THERMOFORMED packaging specialist Macpac has revealed details of its work with Sweetzy on an advent calendar pack design ahead of the recent festive season.
Sweetzy specialises in pick ‘n’ mix confectionery products. The firm approached Macpac for help on its 2025 offering, seeking a replacement on the previous large flattened square pack calendar, which comprised cardboard inserts in a wine box-style for the individual sweet cavities.
Sweetzy asked Macpac to design a lightweight thermoformed tray for a mail order advent calendar that would hold 24 x 50g bags of sweets and a 200g bag for opening on Christmas Day. The design had to be easy to assemble and pack whilst ensuring the individual bags of sweets were held securely in their respective cavities.
The key challenge for Macpac was to create deep individual cavities with dividers that would prevent the packs of sweets moving around. With thermoforming constraints and the shape of the cavities, Macpac explained that it would have been difficult to form the trays with full height dividers and retain strength in the base of the cavities. If the bases were too thin, the tray might collapse and sweets would migrate.
Macpac’s in-house design team developed the calendar tray with dividers that reduce in height across the width of the cavity, which helped with the forming process. The company created a half-size prototype to test the concept and ensure sweets stayed in place before producing a full-size prototype which was tested by Sweetzy before progressing to the tooling stage.
The tray was produced from low density Eco-Form material, which is produced from 90% recycled material and described as a lower cost alternative to conventional APET/RPET.
“We were so excited to introduce the eye-catching new pack for our popular advent calendar product,” said Sweetzy founder and director William Godfrey. “It is more than just a design change though. It has helped us improve packing and filling efficiencies and further underlines our commitment to more sustainable packaging solutions that make a positive impact, as well as delivering the same high quality sweet products that our customers know and love.
“Not only has it elevated the look of the finished advent calendar product, but it has also delivered on functionality. Despite being put through its paces during transit, all 25 packs of sweets stay firmly in place – even when the advent calendar is standing up – so consumers are promised a confectionery treat every time they open a door.
“We feel the new pack design really does offer a point of difference for advent style confectionery offerings. The feedback has been very positive, with customers stating that the sweets stayed in place, unlike previous years, where packs fell to the bottom of the calendar, which was disappointing for lots of children.”
