Orchard Events Ltd and sells direct to the public rather than to trade buyers. The 2026 fair is its 30th.

Festive Gift Fair 2026 dates and opening times

You can choose any of four days to visit, with the same opening hours each day. The fair runs from Thursday 19 November to Sunday 22 November 2026, opening from 9:30am to 5:00pm on all four days. It sits in the run of Christmas consumer events at the venue, a fortnight after Simply Christmas (from 5 November 2026) and overlapping with Classic Antique Fairs, which starts at the NEC on 20 November 2026.

Tickets and group offers

You need to book ahead, and on Thursday and Friday a group of four can get one adult ticket free.

• Entry is by pre-booked ticket only. No tickets are sold on the door, and the NEC event page notes that the 2025 fair sold out.
• Adult tickets cost £8 to £14, plus a transaction fee.
• On Thursday and Friday, a group buying three adult full-day tickets gets a fourth free.
• The entertainment programme is covered by the ticket price.

What you can buy

You can handle and taste products before you buy, and pick up deals stallholders offer only at the show. According to the organiser, stallholders bring a mix of handmade pieces, imported goods, food and drink, and home and garden decor. The NEC listing mentions personalised presents, stocking fillers and Christmas decorations, along with food stalls selling items from prosecco and brownies to cheese and chutneys. The fair’s own website publishes a list of stallholders, with a printable version.

Entertainment and visitor facilities

Your ticket covers the entertainment, so you can meet Father Christmas, who appears with his sleigh, take selfies with the Grinch and hear live singers. The official site lists the daily entertainment as including The Vinylettes, Sunny Side Up, The Base Tones, Artistic Air, a Gigantic Dino Raptor, Bernard Moseley Kidz Entertainment and a drumming toy soldier on stilts. You can also have your picture taken inside a giant snow globe or in a vintage photo booth.

You can shop without carrying your bags, as a present crèche lets you leave them while you carry on browsing. There is plenty of seating, and a Santa Sack prize draw takes place each day. At the NEC, security staff hand out free identification wristbands for children, and the cloakrooms charge £2 per coat and £3 per bag.

Selling at the fair

If you sell to the public, you can reach what the organiser says are tens of thousands of shoppers, from a stand that comes with walls, carpet, a snowflake fascia name board and icicle lighting along the front. Stallholders are asked to dress the space themselves. To book a stall, you complete an enquiry form on the fair’s website, and the organiser replies with current availability and prices. An exhibitor pack, a floorplan and details of the food and drink area are available from the same section. Before committing, it is worth comparing that package with the options in our guide to shell scheme or space only and costing the four days with our notes on building an exhibition budget. Another gift event at the same venue is Spring Fair, from 7 February 2027.

Getting to the NEC

You can arrive by train, plane, car or coach, and you pay £5 less for parking booked online before the day, subject to the NEC’s terms. Birmingham International railway station is five minutes from the halls on foot via a covered walkway. Birmingham Airport is linked to the station by a free air-rail shuttle that takes 90 seconds. Drivers can enter B40 1NT to reach the site, then follow signs to the event car park, from which a free shuttle bus runs to the halls. The official fair website also has a section on coach trips. There are seven hotels on the NEC site.

For other seasonal fairs, see the retail and gifts sector, the full list of Birmingham shows, events across the United Kingdom, or The Ideal Christmas Show at Olympia London from 26 November 2026.

Source: thenec.co.uk/events/festive-gift-fair, festivegiftfair.co.uk, festivegiftfair.co.uk/exhibiting, thenec.co.uk/visitors/visitor-faqs, thenec.co.uk/visitors/getting-here