Excitable Edgar Chocolate Arrives at Waitrose & Partners

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Thursday 14th November marked the official start to the countdown to Christmas 2019 as John Lewis & Partners and Waitrose & Partners released their highly anticipated Christmas advert.

This year, instead of each brand releasing individual adverts, the two brands have come together as one (there's a Christmas message somewhere in there, I'm sure).

The advert stars Excitable Edgar, a cheeky but very content young green dragon. The tale portrays his relationship with Ava in a heart-warming story filled with twists and turns - and a Waitrose & Partners No 1 Christmas pudding.

The music is as important as the advert itself, and this year, Bastille's lead singer, Dan Smith, has re-recorded 'Can't fight this feeling' by REO Speedwagon for this two and a half minute ad.

Demonstrating how much times have changed, the ad was released onto social media on Thursday morning (to a very warm reception I must add), and will first premier on television on Saturday during ITV's The X Factor.

Excitable Edgar Merchandise

John Lewis & Partners and Waitrose & Partners are certainly on the ball in terms of merchandise. They know kids will fall in love with the Excitable Edgar character and so there's plenty of Christmas presents available for parents and grandparents to invest in.

John Lewis & Partners Excitable Edgar Plush Toy — A 36cm tall plush version of Excitable Edgar. Photo credit to John Lewis & Partners

The Excitable Edgar plush green toy (£15) is likely to become this year's must-have, closely followed by the Excitable Edgar Christmas storybook (£9.99).

Kids aged 2 to 10 will love the red cotton Excitable Edgar pyjamas (£17 to £19). The top features a textured tail and wings, and the horns, teeth and eyes all glow in the dark. There's also green Excitable Edgar wellington boots (£16 to £19) and fluffy green Excitable Edgar slipper boots (£16 to £19) too.

Remember the fact that this Christmas advert is a joint release by both John Lewis & Partners and Waitrose & Partners? Well, a range of food items themed around the advert are available at the latter.

The in-demand foodie item is bound to be the No. 1 Christmas Pudding (£8). This richly fruited Christmas pudding - that saves the day in the Christmas advert - is laced with with cognac, cream, and pecans.

Waitrose & Partners is also stocking the Excitable Edgar Gingerbread Biscuit (£1.50) with a printed icing decoration, plus a pair of Excitable Edgar Cupcakes (£2.50).

'What's this got to do with chocolate' I hear you cry. Well, the icing on the cake, so to speak, is the Excitable Edgar Chocolate Gift Pack (£3.50). The 70g box of chocolate contains four milk chocolate dragon figures inspired by Excitable Edgar.

The chocolate dragons add to an existing line-up of tasty sounding chocolate treats for Christmas 2019, including the Christmas chocolate avocado (£9) and Heston Blumenthal's Chocolate Teapot with milk, white, and dark chocolate tea flavoured truffles (£20).

Watch all the John Lewis Christmas Ads

This year's Excitable Edgar Christmas advert is trademark John Lewis, and follows the tried and tested formula that guarantees a hit year after year. And in case you fancy a trip down memory lane, here's some handy links for you. I think 2013's advert is my favourite. What's yours?