Advent Calendars

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.

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.

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 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.

wow!

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!

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

Mine, granddaughter and daughter have similar, grandson Cadburys.

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

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 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.

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.

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 .

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.

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!

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.

Another scrambled message - sorry - hopefully the point comes across even if the words haven’t 😂

My made one for my daughters out of fabric out of fabric and refilled the little pockets every year.
I was treated to a beautiful one from a posh department store a few years ago, saved the lovely box and refilled it for DD1 a few years ago when I thought she needed extra TLC after a breakup. Some of the boxes are quite able to arrange things I knew she would really like, plus a couple of treats for the cat. It was time consuming to find 24 things though…..

I’m really pleased to hear that children still like the ritual of opening the calendar, even when there’s not a gift. That has made me think that I might invest the time on making a permanent one for my grandchildren that doesn’t include gifts. Hopefully they will start to enjoy the ritual of finding their favourite decoration or picture. I’d love to think that they might still be doing that when they are teenagers or even young adults. (I was 71 when DGS1 arrived, so it might even outlast me!)

I got this one from Avon many years ago, you pull out a stick each day and Father Christmas drops down every 3rd day until the 24th December when he finally lands in the fireplace. My DS’s used to take turns and now my DGD loves to take out the sticks when she visits. I love it and it sits on my mantle piece every year.

Last year I bought beauty advent calendars for my daughter, granddaughter and my daughter in law at a cost of over £700 ! 😂. Not doing that again . This year I’ve bought a beauty calendar for daughter again but everyone else can make do with a chocolate one .

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.

We had to share ours between three, too. I think all families did then so the only way to get to open every door by yourself was if you were a rare only child. My birthday is on December 6th so I always opened 3, 6, 9 etc. Of course, this meant that I opened the double door to the nativity scene on the 24th. Some independent newsagencies and bookshops sell these traditional advent calendars and I buy one with a nativity scene on the front each year.

What a beautiful new tradition you have started for your grandchildren jocork, how lovely for them to greet a little 'feltie' each Advent morning .

jocork

Last year I made a nativity scene for my grandchildren with 24 characters made of felt. It took months to make and I packed the characters in an empty advent calendar box that had had toiletries in and I got free on freegle. It even still smelled nice. I added chocolates to some of the boxes from about the 10th of December.
My DS packed it all back in the box and they will open it again this year. I've given him the chocolates to add to the boxes. I hope it will be seen as a family heirloom. I guess if my DD has children in future I'll have to make it all over again!

jocork That is beautiful. I made one for GC many years ago and they've been passed down to GGC now. Mine wasn't as beautiful as yours though.

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!

Like a lot of you I love the little pictures behind each door. My daughter used to like the beauty ones but now thinks they put in a lot of stuff you don't want so she has got a picture one this year.
I found a beautiful gold foiled one online from a specialist stationery shop in London. It has a Madonna on it from a medieval painting in Serbia and we are both excited to see what is under the windows.
When I was little my sister and I would always open number 22 early as it was our birthday. It was pretty obvious as the cardboard would be all dogeared where we kept opening and closing the flap!