Advent-turous Gift Guide: The Top Christmas Calendars You Can Still Crack Open Right Now
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Tis the season to be merry, and to gift yourself a daily dose of positivity. Research published in the journal Nature Neuroscience linked enhanced happiness and other positive emotions with new, diverse experiences, and found that this connection is related to a greater correlation of brain activity in the hippocampus and the striatum (a.k.a. the brain zones associated with the processing of novelty and reward).
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But how to go from bah humbug to fab la la la when you find your holiday routine starts to get extra stressful, and the logistical nightmare of gathering friends and family, traveling, and figuring out the perfect gift for everyone on your list? Two words: Advent calendars.
No, our brains haven’t turned to figgy pudding. Hear us out. Having a door to open every day before Christmas or Hanukkah gives you something to look forward to after a long winter’s nap, and not knowing what’s behind them certainly qualifies as introducing greater variability. Sometimes, as is the case with LEGO’s offerings, Lovehoney’s sexy loot, or DIY ornaments from Uncommon Goods, the present opening is just the beginning of what festivities your night now has in store.
These days, the best advent calendars are out there for every personality, hobby, interest, budget, and relationship type. And if anyone gives you grief for splurging on any of the following top advent calendars we’ve assembled, tell ’em you’re simply following the self-care science to a wonderful life.
For Aspiring DJs
Get the holiday party started with this advent-style playlist of 25 Tannenbaum tunes from Sound Sentiments. Each day reveals a QR code for one festive classic that can be played on any device, all reimagined and performed by incredible up and coming singer-songwriters. Shaped like a vinyl record, it’ll also be music to eco-friendly and pro-economy ears to find out that it’s made in the USA of 50 percent recycled materials.
$4.99 $25 80% off
Promising Customer Feedback: “I gave this as a morning experience advent calendar with a coffee and chocolate one as well. My husband loved it! There were maybe 2-3 songs he didn’t like, but overall the songs were more beautiful, classic style Christmas songs, not pop versions. Overall highly recommend!” —Aly
For 12-Step Skincare Routine Havers
The hectic holiday season, while a necessary evil, is taking its toll on everybody (emphasis on body!) Wage war on dry skin, tired eyes, and maskne with an elegant advent calendar from Molton Brown. Designed to evoke Molton Brown’s original salon doors, it contains 24 unisex goodies — think hand creams, body oils, and perfume — to indulge all your nooks and crannies in nine scents, including Coastal Cypress & Sea Fennel, Muddled Plum, and Orange & Bergamot.
Promising Customer Feedback: “Advent calendar includes 24 Molton Brown products…includes 5x mini candles, 2x perfume, 2x hand creams and a variety of body lotion and body wash. Excellent purchase especially if you can get it on sale.” —Leigh-Ann H. on Influenster
Beekman 1802’s awesome advent offering tends to sell out before Thanksgiving, but for now, these adorable urbanites-turned-goat farmers/Sharon Springs shopkeepers won’t leave customers high and dry-skinned. Their Takes the Cake advent calendar this year has a real Goatie cake topper you can use on your Christmas Day dessert. They include their best-selling skincare superstars like Buttermilk Cleanser, Bloom Cream, Milk Mud, and Dewy Eyed Serum (all wrapped in daily affirmations to remind you to be kind this season).
Promising Customer Feedback: “If you want a gorgeously-packaged advent calendar, I highly recommend this. I also love the fact that you can reuse this and fill it with your own items, and it works beautifully even as a gift item. I do like that they gave us some full-size products in here, too. Overall, very cute!” —Sydney of Subscription Sisters
For Meat Lovers
This protein-packed exclusive from Man Crates will help any carnivore power through the holiday home stretch. Be warned: this isn’t your grandpa’s boring beef jerky either. Sure, there are basics like teriyaki, black pepper, and garlic among the 25 packs of jerky bits. But there are also root beer habanero, General Tso, sesame ginger, Thai satay, birch beer, and whiskey maple flavors in the mix.
Promising Customer Feedback: “We have a tradition of advent calendars and I had really run out of ideas. My son loves beef jerky so I thought this would be fun. He wasn’t really excited when he saw it but trying a new flavor of beef jerky every day has been awesome.” —KC Mom
For Anyone Who Needs a Stiff Drink
Know someone who needs a little liquid courage to go caroling, make their move under the mistletoe, or meet their partner’s family for the first time? Come on get hoppy with the 12 Beers of Christmas Box from City Brew Tours with suds sourced from craft breweries across the country, detailed tasting notes, and surprise swag.
Promising Customer Feedback: My husband loved the holiday beer box! He loved being able to try so many new beers that he never heard of before and found some that he really loved and wants to buy more of! The live tastings we so fun to watch! The prizes in the random nights was the icing on the top! —Rivka J.
