Chicago Christkindlmarket mugs 2023: New reindeer, beer stein designs

Make room in your cupboard: Christkindlmarket has added two new types of drinkware to its annual keepsake mug tradition this year.

For the first time, Chicago’s version of a German open-air Christmas market will sell a ceramic beer stein with a holiday-themed design. The cost: $20.

But you don’t need beer or spiced wine to have a good time while strolling the market’s three locations — Daley Plaza, Wrigleyville and Aurora. Those enjoying hot chocolate, hot apple cider or other nonalcoholic drinks can purchase a reindeer mug for $8. Want to give it a name? Christkindlmarket is accepting entries until Nov. 7.

Mugs have been a souvenir staple of Christkindlmarket since it premiered in Pioneer Court off the Magnificent Mile in 1996.

[ Christkindlmarket opens Nov. 17 in three locations ]

A variety of colors, designs and shapes have been used to make each year’s mug design look and feel special — and variety is just what is preferred by Maren Biester Priebe, CEO and general manager of German American Events, which runs Christkindlmarket.

“We think about it already this year for next year because we want to make sure the collection continues to be exciting,” she said. “Also, to try to push the envelope a little bit and see how people feel about it.”

Christkindlmarket Chicago

Daley Plaza, 50 W. Washington St. Open Nov. 17-Dec. 24. 11 a.m.-8 p.m., Sunday-Thursday; 11 a.m.-9 p.m., Friday-Saturday; 11 a.m.-4 p.m., Thanksgiving (Nov. 23) and Christmas Eve (Dec. 24). christkindlmarket.com/daleyplaza.

Christkindlmarket Wrigleyville

Gallagher Way, 3635 N. Clark St. Open Nov. 17-Dec. 31. 3-9 p.m., Monday-Thursday; 11 a.m.-10 p.m., Friday-Saturday; 11 a.m.-7 p.m., Sunday; 11 a.m.-4 p.m., Thanksgiving (Nov. 23), Christmas Eve (Dec. 24) and New Year’s Eve (Dec. 31); 11 a.m.-9 p.m. Dec. 26-28. Closed Christmas Day (Dec. 25). christkindlmarket.com/wrigleyville.

Christkindlmarket Aurora

RiverEdge Park, 360 N. Broadway, Aurora. Open Nov. 17-Dec. 24. 11 a.m.-7 p.m., Thursday; 11 a.m.-9 p.m., Friday- Saturday; and 11 a.m.-6 p.m., Sunday; 11 a.m.-4 p.m., Thanksgiving (Nov. 23) and Christmas Eve (Dec. 24); 11 a.m.-7 p.m. Dec. 18-20. christkindlmarket.com/aurora.

Thirty-five wooden booths are built in Germany and shipped to Chicago for the first Christkindlmarket Chicago, which lasts 17 days with 15 vendors. The event moves from Pioneer Court on Michigan Avenue to Daley Plaza in 1997, where its opening coincides with the city’s Christmas tree lighting.

Food options range from chocolate-dipped strawberries on skewers to bratwurst, and from cheese pretzels to doughnutlike churros with strawberry, chocolate and Bavarian cream fillings.

Items for sale include handcrafted glass ornaments, cuckoo clocks, nutcrackers, wooden toys, jewelry, sweaters and food.

The market’s footprint expands beyond Daley Plaza to include the vacant Block 37.

Glass blowers from the Bavarian Forest demonstrate their craft and sell the finished products.

Displays include the Guinness World Records’ largest beeswax candle.

The market opened on Thanksgiving to give shoppers a sneak preview.

Christkindlmarket celebrates 10 years in Chicago and offers its first souvenir boot mug.

Chicago Tribune restaurant critic Phil Vettel gives “a big yodeling ja” to Helmut’s Original Austrian Strudel and a “hearty ja” to the spiced red wine in a boot.

Mader’s, a famous Milwaukee German restaurant, participates.

More than 50 vendors participate this year.

Christkindlmarket now lasts almost one full month in Daley Plaza.

German food, drink and trinkets still attract crowds to Daley Plaza 15 years after the event began in Chicago.

In addition to running Christkindlmarket, German American Services expands to put on an Oktoberfest celebration at Navy Pier.

More than 50 vendors sell items including ornaments, beer steins, wooden toys, jewelry and European chocolates.

The official mug is not a boot and people take to the market’s Facebook page to complain. (The market’s mug has been a boot just nine out of its 26 years.)

A snowman mug is introduced for the market’s Kinder Club. More than half of the 50 vendors travel from Germany to Chicago to sell their wares.

In its 20th year in Chicago, the market is void one accessory — the city’s official Christmas tree. After 50 years in Daley Plaza, the tree is moved east to Millennium Park.

For the first time, the market expands to two locations — the Daley Plaza mainstay and a suburban outpost in Naperville.

The market opens a third location at The Park at Wrigley, just outside Wrigley Field. For the first time in its 22 years, Christkindlmarket offers three mug designs — two of them in “punch kettle” shape.

The market opens its first location in Wisconsin, just outside the new Fiserv Forum. The mug designs feature a heart-shaped opening and designs are placed atop gingerbread-inspired sides.

The boot design returns after four years.

Organizers of the popular outdoor holiday market cancel the event and move it online as the coronavirus pandemic continues to hamper large-scale events and international travel.

The same flute-shaped design about as tall as an iPhone is sold at both the Daley Plaza and Wrigleyville locations to commemorate the market’s 25th anniversary in Chicago, and the children’s “Peppermint Penguin” design is dressed up to celebrate the first Christkindlmarket in almost two years.

The official mug celebrates “Year of Chicago Dance” and the Kinder Club hosts a naming contest for the dancing penguin mug.

The market returns in three locations — Daley Plaza, Wrigleyville and Aurora. For the first time, a fast-entry pass is sold for $25 (and includes a souvenir mug).

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