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Ugly Christmas ornaments in your store: the niche that stands out
Ugly Christmas baubles are a growing niche in Christmas shopping: funny, quirky ornaments that stand out next to the standard red balls. For a retailer, they are interesting because they sell themselves at the counter, have a high gift value, and differentiate your assortment. The trick is to choose one that is ugly in subject but does not look cheap. Why ugly Christmas baubles sell well An ugly Christmas bauble is an impulse item and a gift at the same time. It catches the eye, starts a conversation, and costs... Read more...
Tacky Christmas baubles that don't look cheap
Ugly Christmas baubles are baubles with a wink: not a classic red sphere, but a sausage roll, a fat bike or a can of energy drink. The trend is big because people want a tree that says something instead of perfectly matching. The difference between ugly-and-fun and ugly-and-cheap lies in the execution: cheap plastic looks messy, handmade glass makes the joke a showpiece. What makes a Christmas bauble ugly and why it works An ugly Christmas bauble breaks with expectation. Where the classic sphere provides color and shine, an ugly... Read more...
A Dutch Christmas gift that isn't just another stroopwafel
A Dutch gift can quickly become a cliché: stroopwafels, liquorice, a tile with a saying. Nicely thought out, but you're giving the same thing as the neighbour and it's gone by New Year's. There's a more Dutch gift that sticks around, literally in the tree. The Netherlands as it really is, not the tourist version The windmills and clogs are for the tourists. The real Netherlands is the frikandelbroodje at the petrol station, the fatbike on the pavement, the döner kebab after a night out. We turn these into handmade... Read more...
Which Kechbal belongs to whom on your list
Buying a gift for someone who has everything is difficult. An ornament that no one else has in their home, however, is not. Our ornaments are hand-blown and hand-painted, so you are literally giving something unique. Here's how to match the right design to the right person. For the sporty type who is never without their fatbike You know at least one. Always on the go, always on that fatbike, always late because they had to make a stop somewhere first. The fatbike ornament will soon hang in their tree... Read more...
A Christmas gift for your colleague that isn't yet another bottle of wine
For the holidays, you need a gift for a colleague. Not too expensive, not too personal, and preferably not the wine or chocolates that half the department already brings. Something that stands out on the desk without you having to know someone well. One gift that works for the whole team With Secret Santa, you often don't know who you're drawing for. A glass bauble of a recognizable classic appeals to almost everyone, because you don't have to guess their taste. A fat bike or a can of lager is... Read more...
Christmas trends 2026: the five trends that will hit your shelves
The red-and-gold tree from a single set is no longer the norm. For Christmas 2026, it's all about natural materials, nostalgia, and especially personality: trees that tell a story instead of checking off a color scheme. For a retailer, this means stocking up on classics as well as pieces with character. These are the five trends and what they mean for your assortment. 1. The Personal Eclectic Tree Consumers are increasingly mixing individual ornaments that don't match anything, except for holding a memory or evoking a smile. The tree as... Read more...
Storing hand-blown Christmas baubles without fuss
A mouth-blown, hand-painted Christmas ornament will last for years. Provided you don't treat it like a cheap plastic item from a bulk pack. The glass is thin and the paint is applied by hand, so a little care goes a long way. No rocket science, just a little attention. Clean dry Dust can be wiped away with a dry, soft cloth or a brush. No water, no cleaning agents, no wet wipes. Moisture can creep under the paint, and nobody wants that. Hold the ornament by the cap or the... Read more...
Why no two Kech balls are the same
A machine presses a thousand balls that are identical down to the millimetre. A glassblower can never achieve that. That's the whole difference: a handmade Christmas bauble is by definition slightly different from the next, and that's not a flaw but the point. Breath never creates two identical spheres Glass that is mouth-blown follows the breath of the maker. One sphere turns out a tiny bit rounder, the other slightly longer. You can feel in the shape that a human made it and not an assembly line. That difference is... Read more...