If they’d rather wet their whistle with whiskey, Flaviar has curated an adventurous advent calendar that would make Indiana Jones smile. Their “Search for the Secret Spirits” tasting box set is the follow up to last year’s sold out case, and has 24 secret premium spirit samples from the “lost art of distillation”, with an award-winning Glencairn tasting glass, and access to exclusive on-demand tasting videos.
Promising Customer Feedback: “Best Advent Calendar — ever! Packaging is high quality, user experience is entertaining, samples are wonderfully delivered, and no shortage of variety.” —Anonymous
Dancing ladies, leaping lords, milking maids, pipers, or drummers would all be thrilled if their true love gave to them Vinebox’s 24 Nights of Wine calendar — choose between their Chill Collection (rich whites and invigorating rosés) and the Cozy Collection calendar (bold and sumptuous reds).
Promising Customer Feedback: “I’ve tasted a lot of wines from VineBox over the years, and in general they’re very good. It’s definitely an eclectic selection and you probably won’t love every one of the wines included, but hopefully you’ll enjoy the experience of tasting something new each day.” —WineClubReviews
For Fragrance Fanatics
Freshen up with help from the fragrance industry’s finest — the height of olfactory luxury is the limited-edition Diptyque advent calendar. Its design is filled with flame-shaped calligrams, for a keepsake gift box including 25 scented treats from past limited editions and exclusive candles in festive fragrances like Sapin (Pine Tree), Délice (Delight) and Coton (Cotton).
Promising Customer Feedback: “Worth the splurge. This is my first Diptyque Advent calendar and I debated a few days about whether to purchase one. I did a “quick back of the envelope calculation” and the cost of the candles and 10ml perfumes alone outweigh the cost, so the remaining items are “bonuses”. It’s a good way to try out new scents without committing to the full size and potentially find a new favourite. I was also swayed by the fact that all 3 Christmas scents are included.” —Tinxx
Another scent-sational reminder to treat yourself this season is the Acqua di Parma option in the golden yellow hat box. The hard-to-procure Italian circular box opens to reveal precious illustrations and is packed with petite presents pulled from the company’s beloved lines like Colonia, Blu Mediterraneo, Le Nobili, and Signature of the Sun.
Promising Customer Feedback: “I love Acqua di Parma and their annual advent calendar is always one of the most coveted of the season. It’s jammed packed full of their iconic and amazing fragrances, as well as a great selection of their bath and body products.” —Kirsty of Fashion for Lunch
For Friends Devotees
If your love for the hit sitcom has been renewed with the passing of Matthew Perry, run don’t walk to order the officially-licensed Friends Advent Calendar box. It has unique keepsakes and trinkets ranging from fun paper ornaments, to classic Friends-inspired recipe cards (the head turkey is not incuded). Set out Central Perk coasters for your holiday party and stay cozy while re-watching all 10 seasons for the umpteenth time.
Promising Customer Feedback: “Makes you feel like a kid again. I bought this since I am a huge Friends fan…and like a child it was killing me waiting until December 1st to open Day 1. I loved the fact that each day was hard to find (it wasn’t listed as 1, 2, 3 etc.) and even though the gifts were goofy and non-useful it was still fun. I decided that i will do this every Xmas and buy an adult Advent Calendar.” —Beth
For Brick Masters
If you build it, Christmas will come. Of LEGO’s four toy-a-day offerings this year, two draw from the pop culture pantheon and are sure to entertain brick players of all ages, but we prefer the original. The 13th iteration of the future collector’s item, the 258-piece LEGO City advent calendar based on has nine mini figures, including a snowman.
Promising Customer Feedback: “It is always so fun to see what Lego comes up with every year when they release their Lego City Advent Calendars. These minifigures…are specially made for this advent calendar, and are not repeated elsewhere, so it’s worth purchasing the advent calendar to collect this special 2023 set. Some daily minifigures are pieces that will fit together in subsequent days, so it’s fun to collect each one, and then put the completed pieces together once the calendar doors are opened. This is a fun set for all ages and experience levels.” —C. Hatch
For Sockophiles
Remember as a kid hating when Jolly Old St. Nick would bring you a fresh pair of socks? Well, this Happy Socks advent calendar lets you indulge in the true pleasure of slipping into some new socks daily daily. First, you’ll need them for any cozy holiday movie marathon, and this box gives you 24 pairs — enough for movie nights throughout the season.
For Foodies
If eating is your reason for the season, there are calendars to satisfy just about every craving. Uncommon Goods’ 12 Days of Hot Sauce Advent Calendar will spice up any pepper popper’s palette. Each chamber contains a 1.75-ounce bottle of slow-simmered condiments with hot names like Habanero Evil, Son of Zombie, and Psycho Curry. The heat level on each is extreme across the board, so you won’t get a break no matter which day of the month you pile the sauce on.
