Planning Ambiente and Spielwarenmesse Stands Around Chinese New Year 2027

Two Februaries in a row, we built a stand of about 200 m² at Ambiente in Frankfurt for the same exhibitor: 198 m² in 2025 and 200 m² in 2026. Both times the fair opened in early February. In 2027 it opens on 29 January, about one week earlier, and Lunar New Year's Day falls on 6 February, the closing day of Spielwarenmesse in Nuremberg.

This post is a planning guide for the Chinese New Year 2027 trade fairs in Germany, written for exhibitors whose products, samples or printed materials come from China. For them the real cut-off is not the fair date. It sits weeks before it.

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Chinese New Year 2027 and the Trade Fairs Around It

Ambiente and Christmasworld 2027 run from 29 January to 2 February in Frankfurt, according to the Messe Frankfurt press release. Creativeworld runs from 29 January to 1 February, and the Compass Talks start one day earlier, on 28 January. Spielwarenmesse 2027 in Nuremberg opens on Tuesday 2 February at 09:00 and closes on Saturday 6 February at 14:00.

Now the holiday. The Hong Kong Labour Department lists Lunar New Year's Day on 6 February 2027. Because the second day, 7 February, is a Sunday, Hong Kong adds the fourth day, 9 February, alongside the third day on 8 February. Chinese New Year's Eve on 5 February and the Lantern Festival on 20 February are commonly reported dates, and we treat them as secondary. We also do not quote an official mainland China holiday schedule here, because the Hong Kong list is the only statutory list we checked.

The organiser of Spielwarenmesse already commented on the timing in 2026. The 2026 edition had 2,313 exhibitors from 68 countries and about 58,900 trade visitors, up 2.5%, and the organiser credited part of the visitor gain from mainland China and Hong Kong to the fact that Chinese New Year did not overlap the fair. In 2027 Lunar New Year's Day falls on the closing day. We make no forecast from that. We only note that the calendar has moved.

Step 1: Set Your Factory Cut-Off Before the Holiday

Factory closures around the holiday are widely known, but their length differs by factory and by region, so we do not give a number of weeks here. Anything that must be made in China for your stand needs a confirmed ship date before your supplier closes, and that date must come from the supplier in writing. Our stands are produced in our own workshop in Istanbul, so the stand structure itself is not produced in China. The holiday touches what you bring to the stand.

• Products and demo units for the stand, including spare units.
• Samples, mock-ups and packaging that will sit on the shelves.
• Printed catalogues, price lists and giveaways.
• Any custom display parts made by your own factory rather than by the stand builder.
• Shipping documents and the forwarder booking for the sea or air leg.

Step 2: Two Plan Approvals, Two Portals

Spielwarenmesse comes first in the paperwork calendar. Stand plans for stands of 80 m² or more must be sent as a PDF without being asked, and after 30 November 2026 there is no legal claim to processing. Two-storey stands are possible from 50 m² and need an approval stamp; the upper floor is charged at 35% of the row-stand rate of EUR 232 per m², according to the 2027 Rules for Exhibitors. If a second floor is part of your concept, November is the month to decide.

At Ambiente, stand plans that need approval must reach Messe Frankfurt by 11 December 2026. For an exhibitor at both fairs, the brief should ideally be final by early November. Changes after submission may need approval again.

Step 3: Where Deadlines End and Surcharges Begin

Ambiente 2027 has a new rule. Orders placed 21 days or less before the event carry a 25% express surcharge on the service price, for some services from 8 January 2027, and the Messe Frankfurt builder portal gives 7 January as the last day without it.

Suspensions and electricity are different. Late orders cannot be processed at all, so 18 December for suspensions (the rigging points for hanging elements) and 28 January for electricity are real deadlines.

Spielwarenmesse works with surcharges instead: suspensions without surcharge until 18 December, electricity, cleaning and similar services until 11 January, a higher suspension surcharge from 12 January, and a last chance for floor covering, partition walls and media technology on 24 January.

So 18 December is a deadline at Ambiente and a surcharge-free last day at Spielwarenmesse, and 18 December is the date to aim for at both.

Step 4: Pick Your Set-Up Days in Frankfurt and Nuremberg

Ambiente offers early set-up on 21 and 22 January 2027, from 07:00 to midnight, at EUR 550 per day for stands up to 299 m². Stands of 300 m² and more get those days free. Regular set-up is free and runs 24 hours a day from 23 January until 15:00 on 28 January.

Messe Frankfurt is introducing Central Traffic Management for 2027 and asks exhibitors, stand builders and forwarders to register vehicles online in advance. Give your transport company this information early.

Hall 6 is partly under refurbishment and several product groups have moved, so check your 2027 hall before you reuse last year's floor plan; the details are in our Ambiente 2027 exhibitor guide.

In Nuremberg, assembly runs from 25 January according to the Rules for Exhibitors and ends on 1 February at 18:00. The organiser's dates page shows a different start, so check your exhibitor portal before you book the crew.

A stand still unoccupied at 15:00 on 1 February may be disposed of at the exhibitor's cost if the organiser has not been informed. The organiser's dates page also asks for the name of the stand-building company by 17 January.

Frankfurt set-up runs until 15:00 on 28 January and Nuremberg assembly starts on 25 January, so the two windows share four days. One crew can do both only if Frankfurt is finished first and the Nuremberg stand is built between 28 January and 1 February. The harder clash comes later: Ambiente dismantling overlaps the days when Spielwarenmesse is open. Plan separate on-site people for each fair.

Step 5: Plan Dismantling and Travel Around New Year's Eve

Ambiente dismantling starts on 2 February at 20:30 and ends on 5 February at 21:00. The builder portal states it plainly: "Extended dismantling is not possible."

5 February is also the usual date given for Chinese New Year's Eve, which is not on the Hong Kong statutory list.

Spielwarenmesse closes at 14:00 on 6 February, which is Lunar New Year's Day on the Hong Kong list. Dismantling runs from 6 February at 14:00 to 9 February at 19:00.

Do not start early. At Spielwarenmesse, dismantling before the official time costs 25% of the invoiced exhibiting fee, with a minimum of EUR 1,500.

So what do you do with a team that wants to be home for the holiday? Book the flights now, and book them for after the official close, not before.

If some staff leave before 6 February, hand the stand to a named person who stays on site until the dismantling crew has finished. Agree in writing whether the stand builder or your own team handles the products on the shelves and the hand-over to the logistics company.

One line in the contract about who stays until the last pallet leaves prevents disputes in February.

Before Your Factory Closes: What We Need for Frankfurt

We design and produce in our own workshop in Istanbul. The stands we built at Ambiente 2026 show how that looks in a Frankfurt hall.

To plan against the Ambiente dates, 11 December for plans and 18 December for suspensions, we need a few things from you.

• Hall and stand number, or the organiser's hall proposal.
• Stand size in m² and the number of open sides.
• Products to be displayed and their sizes, plus any demo that needs water, compressed air or extra power.
• Whether you want hanging elements, because the Ambiente suspension deadline is 18 December.
• Your target budget in EUR, so the first drawing is realistic.

Send these through our stand design request page. The Ambiente stand page shows what our Frankfurt builds look like.

If your brief arrives after 11 December, we can usually still build the stand, but the organiser's approval queue and the 25% express surcharge are then outside our control.

If your products come from China, do one more thing today: ask your factory for its holiday closing date in writing. That date, not the fair date, decides your schedule.