Choosing Christmas chocolate for children in the family

This guide is for parents, grandparents and other grown-ups choosing chocolate for younger family members at Christmas. Chocolate is a treat food, so the aim here is to help you pick sensibly sized treats and check the label — not to encourage anyone to eat more.

Think about size

Cadbury’s range runs from mini and treatsize items to very large bars and tins. For smaller children, a small item usually makes more sense than a big sharing bar:

• Dairy Milk Buttons Christmas Tube 72g — mini Buttons in a slim festive tube.
• Christmas Small Selection Box 78g — a pocket-sized box of mini favourites.
• Dairy Milk Christmas Coins 70g — gold-wrapped coins for stockings or the table.
• Dairy Milk Little Robins 77g — small solid Dairy Milk eggs wrapped as robins.

Cadbury’s own Christmas range puts Freddo, Buttons and novelty items forward as stocking fillers, such as the Freddo Smash Bauble 90g and the Buttons Smash Bauble 90g.

Something to do together

The Dairy Milk Chocolate House Kit 840.8g is a build-your-own chocolate house from milk and white chocolate. It’s a big kit, so it’s better as a family activity to share than as one child’s present.

Check the label

• Every product here contains milk.
• Some contain nuts as an ingredient, including the Christmas Puds and Mini Puds (hazelnut truffle), Wholenut and Fruit & Nut.
• Several carry “may contain” warnings for nuts, peanuts or wheat — and a missing warning doesn’t prove a product is free from an allergen.

Our allergy and storage tips explain how UK food labels show allergens.

Keep it a treat

A selection box or a few small treats goes a long way. Hollow baubles and tree decorations are fragile and melt easily, so keep them away from warm lights and radiators.

There’s a short list on our buying for children page.