A Christmas gift for someone you don't know very well yet
The trickiest gifts are for people you've just met. Your new partner's parents, the neighbors who invited you over, a colleague you barely speak to. Too personal is awkward, too neutral is a bottle of wine nobody remembers.Something with a smile, without going too farA glass Christmas ornament of a Dutch classic hits that sweet spot perfectly. It shows you've put thought into something nice, but it doesn't make demands on the relationship. A "frikandelbroodje" (sausage roll) on the tree is both warm and light-hearted, and no one can object... Read more...
A funny Christmas gift for the man who has everything
He has a drawer full of chargers, three multi-tools, and a bottle of whiskey he never opens. What do you give someone who has already made every choice himself? Something he hadn't thought of yet and doesn't see anywhere else. Start with what he truly recognizes A fatbike. A frikandelbroodje (sausage roll). A doner kebab roll. A can of beer. These are the things that make him chuckle without you having to explain it. We hand-blow them from glass and paint each one individually, so something will be hanging on... Read more...
Funny Christmas ornaments your guests won't see coming
The tree is up, guests arrive, and someone pauses at a branch. That's the fun of a quirky Christmas ornament. Not the ornament you see immediately, but the one that catches your eye on a second glance. Among the regular baubles, not instead of them It works best as a surprise. A mini doner kebab partially hidden among the branches, a can of beer next to a regular golden bauble. Whoever sees it, sees it because they're looking closely for a moment, and that moment is exactly what you want.... Read more...
Original Christmas baubles that are no silly joke
If you search for original Christmas baubles, you'll mainly find plastic gags: a one-euro beer bottle, something with a flashing light, fun for one evening. "Original" has long meant cheap and disposable. But it doesn't have to be that way. You feel the difference as soon as you pick it up A gag bauble is light and hollow and ends up in the bin after the holidays. Glass has weight in your hand and a finish that you notice up close. The same idea, a joke in the tree, but... Read more...
Typically Dutch Christmas baubles: from sausage roll to fatbike
A Dutch tree deserves Dutch baubles. Not just another imported angel, but the classics you encounter every day. The frikandelbroodje, the fatbike, the doner kebab. A frikandelbroodje in the tree The frikandelbroodje is the quiet center of every petrol station and every office lunch. Now it also hangs in the tree: mouth-blown glass, hand-painted, right down to the bread-brown edge. No two exactly alike, because craftsmanship is not a copying machine. The fatbike everyone recognizes The fatbike rides through every street and stands in front of every supermarket. As a... Read more...
Become a reseller of a Dutch Christmas brand: here's how it works
You want Kechballen in your shop, but first you want to know how purchasing works. Fair enough. Here's a brief overview of how to become a reseller, what you purchase, and when you'll receive it. What you purchase Hand-blown, hand-painted glass Christmas baubles of Dutch "pauper classics": a fat bike, a sausage roll, a doner kebab, a can of beer, an energy drink, and a range of other designs. You sell the approximately 9 cm hangers for 14.95, and the approximately 28 cm toppers for 24.95. Fixed retail prices, so... Read more...
The packaging and presentation that complete the sale at the counter
The customer is at the checkout with something in their hand. This is the moment when a sale becomes a gift, or a missed opportunity. How you present and hand over a product often determines whether one or three are sold. Place eye-catching items at eye level near the checkout What lies at the checkout goes along as an impulse buy. An attention-grabbing product belongs there, not tucked away in a corner. Someone might just grab a mouth-blown ball from a sausage roll or a fat bike while they're checking... Read more...
How to introduce a new brand to your shelf without risk
Purchasing a new brand feels like a gamble: you don't yet know if it will sell well, and you don't want to be stuck with a mountain of unsold inventory. The good news is that you can minimize this risk if you approach it smartly. Start small and keep it manageable You don't have to buy everything at once. Start with one box and a prominent spot in your Christmas section, and see how your customers react. Kechballen delivers per box, so you can start small without putting your entire... Read more...
A story sells: a maker brand versus an anonymous wholesaler
You can fill a shelf with anonymous items from a wholesale catalog, or with products that have a story behind them. The first option is easy and cheap. The second gives the customer a reason to buy specifically from you, and gives you something to talk about. An anonymous product is everywhere What you get from a large wholesaler can also be found at five other stores on the same street. There's no story, no maker, no reason to charge more for it. The customer compares it on price, and... Read more...
