McVitie's Mini Gingerbread Men - 6 Packs

McVitie's is the name on half the biscuits in a British cupboard, and come December the little gingerbread men join the queue. They are not the grand centrepiece of a British Christmas. They are the thing you reach for while the centrepiece is still in the oven.

People in Canada go looking for them because they are tied to a very particular stretch of the year: the school Christmas fair, the class party, the bag your nan kept in her handbag for emergencies. You can describe that to someone, but it lands better if you just hand them a bag.

The format is the clever bit. Six individual packs in one bag means one for the stocking, one for the lunchbox, one for the car, and three you say are for later. Kept sealed in the cupboard, they sit quietly until somebody finds them, which on Boxing Day takes about four minutes.

They go well with a proper cup of tea and the rest of the British Christmas food shop, and people often tuck a pack into a parcel for someone who misses home, alongside a box of something chocolatey.