Peppering Questions at UK Readers

Believe it or not, I'm almost there, plot-wise, and I'm using a LOT from the previous post. THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU! Only now I just have to get the final setting to, well, set, and for that I need some answers about the large chunks of UK culture about which I'm ignorant.


1) Does the UK (London especially) suffer from holiday creep? (When the stores start selling holiday-themed materials -- I'm thinking Christmas mostly, but any of 'em -- months in advance.)

2) Are there annual rituals/holidays in which the Royal Family or other important politicall figures always participate? (I'm thinking of things like our President lighting the National Christmas tree or hosting the Easter egg roll.)*

3) What sort of traditional gifts surround these holidays/rituals? Christmas crackers I'm familiar with; I also got the impression that it's a thing to send other people Easter eggs at Easter.*

*Not limited to religious holidays. I know about Guy Fawkes Day, for example, but I don't think there's a traditional gift or smallish thing-to-have. What I really need here is a commonly-given, easiily-portable gift; the kind of thing that most people would overlook because its absence, not its presence, would stand out.

And finally, 4) What sort of common, slightly dated/tacky souvenier might be not too outrageous in a London home? (One of those wind-up queens that waves? Something shaped like a post pillar, Beefeater, or TARDIS? Union Jack pillows? I don't know the difference between tourist tat for the overseas trade and tourist tat that would be hiply ironic at home.)

penguineggs, I'm taking your three unrelated things idea with a passion. And possibly C4.