THESE toy advent calendars help excited kids count down the days until Christmas, getting them into the spirit of the season without the traditional sugary chocolate – no dentist visit necessary. Old favourites like Lego, Thomas and Friends, Barbie, Playmobil, and others have festive and fun options to spur your child’s enthusiasm for the year’s best gift day. This year, Lego is offering three different calendars – one packed with Christmas-themed Lego Cities characters and objects featuring a cameo of Father Christmas and his sleigh, one for Lego Star Wars which includes a festive Wookiee, and one in the pink-and-purple hues of Lego Friends. Each calendar includes 24 buildable figures. All three cost £19.99 from the Lego website. Train fanatics can be delighted in the lead-up to Christmas with a new toy train each day. Aside from well-loved characters like Thomas, Percy, and Travis, the calendar includes six exclusive miniature holiday-themes trains decorated with snow, stars, and other festive adornments.
The calendar is £24.97 from ASDA. This pastel pink countdown to Christmas holds either a new pair of stick-on earrings or a ring. It also doubles as a decorative wall hanging. It costs £10 from Accessorize. Aimed at pre-schoolers aged 1-5, this advent calendar contains 24 toys, including a push-along Santa car, and a fold down play scene. Combining them together, kids can make their own Christmas world to build over the month. You can buy it for £24.99 from Argos. This calendar includes 24 days of clothes and fashion accessories for Barbie dolls. Including a party dress, pairs of shoes, a mobile phone, and a puppy, your child’s Barbie will definitely have something to wear this Christmas. The calendar also includes two hair clips for life-size fashionistas. It costs £19.99 at John Lewis. Playmobil have a range of different advent calendars, including “Christmas in the Forest”, “Christmas Room with Illuminating Tree” (the tree actually lights up), “Fire Rescue Operation” (including a card game), “Christmas on the Farm”, “Pirate Treasure Island” (which also includes lights), and “Dress Up Party” (including pieces with changeable outfits).
Each calendar is suitable for a different age groups, but all come with 24 days worth of new pieces and a backdrop to complete a full Christmas scene. All of the calendars are £19.99 and available through the Playmobil online shop. This calendar holds 25 colourful toy and stationery gifts including erasers, pens, and other unisex items. If your child is very lucky, theirs may also contain a £250 Smiggle voucher for a Christmas gift that could last well into the New Year. It costs £28 at Smiggle. Suitable for children aged 1-5, this calendar includes 24 toys, including a Toot-Toot Drivers Sleigh, a detachable trailer, a Christmas book and a storage bag. The Sleigh plays Christmas melodies and has different phrases and sound effects. It costs £24.99 on the vtech website. Presented in a jewellery box, this advent calendar contains a charm bracelet and 23 charms for a unique and pretty lead-up to Christmas. It costs £21 via Trouva. This cute calendar includes 24 holiday-themed block sets, including a Minion on skis, a Minion in a sleigh, a penguin, a unicorn, a fireplace, and a Christmas tree.
It costs £20 at ASDA. 'Tis The Season of Luxury have you been naughty or nice?The official countdown to Christmas is almost here and it’s not all about the kids. Tomorrow (1 December) is of course the first day on the advent calendar, and canny marketers have learned that it they don’t have to be filled with chocolate. There’s also a whole range of calendars for adults too, all about the beards, beauty products and booze. This limited edition set counts down the 12 days of Christmas with miniature Benefit products. And yes, there is a 24 day countdown as well but we’ve left it off the list as it is ridiculously expensive. This one includes minis of all the classics including Porefessional Primer, They’re Real! Beards are everywhere this year and if you’re going to have one, it might as well be well maintained. Or maybe you have a boyfriend who’s notorious for housing crumbs and small animals in his facial hair? Well, this calendar has 24 different fragranced beard scents including Bay Rum, Fresh Cut Grass, Tobacco and Irish Moss.
A tobacco scented beard? OK, back to the ladies. This Oliver Bonas Jewellery box holds a gold charm bracelet (revealed on day one) and 23 charms to attach on the countdown to Crimbo. Tobacco scented beard juice vs Oliver Bonas jewellery? Something doesn’t seem quite fair. This personalised photo countdown provides a sentimental countdown to Christmas, and is perfect for anyone trying to avoid chocolate. Numbered brown envelopes are pegged on to the board with the Instagram photos of your choice (which come with the pack) and it’s just a case of opening up the envelopes each day to reveal the photograph. Write whatever you want on the front and fill it with 24 of whatever you like, to count down the days. Top tip: just get a jar and do the same thing. But it’s a nice idea. We’re not exactly sure how Haribo fits into an adult advent calendar list, but it just does, OK? Kids and adults love it so, as the jingle goes. And this calendar comes from Germany, so includes some sweets we don’t get here in the UK normally.
Miniature packs of all the favourites and some unusual ones are behind each door. OK, so this one isn’t strictly an ‘adult’ calendar either. But, it is AMAZING. Each window contains a different LEGO Star Wars themed gift inside including mini-figures, holiday themed Droids, an Ewok weapon rack, a mini Millennium Falcon. We won’t tell you any more, as it’s supposed to be a surprise, innit? This list is distinctly short on chocolate calendars. But that’s because we all know you can pop out and buy a Thorntons calendar, or a Ferrero Rocher one at your local WH Smith, and you don’t need us to tell you that. (Those were the most ‘adult’ examples of chocolates we could think of). But this After Eight Big Ben is a chocolate calendar with a bit more going for it. And that bit more is that it’s shaped like a massive clock tower. And filled with After Eight chocolates – the most Christmassy chocolate of all time. Feeling a bit Grinch like about the festive season?