Our Favourite Facts About The Eurovision Finalists

This week is all about Eurovision, with the grand final taking place in Basel, Switzerland tomorrow. To celebrate, we’ve picked our favourite fun facts about the 26 finalists. Plus we look at how Stikins are prepared for delivery to your door!

Our Favourite Facts About This Year’s Eurovision Finalists

To celebrate the finale, we’ve picked our favourite fun facts about each of the 26 finalists. Did you know that…

1. Colonel-in-Chief of the Norwegian King's Guard is a Scottish penguin called Nils Olav III. The King's Guard adopted the original Nils Olav as a mascot in 1961 after visiting the Edinburgh Military Tattoo.
2. Since 1100, Luxembourg's oldest town (Echternach) has hosted a dancing procession called "Sprangpressessioun". The event honours Saint Willibrord and thousands of people perform hopping steps through the town accompanied by traditional folk music.
3. Estonia is home to the pretty unique sport of Kiiking. Competitors are strapped into giant swing sets that allow for a 360 degree spin. Whoever completes a spin over the swing set to the greatest height wins!
4. Jellyfish are a common sight off the coast of Israel in summer so it should come as no surprise that the first jellyfish repellent lotion was developed by an Israeli company.
5. Lithuania has more hot air balloons per person than any other country in the world. The capital, Vilnius, is the only European capital city where you can fly directly over the city in a hot air balloon.
6. Once a year, Spain hosts La Tomatina – the world’s biggest food fight. 20,000 participants gather in the little town of Bunol to throw over one hundred metric tons of over-ripe tomatoes at each other!
7. Ukraine is one of the top producers of sunflower seeds in the world. In 2024, they produced around 12.9 million metric tons of sunflower seeds.
8. The UK is the nineth largest island in the world but you are never more than 75 miles from the sea!
9. Austria is home to the largest ice cave in the world. The Eisriesenwelt ("World of the Ice Giants") is over 26 miles long (about the same as a marathon). Before it was first explored in 1879, locals believed it was an entrance to hell!
10. Iceland was the last part of Europe to be settled and populated by human beings (around 874). It is also the youngest country in the world to have formed (it is approximately “just” 25 million years old).
11. Latvia is home to the widest waterfall in Europe at 249 metres wide. It also has over 12,500 rivers and over 2,200 lakes.
12. The Netherlands are home to more bikes than people. Recent estimates counted 24.1 million bikes for a population of 17.6 million (or around 1.4 bikes per person).
13. Each year the UN produces a World Happiness Report, which ranks countries by national happiness. Finland has been named as the happiest country in the world for eight years in a row (2018-2025).
14. Italy may be home to the world’s most haunted island. Poveglia was used as a quarantine zone for plague victims for hundreds of years and over 100,000 people died there. It is now illegal to visit the island.
15. Poland doesn’t use dubbing for foreign films and television shows. Instead, they use “lektoring” where one actor reads all of the character’s parts over the top of the original soundtrack.
16. Germany is home to the largest pet shop in the world. Filling a 130,000 square foot warehouse, Zoo Zajac houses over 250,000 animals from 3,000 different species. Tours are available and take 2-5 hours.
17. In Greece, name days are often considered more important than birthdays. In Greek Orthodox tradition, most days are dedicated to a saint; your name day is the day dedicated to the saint with whom you share your name.
18. An Armenian cave is home to the earliest known winery (6100 years old) and the oldest known leather shoe (5,500 years old). Both are older than Stonehenge and the Pyramids of Giza!
19. Switzerland has “quiet hours” (from 10pm to 7am, lunch hours, and the whole of Sunday) when noisy or disruptive activities are banned. This includes mowing the lawn, vacuuming, loud DIY, washing cars, or hanging out washing!
20. Malta has celebrated with fireworks since at least the 1500s. It has 35 firework factories and holds the record for the largest Catherine Wheel; it measured just over 32m in diameter and was lit for the feast of Our Lady of the Lilies in 2011.
21. Portugal’s Praia do Norte beach is famous for its giant waves. Six of the ten biggest waves ever surfed occurred at this beach. This includes the current world record, which saw Sebastian Steudtner surf a 26.2m wave.
22. Denmark is home to the oldest amusement park in the world. Dyrehavsbakken (commonly known as Bakken) opened in 1583 and is still open today. You’ll also find Tivola Gardens, which opened in 1843 and is credited as third (or fourth) oldest.
23. Sweden has the most islands of any country in the world. It is made up of 267,570 islands; around 24,000 are open to the public but fewer than a thousand are populated.
24. The most popular country in the world to visit is France! According to recent World Tourism rankings (2023), France receives over 100 million international tourists each year.
25. San Marino is the oldest republic in the world having been founded in 301AD by a stonemason called Marinus.
26. There are over 750,000 concrete bunkers in Albania – that’s 14.7 per square mile. They were built between 1967-1986 to defend against invasion but were never used.

Despatch & Delivery Of Stikins ® Name Labels To Your Chosen Destination

Over the years, we’ve honed our packaging and delivery services to ensure that your name labels arrive safely and securely at your chosen delivery address as quickly as possible.

We pack each set of name labels into a storage bag with an information leaflet. We have pre-printed our instructions for use onto our bags so you'll always have them to hand. Our bags are designed to keep your labels safe during delivery and storage at home.

Your order also comes with a VAT receipt detailing the item(s) you have purchased and a VAT breakdown.

We pack most orders in a small C5 envelope. These envelopes have our brand name printed across the front in purple so you'll know when your name labels have arrived! If you order a large quantity of name labels, we will post your order in an A4 envelope or small box for extra protection. 

We use Royal Mail’s first class service as standard and delivery is free of charge. Royal Mail aim to deliver first class items on the next working day but their report for 2024/25 (released February 2025) indicates that only 76.2% of first class mail was delivered next day. We advise that orders may take up to seven working days to arrive. If you need your labels urgently, please contact our Customer Service Team for further assistance.