What you note down after Christmas to shop better next year
The tree is undecorated, the sale is on, and you're no longer in the Christmas spirit. Yet, this is the moment when you make or break your purchasing for next year. What you write down now, you won't remember in the summer. Split your sales into two piles Place your bestsellers next to your evergreen items. Not based on feeling, but on figures: what sold at full price, and what you had to sell off at a discount. The first pile is your margin. You want to buy more of... Read more...
Reordering or not: dealing with sold-out bestsellers
In December, all you want to do is reorder your bestsellers. You can do that with many Christmas items. With a product that has only one production run per year, it works differently, and that's something to know in advance instead of discovering it halfway through December.One run per year means: once it's gone, it's goneKech baubles are mouth-blown and hand-painted, in one run per year. What is ordered in the summer is delivered in the autumn. If a design sells out, it will not return that season. That is... Read more...
Which shops are suitable for quirky Christmas baubles, and which are not
Not every product fits in every store. Quirky glass Christmas ornaments work wonders on one counter and do nothing on another. Being honest about which side you're on will save you a box gathering dust. Where it works Gift shops, concept stores, home decor stores with a unique taste, delicatessens, coffee bars with a retail corner. Places where people come in to find something nice, not to check off a shopping list. If your customer is the type who looks for a gift with a wink and is willing to... Read more...
The tree is no longer a display
In the past, you'd buy a matching set and hang it up every year. Now, more and more customers are doing something different: they're building their tree from individual pieces they collect over the years. For a specialty store, this changes what's worth buying. People buy baubles with a memory attached A bauble from a holiday, one from their first year together, one someone bought because it made them laugh. These pieces aren't on the tree because they match, but because there's a story attached to them. That's a different... Read more...
Customers who photograph your product do your marketing
The cheapest advertising you have is the phone in your customer's hand. But people don't photograph a red bauble number forty. They photograph something they think: I have to show this. What is and isn't photographed A standard Christmas item disappears in the stream. A glass bauble in the shape of a can of beer or an energy drink does not. That's the kind of image someone takes a picture of and throws into the group chat with the question: should I buy this or not. That message is advertising... Read more...
Why fifteen euros is the easiest price to say yes to
At the checkout, a gift is purchased or set aside in a few seconds. For these types of decisions, price counts more than the retailer thinks. There is a narrow margin where a customer doesn't have to calculate, and that is around fifteen euros. Below ten euros you buy for yourself, above twenty you start to think You spend ten euros on something small for yourself. From around twenty euros, someone weighs whether it's worth it. In between is an amount that feels high enough to count as a gift... Read more...
This is how you explain the difference between hand-blown and machine-made
A customer who sees a Christmas bauble for 14.95 euros sometimes hesitates. Until you explain what's inside that thing. The difference between hand-blown and machine-made glass is not a detail; it's the whole story behind the price. Machine-made glass is a mould, hand-blown is a human A machine-made Christmas bauble comes from a mould. Thousands at a time, identical, fast and cheap. Nothing wrong with that, but no human touch is involved. Hand-blown glass is shaped by a person, piece by piece. That's why no two are exactly alike. That's... Read more...
No dead capital in January
Seasonal Christmas items have an annoying characteristic: what you don't sell before the holidays stays until next year. That's money sitting in a box in the attic instead of in the till. With the right purchasing method, that doesn't have to be the case. The risk of seasonal items lies in the timing With a regular product, you can reorder if it's selling well and stop if it's not. With Christmas items, you can't. The season is short, the supply chain is long, and in January, demand is gone. Over-purchasing... Read more...
How much of your Christmas budget do you spend on statement pieces
Most stores put their entire Christmas budget into safe volume: standard baubles, lights, the things that always sell well. This makes sense, but it's also precisely why you're competing on price with the chain down the street. Spending a small portion differently changes that. The breakdown of your Christmas display Keep the largest part of your budget for the volume that you'll sell anyway. But set aside a small fixed portion, say a fifth, for a few items that no one else has. That fifth does the heavy lifting: it... Read more...
