There may be 2 months to go until December, but now is the time to get buying your advent calendars because some of the most popular designs will sell out fast. While you can still find the traditional calendars with little cardboard doors and pictures behind if you look *really* hard and supermarket aisles are full of the chocolate ones the variety of advent calendars available gets more exciting every year (even if the cost seems to be a little crazy). I have trawled the internet for new advent calendars and updated versions of old favourites. Here are over 20 of my most exciting finds in beauty, food, alcohol, toys and home advent calendars.
I’ve only included advent calendars with 24 or 25 doors because as great as some of the 12 day ones are it’s kinda cheating. Some of the calendars aren't out yet or they are only available to preorder, but I will update the post as I get more information.
3 years ago I had a Liberty London Beauty Advent Calendar and as you would expect for the price it was the most beautiful advent calendar I have ever had and filled with amazing products I was so excited to try, many of which were full size. This year it costs £195 and the value of products is over £600. The Liberty London website has a list of the full contents, so if you don’t want to know until you open each drawer be careful what you read. Available instore and online soon.
This looks like it’s going to be hugely popular. Featuring 24 boxes with over £195 worth of products including skin care, hair care, make up and nail care, like with any Amazon product you can be pretty confident it’s going to be great value.
Keep your eyes open for the popular Marks and Spencers beauty calendar when it goes on sale on 6th November with 25 treats worth over £250 for only £35 when you spend £35 on clothing, home or beauty products.
If you are looking for a more affordable beauty calendar then check out this one from Superdrug, the Studio London 24 Day beauty advent calendar is full of make up and currently on sale for £18 (was £26). It contains all the make up you'll need for Christmas parties with lots of glitter and applicators too.
We first bought a Masters of Malt Advent Calendar around 6 years ago when they first came out and we have since tried their rum one too. They aren’t cheap, but that’s because they contain 24 drams (30ml jars) of great quality alcohol. Even if you really know your spirits you will discover a few new ones. They now have a huge range of options including 4 Gin ones, at least 10 Whisky ones, Rum, Vodka, Cognac, Tequila and Armagnac. The standard options are mostly £149 with those containing rare options costing more. Their most expensive options containing “Very Old and Rare Whisky” costs a massive £9,999.95! Wow.
Possibly the biggest advent calendar we have ever had, we had this advent calendar with full size bottles of beer several years ago. You can buy this year's version containing 25 beers for £85 and it comes in a pretty geometric design.
The Best of Beer Advent Calendar from maybe 2014?
Keep your eyes open for the Wine Advent Calendar from Aldi containing little bottles of wine in a pretty triangular box. Knowing Aldi it should be full of drinkable wines. Believed to be in stores 4th November.
Contains 24 scented tea light candles in 6 Christmas fragrances and a clear glass holder.
Containing 24 20g skeins of quality yarn and an extra special 100g skein of sock yarn for Christmas day. Hurry these are nearly sold out, but perfect for any knitters or crocheters out there.
Containing a mixture of washi tape, pens, charms, stickers and other treats for stationary lovers this calendar sounds great and very different to off the shelf calendars.
We had this Marshmallow one last year (I only tried a few as some had dairy in) and each door has a big chunk of fluffy marshmallow in to enjoy.
I had a Haribo calendar two years ago and it had little packets of Chistmas themed chewy goodness behind each door. A great option for dairy free children (and adults) who want an affordably priced and sensible sized sweet calendar.
If I wasn’t dairy free I would be buying this calendar filled with Reece’s milk and white chocolate Peanut Butter Cups. Mmm yummy.
Start each day in the run up to Christmas with a different blend of ground coffee with this advent calendar from Yawn coffee via Etsy. Coffee is ground from responsibly sourced beans and roasted in the UK.
This year there are LEGO advent calendars in their City, Friends and Star Wars ranges. Behind each door you will find a little character or small item to build, some more exciting than others. Suitable from age 5 or 6 depending on the range.
If your child loves toy cars then the Hot Wheels advent calendar should keep them happy, inside there are 8 cars and 16 accessories. Suitable for aged 3 years and up.
This year there is an advent calendar from the ever popular Hatchimals. It includes characters from their CollEGGtibles range as well as accessories, stickers and paper crafts. Recommended for age 5 plus.
Open a different magical little Christmas storybook everyday. This should be available from Aldi as well as Amazon and when I saw the prototype back in July it looked great.
Schleich animal models are always great quality and popular with children so this should be a fantastic calendar. Considering the price I'm expecting mostly quite small animals and probably some fillers, but it's on our short list for calendars to buy. Suitable for aged 3 years plus.
The Playmobil advent calendars include a great range of figures and accessories, but from previous experience some of the pieces can be very small. Suitable from aged 4 up. As well as the Santa's workshop there is a Jewel Thief Police Operation, Christmas on The Farm, Ice Skating Trip, Horse Farm and Top Agents.
For something a bit different this Kosmos advent calendar is full of magic tricks you can perform. Suitable for age 8 plus. Worryingly they don't guarantee the instructions are in English, but if your child loves magic it could be worth the gamble, they can always Google for translations.
Suitable for children from 18 months this is the best calendar I have seen for younger children. This looks to be the same every year, but it's full of great quality characters and accessories and ours still look as good as new a year later.