Advent Calendars

My eldest GC have a wooden one with drawers. Each one has a piece of paper with something Christmasssy to do written in it : eg write cards, visit the roads with lots of decorations, watch a film etc
The parents move them around to suit.

I made my 3 grandsons cloth advent calendars several years ago . They are mostly filled with chocolate coins or fun size chocolate bars, but 4 or 5 pockets have in a " golden ticket" which entitles them to dip into a carrier bag, which contains items I have bought from the charity shop in recent months, such as Christmas jigsaws, small games, puzzles or paperback books. Keeps them out of mischief whilst their mums are busy with the usual Christmas preparations!

I have had one from Bonne Maman for the last two years little jars of jam each day and finally a beautiful ornament for the tree.

Trisha99

yellowcanary

I try to find different ones every year for each of my family (sister, brother-in-law, nephew) two friends and myself. They get treated as Christmas presents as well. The women tend to get the same one as do the men but not always. A couple of years ago I could only get 2 Star Wars socks and one Marvel socks for the men, so with my nephew and brother in law gave them the choice of which one they had - afraid to say my nephew (18 at the time) hadn't heard of Star Wars so chose the Marvel (although I had thought he'd go for that one anyway). Last year he had a fishing one (lures), got a golf one for this year. To help out with the costs I usually get them after Christmas for the following year - usually half price or using loyalty cards/points. Also to point out I only buy for 6 people altogether for Christmas including myself

Your shocked emoji made me laugh yellowcanary- fancy not having heard of Star Wars!

Yes I thought everyone had heard of Star Wars but was obviously very wrong .

Sarnia

I can't be trusted to have an advent calendar. They never last past 2nd December.

Ha Ha!
My best friend and I give each other a chocolate advent calendar.
I cheat.

I recently came across the Advent Calendar which I had as a child (still in pristine condition - we looked after things in those days!) - it just had pictures behind the doors and it was used year after year.

It nudged me to thinking about one for OH. I found one which had a seed packet for every day. He has become very keen on gardening. Has anyone had any experience of the plant advent calendar? Are the seeds any good? Do they grow? If I was younger and did not have arthritic fingers, I would do a DIY version - but life is what it is!

Look forward to hearing your views.

LaCrepescule

Advent calendars to me are the beautiful glittery German ones we had in the 60s - nothing inside but a little illustration. There were 3 of us and we had to take turns opening the windows.
I don’t like the ones today and sadly can’t find any of the old-style ones to buy.

There’s a company called Traditional Advent Calendars. You will find them via Google. They have lots different ones, including old-style with glitter.
I have ordered from them before.

However this is the one I’ve bought for myself this year - nice and corny!

I'm thinking of getting the dinosaur one from Sainsbugs, but must check on the choc quality..

Mine, granddaughter and daughter have similar, grandson Cadburys.

I have an interactive advent Calendar from the company who sends e-cards for all occasions. My friend also has one and we help each other if we can’t find the hidden elf. You can decorate a tree, furnish a Christmas room, play games etc. It only costs £9.00

Last year, instead of the usual expensive Advent calendar, I mad3 a “lucky dip” one for each of my DGDs. I collected bits and pieces through the year, like pens or hand cream, added choccies and the odd walnut, a scratch card for 24th. They loved it so much that they asked for another this year!

wow!

I buy myself a ‘beauty’ advent calendar every year. I also buy two or three more affordable skincare and make-up calendars for a local cat rescue to raffle. For my modest outlay they clear £200-£250 per calendar. Also this year I saw Pets at Home were selling cat advent calendars for £30 so the rescue got two of those as well. Advent calendars are a great way to fundraise as the tickets just fly out.

Our GC will be flying off abroad in mid December so no calendars for them this year.

I did however treat myself for the first time ever to the M&S beauty adventure box.
It was £45 with a Sparks card and is full of things I will love to use.

I have found over a few years that the beauty advent calendars contain approximately a third of things I will never use eg eye make up, but I still can’t resist buying one.
This year I have gone for Boots instead of M&S.
I went without for so many years when young ,like many of us, that a special treat at Christmas doesn’t touch my conscience.

I'd never seen an advent calendar until I was about 9 years old, which would've been 1966. A friend of mine had been on holiday to Switzerland with her parents (which was very exotic back then) and had brought one back. It was all glittery and so, so pretty. Behind each door was something religious, like an angel for example. I was entranced. I'm not sure when they became mainstream over here but I certainly didn't have one as a child.