Buying locally saves hassle and gives you a story
Many Christmas items arrive via a long chain: import, a container, an intermediary, and hoping it arrives on time. Purchasing from a Dutch brand works differently. Shorter chain, one point of contact, and something to talk about. Shorter chain, fewer surprises With a Dutch brand, there's no ocean between you and the supplier. A question about your order, a design you want to check, a delivery time you want to coordinate: that's done in Dutch and without an eight-hour time difference. That makes a big difference, especially in the autumn,... Read more...
A seller who knows the story, sells the gift
A special product doesn't sell itself. It sells itself if someone behind the counter can explain in two sentences why it's special. That difference isn't in the product, it's in the briefing. Give your staff the story, not the specs A customer picking up a Kechbal doesn't want a list of material characteristics. They want to know where that thing comes from. Hand-blown glass, hand-painted, a fatbike or a 'frikandelbroodje' as a Christmas ornament. Told well once, and the customer smiles and buys. Make sure everyone on the floor can... Read more...
You distinguish yourself from the garden center by your product range
A garden center sells Christmas decorations in bulk: thousands of baubles, sharp prices, everything you'd expect. As a smaller shop, you won't beat them there, and you don't have to. Your customer isn't coming for the lowest price; they're coming for something they won't find there. Don't compete on price, compete on discovery You'll always lose when competing on price against a chain, because they buy cheaper than you do. But price isn't why someone walks into a concept store. They walk in for the discovery, the item they don't... Read more...
A Christmas display that draws passers-by inside
A shop window has three seconds to make someone stop. At Christmas, half the street is filled with the same festive lights and the same red baubles. Those who look just like their neighbour will be passed by. Those who have something unexpected in their window, will not. One item at eye level, not a hundred The mistake most shop windows make is overcrowding. A hundred things fighting for attention result in zero focus. Place one eye-catching item at eye level and give it space. A glass fatbike or döner... Read more...
Which bauble do you choose as a showstopper for your shop
You don't have to buy all designs to stand out. You only need to choose one good one. The question is which one, and that depends less on what you like than on who walks into your store. Look at your street, not your taste A sausage roll performs differently in a village gift shop than a fatbike in an urban concept store. Review your customer base: students, young families, or people who quickly grab a gift on Saturdays. The design they recognize in half a second is your eye-catcher.... Read more...
How pre-order purchasing works with small brands
Those who discover a nice Christmas brand in November and want to order it often hear the same thing: sold out, next year. Not unwillingness, just how production works. If you understand how the rhythm works, you'll be at the front instead of the back. One run per year, no warehouse full A large brand produces all year round and has a warehouse that keeps replenishing. A small brand does not. Hand-blown glass, hand-painted, that runs in one production cycle. What is made then is all there is for that... Read more...
Why an eye-catcher doesn't have to go on sale
Most Christmas items lose half their value after December 20th. Fully stocked on the shelves, then sold at a 50 percent discount in January. For a product that is identical everywhere, this is to be expected. But an item that customers won't see anywhere else, you can keep at full price. A gift sells differently than a basic bauble Someone buys a regular Christmas bauble for their own tree, and they don't want to spend too much on it. Someone buys a special bauble for someone else, as a gift.... Read more...
Christmas shopping: when to order what
Christmas seems a long way off in the summer, but for a shop, that's precisely the time to order. Those who only purchase in November are left with whatever is still available. Below is the timeline most good buyers follow, and where a brand like Kechballen fits in.May to August: Securing the Unique PiecesThe eye-catchers, handmade items, and pre-order collections can be ordered in the summer, and often only then. Many small brands do one production run per year; what isn't ordered then won't be available that season. This is... Read more...
A Christmas collection that stands out from the umpteenth red bauble
Almost every store sells the same red and gold baubles for Christmas. Beautiful, safe, and exactly the same as the store three doors down. For the customer who walks in, there's little reason to buy from you instead of the garden center or Action.That's a shame, because for most stores, Christmas is the quarter where the money really rolls in. And precisely then, you end up competing on a product that's the same everywhere, and therefore on price.The question isn't "which Christmas baubles should I buy in," but "which Christmas... Read more...