Promising Customer Feedback: “I bought this for myself just to try it, and instead of 12 days in a row, I’m doing 12 weeks leading up to Christmas, a new sauce every week. I’m a few weeks in, and I can already said I love this advent calendar! The sauces are creative mixes I don’t often see in stores, and in my case of mixing them with buffalo sauce to make unique wing sauces, they are the perfect additions.” —Nick
Everyone’s been doing their fair share of binge-watching lately, so you can level up screen-time snacks with a daily dose of Wabash Valley Farms’ gourmet popcorn in fun flavors, recipe cards, seasonings, and popcorn kernels to pop yourself.
Promising Customer Feedback: “I got this as a gift because, apparently, I am a popcorn snob. No, I am not proud to say that, but in my heart, I know that it is true. As a result, I know good popcorn when I taste it and the Wabash tiny popcorn is possibly the best popcorn I’ve had. Totally recommend it.” —R. Whitwell
For The Sweet Tooth
A worthy last indulgence before you make a New Year’s resolution to cut out sugar entirely, Sugarfina’s candy-filled calendar tempts with 24 different types of treats (96 pieces in total) including limited-run seasonal faves like Santas Donuts, Holiday Presents, and Merry Berries as well as brand cornerstones like Island Pineapples, Ice Cream Cones, Apple Frogs, and Peach Hearts. Sadly, this mouthwatering menagerie is family-friendly so it doesn’t include any of the spiked snacks the high-end confectioner built its reputation on.
Promising Customer Feedback: “Oh my gosh we LOVED this calendar! The packaging is adorable and sturdy. Each window/box comes with 4 pieces of candy which was perfect for our family of 4. It became a nightly family event to see what the candy was for the day. AND….The candy is SO SO GOOD!!!!” —Mirandee
To ring in the new year, you don’t have to walk through the candy cane forest past the trail of swirly-twirly gumdrops, because William Sonoma has created an Elf advent calendar featuring colorful, individually wrapped candies. Each night includes colorful caramels, milk chocolates, maple syrup, an adorable Mr. Narwhal sugar cookie, marshmallows and more, exactly the kinds of treats Buddy the Elf lived on while growing up at the North Pole.
For Big Crystal Energy
If there was ever a year to start seriously practicing self-care and spiritual wellness, it’s 2023, and Smudge’s 10-day calendar can help add magic, meditation, and mojo to the lives of anyone who needs them. It’s drawers are bursting with simple rituals and the aura-rebalancing, stress-relieving tools like an all-new lineup of crystals and a set of portable mantra cards to give you a power boost wherever you are.
For Someone On The Naughty List
It’s hard to know who benefits most from this sexy set — the giver or the receiver. One thing’s for sure though, one look at what’s behind closed drawers in Lovehoney Dream Wand Advent Calendar set and it won’t be visions of sugarplums dancing in either’s head. All they’ll want for Christmas is you when you slip out these velvet-colored toys.
Promising Customer Feedback: “I always think that there will be some disappointing items in a selection box, kit or advent calendar. I was fully prepared for mild disappointment on some occasions…who needs fake rose petals?! Honestly though when those rose petals are floating down towards you, as your partner stands above you, it’s the start of a beautiful sensational experience. There is a little bit of everything, from the beautiful smelling candle, massage to the toys this advent calendar really was incredibly fun and really built up to an incredible full night of play on day 12.” —Yummymummy1
For Kids At Heart
Identity theft might be a crime, but that hasn’t stopped Funko’s The Office calendar from bringing our favorite characters’ miniature likenesses to your home. Who can resist those big black eyes?
Promising Customer Feedback: “My wife is a huge Office fan. She has rewatched the entire show at least 4 times and has it in the background when we are just hanging out in our phones. I got this for her and she LOVED it! There wasn’t one figurine she didn’t gush over.” —Rosio DeLeon
For the person in your life who’d rather turn on Nightmare Before Christmas than Home Alone, they can count down to the spookiest day of the year with this advent calendar by Funko. Get your macabre-loving friend to open up the windows to 13 horror film-inspired pocket Pop! figures hidden behind 13 little doors, from Freddy Krueger to Pennywise the Clown. We sure hope Krampus isn’t in there!
Promising Customer Review: “Anybody into horror will love this and if they’re patient they will use it as an advent-style daily countdown which makes it even cooler. If they have no patience they can get them all and then feel guilty (or not) but the figures are cool either way.” —Audio Nut
For Four-legged Friends
Let Fido in on the festive fun with Wufers Advent Calendar Dog Cookie Box calendar. The canine cooks combine applesauce and crushed peanuts to create treats your precious pup will find paws-itively delicious.
Promising Customer Feedback: “My dog loves this. This was so much fun to open with my pup everyday! The treats are beautiful and the packaging is so cute. Looking forward to getting one again next year.” —Sandra Dunston-Jones
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